Dead links are not only SEO technically a problem. If you have created a QR code that points to a Web page that is no longer available, you will leave a negative user experience in the visitors mind. Probably he will also avoid to scan any QR Code in the future.
Dynamic QR Codes help to overcome this issue. When using a dynamic QR Code you can change the destination URL in case the link is broken. But what if you do not notice that the link is no longer available?
Automatic Notification on broken links
By using our service you are always on the safe side. The target addresses of the QR codes are checked once a week. If one of your QR Codes was scanned within the last week and it refers to a URL that no longer exists, you will receive an email reporting the defective QR Code.
How do I fix a broken link in a QR Code?
1. Login into your account and search for the broken QR Code
If you get an E-Mail with this warning, please log into your account immediately. You will see the broken links marked red.
Warning that QR Code points to a non-existent URL2. Replace the broken link with a working URL
Now click on the target URL of the broken link. Change the broken URL to a working link. Done.
Replace non-existent URL with new linkHTTP Error Codes
We are parsing the URLs in the QR Codes for the following error codes:
404 Not Found
The requested resource was not found. Links, which refer to such error pages, also referred to as dead links.
410 Gone
The requested resource is no longer available and has been permanently removed.
500 Internal Server Error
This is the default status code for an unexpected server error.
502 Bad Gateway
The server could not fulfill its function as a gateway or proxy, because he has in turn received an invalid response.
503 Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unavailable, for example due to overloading or maintenance.
If one of the above error code was returned when verifying the links, a warning to the owner of the QR Code is sent and the QR Code is marked in his account until the URL has been modified.
False Positives
If you get an error message that your page has not been found, it might be that this is a False Positive. That means our system detected an error even your website is running fine. If this is the case, you might want to turn off the URL Check function for that specific QR Code in the options menu like shown in the screenshot below.
Turn off url monitoringUnrecognized 404 pages
It can also happen that a page does not actually exist but is not recognized by our system. This can be the case, for example, if the server does not return a 404 status code even if the requested URL does not exist.
6,8% of all QR Codes redirect to a 404 Page Not Found
During our response code scans it turned out, that about 6,8% of all QR Codes point to non existing websites and 0,6% of the QR Codes redirect to a page with an Internal Server Error.