ShortLink Blog
Insights, guides & product updates
Practical articles on link shortening, QR codes, analytics, and growth — written by the ShortLink team and published every week.
How We Built the AI QR Generator Using Stable Diffusion + ControlNet
A deep dive into the architecture, model choices and engineering challenges behind ShortLink's AI QR art feature — and why we chose ControlNet over alternatives.
James Okonkwo
Growth Engineer
The Complete Guide to UTM Parameters in 2025
Everything you need to know about UTM tracking — what each parameter does, how to structure campaigns, common mistakes to avoid, and how to read the data in analytics.
10 Ways Restaurants Are Using QR Codes to Increase Revenue in 2025
From tableside menus to review funnels and loyalty programmes — here's how the most successful restaurants are deploying QR codes to drive real business outcomes.
Case Study: How Montara Boutique Hotel Increased App Downloads by 340%
By replacing printed in-room cards with AI QR codes and tracking every scan, Montara's digital team uncovered exactly which touchpoints drove app installs — and doubled down.
ShortLink vs Bitly in 2025: An Honest Feature-by-Feature Comparison
We compared ShortLink and Bitly across pricing, features, analytics, QR capabilities and customer support. Here's what we found — including where Bitly still has an edge.
QR Code Best Practices for Print Marketing: Size, Contrast, Placement
A practical guide to making sure your printed QR codes actually get scanned — covering minimum size, contrast ratios, quiet zones, error correction and placement psychology.
Announcing: Bulk CSV Import — Shorten Thousands of Links at Once
ShortLink now supports bulk link shortening via CSV upload. Upload a spreadsheet, get back a results file with all your short links in under a minute.
URL Shorteners and SEO: What You Actually Need to Know
Do short links hurt your search rankings? The answer depends on redirect type, link equity, and how the short link domain is configured. Here's the full picture.
Setting Up a Custom Domain on ShortLink: Step-by-Step Guide
A complete walkthrough of adding your own domain (e.g. go.yourbrand.com) to ShortLink — including DNS setup, verification, troubleshooting, and going live.
Real-Time Analytics: 7 Things Your Link Click Data Is Telling You
Most teams look at total click counts and stop. Here are seven deeper insights hiding in your click data — and how to act on each one.
5 Genuinely Creative Ways Brands Are Using AI QR Codes
Beyond menus and business cards — these five brands are using AI QR art in ways that surprise people, get shared, and actually drive conversions.