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Linktree and SEO: Why Your Link in Bio Is Hurting Your Business

  • Writer: Jenn Lamb
    Jenn Lamb
  • Aug 10
  • 8 min read

Updated: Aug 11

Linktree SEO comparison showing traffic building Linktree's domain authority instead of your own website

Here's the part nobody mentions when you set up a Linktree: it is doing absolutely nothing for your business.


Every time you send someone to your Linktree, that person lands on Linktree's website. Not yours. And that visit counts for Linktree. It makes Linktree look busier and more popular to Google. It makes Linktree more likely to get mentioned by AI tools like ChatGPT. It helps Linktree grow.


You're not building your name. You're building theirs. You're not getting found. They are!


Now think about how often that link gets tapped. It's in your Instagram bio. Your TikTok bio. Your Facebook page. Every story, every post, every "link in bio" you've ever typed. That is very likely the most-clicked link you own. And every single one of those clicks is a chance to grow your own business that you're handing to somebody else.


And here's the kicker: you're paying them for it. Every month. Forever. To send your own audience to a page you don't own.


There's a better way to do it, it costs less, and it's not complicated. Let me show you what's actually happening, then what to do instead, including what to do if you don't have a website yet.





What Linktree Is Really Doing to Your SEO


Every Click Grows Linktree, Not You


Google decides which websites to trust and show first. One of the things it looks at is how many people visit a website and how many other sites link to it. The more of both, the more Google trusts it. People in the industry call this "domain authority." You can just call it trust.


AI works the same way. When ChatGPT or Google's AI answers pick which businesses to name, they lean on the same signals. The sites they already trust are the sites they recommend.


So when you send a thousand followers to linktr.ee/yourname, all that traffic lands on Linktree's website. Linktree gets the trust, with Google and with AI. Linktree gets the boost. You get nothing.


That traffic is real. Those people are real. They're just showing up on someone else's front porch.


The Link From Linktree to Your Website Counts for Nothing


This is the bit almost nobody knows, and it's the one that really stings.


Let's say someone taps your Linktree, sees your website button, and clicks through to your actual site. Good, right? Sort of. That click brings you a visitor, but it brings you no credit with Google at all.


Here's why. When one website links to another, that link normally acts like a little vote of confidence, and Google counts it. But links on link-in-bio platforms almost always carry a hidden instruction attached to them (the technical name is nofollow) that tells Google: don't count this one.


So the chain breaks in two places. Your followers' clicks build up Linktree's website instead of yours. And the link that finally points at your website is marked "ignore this."

Google can't see your website. Can't add it to its list. Can't move it up the rankings for the trouble. And neither can AI. It's a dead end for your SEO; it's a dead end for organic growth, and it's a dead end with AI.


AI Can't Find You There Either


More and more people skip Google entirely now. They open ChatGPT and ask, "who's a good nutrition coach for busy moms?" and take whatever answer they get.

For your name to come up in an answer like that, an AI needs something of yours to actually read. Your services. Your process. Your results. Your way of explaining things.


A Linktree page is a list of buttons. There's nothing on it to read and nothing to quote. Nothing about who you help, nothing about how you work, nothing about what makes you different. So when someone asks an AI for a recommendation, there's nothing there for it to pick you with.





The Part That Costs You Money

Linktree isn't free once you want it to look like your business. The moment you want to remove their branding, use your own web address, or get decent stats, you're on a paid plan. And you pay that fee every single month, for as long as you want to keep your link working.


Compare that to one page built on your own website. You pay for it once. It's yours. It doesn't stop working if you skip a payment, and nobody can raise the price on you next year.


You're currently renting an address on a street you don't control, and paying more over time than it would cost to own one.


Three Things You Don't Own


You don't own the address. Linktree does let you use your own web address, but only on their most expensive plan. And here's the trap: if you ever drop back down to a cheaper plan, that address stops working straight away. Anyone who saved it or shared it hits a dead end.


You don't own the information. You see the stats Linktree decides to show you. You can't take those people and add them to your email list, or advertise to them later, or do anything else with them.


You don't own the look. You get their templates, their layouts, their rules, and their logo on your page if you're on the free plan.


And if Linktree puts prices up, changes how it works, or gets bought by another company tomorrow, you have no say in any of it.


"But My Linktree Looks Fine"


It probably does. That's honestly not the argument.


Linktree solved a real problem and solved it well. One link, lots of destinations, easy to update. Nobody's saying it's ugly or broken.


The argument is that it does that job on someone else's website when it could do exactly the same job on yours. Same tidy list of links. Same easy tap for your followers. Your audience will not notice one single difference.


You will. Because now every click builds your business instead of somebody else's.


What to Use Instead


A custom link in bio page is just a page on your own website, something like yoursite.com/links, with the same list of buttons on it.


That's it. That's the whole switch. But here's what changes:


  • Every click grows your website. All that social traffic now builds up your own site instead of leaking away to Linktree's, with Google and with AI.

  • You can collect email addresses right there. Linktree can send people off to a sign-up form. Your own page can be the sign-up form.

  • The page can show up in Google and in AI answers. It's a real page on a real website, so Google can find it and rank it, and AI has something of yours to read and recommend.

  • It looks exactly like you. Your fonts, your colors, your photos, nobody else's logo.

  • You keep the information. Real stats, connected to the rest of your site, in a tool you control.

  • You pay for it once. A page you own is a one-time build. A rented one bills you every month, forever, just to keep the address alive.


Same convenience for your followers. All the ownership for you.





"I Don't Have a Website Yet"


This is the thing I hear most, and it's the easiest one to fix.


You don't need a whole website to sort this out. One page, on a web address you own, is a completely legitimate place to start. It's often the very first thing I build for coaches who aren't ready for a full site yet. You buy the address, you build one page, you own it.


Then when you're ready for the full website later, that page is already sitting there on your own address, already getting visitors, already building up trust with Google and with AI. You're not starting from scratch. You're building on something that's already working.


That's the difference between a real, working website and a digital business card.


How to Make the Switch


  1. Buy your web address if you don't have one yet. This is the piece you have to own.

  2. Build one page on it with the same links your Linktree has. Nothing fancy — copy what's already working.

  3. Add one thing Linktree couldn't do. An email sign-up box is the obvious one.

  4. Change your bio link on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and anywhere else it lives.

  5. Leave your Linktree up for a few weeks with a link pointing to the new page, so anyone using the old link still finds you.

  6. Tell Google about the new page by adding it in Google Search Console. It's free.






Linktree and SEO: Your Questions Answered

Does Linktree hurt my SEO?

Not in the sense that Google punishes you for it. Nothing bad happens to your website. What happens is that all your social traffic builds up Linktree's website instead of yours, and the link from Linktree to your site doesn't count for anything. You're not being penalized. You're just missing out, month after month, on something you could have had for free.

Yes, and it's not close. Your own page sits on your own website, so every click helps your site. The page itself can show up in Google. And it can hold real words about what you do plus an email sign-up — none of which a Linktree page does for you.

No. They tap a link and see a list of things to click, exactly like before. If they notice anything, it's that the page looks more like you, because it's built in your branding instead of a template.

Yes, on their most expensive plan. Worth knowing before you sign up: if you ever move to a cheaper plan, that address stops working immediately and any saved or shared links break. You're renting the address, not owning it.

Yes, on their most expensive plan. Worth knowing before you sign up: if you ever move to a cheaper plan, that address stops working immediately and any saved or shared links break. You're renting the address, not owning it.

Build one page on a web address you own. That's genuinely it. It does the same job for your followers, you pay for it once instead of every month, and it becomes the foundation of your real website later instead of something you throw away.


Your Bio Link Should Be Building Your Business


Your link in bio is probably the most-clicked link you own. It's on every profile, in every post, in every story. That's an awful lot of traffic to hand to a company that isn't yours — and to pay a monthly fee for the privilege.


The fix isn't complicated. One page, on your own web address, doing exactly the same job. Building your business instead of somebody else's platform.


If yours is still a Linktree, let's talk about fixing that…even if you don't have your own website yet. Book a free consult, and we'll work out what makes sense for where you actually are right now. No pitch, no pressure — you'll leave with a plan whether we work together or not.




 
 
 

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