What Campaigners Should Do Now That Social Media Algorithms Penalize Posts With Links

Facebook and X have long been go-to platforms for finding supporters and mobilizing them on—and off—line. Lately, though, both networks have dialed back the reach of posts that include external links—the very pages we rely on for email capture, donations, and volunteer sign-ups.

Fortunately, each platform still offers a couple of reliable work-arounds.

The Status of Links on Facebook and X

Social networks make money by keeping users scrolling. The longer someone stays, the more ads they see, which is why both Facebook and X now favor posts that keep people on-platform.

• X: Last year, Elon Musk confirmed that posts without links get a distribution boost to discourage “lazy linking,” where accounts share little more than a URL.
• Facebook: This spring, Meta warned Page managers to leave links out of organic posts if they want maximum reach. Internal data shows that fewer than 8 percent of U.S. Feed views now go to posts with any external link—half the share from two years ago.

Bottom line: if organic reach is your goal, don’t place links in the main post.

Share Links in Comments Instead

Both platforms recommend dropping the URL in the first comment under a native post—text, photo, or video. A simple workflow:

1. Post a teaser (text, image, or short clip).
2. Immediately add a comment with the link.

If you’re pushing an email sign-up or donation ask, separate the call-to-action video from the link itself. Some campaigns even turn article excerpts into screenshots and upload them as image carousels to stay fully native.

Retarget With Ads

Paid ads on Facebook and X aren’t penalized for links. To drive steady traffic:

1. Build a custom audience of users who engaged with your organic post.
2. Serve them an ad that includes the off-platform link.

Because the audience is already warm, click-through rates remain strong.

Conclusion

Facebook and X are nudging digital campaigners back to the fundamentals: build a conversion funnel—or engagement ladder—that moves supporters from an on-platform interaction to meaningful action. With a few tweaks to how you share links, you can keep traffic—and conversions—flowing even as algorithmic reach tightens.