How to Share a Website on Facebook

Sharing your website on Facebook seems straightforward, but there's a surprising amount of strategy that goes into turning a simple link paste into a powerful driver of traffic and engagement. We'll cover everything from the basic steps to the technical tweaks that make your links look professional and the content strategies that make people actually want to click. This guide will walk you through exactly how to share your site effectively, whether you're posting to your profile, a business Page, or a group.

The Absolute Basics: How to Share a Link

Let's start with the fundamental mechanics. The process is similar across most parts of Facebook, whether you're using a personal profile, a business Page, or posting in a Group.

On Your Timeline or a Business Page Feed

This is the most common way to share content. It's where your followers and friends will see updates from you.

1. Navigate to the top of your News Feed (personal profile) or your Page's feed.
2. Click the "What's on your mind?" box to start creating a new post.
3. Simply paste the full URL of the website or specific page you want to share (e.g., https://www.yourwebsite.com/blog/your-awesome-post).
4. Wait a second or two. Facebook will automatically fetch information from the website and generate a "link preview." This preview typically includes a headline, a short description, and a featured image.
5. Once the preview appears, you can delete the URL text from your post. The preview box itself is now the clickable link, which makes your post look much cleaner.
6. Write a compelling caption above the link preview. This is your chance to add context, ask a question, or tell people why they should click.
7. Click the Post button to publish it.

That's it. You've shared a link. But as you'll see, getting that link preview to look just right is where the real work - and opportunity - lies.

Make Your Links Look Irresistible: Optimizing for Facebook

Ever pasted a link and Facebook pulled the wrong image, a weird headline, or no description at all? It's a common frustration, and it makes your post look unprofessional. The reason this happens is that your website isn't giving Facebook the right instructions. You can fix this using something called Open Graph (OG) tags.

Think of OG tags as little snippets of code in your website's HTML that act like a digital business card for each page. They tell social platforms like Facebook exactly which title, description, and image to display in a link preview. Getting these right is one of the most important things you can do to make your website content shareable.

The Four Essential Open Graph Tags

These tags go in the <,head>, section of your webpage's HTML. If you use a CMS like WordPress, platforms like Shopify, or a website builder like Squarespace, tools like SEO plugins (e.g., Yoast SEO or Rank Math) give a lot of control over these tags without you needing to manually edit any of them yourself.

1. og:title
2. This tag sets the headline for your link preview. It should be compelling and accurately reflect the page's content. Keep it under 60 characters to avoid it getting cut off.
3. <,meta property="og:title" content="The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Podcast in 2024" />,
4. og:description
5. This provides the short blurb that appears under the headline. It's your chance to hook the reader and convince them to click. Aim for around 1-2 sentences, keeping it under 155 characters.
6. <,meta property="og:description" content="Learn everything you need to know about choosing a microphone, recording your first episode, and getting your voice heard by thousands of listeners." />,
7. og:image
8. This is arguably the most important tag. It specifies the image that will be shown in the preview. Visuals grab attention in the feed, so a high-quality, relevant image is a must. For the best display on high-resolution devices, use an image that is at least 1200 x 630 pixels.
9. <,meta property="og:image" content="https://www.yourwebsite.com/images/podcast-guide-fb.jpg" />,
10. og:url
11. This tag defines the "canonical" URL for the page. It ensures that all shares and likes point to the correct address, consolidating all your engagement metrics into one place.
12. <,meta property="og:url" content="https://www.yourwebsite.com/blog/start-a-podcast-2024" />,

Troubleshooting with the Facebook Sharing Debugger

What if you've updated your OG tags, but Facebook is still showing the old, cached information? This is where the Facebook Sharing Debugger tool comes in.

The Facebook Sharing Debugger is a free tool that lets you see exactly what information Facebook sees when you share a URL. It also forces Facebook to clear its cache and pull the latest version of your OG tags.

• How to use it: Just paste the URL of your webpage into the Debugger and press "Debug". It will show you a preview of exactly what Facebook is seeing when it tries to scrape it.
• Force a Refresh: If things look outdated, click the "Scrape Again" button. This compels Facebook to revisit your page and update its cache with your new OG tags. Do this every time you update a title, description, or featured image to make sure new shares look correct.

Creative Strategies for Engaging Website Shares

Pasting a link with a beautiful preview is a great start, but it's not enough. Your success depends on the context you provide around the link. Your goal is to stop the scroll and earn that click.

1. Write Captions That Start a Conversation

Never just drop a link and walk away. The caption you write to accompany it is just as important as the link itself.

• Ask a Good Question: Engage your audience by asking a simple question related to the link's content. For example, if your article is about remote work tips, you could say, "Which remote work hack has been a total game-changer for you?"
• Pull a Fascinating Quote or Statistic: Grab the most surprising or fascinating statistic or quote from your article and use it as the hook. For instance: "Did you know that more than 56% of all online traffic comes from mobile? Find out why in our post."
• Tell a Mini-story: Give your readers some personal context. For example: "I wasted years making this one marketing mistake. After I figured it out, our traffic doubled. I wrote down the entire story and what I learned here."

2. Place Your Website in Different Facebook Locations

The feed isn't the only place to get eyeballs on your website. Think about all the prime real estate Facebook offers.

• Your Page Profile/Info Section: The first place you should add your website's URL is the Profile and Info section of your Facebook Page. This is like a permanent sign for your website that's visible to everyone who visits your page.
• In Facebook Stories: Facebook Stories are a fantastic, casual way to share a link. Use the "Link Sticker" to add a direct, tappable link to any image or video Story. This is especially good for timely promotions, new blog posts, or special announcements. To do it, create a Story, tap the sticker icon at the top, and select "Link." Then you just put your URL in.
• In Relevant Facebook Groups: If you are part of an active community where sharing a link to your website is relevant, valuable, and not spammy, it can be a great way to drive high-quality traffic. Always make sure to read the group rules first and provide some value with your post instead of just dropping a link.
• Pinning a Post: On your Facebook Page, you can pin an important post to the top of your feed. This is great for your most important piece of content, like your most popular blog post or a page that describes your core services. When anyone visits your page, it will be the first thing they see.

3. Use Compelling Visuals to Support It

While Open Graph images produce a nice link preview, you can also try another strategy: posting a high-quality photo, infographic, or short video natively and then adding the link to your website in the post's description or in the first comment.

Why take this approach? By doing this, you are signaling to the Facebook algorithm that your content is a native photo or video post, which often performs better in the feed than posts that only include a link. Experiment with both approaches to see what works best for your audience.

4. Pay to Play with Facebook Ads

If you have an important piece of content or a landing page on your website that you want to guarantee a certain amount of people will see, running a Facebook Ad campaign with an objective of sending traffic (often referred to as "Link Clicks") is the most direct way to do it. With paid ads, you are able to target your audience with incredible specificity, ensuring your link is getting in front of the right people.

Final Thoughts

Sharing your website on Facebook goes far beyond simply copying and pasting a URL. By taking control of your OG tags, crafting compelling captions, and being strategic about where and how you share, you can turn your Facebook presence into a consistent source of meaningful traffic. The key is to move beyond spammy link dropping and treat every share as an opportunity to offer value and start a conversation.

Putting all of this advice into a consistent strategy is where the real growth happens, and that's exactly what we focused on when building Postbase. Planning your posts out on a visual calendar allows you to see the big picture, ensure you have a healthy mix of content, and schedule everything at the perfect time without last-minute scrambling. At Postbase, we designed a simple, drag-and-drop tool that helps you manage content across all your platforms, so you can focus on creating great stuff instead of just trying to keep up. Take a look at how we're making social media feel manageable again at Postbase.