The Evolution of Instagram’s “Link in Bio” Strategy, Explained
Since its inception, Instagram has disallowed links to social posts, forcing marketers to get creative. Over time, brands have developed different get-arounds for placing external links from Instagram to high-value content on their website or other platforms. But none are more well-known than the “link in bio” method.
We’ll recap what “link in bio” and “link in profile” mean on Instagram, how the platform has changed over time, and how effective the “link in bio” strategy is when attempting to drive traffic from Insta.
What Does “Link in Bio” Mean on Instagram?
Primarily used on Instagram, “link in bio” means there’s a link to a specific piece of often high-profile or meaningful content posted at the top of the brand’s Instagram profile. Since Instagram doesn’t allow links in your posts or comments, this sneaks a referral link in while keeping Instagram happy (by also encouraging your users to remain on the app – it’s their whole business model).
It started in 2018, when brands started replacing the primary domain link in their IG profile (e.g., Oneupweb.com) with a specific landing page, guiding users to it with some variation of “Link in profile!” or “Link in bio!” copy.
It caught on quickly, and several linking services jumped up to fill the gap, including the eponymous brand, Lnk.Bio. Most link-in-bio services are landing pages designed to display links to your content.
Some of the most popular are:
These services typically offer a free plan with the option to upgrade for more branding and customization options. Many site builders, including Squarespace, have nearly identical options integrated into their CMS platforms.
These type of tools are so pervasive that they’ve created a niche within the marketing industry, dubbing themselves “bio sites.” Today, these bio sites can serve as link organizers, landing pages, and crucial parts of accurate site traffic attribution – when you use UTM parameters, of course.
Instagram Adds Additional Linking Options
In April 2023, Instagram started allowing users to add up to five links to their profiles. Initially, bio sites like Linktree started to sweat, but it was quickly apparent that Instagram’s offering didn’t meet the needs of most marketers. Adding links natively takes much longer and requires bouncing between the brand’s site, a UTM builder, and a publishing tool like Buffer, and then manually adding the link to the profile. Tools like Lnkin.Bio are integrated into scheduling tools, which makes it much faster to slap a link into the profile and move on.
Bio sites are still going strong despite Instagram rolling out links in Instagram Stories to all users, not just business accounts.
Can You See Who Clicked on Your Instagram Link?
Sadly, no. Instagram doesn’t display who clicked on links in the same way it shows who viewed a Story, for example. Even using UTM parameters, the closest marketers can get to identifying Insta clicks is a unique user ID in Google Analytics, which will at least tell you whether it’s a new or returning user.
How to Add a “Link in Bio” on Instagram
Log into your Instagram account on mobile. Unfortunately, you can’t edit your Instagram links on desktop for – reasons. You can add multiple links to Instagram profiles these days, so have those handy; we’ll recommend a few options in a second.
To add a link to your Instagram bio:
- Tap on your profile picture.
- Navigate to “Edit Profile” > “Bio.”
- Add your URL to your written bio (make sure to write a bio if you don’t already have one).
- Save by hitting “Done” on your iPhone or the green check mark on Android.
Now, choose the links you want to use.
What Links Should I Include on My Instagram Account?
Filling all five linking spots in your profile is tempting, but don’t overdo it. Giving users too many options may cause them to select the wrong link and end up on an expected page. We recommend including your bio site link, your primary domain, and one specific campaign or promotional landing page that’s clearly labeled.
Here’s an example of our favorite fake brand, Hot Air Guitars:
- Linktr.ee/hotairguitars.com
- hotairguitars.com
- LooseStringsSummerPromo
We Tested the “Link in Bio” Strategy for Ourselves
Initially, some marketing outlets were skeptical about relying on profile links to drive traffic. The aforementioned blog from Agorapulse made two claims:
- Having a link in the bio didn’t drive additional traffic to their website from Instagram posts.
- Instagram is punishing these posts because they want to keep users on the platform (unless your organization pays to advertise on Instagram).
With these two points in mind, we took a deep dive into the sessions on our website that came via the link in our Instagram bio. We analyzed traffic from when the new landing page and strategy were implemented, sending readers to our bio to click on our specific link.
It’s also worth noting that we had to monitor site sessions from our landing page, not Instagram. In many cases, site sessions from a site like Linktree will be marked as a referral channel and not social traffic. That’s a good reason to use UTM parameters to track “link-in-bio” clicks more accurately.
It’s worth mentioning that many factors affect social media engagement, such as the time of day, the type of content, the hashtags, and so on. All affect where your post will be seen and whether it will reach your audience.
The numbers showed promising results:
Sessions were up 1,071% from March 2019 to April 2019. That’s a short window, and the devil is in the details; four-digit increases could still total less than 100 sessions if you’re only starting with a handful of clicks. Still, every pageview adds value to content you’ve already created, maximizing your return on investment.
Another Option: Adding a Link to an Instagram Story
While it requires manual posting, don’t forget to post links in your Stories! Once you have your content and are ready to post it to your Story, click on the sticker tool, add the “Link” sticker to your content, input the URL, and add a unique call to action. Then, place the sticker on your story and customize it using Instagram’s color options.
Supplement your bio links with Story links to promote there-and-gone content like flash sales, big discounts, and events. Or to repurpose evergreen content.
Our “Link in Bio” Test
The landing page Instagram bio link went live on April 5, 2019. We used and tested the new page and strategy before monitoring with the intent to benchmark future sessions.
In March, we had seven users reach our site via Instagram. In April, we had 82 users reach our website via Instagram. That’s a 1,071% increase month-over-month.
Many factors impact the performance of social media accounts. During this test, we didn’t account for any of these other variables. It’s likely that, in addition to posting more, utilizing a hashtag strategy and crafting all-around solid content made users on the platform want to read our blog.
In future tests, we’d like to compare the impact of multiple outgoing links in our Instagram profile to a single link, but we’ll leave that for another day.
So, Do Instagram Bio Links Actually Work?
We tested whether directing users to a link in our Instagram profile would improve social referral sessions. After whipping up a landing page – our own custom bio site, if you will – then giving the posts some time and doing some on-the-clock scrolling, our social team had some data to digest …
Instagram posts that directed users to our “link in the bio” sent an average of 5.72 users on our profile from posts. Without directing users to our bio in the post, we got traffic from about 1.3 users (unique or repeat, we don’t know).
One of our more popular Instagram posts from April sent 14 users to our website in just five days, 12 of which were new.
Does Instagram Throttle Reach on “Link in Bio” Posts?
We’re thinking, no. Without being able to account for all the factors at play in the Instagram algorithm, we can only make assumptions based on our data.
Agorapulse claimed that because Instagram wants to keep users on the platform, the platform will de-emphasize posts that have “link in bio” language in the caption. Before implementing the strategy where posts direct users to our page and website, our posts averaged a reach of about 200 users. With the strategy, the average went up slightly to 213 users per post.
While we didn’t see a dramatic increase in post reach, we didn’t see a decrease. We do not believe that Instagram has made any effort to de-emphasize content with “link in bio” language in the post itself. Finding other ways to say “link in bio” may help diversify your posts for readers and keep things interesting.
One of our more popular Instagram posts from April sent 14 users to our website in just five days, 12 of which were new. It’s not a tremendous quantity, but it’s better than zero, and there’s an inherent benefit to winning clicks from those users: They’re viewing our content where they’re most likely to convert – our website!
Key Takeaways
Marketing strategies will and should change frequently. Social media platforms are constantly updating their algorithms. It’s our job as marketers to adapt to those changes.
Most important, what worked for us might not work for you. Agorapulse ran tests on their photos to see the results, so we chose to do the same for Oneupweb. We’re two very different companies with different marketing goals. Thus, it’s not surprising that the results of our experiments are different.
Put Our Social Marketing Team to the Test
We’re not afraid to count pixels or break out the lab coats to find answers for our clients. Let Oneupweb tackle the nuances of social media for you. Whether you’re struggling to develop a cohesive social media strategy or juggling too many platforms, we can help. See where Oneupweb can pitch in. Let’s start the conversation; drop us a line or call us at (231) 922-9977 today!
