In the age of digital branding, creators and businesses often rely on link-in-bio tools like LinkTree to direct their audiences across platforms. While convenient, these third-party link hubs come with a hidden cost—missed SEO opportunities. Every time a user clicks your LinkTree, they’re giving valuable traffic to LinkTree’s domain instead of your own. That means you’re essentially helping someone else’s site rank higher in search engines, while your own web presence stays stagnant.

But here’s the good news: there’s a smarter way to do it. By creating a personalized landing page on your own website, you maintain full control over branding, content, and—most importantly—SEO. When users land on your domain first, you’re not only keeping their attention within your ecosystem, but also telling Google that your site is worth indexing and ranking higher. It’s a simple switch that can lead to significant long-term growth in visibility and authority online.

In this article, we’ll break down why LinkTree is holding you back and how you can build a better alternative that works harder for your brand. Whether you’re a content creator, entrepreneur, or marketer, making this one change can supercharge your search rankings and turn casual clicks into meaningful traffic. Let’s explore how to make the move—and why now’s the perfect time.

What is Linktree?

Linktree is a tool that allows you to attach multiple links from your website to one landing page. When you use it, you create your custom link through their service. For example, take a look at ProfileTree’s Linktree to see how we use it to promote our blogs and events.

Once you have your custom link, you can add in links from your company’s website that allow your followers to access all different areas of your site quickly and easily. When a user clicks on your Linktree link, they are brought to a page with a list of links for them to click on.

This has become revolutionary for businesses and personal accounts alike as a way to get around the one-link policy and lack of hyperlinks that Instagram has stuck by since launch. 

Gone are the days of changing your Instagram’s bio link daily in order to promote your new blog post or promotional event. Now, users can click the Linktree and see a variety of pages on your site they may be interested in.

What Is Linktree In Terms of Appeal?

• Simplicity: Linktree is straightforward to set up and use, making it an enticing choice for individuals seeking a swift means of organising and distributing their online links.

• Analytics: Linktree provides rudimentary analytics, permitting users to monitor the number of clicks on their links.

• Customisation: Users can tailor the look of their Linktree landing page to align with their branding, incorporating logos, colours, and backgrounds.

• Mobile-Friendly: Linktree is optimised for mobile devices, guaranteeing smooth functionality across a variety of platforms.

Appeal

The appeal of Linktree lies in its simplicity and convenience. It offers an easy-to-use platform that requires minimal technical expertise to set up and manage. This accessibility makes it an attractive option for individuals and businesses looking to quickly organise and share their online links.

Customisation

Another advantage is the customisation options. Users can tailor the appearance of their Linktree landing page to align with their branding. This includes adding logos, selecting colours, and choosing backgrounds that match their visual identity. This branding flexibility allows for a cohesive and professional online presence.

Analytics

Linktree offers basic analytics that enable users to monitor the number of clicks on each of their links. This feature helps you gauge the popularity and effectiveness of the links you’ve shared through your Linktree.

Mobile-Friendly Design

A significant aspect of Linktree is its mobile-friendliness. It ensures that your Linktree landing page functions seamlessly on various devices, including smartphones and tablets. This responsive design is essential because a substantial portion of internet traffic comes from mobile users.

Integration Capability

Linktree can be seamlessly integrated with various social media platforms, making it easy for users to share their Linktree link across their online profiles. This integration capability streamlines the process of directing your audience to your Linktree page.

Flexibility in Link Management

Linktree offers users the flexibility to add, edit, and remove links as needed. It simplifies the task of updating the links you share without the hassle of changing the URL in your bio or other locations.

What is Linktree’s Pricing Structure?

Now, let’s talk about the pricing. Linktree provides both free and paid plans. The free plan offers essential functionality, while the paid plans come with additional features, including advanced customisation options, detailed analytics, and more.

Alternative Solutions

Given the potential SEO implications of using Linktree, some users opt for alternative solutions. What is Linktree’s alternative, and what are the options available? Some choose to create dedicated landing pages on their websites or explore other link management tools that offer more SEO-friendly alternatives.

At face value, this sounds amazing! But there’s a catch…

What is Linktree Like for Instagram?

Before Linktree, Instagram users would have to constantly change the link in their bio to stay up to date with their most recent blog post, new product, or latest promotion. 

Not only was this tedious to do, but only having one link on your page meant that people who wanted to learn more about your business often struggled to find it. This was especially true if the link led to an event promotion page, rather than the business’ website itself.

Another great thing about Linktree is that it’s very easy to set up and use. It requires no coding knowledge or skills and can be set up in as little as 5 minutes. 

Linktree for Instagram serves as a valuable tool for individuals and businesses using the platform. Here’s a closer look at how Linktree enhances the Instagram experience:

• Overcoming the “One Link” Limitation: Instagram traditionally allows users to include only one clickable link in their bio. Linktree steps in to address this limitation effectively. By providing a single, customisable Linktree link in your Instagram bio, you can direct your audience to a landing page housing multiple links.

• Streamlined Navigation: Linktree creates a simplified and organised navigation experience for your Instagram followers. Instead of having to change your bio link frequently, you can update the links within your Linktree dashboard. This saves time and maintains a smooth user experience.

• Enhanced Engagement: By offering a curated selection of links on your Linktree landing page, you can direct users to the content or resources that matter most at any given time. Whether it’s your website, blog, online store, social media profiles, or promotions, Linktree ensures that your followers can easily access the content that interests them.

• Customisation: Linktree allows you to customise the appearance of your landing page to align with your branding. You can add your logo, select colours that match your visual identity, and choose backgrounds, creating a cohesive and professional look.

• Analytics: Linktree provides basic analytics that helps you track the performance of the links on your landing page. You can see how many clicks each link receives, giving you insights into the popularity of your content or promotions.

• Mobile-Friendly: Instagram is primarily a mobile platform, and Linktree’s mobile-responsive design ensures that your Linktree landing page functions seamlessly on smartphones and tablets, optimising the user experience.

• Ease of Use: Setting up and managing Linktree is straightforward, making it accessible even to those without advanced technical skills. Users can quickly add, edit, and remove links as needed.

• Integration: Linktree integrates seamlessly with Instagram. You can easily add your Linktree link to your Instagram bio, making it accessible to your followers with a single click.

However, this helpful tool has a large downside.

What Is Linktree Like for SEO?

When people visit your Linktree and click onto your website, Linktree will be the one capturing the clicks, not your website. That quick and easy link in your bio is taking away traffic from your website! 

Why does this matter, you ask? Because the more traffic you get on your website, the more brand awareness you gain. 

And while you can get some basic insights and analytics from Linktree, they do not tell you some of the most information about the links you’re providing to your audience. 

Linktree only tells you how many clicks a link gets and the total number of views you’ve gained. It doesn’t tell you:

• When a link was clicked: this is important so you can match it with the posts you published that day to see what has worked well
• When a visitor visits the Linktree landing page, but backs out: some potential customers may be turned off by the Linktree. Keep reading on to see why

Additionally, SEO is largely built on your customer’s journey to your website. The function of social media marketing is to get your brand front and centre in front of your ideal customers. 

Then, once they’re on your page, the goal is to get those clicks onto your website so they can see what you offer and will buy from you.

The problem here is that by using Linktree, you are interfering with your customers’ journey from your social media to your website. Instead of seeing your posts, going to your page and then straight to your website, they are presented with a third-party landing page.

When your customers get to the Linktree landing page, many things might happen:

• They find the link to the content they were looking for.
• Their attention is diverted to a link that leads to a completely different page.
• They feel overwhelmed with all of the different options and exit out of the landing page. 

Only one of these options is ideal. The third option is especially detrimental to your business. When faced with too many options, a large number of people will experience something called decision paralysis. 

This is where a person feels bombarded by all of the options presented to them, so they don’t click any of the links. Instead, they back out of the page altogether. This can give potential customers a negative impression, causing them to not come back to your page.

Besides taking away traffic and clicks from your website, Linktree can also rob you of some of your brand identity. Unless you pay for the premium version of Linktree, the tool is very basic – with only a few options of fonts and colours available to use. 

This can lead to your bio link not looking anything like your company’s branding, which can be confusing to customers and harmful to your brand identity.

To add on what is Linktree like for SEO:

While Linktree has its merits, it’s important to consider how it can impact your SEO efforts negatively:

• Loss of Control: By using Linktree, you are essentially sending traffic away from your website or social media profiles to a third-party platform. This means that you have less control over the user experience, and you lose the opportunity to keep visitors engaged with your content.

• Dilution of SEO Value: When visitors click on links in your Linktree, they are directed away from your primary web assets. This can dilute the SEO value that your website or social media profiles would otherwise gain from direct traffic.

• Load Time Issues: Linktree pages are hosted on Linktree’s servers, and their load times can vary. Slow-loading pages can frustrate visitors and impact your SEO rankings.

• Lack of Unique SEO Optimisation: Each Linktree link redirects to a different destination, but Linktree’s landing page itself is not optimised for search engines. This means you miss out on opportunities to optimise individual pages for specific keywords.

• Competing Links: When using Linktree, you may be directing visitors to other profiles, websites, or products. This can potentially lead to competing content, diluting your online authority.

Alternatives

With all the positives that Linktree has to offer, it’s understandable that you may be tempted to use it despite its drawbacks. However, there is a great SEO alternative to Linktree!

Your own website! You can make your own version of Linktree by creating a landing page within your website. 

Creating a landing page is easy as long as you have access to your website. Add in 5 or 6 important links, such as your About page, most recent blogs, and any promotions you have running, and you’ve created your own Linktree. 

By creating your own landing page, you can switch out the links as often as you want, put the most important and recent links at the top, and the best part: use your own branding! 

When your landing page is on your website instead of Linktree’s, you have no limitations preventing you from using your fonts and colours, which helps to preserve your brand identity.

Instead of Linktree, there are several alternatives and strategies you can consider for managing and sharing multiple links more effectively, especially if you’re concerned about SEO and maintaining control over your online presence. Here are some alternatives and what to use instead of Linktree:

1. Create a Dedicated Landing Page on Your Website: Design a custom landing page on your website where you can list and organise all the links you want to share. This approach keeps visitors on your website, improving SEO and providing a seamless user experience.
2. Use Social Media Bios: Most social media platforms allow you to include one link in your bio. Regularly update this link to point to your latest content or promotions. You can use services like Linkin.bio (by Later) for Instagram to create a clickable gallery of links.
3. Explore Website Builders and CMS: Website builders like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix offer easy-to-create pages where you can list your links. Content management systems (CMS) like WordPress also have plugins that can help you create custom link pages.
4. Third-Party Link Management Tools: There are alternative link management tools that offer SEO-friendly options. Some options include:
   • Bio.fm: Similar to Linktree but with more customisation options.
   • Tap Bio: A tool that allows you to create customisable link pages.
   • Carrd: A simple, one-page website builder that you can use to create link pages.
5. Use Platform Features: On some platforms, you can leverage built-in features to showcase your content. For example, Instagram’s Highlights allow you to create permanent story collections with links and content.
6. Newsletter Sign-Up Pages: If you have an email newsletter, use your email marketing platform to create sign-up pages or landing pages that contain your links.
7. Social Media Posts: Share your links directly in your social media posts. This can be effective for promoting specific content or products.
8. Bit.ly or Other URL Shorteners: Use URL shortening services like Bit.ly to create shortened links that are easier to share in your bio or social media posts.
9. Incorporate QR Codes: Generate QR codes that link directly to specific pages or resources on your website. Users can scan these codes with their smartphones.
10. Custom Mobile Apps: If you have the resources, consider creating a custom mobile app for your brand or business. This app can include a section with all your links and resources.

Remember that the best alternative for you may depend on your specific needs, technical capabilities, and the platforms you use. It’s essential to consider the user experience, SEO implications, and your overall online branding when choosing an alternative to Linktree.

Conclusion

While Linktree can be helpful in a pinch to get information out quickly, it takes away valuable SEO clicks and analytics that help track your social media marketing’s success. 

By creating a similar landing page on your own website, you not only get to control the links presented to customers, but you also get to use your own branding. And most importantly, you have access to the key insights that Linktree doesn’t provide you.

To find out more about growing your online presence, contact ProfileTree