Time-Based Redirects

A time-based redirect changes a link’s destination based on when someone clicks it — the hour of the day, the day of the week, or a specific date or window. Breakfast scanners see the breakfast menu; the same code shows lunch by noon. A conference link points to registration before the event, the live stream during it, and the recordings after. One link, scheduled to keep up with your calendar on its own.

This hub covers the concept; the specific plays — time-of-day routing, scheduled campaign windows, and the full event lifecycle on one link — are linked below.

What You Can Route On

• Time of day — morning vs. evening offers, business-hours vs. after-hours destinations.
• Day of week — weekday vs. weekend pages, “It’s Saturday, here’s the brunch deal.”
• Specific dates & windows — launch dates, sale start/end, before/during/after an event.

Stack these with a timezone-aware rule so a visitor in Tokyo and one in New York each see what’s correct for them, not for your server.

The Problem It Solves: Links Outlive the Moment They Were Made For

Most links are frozen at the instant you created them. You print a QR code pointing at a Black Friday page; by Monday it’s pointing at an expired sale. You text a link to a webinar; the people who open it late land on a “registration closed” page instead of the recording.

A time-based redirect fixes this at the link layer. The destination is a function of the clock, so the link is never “out of date” — it always resolves to whatever is correct right now. You set the schedule once instead of swapping URLs (or reprinting) every time the moment changes.

The Opinion: Stop Shipping Links With an Expiration Date

Here’s the reframe: a static link to a time-sensitive page is a liability with a fuse on it. The campaign that created it ends, but the link keeps circulating — in inboxes, screenshots, printed materials, old social posts — quietly sending people to dead or wrong pages and eroding trust every time.

Time-based routing turns that liability into an asset. The “expired” QR code on last month’s flyer can simply forward to this month’s offer. The webinar link a colleague forwards next year still works — it just lands on the replay. Links should age gracefully. Routing is how you make them.

Explore the Plays

The articles below go deeper on time-of-day behavior, scheduling campaign windows, and running an entire event off a single link. Start with whichever matches what you’re timing.