How to Track QR Code Scans in GA4

QR codes are easy to print and hard to measure unless you set them up properly. With a dynamic code and Google Analytics 4 you can see QR traffic next to the rest of your campaigns. Here is how.

How tracking works

A dynamic QR code points to a short link. When someone scans it, they land briefly on a page that fires your analytics tag and then sends them on to your destination. The delay is a fraction of a second. That brief stop is what lets Google Analytics see the visit even if your destination page has no QR-specific tracking.

Step 1: find your GA4 measurement ID

In Google Analytics open Admin, choose Data streams, then your web stream. The measurement ID starts with G- followed by letters and numbers. If you use Google Tag Manager instead, copy the container ID, which starts with GTM-.

Step 2: add it to QRzify

Open Settings in QRzify and paste the ID into the Google Analytics 4 field, or the Tag Manager field. Only correctly formatted IDs are accepted. From then on, every scan of your dynamic codes fires that tag.

Step 3: tag each campaign with UTM parameters

UTM parameters tell Analytics where the visit came from. In QRzify you can set defaults for all your codes and override them per code. A sensible pattern:

• utm_source: qr
• utm_medium: print (or packaging, poster, menu)
• utm_campaign: the name of the campaign, such as diwali-2026

QRzify adds these to your destination link, and keeps any parameters that are already in it.

Step 4: read the results in GA4

In Google Analytics open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. Filter by source "qr" and break it down by campaign. In QRzify you also get scans by day, city, device and referrer, which GA4 cannot see because a scan has no website referrer.

What can go wrong

• Ad blockers. Some visitors block analytics tags, so GA4 will always under-count compared with QRzify's own scan counts.
• Consent rules. If your audience is in regions that require consent for analytics, make sure your own site handles it.
• Different numbers. QRzify counts every human scan. GA4 counts sessions it can attribute. Expect the two to differ, and use QRzify for the scan count and GA4 for what happens after.

Keep it simple

Start with one campaign, one code and consistent UTM names. Once the numbers look right, scale up to bulk creation and folders.