If you’ve been reading any print media lately, you may have noticed some unusual looking square barcodes embedded within ads. Known as QR codes, they are essentially paper-based hyperlinks that can be translated by smartphones, and lead to websites. Many newspaper advertisers, like restaurants, use them to offer special deals that are not available to the average reader.
The great thing about QR codes is that you don’t have to be an engineer to build them if you want to put them in ads. There are several QR code generators out there online, and there are QR code makers in the form of software. Because the QR code is built through a third party, it works equally well with Android and iPhone apps. For the user, it may be necessary to download a specific QR code reading application. There are even some alternative versions of the QR code, so it may be necessary to have more than one scanning app if you are the one doing the reading.
Can QR codes be used in link building? Right now, the jury is out, but this may be something to consider if you have content that can be accessed on mobile devices. If you generate QR codes by way of websites or software, the search engines may be looking through lists of these links to discover pages they haven’t found before. Therefore, the links themselves may not pass the same type of value as a text link, but they would still be useful in getting pages noticed. As always, there can be secondary natural link building if you use a WR code to get someone to look at your product pages, and then they use your actual link in blogs or other postings.
Until the use of QR codes becomes a bit more ubiquitous, the SEO and SEM implications for using them are going to be up in the air. Nonetheless, it is still a good idea to keep an eye on this segment of technology, since the way people use the internet on smartphones is going to create a new emphasis on features that were impossible to offer users who were tethered to a computer. The game-changing reality of the mobile internet is going to have a radical impact on how sites make money in the future, and QR codes may very well be the bridge between print and digital that keeps your brand in the viewer’s mind.
