bit.ly numbers not reporting QR scans

Question

So we're doing some tracking and I've setup some links to be tracked via bit.ly. I've also created some QR codes.

So, we scanned the codes using QR Reader, the #1 QR scanning app on the app store, and none of the hits were coming in through bitly. So we decided maybe it had to do with the fact that I made bit.ly links and then made QR codes from those, rather than using bit.ly's built in QR code creator (which we just found). Tried with the new codes, still nothing on bit.ly's site.

I downloaded a different scanner (QR Scanner) and it records everything as normal.

Does anyone have insight into this, done this before, know of a work around? I can't force my users to not use a particular QR scanner.

I mean, unless I'm crazy, when I hit a bit.ly link, their server goes and looks up what the URL is based on the code and redirects me. How the F! can that process happen without bit.ly recording the event?

Answer 1

bit.ly is not a reliable way to get usage statistics for a URL.

For best results, you should use the facilities provided by the web server itself.

Since you don't control bit.ly you can't control how they count hits.

I believe the QR Scanner program is performing a HEAD request instead of a GET request to validate the URL scanned. Since a HEAD will return re-direct information and is not (and should not be) counted in "hit" statistics you wouldn't see the hit on the bit.ly statistics.

While frustrating for your goals, this is one of the features that make QR Scanner better than other programs, you don't want to do a full GET when a HEAD will work.

Answer 2

Merely scanning a QR code containing a URL does not necessarily do anything to the URL. A simple app would do nothing at all. It would show the bit.ly URL to the user and wait for the user to confirm that he/she wants to access the URL. Then of course the browser would access the URL.

Some apps like Barcode Scanner on Android will access known URL redirectors to show the user what's behind the redirect before proceeding. It will issue a HEAD request after just scanning the QR code.

I would not expect any app to issue a GET just on scanning. It's unnecessary to read the redirect. And if the app is sending the user straight to the URL after scanning, that's a bit of a security risk.

Answer 3

A couple of things to check would be GET/HEAD and the User-Agent. If the QR reader is sending a strange, or no, user-agent header, it might get accidentally considered a bot click.

Answer 4

If you generate a bitly link - http://bitly.com/test - and then turn it into a QR code using a 3rd party service, you won't see any stats about whether scans have come from a QR code.

If you use the bitly QR generator - http://bitly.com/test.qr - you will get a QR code with a different url in it.

In this case

http://bitly.com/test?r=qr

It is that r=qr part which is recording whether the click came from the QR code.

So, to clarify, you share the link "http://bitly.com/test" on Twitter / Facebook / etc. You share "http://bitly.com/test?r=qr" via QR code. That way you can track where hits are coming from.