When the page behind your QR code disappears

The short version

• Point codes at short addresses you will keep, such as yourshop.com/menu.
• When your website changes, forward old addresses to the new pages.
• Use a dynamic code only from a service that will not switch it off.

38% of web pages from 2013 no longer load

In May 2024, Pew Research Center checked almost one million web pages saved between 2013 and 2023. Of the pages from 2013, 38% no longer loaded by October 2023. Even 8% of pages from 2023 were gone within a year.

Pew counted a page as gone only when the site reported that it no longer existed. Pages that had moved or changed were not counted, so this is a floor. Pew sampled pages from a public web archive, not QR code destinations, but any page a code opens can go the same way.

Broken links were common in every group Pew looked at. 23% of news pages and 21% of government pages had at least one. 54% of English Wikipedia articles had a reference that no longer loaded.

Why it matters more for printed codes

A broken link on a website takes a minute to fix. A printed code cannot be edited. It is on your flyers, your van or a box in a customer's kitchen. Whoever scans it sees an error page instead of yours.

A printed code can break in two places:

• The page is gone. You moved your website, renamed a page, changed shop software or let your web address expire.
• The link in between is gone. A dynamic code holds a short link on the generator's website, not your address. If that company ends your trial or closes, the code stops, even though your page still works.

How to keep a printed code working

• Point it at an address you will keep. Your home page or a short address such as yourshop.com/menu lasts longer than a link to one product or one offer.
• Keep old addresses working. When your website changes, ask whoever runs it to forward old addresses to the new pages. Codes already in print then keep working.
• Choose a dynamic code from a service that will not switch it off. A dynamic code lets you change where it goes after printing. Read what the service does when a trial or plan ends.
• Renew your web address automatically. If it lapses, every code that points at it breaks, and someone else can buy it.
• Scan your own codes once a year. Do it when your web address renews.

How QR Lasts helps

Every code made here, free or paid, keeps redirecting. The only reason we stop one is abuse, checked with Google Web Risk. If the site ever closes, you get 12 months' notice and an export.

With a free account, dynamic codes let you change where a code goes. When your page moves, you point the code at its new address instead of reprinting.

Sources

• Pew Research Center, When Online Content Disappears, 17 May 2024.

If we have misread a study, tell us and we will correct it.