How to track clicks on your link in bio

Count taps on each link, see which app sent people, and follow them onto your own site with UTM tags.

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Use your link in bio tool's own analytics to see taps on each link, add UTM tags to links that go to your own website so Google Analytics can tell where visitors came from, and check the platform's own numbers for the bigger picture. Together they show which link got tapped, from which app, and what people did next.

What each source of numbers can tell you

There are three places click data comes from. Each sees a different part of the trip.

The platform. Instagram shows professional accounts some numbers about taps on profile links in their insights. It's a total, not a count for each link. Check what your own account shows before you rely on it.

Your link in bio page. Most link in bio tools count views of the page and taps on each link. This is where you see that the ticket link got 140 taps and the merch link got 12. Check how long they keep the history: some free plans show only the last few weeks. Linktree's help centre, for example, says its Free plan shows 28 days. Zest's Insights show taps on each link, where visitors came from and which countries; the free plan shows 90 days and keeps every day, and Pro adds UTM tags to every link for you.

Your own website. Google Analytics (GA4) sees what visitors did once they arrived: which pages they read, whether they bought. It needs UTM tags to know a visit came from your Instagram bio, because apps often open links in their own browser and don't always pass on where the visitor came from.

How to add UTM tags

UTM tags are words added to the end of a link that tell Google Analytics where a visit came from. Google says always to use three:

TagWhat it saysExample
utm_sourceWhere the link sitsinstagram
utm_mediumThe kind of channelsocial
utm_campaignWhat it's forbio or autumn_menu

A tagged link looks like this:

https://steephillcoffee.co.uk/order?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bio

Steps:

  1. Open Google's Campaign URL Builder, or write the tags by hand as above.
  2. Use lower case for everything, and the same words every time, so one source doesn't show up under two names.
  3. Make one version per platform: utm_source=instagram for Instagram, utm_source=tiktok for TikTok.
  4. Put the tagged link on your link in bio page, or in the platform's link field.
  5. In GA4, open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, and look at session source and medium, or session campaign.

Only tag links that go to sites you can see analytics for. Tagging a link to Spotify or Fresha does nothing for you. Leaving out source, medium or campaign shows as "(not set)" in Google's reports.

What to look at each week

Raw counts tell you less than you'd think. These four numbers are worth a minute a week.

  • Taps per link. Which link do people want? If the booking link gets three times the taps of the menu, move it up.
  • Tap rate. Taps divided by page views. If 1,000 people view the page and 30 tap anything, the top of the page isn't what they came for.
  • Where they came from. If TikTok sends twice the visitors Instagram does, that's where to post the next announcement.
  • Which day. Taps after a post tell you which posts sent people to the link, and which didn't.

Common problems

The numbers don't match between tools. They count different things. A page view in your link in bio tool isn't a visit in Google Analytics, and visitors who decline cookies on your website don't show up in GA4 at all.

Lots of visits from "direct". Apps don't always say where a visitor came from. UTM tags fix this for your own site. On your link in bio page, a different link for each app (yourpage/ig, yourpage/tt) does the same job, if your tool has them.

A burst of views with no taps. Link previews and bots load pages without anyone looking. A spike at 3am from another country, with no taps, is usually that.

Numbers disappear after a few weeks. Many free plans keep a short window of history. Export what you need, or pick a tool that keeps it.

Make it a habit

Check your numbers once a week, on the same day, and move the most tapped link to the top. After a month you'll know which posts send people to your link and which links they want, and that's worth more than any single chart.

If you'd like the numbers without setting anything up, a free page on Zest counts every link from day one.

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