With speculation floating around in Instagram circles as to the elements that can impact reach, IG chief Adam Mosseri has taken the time to address one specific rumor doing the rounds, in relation to the use of “link in bio” in your IG captions and content.
Various IG creators have speculated that the Instagram algorithm restricts the reach of posts that use this term, because these posts:
- Could encourage users to tap on links that take them off platform (which IG doesn’t want)
- Include a term that’s been overused by scammers and spammers
- Could encourage users to tap on questionable links of other kinds, impacting their IG experience
The justifications for a potential restriction make sense, but Mosseri says that there’s no active limitation in place.
As explained by Mosseri:
“I wanna take a second just to debunk a myth I hear often […] This one is that if you say ‘link in bio’ it’s going to decrease your reach. That is not true. You’re more than welcome to say ‘link in bio,’ it will not affect your reach one way or another. Adding ‘link in bio’ can be super helpful, I do it all the time, so please feel comfortable doing it as much as you like.”
So, pretty clear, Instagram is not restricting the reach of posts that include the term “link in bio,” so says the chief of the platform himself.
But various people have seen decreased reach for posts that include this term, and have conducted their own anecdotal experiments to prove such.
So what gives?
Well, it could be that users are putting too much reliance on that link to provide full context, which means that the post itself is less engaging as a result. Maybe, or maybe there’s a level of user fatigue with that term, which leads to less engagement.
Whatever the reason, Mosseri says that it’s not them, so stop yelling at him (in text form) about it.
You can ignore those fear mongering posts about this.