How to Post a Link on Facebook Without a URL

You want to share a link on Facebook, but the long, clunky URL is cluttering your caption and damaging your post's visual appeal. It doesn't have to be that way. Posting a link without displaying the messy URL is not only possible but also a common practice for creating cleaner, more professional-looking content. This guide will walk you through several methods for sharing links on Facebook, from a simple hidden trick to more creative strategies that boost engagement and drive clicks.

Understanding Facebook’s Link Preview Feature

Before diving into creative strategies, let's start with the most common and straightforward way to post a link on Facebook without showing the URL. This method relies on Facebook's built-in link preview generator. When you paste a URL into the post editor, Facebook automatically fetches information from that webpage to create a clickable preview card.

This preview typically includes:

• A prominent image (the featured image)
• The title of the webpage or article
• A short description summarizing the content
• The source domain name (e.g., yourwebsite.com)

This preview card is the link. Once it appears, the original text URL you pasted becomes unnecessary. Here’s the simple trick most brands and creators use every day.

How to Post a Link and Hide the URL (The Easy Way)

Follow these steps to create a clean post where the link preview is the only clickable element, and the URL text is removed from your caption:

1. Navigate to your Facebook Page, Group, or Profile where you want to post. Click to create a new post.
2. Copy the full URL you want to share from your browser's address bar.
3. Paste the URL into the "What's on your mind?" box.
4. Wait a few seconds. Facebook will process the link and generate the preview card right below the text editor. You’ll see the image, title, and description load in.
5. Now, here's the key step: Once the preview card has fully loaded, go back to the text box and delete the URL you just pasted.
6. The preview card will remain. You can now write your full caption, add hashtags, tag other pages, and craft the perfect message to accompany the link. The clickable card stays, but your caption is clean and free of the messy URL.
7. Click Post. Your followers will see your engaging caption and a clean, clickable visual card that directs them to your content.

This is the bread-and-butter method for sharing links professionally. It focuses the user's attention on your message and the visually appealing preview rather than a string of text.

Taking Control: How to Customize Your Link Preview

Sometimes, Facebook pulls the wrong image, an awkward title, or a truncated description. When a link preview doesn’t look right, it can hurt your click-through rate. The good news is you have control over how your links appear, you just need to set it up at the source: your website.

This is handled by something called Open Graph (OG) tags. These are small snippets of code on your website that act like instruction folders for social media platforms. They tell Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and others exactly which title, description, and image to use when someone shares a link from your site.

For most people using a content management system like WordPress, you don't need to know how to code to manage this. SEO plugins make it easy:

• For WordPress Users: Plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math have dedicated "Social" tabs in the page/post editor. Here, you can manually set the specific OG title, OG description, and upload a custom OG image that will be used for Facebook and other social platforms. A typical size for an OG image is 1200 x 630 pixels.
• For Other Website Builders (Shopify, Squarespace, Wix): These platforms typically include built-in SEO and social sharing settings where you can define the "featured image" or "social sharing image" for each page, product, or blog post.

By presetting these tags, you ensure that every time your link is shared - by you or others - it appears exactly as you intended, reinforcing your brand and maximizing its visual appeal.

Creative Strategies to Share Links Visually

While mastering the link preview is fundamental, it's not the only way to drive traffic from Facebook. In a visually driven feed, sometimes the best strategy is to let an image or video do the talking, with the link playing a supporting role. Here are some powerful alternative methods.

1. Share a High-Quality Image or Video with the Link in the Caption

Native photos and videos often get significantly more reach and engagement on Facebook than posts with external links. The platform's algorithm tends to favor content that keeps users on the app longer. You can use this to your advantage.

The Strategy:

1. Create a visually stunning asset: Design a beautiful graphic, share a high-quality photo, or edit a short, catchy video related to the link's content. This visual becomes the primary focus of your post.
2. Write compelling copy: Craft a caption that tells a story, asks a question, or provides value. Make it engaging enough that people want to learn more.
3. Place the link directly in the caption: Towards the end of your caption, include a call to action and paste the link. To keep it tidy, you can use a URL shortening service like Bitly to create a branded, shorter link that doesn't look messy.

Example: A food blogger wants to share a new recipe. Instead of directly posting the link and letting the preview generate, they post a stunning hero shot of the finished dish. The caption reads: "Our new creamy tomato soup is the perfect weeknight comfort food! The secret is in the roasted garlic. Want the full recipe? Grab it here: bit.ly/tomat-soup-recipe"

Here, the mouth-watering photo is what stops the scroll, not the link preview. The link is right there for those who are drawn in.

2. Use Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons on Your Facebook Page

If you run a Facebook business Page, you have access to powerful tools designed for driving actions, including built-in Call-to-Action buttons. These are prominent, clearly labeled buttons that tell people exactly what to do next.

Where you'll find them:

• Boosted Posts &, Ads: When you create an ad or boost a post, you can add a CTA button like "Learn More," "Shop Now," "Sign Up," "Book Now", or "Download." You assign your destination URL to this button, and it appears neatly below your post's visual. There's no separate URL cluttering your caption.
• Page Cover Photo/Video: Your Page's main CTA button (e.g., "Contact Us," "Visit Website") sits right below your cover art. You can direct people to this button in your posts with phrases like "Click the 'Shop Now' button on our profile to see the new collection!"

CTA buttons are a clean, official, and effective way to drive traffic because they remove all guesswork for the user.

3. Use the Link Sticker in Facebook Stories

Facebook Stories are a prime spot for engagement and a fantastic place to share links without showing a URL. Stories are full-screen, immersive, and feel more immediate than feed posts.

The Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Open Facebook and tap to create a new Story.
2. Upload your photo or video.
3. Tap the "Sticker" icon at the top (it looks like a smiling, peeling square).
4. Select the "Link" sticker.
5. Paste your destination URL and tap "Done."
6. You can now pinch, drag, and resize the link sticker and place it anywhere you want on your Story. You can also tap it to change its color to better match your creative.

The link is completely hidden behind a neat, tappable sticker. This is arguably the cleanest method available and is perfect for time-sensitive promotions, new blog posts, or product drops.

4. Leverage Photo Album Descriptions

Here’s a great hack for e-commerce brands, realtors, or anyone wanting to link multiple products or pages from one cohesive post.

Here's how it works: Instead of creating a single-image post, create a photo album. For each photo within that album, you can write a unique description, and that description can contain its own clickable link. Your main post caption introduces the album, and each image serves as a jumping-off point to a specific destination.

Example: A clothing boutique launches a new summer collection. They create a "Summer 2024 Lookbook" photo album. The album contains five photos, each featuring a different outfit. In the description for the photo of the floral dress, there's a direct link to that product page. In the description for the photo of the sandals, there's a link to the footwear category. The main post caption says, "Our Summer 2024 Lookbook is here! Click through the photos to shop each look directly."

This method turns a simple post into an interactive mini-catalog, keeping your feed and captions clean while providing multiple targeted links.

Final Thoughts

Sharing a link on Facebook without showing the raw URL is all about creating a better user experience. By using the link preview feature correctly, leveraging engaging visuals, and taking advantage of built-in tools like Stories and CTA buttons, you can drive traffic effectively while maintaining a clean, professional, and visually appealing feed that strengthens your brand.

We built Postbase because managing this kind of visually-driven, multi-platform strategy can quickly become overwhelming. Juggling the right image sizes for link previews, scheduling Reels and Stories that need link stickers, and keeping a bird's-eye view of your entire content calendar is exactly an area we wanted to simplify. Our platform is designed for today’s social reality - where short-form video and platform-specific formats are not an afterthought, and where your tools should just feel like they work with you, not against you.