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How to Add a Link in a Post in LinkedIn

Adding links to your LinkedIn posts allows you to provide additional context, resources, or calls-to-action to your connections. However, LinkedIn has specific guidelines around linking that you need to follow to ensure your posts are effective and compliant.

Why Add Links to LinkedIn Posts?

Here are some of the key reasons you may want to include links in your LinkedIn posts:

  • Drive traffic to your website or blog: You can include links to your latest blog posts, resources, or services to generate more website traffic.
  • Share third-party content: Linking to useful third-party content like articles and research helps position you as an expert in your field.
  • Direct users to sign up forms or contact pages: Calls-to-action allow you to convert post readers into leads by linking them to signup forms, bookings pages, or contact pages.
  • Provide evidence to support your points: Linking to credible external sources helps boost your credibility and the strength of your arguments.

LinkedIn Link Guidelines

When adding links to your LinkedIn posts, keep the following LinkedIn guidelines in mind:

  • Links must lead to legitimate destinations and cannot be disingenuous or misleading.
  • Avoid linking to sales or promotional content excessively. LinkedIn aims for a balance of value and promotion.
  • Link thumbnail images are automatically generated. To ensure they render properly, links must contain quality meta descriptions and images.
  • UTM campaign tracking parameters appended to URLs are supported. However, URL shorteners and affiliate links are not permitted.

How to Insert a Link in a LinkedIn Post

On Desktop

Follow these simple steps to insert a link in your regular LinkedIn posts on desktop:

  1. When writing your post, highlight the text you want to link.
  2. Click the chain link icon in the formatting toolbar.
  3. Paste or type the URL in the pop-up box and click Apply.

The text will now appear with an underline indicating it is linked.

On Mobile

Adding links on mobile takes an extra step:

  1. Write out your entire post first without any links.
  2. Once your post is written, go back and highlight the text you want linked.
  3. Tap the + icon to open the link pop-up.
  4. Paste or type your URL and tap Apply.

The link will then be inserted.

Best Practices for LinkedIn Post Links

To maximize the impact of your LinkedIn post links, keep these best practices in mind:

  • Vary your anchor text instead of repeatedly linking the same phrase.
  • Place links at logical break points within your posts for better readability.
  • Use keywords relevant to your industry as anchor text to boost discovery.
  • Link to authority domains whenever possible to improve click-through rates.
  • Set UTM tracking parameters to analyze traffic driven by your LinkedIn links.
  • Check preview images are rendering properly before publishing your post.
  • Test your links to make sure they are working, relevant, and up-to-date.

Advanced Linking Options

In addition to regular post links, LinkedIn supports a few advanced linking options:

Embedded Interactive Links

Interactive links allow you to embed clickable links directly onto images and videos in your LinkedIn posts.

To add an interactive link on mobile:

  1. Create an image or video post.
  2. Tap the chain link icon at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Enter your URL details and desired link text.
  4. Move and resize the link sticker on your image.

This creates an overlay that users can click/tap for easy access to your link.

Link Previews

When you share an external URL, LinkedIn automatically scrapes details from the page to generate a preview snippet with a title, description, and image.

Preview generation is automatic but you can optimize link posts by:

  • Ensuring your pages contain structured data markup.
  • Populating quality <meta> descriptions and images on each page.

This gives LinkedIn the best information to render informative previews.

Profile Links

You can directly link to other LinkedIn member profiles from your posts which is great for giving shoutouts and mentions.

To link a profile, type @ followed by the member’s first and last name. Select the matching name from the dropdown list and their profile will automatically link.

Link Tracking with UTM Parameters

UTM tracking codes allow you to tag your LinkedIn links to monitor their performance in analytics platforms like Google Analytics.

Append campaign attributes to your URLs using this structure:

?utm_source=linkedin 
&utm_medium=social 
&utm_campaign=example-campaign

This lets you identify traffic, conversions, and ROI driven specifically by your LinkedIn posts.

Implementing UTM tracking provides critical insight into the ROI of your LinkedIn company page and content strategy.

Conclusion

Adding quality links in your LinkedIn posts, from company page updates to employee posts and Sponsored Content, is an impactful yet underutilized tactic.

With the strategies outlined here, you can start driving more value from your LinkedIn links. Just remember to always keep them relevant, thoughtful, and beneficial to your community.

The ability to hyperlink text and embed interactive links means there is huge potential to boost traffic, leads, and visibility for both personal profiles and company pages.

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