How to add a link to an Instagram story without 10,000 followers
Learning how to add a link to an Instagram story is straightforward once you know where to look. Instagram has special tools for content creators and business accounts that allow them to publish content more easily, and to control their audience. You may have seen that some Instagram accounts can post links in their stories. This feature was reserved for users that had 10,000 or more followers. It is now available for everyone, regardless of their follower count.
How to Add a Link to an Instagram Story
The option to add a link to an Instagram story is available for all accounts. The number of followers that you have does not matter, and you can use the feature on both a public and private account.
How to Add a Link to Your Instagram Story: Step-by-Step
Follow these steps to add a link to your Instagram story using the Link sticker.
- Copy the link to your clipboard so that it’s ready for pasting.
- Open Instagram.
- Swipe right to go to the Story screen.
- Take a photo or video, or pick one from the camera roll.
- Tap the Sticker button.
- Select the Link sticker.
- Paste the link into the sticker field.
- Customize the sticker text to something descriptive — such as “Read the full guide” or “Shop now” — instead of leaving the default URL text. This makes the sticker more inviting and gives viewers a clear reason to tap.
- Tap the sticker to cycle through the available color variations and choose one that stands out against your Story background.
- Drag the sticker to a position that is clearly visible. Avoid placing it along the very top or bottom edges of the screen, where Instagram’s own UI elements — the progress bar at the top and the reply box at the bottom — can overlap it and make it harder to tap.
- Add a clear call-to-action directly on the Story image or video itself, such as “Tap to register” or “Read the full guide,” so viewers know exactly what to expect before they tap the sticker.
- Post the image/video to your story.
- After publishing, open your own Story, tap the link sticker, and confirm the link loads correctly on mobile before your audience starts viewing it.
Opening Links in an Instagram Story
The original option for adding a link to a story required that users swipe up to go to the link. The sticker works differently. To open a link in an Instagram story;
- Go to the Instagram story with the link.
- Tap once on the link sticker.
- Tap on the Visit Link tooltip.
- The link will open in your default browser.
The link sticker will offer some hint as to which website you will be redirected to, but if it isn’t a popular website, be careful. It’s unlikely that a phone will be infected by tapping on a malicious link, but you shouldn’t take the chance. Don’t tap on links if you’re following unknown or untrustworthy accounts. According to Instagram’s official guidance on story links, the platform displays the destination domain to help viewers make an informed decision before tapping.
What Should You Link to From an Instagram Story?
Knowing how to add a link to an Instagram story is only half the picture — choosing the right destination is just as important. Here are the best options depending on what you want to achieve.
- A product page. If you’re running a sale or promotion, link directly to the relevant product so viewers don’t have to search for it.
- An event or workshop registration page. Drive sign-ups by linking straight to the booking or registration form.
- A blog post or article. If your Story teases a topic, link to the full write-up so interested viewers can read more.
- A booking or appointment page. Service businesses can link directly to a scheduling tool to convert viewers into clients.
- A link-in-bio landing page. If you have several offers running at once, a link-in-bio tool lets you send viewers to one page where they can choose what they want.
Whatever destination you choose, make sure the Story’s message matches what viewers will see when they arrive. If your Story says “Get 20% off shoes,” the link should land on the shoe sale page — not your homepage. Message matching keeps viewers engaged and reduces wasted taps.
What to Do if You Can’t Find the Link Sticker
If the Link sticker doesn’t appear in your sticker tray, one of the following steps should fix it.
- Update the Instagram app. The Link sticker requires a reasonably up-to-date version of Instagram. Open your device’s app store, search for Instagram, and install any available update.
- Log out and log back in. A simple sign-out and sign-in can refresh your account’s feature set and resolve caching issues.
- Check your account age. Newly created accounts may not have immediate access to all sticker types. Give it a few days before concluding the feature is permanently missing.
- Review your Account Status. In the Instagram app, go to Settings > Account > Account Status. If Instagram has restricted any features on your account, it will be listed here along with guidance on what to do next.
- Check for Community Guidelines violations. Instagram’s own guidance states that accounts that repeatedly violate its Community Guidelines may lose access to certain features, including the Link sticker. If your account has received warnings or strikes, resolving those is the necessary first step to regaining access.
If none of the above steps restore the sticker, contact Instagram Support directly through the app under Settings > Help > Report a Problem.
Conclusion
If you are on a Professional account (Creator or Business), you can track how your Story link is performing. Open the Story, swipe up to the Insights view, and look for link sticker taps or sticker interactions in the breakdown. Personal accounts have limited analytics and may not see this level of detail.
If you want fuller click-through data regardless of account type — for example, to track conversions in a third-party dashboard — use a trackable or branded short link service such as Bitly so you get external reporting on every tap. This is especially useful when you need to measure the results of knowing how to add a link to an Instagram story across multiple campaigns.
Each story or each post in your story can have its own separate link.
Instagram does not shorten links; however, it will display the domain that you will be visiting. This is easy to get around if someone is using a URL shortener. Instagram will not check where the shortened URL redirects to, so if you’re trying to promote something, it’s best to use the original link.
