Links, codes & pages — in the age of AI
Practical, sourced guides on short links, QR codes, link-in-bio pages and deep links — and how they work in an age of AI assistants.
Short link for your Instagram bio: what to put there, how to track it, and when you need a page instead
Instagram gives you five bio links, a Stories sticker and nothing clickable in captions. Here's how to use a short link so the one line of real estate you have works harder, what to measure, and when one link should become a small website.
Do QR codes expire? What actually stops a code from working, and how to make yours last
A QR code is ink; it can't expire. What expires is the service behind a dynamic code, or the page behind a static one. Here's exactly what can go wrong, how to check a code you've already printed, and how to print one that keeps working.
QR codes for your restaurant: what diners actually want (and what to put behind the code)
Most diners now prefer a paper menu, but QR codes still earn their place. Here's where they help a restaurant, where they backfire, what to link to, and how to print codes that work at the table.
Short links for marketing: a practical playbook for every channel
How to use short links in email, SMS, social, print and podcasts without hurting deliverability or muddying your analytics — with a UTM naming convention, one-link-per-placement rule, and a checklist you can reuse.
How a link-in-bio page helps AI assistants find — and correctly describe — you
When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity about you, the answer is assembled from pages a machine can read. A well-built bio page is the cheapest way to be one of them. Here's what makes it work.
Dynamic vs static QR codes: which to print, and how to keep scanners safe
A static QR code is permanent; a dynamic one points at a link you can edit. Here's how they differ, when each makes sense, the hidden risk in dynamic codes, and how to design codes people can trust in an era of QR phishing.
Firebase Dynamic Links is gone: what broke, what you can still recover, and how to migrate
Firebase Dynamic Links shut down on August 25, 2025. Here's exactly what stopped working, which old links can be brought back to life, and the three ways to replace deep linking and deferred deep linking.
Short links in the age of AI: why the humble redirect matters more than ever
AI assistants now fetch, quote and recommend links on people's behalf. Here's what that changes for short links — and the rules that keep yours working for humans and machines.
How to track traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and other AI assistants
AI assistants now send real visitors, but most analytics setups lump them into 'referral' or lose them entirely. Here's how to identify AI traffic, set up a dedicated channel in GA4, and what you can't measure yet.