Spring HATEOAS enables building RESTful APIs with hypermedia links for dynamic API exploration and navigation.Customizing the _links structure in Spring HATEOAS allows tailoring API responses to specific needs.Default _links structure includes keys corresponding to link relations and href values.Techniques for customization include grouping links, embedding metadata, and using different naming conventions.Method 1 involves using Link Builders like WebMvcLinkBuilder to create specific relation names for links.Method 2 utilizes LinkRelationProvider for advanced customization of link relation generation.Method 3 employs RepresentationModelProcessor for post-processing to manipulate the _links structure.Method 4 involves customizing the ObjectMapper for intricate formatting adjustments.Method 5 explores utilizing profiles and media types for contextual links and affordances.By strategically combining these methods, developers can create more adaptable and context-aware hypermedia APIs with Spring HATEOAS.