How to Post a Link on Facebook

Sharing a link on Facebook seems simple enough, but getting people to actually click it is an entirely different game. Pasting a URL is just the first step, crafting a post that grabs attention, looks great in the feed, and follows platform best practices is how you turn a simple share into meaningful traffic for your website, blog, or product. This guide will walk you through everything from the basic steps to advanced strategies for making your links irresistible everywhere on Facebook, from the main feed to Stories and Reels.

The Absolute Basics: A Step-by-Step Guide to Posting a Link

Let's start with the fundamentals. Whether you're on a desktop computer or your phone, the core process of sharing a link on your Facebook Page, personal profile, or in a Group is the same. It all revolves around Facebook’s link preview feature.

On a Desktop Computer:

1. Find Your Link: Go to the article, product page, or video you want to share and copy the full URL from your browser's address bar.
2. Open the Post Composer: Navigate to the Facebook Page, Group, or profile where you want to post. Click into the "What's on your mind?" or "Create post" box.
3. Paste the Link: Simply paste the URL you copied into the composer. Give it a second, and Facebook will automatically generate a link preview. This preview typically pulls in a featured image, a title (headline), and a short description from the webpage.
4. Add Your Commentary: Once the preview appears, you can delete the raw URL you pasted from the text box. The preview itself is clickable and will remain. Now, write your own introductory text. This is your chance to add context, ask a question, or give your audience a reason to click.
5. Post It: Click "Post" to share it immediately, or use the scheduling option to have it go live later.

On the Mobile App (iOS or Android):

1. Copy the Link: Open your mobile browser or app (like YouTube or a news app) and find the content you want to share. Use the "Share" button and select "Copy Link."
2. Go to the Facebook App: Open the app and go to the Page, Group, or profile you're posting to.
3. Create a Post: Tap the "What's on your mind?" field to open the post creator.
4. Paste and Wait: Tap and hold in the text field and select "Paste." Just like on desktop, wait a moment for the link preview to load beneath your text.
5. Write Your Caption: Delete the ugly URL from the text box and write your engaging caption above the link preview.
6. Tap to Post: Hit the "Post" button to share.

Beyond the Basics: Making Your Links Actually Clickable

Just dropping a link isn't enough. People scroll through hundreds of posts a day. To earn their click, you have to optimize your entire post, from the opening sentence to the image in the preview.

Craft Compelling Introductory Text

The text above your link preview is your sales pitch. A lazy link drop with no context is a wasted opportunity. Your goal is to spark curiosity so people have to see what's on the other side of that click.

Instead of this: "Check out our new blog post."

Try one of these approaches:

• Ask a Question: "Have you been making this common marketing mistake? We break down the one thing you need to fix this week to see better results."
• Share a Powerful Quote: "'The best content doesn't feel like marketing.' We pulled our favorite takeaways from our latest guide on building an organic brand."
• State a Surprising Statistic: "Did you know that 85% of users watch videos with the sound off? Here's how to create social videos that grab attention without making a peep."
• Create an "Open Loop": "We tried three different methods for batch-creating content, but only one of them actually saved us time. Here’s what we discovered."

Controlling and Fixing Your Link Preview

Sometimes, the link preview Facebook generates looks... less than perfect. Maybe it pulls the wrong image, an old headline, or a jumbled description. This happens when a website's Open Graph (OG) tags aren't set up correctly. OG tags are small snippets of code on a webpage that tell social platforms like Facebook exactly which image, title, and description to use for a link preview.

If you're sharing a link from your own website, you have the power to fix this. Work with your web developer or use a tool like Yoast for WordPress to define your OG tags:

• og:title: This should be your concise, compelling headline (ideally under 60 characters).
• og:description: A short, engaging summary (around 150 characters) of what the page is about.
• og:image: This is the most important one. Specify a high-quality, eye-catching image. The ideal size is 1200 x 630 pixels.

Using the Facebook Sharing Debugger

What if you've updated the OG tags on your blog post, but Facebook still shows the old preview? That's because Facebook "caches," or saves, the data from the first time a link was shared.

To fix this, use the Facebook Sharing Debugger.

1. Go to the Sharing Debugger tool.
2. Paste the URL of your article or page into the field and click "Debug."
3. The tool will show you exactly what information Facebook sees and flag any missing OG tags.
4. If you recently updated your page, click the "Scrape Again" button. This forces Facebook to re-fetch the URL and pull in the latest title, description, and image.

This is an invaluable tool for ensuring your content looks professional and polished every time it's shared.

Advanced Strategies: Sharing Links in Different Facebook Formats

The standard feed post isn't the only place to share a link. To maximize your reach, you should be leveraging all of Facebook's content formats.

How to Post a Link in a Facebook Story

Stories are a perfect place for more informal, immediate calls to action. For a long time, this feature was only available to accounts with a large following, but now everyone can use the Link Sticker.

1. Create a Story by tapping "Create story" and choosing a photo or video.
2. Tap the sticker icon (the smiley face square) at the top of the screen.
3. Select the "Link" sticker.
4. Paste your destination URL and tap "Done."
5. You can now pinch, drag, and tap the sticker to change its position and color variant.
6. Pro Tip: Don't just place the sticker blindly. Use GIFs, arrows, or text like "Tap here!" to visually encourage people to interact with the link sticker.

Sharing Links with Facebook Reels

While you can't add a clickable link directly in a Reel video itself, you can still use this high-reach format to drive traffic. People are increasingly consuming content through short-form video, so ignoring Reels is a mistake.

• The Caption Link: Mention in your video that the link is available in the caption. Paste the link into the caption of your Reel. While it's not clickable, motivated viewers can still copy and paste it into their browser.
• The Comment Link: A better strategy is to mention the link in the video ("Full details in the comments!") and then be the first person to comment on your own Reel with the clickable link. You can then pin this comment so it's always at the top.
• The "Link in Bio" Call-to-Action: The most common method, borrowed from Instagram, is to direct people to the link in your Page's bio. It adds an extra step for the user but keeps your video clean.

Link Sharing Etiquette in Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups can be an incredible source of engaged traffic, but you need to play by the rules. Blindly dropping your links in a dozen groups is a quick path to getting kicked out and banned as a spammer.

• Read the Rules First: Almost every well-run Group has rules about self-promotion and link sharing. Some have dedicated days for it, while others ban it entirely. Always check the rules before posting.
• Provide Value Before You Ask: Don't make your first post in a new group a link to your content. Spend time answering questions, participating in discussions, and becoming a recognized member of the community. People are far more likely to check out a link from someone they recognize and trust.
• Frame it as a Solution: When you do share a link, don't just post it. Frame it as the answer to a question someone asked or a resource that the community will find genuinely helpful.

Final Thoughts

Posting a link on Facebook is a simple action, but driving real engagement and clicks requires a thoughtful strategy. By crafting compelling copy, optimizing your link previews, and choosing the right format for your audience, you transform a basic share into a powerful tool for growing your brand or business.

As you start experimenting with link posts, Stories, and Reels, it can get tricky to keep track of everything across multiple accounts and platforms. At Postbase, we built our visual content calendar to solve this exact problem. You can see your entire strategy at a glance, schedule everything in advance, and get a clear picture of what's going live where and when, all without fighting a clunky interface that feels a decade old.