How to Make a Link Sticker on Instagram

The Instagram Link Sticker is one of the most powerful tools for turning your followers into website visitors, email subscribers, or customers, and it's thankfully available to every single account. This guide breaks down exactly how to create a link sticker, customize it to get more clicks, and use it strategically to grow your brand. We’ll cover the step-by-step process of adding a link to your Story and share best practices for driving real traffic.

What is the Instagram Link Sticker, Anyway?

You’ve probably seen it before: a clickable sticker in someone’s Instagram Story that, when tapped, takes you directly to an external website. The "Link Sticker" officially replaced the old "swipe-up" feature that was once exclusive to accounts with over 10,000 followers. This was a game-changer because an active link in an Instagram Story is one of the very few ways to send people directly off the platform to a URL of your choice.

For brands and creators, this sticker is your direct line from a compelling visual on Instagram to your blog, a product page, a YouTube video, a landing page, or a newsletter signup form. Instead of just "selling" an idea, you can provide an immediate, frictionless path for your audience to take action, making it an essential part of any Instagram marketing strategy.

How to Make a Link Sticker on Instagram: A Step-by-Step Guide

Adding a link to your Instagram Story is straightforward, but knowing each step and option will help you do it quickly and effectively. Here’s exactly how to get it done.

Step 1: Create your Instagram Story

Start by creating the content for your Story. You can either take a new photo or video directly within the Instagram app or upload one from your camera roll. For the best results, design your Story visual with the link sticker in mind. Think about leaving some clear visual space where the sticker can sit without covering up important parts of your image or video.

• Take a photo or record a video.
• Select an existing image or video from your device's gallery.

Step 2: Access the Instagram Sticker Tray

Once your photo or video is loaded in the Story editor, look for the sticker icon at the top of your screen. It looks like a square smiley face. Tapping this will open the sticker tray, where you’ll find everything from GIFs and music to polls and quizzes.

Step 3: Select the "Link" Sticker

In the sticker tray, you should see an option labeled "LINK." It’s often near the top. Tap it to open the link-adding interface. If you can't find it right away, you can use the search bar at the top of the sticker tray and type in "link" to bring it up.

Step 4: Add Your URL and Customize the Sticker Text

This is the most important step. A new window will appear with two fields:

• URL Field: This is where you paste the exact web address you want people to visit. Make sure you copy and paste it correctly. I highly recommend previewing the link in a browser first to confirm it works and leads to the correct page. Always use the full URL, including the `https://www.` part.
• Sticker Text Field (Optional but Recommended): By default, the sticker will display the domain of the link (e.g., yourwebsite.com). However, you can and should customize this with a strong call-to-action (CTA). Instead of a raw URL, you can write something more inviting or informative.

For example, if you're linking to a new blog post about "Healthy Breakfast Recipes," your sticker text could be:

• "READ THE BLOG POST"
• "GET THE RECIPES HERE"
• "HEALTHY MEAL IDEAS"

After you’ve added your URL and customized the text, tap "Done" in the top right corner.

Step 5: Position and Resize the Link Sticker

Now, your link sticker will appear on your Story content. You can move it around, resize it, and change its color to make it fit your visual style.

• Move it: Tap and drag the sticker to place it wherever you want. Position it somewhere it won’t be missed, but make sure it doesn’t cover up key visual elements of your content.
• Resize it: Use two fingers to pinch and zoom, just like you would with any other sticker, to make it larger or smaller.
• Change the color: Tap the sticker while it's on your screen. This will cycle through a few preset color options (usually blue/purple, black/white, and a clear/white version). Choose the one that stands out best against your background.

Step 6: Publish Your Story

Once you're happy with the placement and look of your link sticker, just share your Story as you normally would by tapping "Your Story" in the bottom-left corner. Your followers can now tap the sticker to visit your link!

How to Get More Clicks: Best Practices for Using Link Stickers

Simply adding a link isn't enough, you need to convince people to tap it. This requires a little bit of strategy. Here are some pro tips for making your link stickers more effective.

1. Always Use a Strong Call-to-Action (CTA)

Don’t just drop a sticker and expect clicks. You need to tell people what to do and why they should do it. Your visual content, any text overlays, and the sticker text itself should all work together to create a compelling CTA.

• Give Context First: Use a couple of Story frames to talk about your topic before you drop the link. If you’re linking to a new product, show it off in a video first. If it's a blog post, share a key takeaway or an interesting stat to hook your audience.
• Use Action-Oriented Language: Phrases like "Shop Now," "Learn More," "Read the Article," "Download Here," or "Sign Up" are direct and effective. Tell them exactly what will happen when they tap.

2. Draw Visual Attention to the Sticker

The Instagram Story interface can be visually busy. Your link sticker has to compete for attention with everything else on the screen. Use other Story features to make it stand out.

• Use GIFs: Search for GIFs like "tap here," "new post," or an animated arrow pointing to your link sticker. This movement draws the eye directly to the clickable element.
• Create a "CTA Zone": Add text over your image or video that points to the sticker. For example, add text that says, “Full tutorial at the link below!” with an arrow emoji pointing toward your sticker.
• Choose Contrasting Colors: Tap through the color options for your sticker to find one that pops against your background image or video.

3. Place The Sticker Strategically

Placement is everything. Avoid putting the sticker too close to the very top or bottom of the screen where it might be obstructed by the Instagram UI elements (like your profile picture or the message reply bar). A good spot is typically in the lower middle third of the screen, where it’s easily tappable.

4. Don't Link and Ghost

Your Story should provide value on its own, not just serve as a billboard for a link. Share beautiful photography, an entertaining video, or an informative tip. The link should feel like a natural next step for users who want more, not an abrupt ad.

5. Track Your Performance

How do you know if your link stickers are working? Three words: track your data.

• Instagram Insights: If you have a Business or Creator account, you can swipe up on a published Story to see its performance. Instagram provides a "Link Clicks" metric so you can see exactly how many people tapped.
• URL Shorteners & UTMs: For more detailed analytics, use a tool like Bitly to shorten your links. These tools often provide click tracking. For advanced tracking, learn how to add UTM parameters to your URLs. This will allow you to see the traffic coming from your Instagram Stories directly in your Google Analytics, so you can measure not just clicks but what people do once they arrive on your site.

What About Reels and Feed Posts?

This is a common question, and the answer is unfortunately straightforward: as of now, you cannot add a tappable link sticker directly into an Instagram Feed post or a Reel. The clickable link sticker remains an exclusive feature for Instagram Stories.

So how do you drive traffic from these other placements? The tried-and-true method is still to direct people to the “link in your bio.” Here’s how to do that effectively:

1. Add your most important link to the website field in your Instagram profile.
2. In your Reel or post captions, include a clear CTA telling people to "Tap the link in my bio to learn more" or "Find this product at the link in my bio!"
3. You can also add a text overlay to your Reel that says "Link in Bio" to catch the attention of users who don't read captions.

For accounts that need to promote multiple links, tools like Linktree or Carrd allow you to create a simple landing page that houses all your important links. You put your single "link-in-bio page" URL in your profile, which then acts as a gateway to all your other content.

Final Thoughts

The Instagram Link Sticker democratized traffic-driving on the platform, giving every creator and brand a simple way to connect their audience with external content. By following the steps above and using strong CTAs, you can turn your Stories from passive content into active generators for leads, sales, and community growth.

Once you’ve mastered adding links, you can start planning your content more strategically. Instead of thinking post-by-post, you can build entire campaigns. We created Postbase with exactly this in mind, our visual calendar makes it easy to map out your content for the week or month ahead, seeing where your Stories, Reels, and posts can complement each other to drive clicks to the link in your bio or special Story promotions.