What's the difference between archiving and deleting a link?

Archiving hides a link from your main links list and stops it from being actively promoted in your workflow, but keeps it fully intact, its history, stats, and settings are all preserved, and it can be unarchived at any time.

Deleting is more permanent removal from active use. If you delete something by mistake, check the recycle bin feature described below before assuming it's gone for good.