How do I set up my own short link domain?

Steps

1. Choose a subdomain of a domain you own, like go.yourbusiness.com or qr.yourbusiness.com. Your website and email stay as they are. Or use a whole domain you keep just for QR links.
2. Add it to your account. Sign in, open Short link domains, enter the subdomain (or domain) and select Add domain.
3. Add one DNS record where you manage the domain (the company you bought it from, or your web host):

   Type	Name or Host	Value or Points to
   CNAME	go (the start of your subdomain)	domains.qrcode.spot

   Some DNS hosts want the full name, go.yourbusiness.com, instead of go. If the domain uses Cloudflare, set Proxy status to DNS only.
4. Wait a few minutes. We look for the record by itself. As soon as it's there, we set up the padlock and email you when the domain is live, usually within minutes. Select Check now on the Short link domains page to look straight away. A few addresses, such as ones with words like bank or login, are looked at by hand first, usually within a day.
5. Use it. New codes use your domain straight away. For codes you already have, choose Move codes: all of them, or one folder's. Download a code again to get the new link in its picture.

DNS changes usually show within minutes, and sometimes take up to 24 hours. Wait until the domain shows Live before printing codes with it.

Using a whole domain

If you have a second domain just for QR links, like yourbusiness.link next to yourbusiness.com, your codes can use it whole: yourbusiness.link/K7M2XQ. Add it under Short link domains and tick the box to use it only for QR links. Any website on it stops; its email keeps working.

A whole domain needs its DNS on Cloudflare (the free plan is enough), because only there can a bare domain point to us with a CNAME record. It takes about an hour, most of it waiting:

1. Add the domain to Cloudflare. Sign in at dash.cloudflare.com (or make a free account), choose Add a domain, enter it and pick the Free plan. Cloudflare copies your existing DNS records, email ones included.
2. Check the copied records. Delete any A or AAAA records on the domain itself (shown as the bare domain or @): they're for an old website or parking page. Keep the rest, such as MX records for email and any subdomain you already use, like go.
3. Add the record for us: type CNAME, name @, target domains.qrcode.spot, and Proxy status set to DNS only (a grey cloud). Set any CNAME records pointing to domains.qrcode.spot, such as go, to DNS only too. If Cloudflare warns the domain “is not fully protected”, choose I'll do this later.
4. Change the nameservers where you bought the domain (name.com, Namecheap, GoDaddy…) to the two Cloudflare shows you, and remove the old ones. If DNSSEC is on there, turn it off first.
5. Add the domain to your account under Short link domains and tick the box to use it only for QR links. You can do this before the nameservers change.
6. Wait. The new nameservers usually show within an hour, sometimes longer. Cloudflare then switches the domain on, and the padlock (https) follows within minutes. Select Check now on the Short link domains page to look straight away: it shows Live when it's ready, and we email you.

An ANAME or ALIAS record at another DNS host (name.com, Namecheap, DNSimple and others) doesn't work for a whole domain: the padlock can't be set up that way. Once the domain is live, you can send people who type just the domain to your main website: fill in “When someone opens just …” on the Short link domains page.

Where to add the record

• GoDaddy: sign in, open My Products, choose DNS next to your domain, then Add New Record.
• Namecheap: sign in, open Domain List, choose Manage next to your domain, then Advanced DNS and Add New Record.
• Squarespace (and former Google Domains): sign in at domains.squarespace.com, choose your domain, open DNS, then DNS Settings and Add record.
• Cloudflare: sign in, choose your domain, open DNS, then Records and Add record. Set Proxy status to DNS only.
• Anywhere else: look for "DNS", "DNS records" or "Zone editor" where you bought the domain.

If it doesn't go live

• "We can't see the record yet": check the name. Many DNS hosts add your domain by themselves, so a name of go.yourbusiness.com can end up as go.yourbusiness.com.yourbusiness.com. Use just go.
• "The record points somewhere else": remove any other record with the same name (an A, AAAA or another CNAME record), then check again. On a whole domain, that's usually an old A record for a website or a parking page.
• The padlock doesn't arrive: if your domain has CAA records, they must allow letsencrypt.org and pki.goog, the certificate authorities that issue it.

Still stuck? Email support@qrcodespot.com with your domain, or send these steps to whoever looks after your website.