Now, it’s time to look at the results of this test and see how the link in bio affects your Instagram post.
Results
All of the Instagram posts with “link in bio” in the caption performed slightly better than those without.
To compare the efficiency of Instagram posts with and without “link in bio,” I used the Instagram Report from a third party. From the Instagram table, it’s possible to categorize posts by likes and comments.
Our Wednesday duplicate post featured a happy and amazing couple holding a beautiful bouquet.
I posted this on February 10 and once more a week later on February 17, both at 6:02 p.m. (why not!). The caption was not different at all… except on February 17, I added “link in bio.”
Link in bio post: got 117 likes and 2 comments.
No link in bio post: got 86 likes and 1 comment.
The winner? Link in bio. That’s greater than a 30% increase in likes. (The comment sample size might be too small to count. Bummer.)
Let’s take a look at our Thursday duplicate posts. This photo had no people in it, only a beautifully set long table, ready for a wedding reception in the mountains. I posted this on February 11 (no “link in bio”) and once more on February 18 (with “link in bio”) at 8:01 p.m. on both days.
Link in bio post: got 60 likes and 1 comment.
No link in bio post: got 60 likes and 2 comments.
The winner? We need to call this one a draw.
On Saturday, February 13, and Saturday, February 20, I once more posted duplicate photos, this time of an on-trend wedding dress.
Link in bio post: got 45 likes and 0 comments.
No link in bio post: got 40 likes and 2 comments.
The winner? Link in bio. That’s about a 15% increase in likes. Not too shabby!
Smarting slightly from the shortage of comments, I popped into Instagram’s in-app analytics (a.k.a. Instagram Insights) to see if I could glean more. And once I sorted by Reach, I discovered something very interesting…
All the posts with “link in bio” were seen by more followers.
Here’s a comparison chart:
| Post | “link in bio” reach | without “link in bio” reach |
| Couple | 1,700 | 1,333 |
| Table | 1,372 | 1,173 |
| Dress | 1,154 | 974 |
What do the results mean?
Once I started this test, I was expecting that, at some point, I’d be caught up in a rousing discussion and analysis with expert social media strategists, dissecting the meaning of the results into the wee hours of the morning. I was ready to slam on a desk and shout, “Dammit, Brayden, the people need answers!”
However honestly… I don’t think I have to waste their brainpower on this one. It feels pretty cut-and-dry to me.
If there’s some kind of major Instagram collusion happening to bury “link in bio” comments, it didn’t happen over the past two weeks of the test.
Actually, no matter why it is, all of the posts that included “link in bio” truly performed better. Not necessarily by an enormous margin, however, they all reached more eyeballs and captured more likes.
Why were comments so sparse? Well, that’s probably more of an individual problem to figure out. I may be staying up all night stewing over that instead.
This obviously was just a quick-and-dirty experiment with a small sample size. However, my conclusion is that you can link in bio to your content, without worrying about retribution by Instagram.
In this always-changing world, we’re just attempting to outsmart the algorithm at every turn. The more data, the better.