- What "linking groups" means on Facebook
- How to link groups using Related Groups (step by step)
- Facebook's own criteria for suggesting groups as related
- Linking groups you don't admin
- Cross-posting between linked groups
- Why linking beats posting promo links manually
- What happens when a member clicks through a related group
- When linking isn't the right move
- Setting up a hub-and-spoke structure across several groups
- Frequently asked questions
In plain terms: Facebook lets group admins officially "link" groups through the Related Groups feature in group settings, which shows your linked groups to members and lets you cross-post announcements between them. It only works between groups you admin, or groups whose admins agree to link with you, and it's one of the most underused features in the whole platform.
What "linking groups" means on Facebook
There are two different things people mean when they ask this, and I want to separate them because they need different steps. First, there's the official Related Groups feature, which puts a "Related Groups" section on your group page that members can browse and join directly. Second, there's informal linking, where admins post a link to a sister group in the description, in a pinned post, or as a comment, which works with any group regardless of who runs it, but doesn't get the same visibility inside Facebook's own interface.
I run several groups myself as part of my own audience building, and the official Related Groups feature is the one that moves people between communities, because Facebook surfaces it directly on the group page rather than relying on someone scrolling to find a pinned post.
Related, and worth a look: Why Is My Facebook Page Not Showing Up In Search.
How to link groups using Related Groups (step by step)
- Go to the group you want to add a related group to and make sure you're an admin.
- Tap the three dots below the cover photo, or go to Group Settings from the desktop menu on the left.
- Scroll to find "Related Groups" (on some versions it's under a section called Discovery or Visibility).
- Tap Add or Edit and search for the group you want to link.
- If you admin both groups, the link can go through immediately. If you only admin one, Facebook will send a request to the other group's admin team for approval.
- Repeat in the other group's settings if you want the link to show in both directions.
Once it's live, members browsing your group will see a "Related Groups" module, usually in the About section or the right hand sidebar on desktop, showing the linked group with a Join button right there. No copying a URL, no typing anything into a search bar.
Facebook's own criteria for suggesting groups as related
Facebook's Help Centre notes that groups get suggested or approved as related based on shared members, similar topics, and similar names or descriptions, so a general "small business owners UK" group and a niche "small business owners Manchester" group would likely qualify, while two groups with nothing in common topically usually won't show as an option to link at all, even between groups you admin. If your groups aren't appearing as suggestions for each other, check that their names and descriptions overlap on keywords, not just theme.
Linking groups you don't admin
If you want to link to a group you're not an admin of, whether that's a partner's group, a complementary community, or a group you simply think your members would benefit from, the official feature won't let you do it unilaterally. Your only routes are asking that group's admin to add your group as related from their side, or using the informal method: posting the group link in your group description, in a pinned welcome post, or in your group's Rules section, which most admins update from Group Settings, then Edit under Group Rules or About.
A real example
I worked with a client who ran a parenting group and a separate local business networking group in the same town, both admin'd by her. Before linking them officially, cross-promotion was one admin posting "hey, check out my other group" every few weeks, which got maybe 5 to 10 clicks each time. After she linked them through Related Groups, she told me new-member overlap between the two groups roughly tripled within six weeks, purely because the link sat permanently in front of every new member joining either group, rather than depending on someone catching a single post in a busy feed.
Cross-posting between linked groups
Once two groups are officially linked and you admin both, Facebook allows you to cross-post the same content to both groups from a single post composer rather than writing and posting twice. When creating a post, look for the audience selector near the top of the composer, if your groups are linked, you'll see an option to select multiple groups to publish to at once. This only works for groups where you have posting permission in both, it won't let you post into a linked group where you're just a member.
Why linking beats posting promo links manually
Manually dropping a link to a sister group inside another group's feed often gets removed by admins as spam, especially in groups you don't run, and even in your own group it gets buried within hours as new posts push it down. The Related Groups feature sits in a fixed place on the group page that doesn't get pushed down by activity, so it keeps working for you weeks and months after you set it up, with zero ongoing effort. That's the entire point of setting it up correctly once rather than repeating the same manual post every few weeks and hoping people see it.
What happens when a member clicks through a related group
When a member taps a group in your Related Groups module, they land straight on that group's page with a Join button visible, they don't need to search for it or ask you for the name. If that other group requires answering membership questions or admin approval, that step still applies, linking doesn't bypass a group's own join settings, it only removes the discovery friction of finding the group in the first place. This matters if you run a vetted or paid group, since linking is safe to use even with strict join requirements in place.
When linking isn't the right move
Don't link groups just because you admin both of them if their audiences don't really overlap, Facebook can restrict a group's discovery features if members report the suggestions as irrelevant, and it looks messy to your community regardless. Link groups that share a real topic or a real audience segment, not groups you're trying to cross-sell into for the sake of it.
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Setting up a hub-and-spoke structure across several groups
If you run more than two related groups, for example a main community group plus smaller topic-specific spin-off groups, it's worth deciding on a structure before you start linking everything to everything. The setup I use with clients is a hub-and-spoke: one main group gets linked to every spin-off group, and each spin-off links back to the main group, but the spin-offs don't necessarily need to link to each other. This keeps the Related Groups section from getting cluttered with a dozen small entries and keeps traffic flowing toward the group that matters most to your business, usually the largest or most active one.
For a UK small business consultant running a general strategy group plus a smaller group for, say, e-commerce owners and another for local service businesses, that would mean the strategy group links to both smaller groups, and each smaller group links back to the strategy group. Anyone who joins one finds the others within a click or two, without you having to run separate promotional campaigns to move people between them.
I have written more around this on the site: Where to Find Content Ideas to Post on LinkedIn When You’ve Got Nothing to Say, Does a Facebook Page Come With a QR Code? Yes, Here’s Where to Find Yours, How to Merge Two Facebook Business Pages Into One (2026 Guide).
I go deeper on this in who can see your Facebook groups.
Related: free backlink checker.
Worth a read: How to Unfollow a Facebook Group Without Leaving It.
Frequently asked questions
Do both group admins have to approve a group link?
If you admin both groups you can link them yourself from either group's settings. If you only admin one, the other group's admin team gets a request they need to approve before the link goes live.
Can I link more than two groups together?
Yes, a single group can show multiple related groups in its Related Groups section, there's no fixed limit stated by Facebook, though in practice keeping the list to a handful of truly relevant groups works better than a long list nobody clicks through.
Does linking two groups merge their members or posts?
No. Linking is purely a discovery and cross-posting feature, each group keeps its own separate membership, rules, posts and admin team. Nothing about membership or content is combined.
Will Related Groups show up if my groups have very different names?
It's less likely. Facebook weighs shared members and topic similarity heavily, including name and description keywords, so two groups with completely different names and no topic overlap may not be suggested even if the admins would like to link them.
