How to use the Instagram link in bio to drive traffic

You’ve probably seen it many times–your favorite Instagram account posts a photo about something interesting and ends the caption with “link in bio to read more.”

If you’re running a brand Instagram account, you know the links in your bio are essential for driving audiences to your site from Instagram. In this post, we show you how to get the most out of your links in your bio on Instagram.

Let’s get started.

What is an Instagram link in bio?

As the name suggests “links in bio” refer to the clickable URLs that you can add to your profile section. Most social media platforms give you the option to add a link in your bio to take followers to your website, product page, content or some other important page.

On platforms like Facebook and Twitter, adding a link to the homepage of your website may be more than enough since you can share clickable links to individual pages, products or content in your posts.

But it’s a little different with Instagram. Accounts with 10,000+ followers do have the option to share links through their Stories, but those that are still building their following have to leverage up to five links in bio to direct followers to a product page or a piece of content. Plus, outside of Stories highlights, Stories links are ephemeral and not ideal for an account of any size to highlight the most important URLs to drive social media traffic to.

Instagram’s link in bio can feel limiting when you want to highlight more than five important products, posts and pages. Fortunately, there are several link in bio tools that will let you put together all these key link destinations and share them via a single URL. This will lead to a custom landing page with all the relevant links you want to share.

Here’s an example from Travel Yosemite–the single link in their bio leads to the following landing page for quick access to any content they’ve referenced in recent posts:

This makes the user experience much more seamless since they can easily access all the relevant links from one place, meaning you’re much less likely to lose out on potential leads and traffic just because Instagram restricts links on individual posts.

This also brings us to the ubiquitous “link in bio” phrasing familiar to anyone on Instagram: by using these landing pages, brands can highlight their latest sale, news article, product collection or more in their content, and still effectively link to them all, reminding audiences to click that link on each relevant post. You can also maintain evergreen destinations such as your homepage or important lead magnets, while rotating other links for the latest content.

How to put a link in your Instagram bio

It’s easy to add or update the link in your Instagram bio. You can use either the mobile app or the Instagram website on your desktop.

Follow the steps below:

1. Edit your Instagram profile

Go to your profile and tap on the “Edit Profile” button.

2. Add the URL in the Website field

In the “Website” field, enter the URL you want to add to your bio.

3. Save the changes

Tap on “Done” and that’s it–you now have a link in your Instagram bio.

Instagram link in bio tools

If you want to share links to more than five pages and products, you can also use a link in bio tool. As mentioned earlier, this tool will let you create a custom landing page that houses all the links you want to share. And you can just add the URL of this landing page in your Instagram bio.

Here are a few link in bio tools you can use:

1. SproutLink

While there are many great link in bio options, having a centralized platform for any and all of your Instagram needs makes Sprout’s link in bio offering, SproutLink, a stand-out. Through one simple link, your audience can access a replica of your Instagram grid and visit the unique link associated with each of your Instagram posts.

This clickable grid directs traffic to the content links that matter most—whether that’s your website, a specific product, blog or other related article. Adding links to your Instagram posts are baked into Sprout’s Instagram publishing workflow, saving you precious time spent jumping between multiple tools. SproutLink is available on all Sprout plan levels.

2. Linktree

Linktree is a great option for anyone who needs an affordable link in bio solution. The free version comes with pretty robust features, letting you add unlimited links and customize them with images and icons. To unlock even more customization features such as removing the Linktree logo and replacing it with your own, you can get the Pro plan for $6/month.

Here’s an example of how Linktree link in bio pages typically look:

3. Feedlink

This powerful link in bio tool from EmbedSocial comes with mobile-optimized landing pages that look great on any device. Feedlink also lets you keep an eye on your performance by tracking the click stats for each link. Combine these stats with reports from an Instagram analytics tool to get a 360-degree view of your performance. Similar to Linktree, there’s a free version that’s suitable for small accounts, and additional features available with paid plans starting from $19/month.

4. Lnk.Bio

Lnk.Bio is also an excellent option as it lets you add unlimited links even with the free plan. Paid plans, which let you create custom, branded URLs and schedule link updates start from $0.99/month. These will let you create custom URLs that fit with your branding and even schedule links.

Here’s a Lnk.Bio page for the Met Museum:

See how the museum uses a custom URL in their Instagram bio to fit with its branding and make the link look even more credible.

How to use the Instagram link in bio effectively

Now that you know how to set up a link in bio landing page, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can use links in your Instagram bio to promote your business:

1. Promote a current sale or an upcoming discount. Send users to a page where they can access a link to the sale page. See how Adairs promotes an ongoing sale through its Linktree page.
   
2. Hype up a product launch. Take users to a landing page that highlights the new product with your announcement event or content, or after launch, provide full details about the product or links to purchase.
3. Send people to a landing page or a lead magnet. BigCommerce, for instance, shared a post with snippets from its Cyber Week Trends Report. The caption guided followers to the “link in bio” to get the full report.
4. Highlight your brand, product or cause with an “About” page. With character limitations in the Instagram bio section, linking to a page where people can learn more about your business or your cause is a great idea and can quickly introduce a newer business or product area to your followers.
5. Send followers to your best-selling products. If you’re using a link in bio tool, you can also share a URL to a custom landing page containing links to multiple bestsellers.
6. Link to a popular blog post or one of the latest pieces you’ve published. Many publications use a link in bio landing page to highlight multiple recent pieces of content that they’ve mentioned in Instagram posts. You can also create a URL that has all the articles you’ve mentioned on Instagram. That way, people don’t have to scramble to find the one they want to read.
7. Get followers involved with a competition or a giveaway. Instagram contests can be effective ways to both engage existing followers and appeal to new ones. Maximize the visibility of your promotion by linking it in your bio.
8. Direct people to a video or podcast you want to promote. Similar to highlighting current articles on your site, make it easy for followers to reach your longer-form media through the link in your bio.
9. Offer a free sample or demo of your product. Share a link to a page where people can sign up to get a free sample or demo. They become valuable leads since they’ll be filling out a form with their contact information.

Ready to take your link in bio to the next level?

With the right approach, adding links to your bio can be a great way to attract quality leads and move them along the conversion funnel. So make the most of the ideas and tips above to start leveraging this feature for your business. Don’t forget to check out our Instagram marketing strategy guide to find out how this fits into your overall strategy.