From link to code in a second
This is the most common use of a QR code: someone points their phone at it and lands on a specific page without typing anything. A restaurant menu, a product page, an event sign-up form, your Google review link, an open-house listing or a PDF catalog hosted on your website. Paste the address, check the preview and download the image.
The tool tidies the link as you type. If you forget the https://, it adds it, and if the address has an obvious problem (spaces, a missing domain), it flags it before it ends up on five hundred flyers.
Track scans without paying for a subscription
Many services charge for so-called dynamic QR codes, and analytics is their main selling point. There’s a free alternative that doesn’t depend on anyone: UTM parameters. These are tags added to the end of a link that tools like Google Analytics read to work out where each visit came from.
For example, if your poster points to https://yourbusiness.com/menu?utm_source=qr&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=winter-menu, the Traffic acquisition report in Google Analytics 4 will show exactly how many visits came from that poster. Make two versions (one for the window, one for the tables), change only utm_content, and you’ll know which placement works better.
How to fill in each field
| Parameter | What it’s for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Who or what sends the visit | qr, local-magazine, trade-show |
| utm_medium | The type of channel | print, sticker, packaging |
| utm_campaign | The campaign or promotion | fall-sale, grand-opening |
| utm_content | The specific variant | table, window, flyer-letter |
Always use lowercase and no spaces. The tool does this for you, turning spaces into hyphens. Be consistent: if you type “QR” one day and “qr” the next, Analytics will count them as two different sources.
Long links and code density
The more characters a link has, the more modules the QR code needs and the smaller each one gets at the same print size. A 30-character link produces a clean code that scans even at 0.8 in (2 cm); a 200-character link produces a very dense code that needs more size and better printing. If your URL is long because of parameters you don’t need (session IDs, social media trackers), remove them first. If you add UTMs, keep the values short.
What about link shorteners? They work, but they add a middleman: if the service shuts down or changes its terms, your printed code stops working. More and more people also distrust shortened links because they hide the destination. If you control your website, a short path of your own (yourbusiness.com/qr) that redirects wherever you want is the best option. You get a small code and can change the destination whenever you need to.
Test before you print
Always scan the code with two different phones and follow the link all the way through. It’s the only way to catch a typo in the address or a page that requires a login. This tool automatically checks that the QR code scans, but it can’t know whether the destination page is the right one. Everything runs locally: the link is never sent to a server.