The short version: Instagram only gives you one clickable bio link natively, so to add a second one you need a free link-in-bio tool like Linktree, Beacons or Milkshake, which turns that single link into a mini landing page with multiple buttons. It takes about ten minutes to set up and costs nothing to start. The uncomfortable bit nobody mentions is that stacking links usually hurts your click-through rate rather than helping it.
Why Instagram doesn't let you add a second link directly
Instagram's bio field has one URL slot. That's it. You can type extra text in your bio that looks like a link ("check my website!") but it won't be clickable unless it's in that one dedicated field. Business and creator accounts also get the "link sticker" option in Stories and the link in your profile grid, but the bio itself is still capped at one active hyperlink.
This isn't a bug Instagram forgot to fix. Meta has kept it this way for years, almost certainly because a single destination keeps people inside the app longer and makes attribution cleaner for ads. So the "second link" everyone wants isn't a second link at all, it's a page that holds several links behind one URL.
Step by step: setting up a link-in-bio tool
- Pick a tool. Linktree, Beacons, Milkshake and Later's "Link in Bio" are the main free options. Linktree's free plan now allows unlimited links but locks some design features behind its $5 to $9 a month paid tier.
- Sign up with the email or Instagram account tied to your business.
- Add your links in order of priority. Most tools let you drag and drop, so put your most profitable or most urgent link at the top.
- Customise the page so it matches your brand colours and fonts rather than leaving the default template, which looks obviously generic.
- Copy the unique URL the tool gives you (something like linktr.ee/yourname).
- Open Instagram, go to your profile, tap Edit Profile, paste that URL into the website field, and save.
That's the whole process. Ten minutes, no cost, and now one tap from your bio takes people to a page with as many links as you want: your shop, your latest blog post, your email list sign-up, your booking page.
A worked example
Say you run a small candle business from home, selling on Etsy and also taking custom orders through a Google Form. Before, your bio link could only point to Etsy, which meant every custom order enquiry had to come through DMs, which got messy fast. You set up a free Beacons page with three buttons: "Shop on Etsy," "Request a custom order," and "Join my scent drop waitlist." You put the Etsy link first because that's where the immediate sales happen, the custom order form second, and the waitlist last. Within a normal month of posting Reels as usual, you'd expect your Etsy clicks to stay roughly steady while the custom order form starts picking up traffic it never had a direct route to before. Nothing dramatic, just a cleaner, more deliberate funnel instead of relying on people to ask in your comments.
The part most guides skip
Here's what rarely gets said plainly: adding more links usually lowers your click-through rate on each individual one. If you had one link and everyone who tapped went to your shop, your shop got 100% of the clicks. Give people five options and attention fractures across all five. Linktree's own benchmarking has shown average click-through rates on link-in-bio pages sitting in the single digits, often lower than a plain direct link.
So the real skill isn't adding a second link, it's deciding whether you should. If you only ever want one action from your audience, like "buy this," a direct link beats a link-in-bio page every time. The multi-link tools earn their place when you have two or three distinct audiences doing different things: buyers, job applicants, newsletter sign-ups. If that's not you, resist the urge to add extra buttons just because you can.
Alternatives worth knowing about
- Link sticker in Stories: works alongside your bio link and disappears after 24 hours unless added to Highlights, useful for time-sensitive offers.
- Instagram's native "Link" tab: some creator accounts can add multiple links under a dedicated tab on their profile, though this is still rolling out unevenly and isn't available to everyone yet.
- A simple personal landing page: if you already have a website, a one-page "start here" section with a few buttons does the same job as Linktree without sending people to a third-party domain.
If you're building out your wider content strategy around this, it's worth thinking about how your bio links connect to everything else you post, from reusing trending audio in Reels to how you use the correct Story size and safe zone so your link stickers don't get cropped off screen.
Keeping your link page secure and tidy
A few practical habits that save you grief later:
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- Use a password manager for your link-in-bio account, since it's one more login that can get compromised.
- Check your links monthly. Dead links on a bio page look careless and cost you sales.
- If you get a surge of DMs from strangers once your links start driving traffic, it's worth knowing how to block message requests from strangers so your inbox stays usable.
- If you're running the "send me this" trend to drive DMs alongside your bio link, understand what that trend means before you lean on it for growth.
When it's worth paying for a tool instead of using the free tier
Paid plans on Linktree ($5 a month), Beacons ($10 a month) or Milkshake's premium tier open up analytics, custom domains, and email capture built into the page itself. If your bio link is doing real commercial work, meaning you can trace actual sales or sign-ups back to it, the data alone usually pays for the subscription. If you're posting casually and the link gets a handful of taps a week, stay on the free plan. Don't let anyone convince you a multi-link page needs a monthly fee to function; it doesn't.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add two clickable links to my Instagram bio for free?
Yes. Instagram itself only allows one clickable link, but free tools like Linktree, Beacons or Milkshake let you create a single page with multiple buttons, and you paste that one page's URL into your bio.
Does Instagram have a built-in way to add multiple links now?
Some creator accounts have access to a native multi-link "Link" tab on their profile, but it's rolling out unevenly and isn't guaranteed to appear for everyone, so a third-party link-in-bio tool is still the reliable option.
Will adding more links hurt my click-through rate?
Usually, yes. Spreading attention across several buttons tends to lower the click rate on each one compared to a single direct link, so only add extra links if you have more than one distinct audience action to serve.
Is Linktree the best option for a second Instagram bio link?
Linktree is the most recognised option and its free plan now supports unlimited links, but Beacons and Milkshake offer more design flexibility for free, so it's worth comparing all three before picking one.
Useful references
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