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Write For Link-Suppressed Feeds

These feeds optimize for time on platform, so a post with an outbound URL competes at a structural disadvantage regardless of quality. Most people respond by dropping the link in the first comment, which helps but is not the real fix, because a post written as a teaser is still a teaser and gets no saves or replies. The durable approach is to write posts that are worth reading with the link removed entirely, and treat traffic as a by-product of people wanting more from a source that already gave them something.

CATEGORY
Social & distribution
FORMAT
link-suppressed-platform-writing.md
STEPS
6
PRICE
Free - no account
WHEN TO REACH FOR THIS

Use when posting to LinkedIn, X, Instagram or Threads, where posts containing external URLs reach far fewer people than those without.

The skill file

link-suppressed-platform-writing.md 
---
name: link-suppressed-platform-writing
description: Use when posting to LinkedIn, X, Instagram or Threads, where posts containing external URLs reach far fewer people than those without.
---

# Write For Link-Suppressed Feeds

These feeds optimize for time on platform, so a post with an outbound URL competes at a structural disadvantage regardless of quality. Most people respond by dropping the link in the first comment, which helps but is not the real fix, because a post written as a teaser is still a teaser and gets no saves or replies. The durable approach is to write posts that are worth reading with the link removed entirely, and treat traffic as a by-product of people wanting more from a source that already gave them something.

## What you need first

- a body of published work you can quote from
- a clear idea of what the post is for - traffic, authority, or list growth
- a way to check reach on posts with and without links

## Method

1. Run your own test before believing any published multiplier: post ten similar items, half with in-body links, half without, and compare median rather than mean reach, since one viral post will distort the average badly.
2. Write the post to be self-sufficient - it should deliver the finding, the number, or the method, so that a reader who never clicks still got value and still associates it with you.
3. Put the link in the first comment immediately after posting, and mention in the body that the source is in the comments rather than saying "link below", which reads as a funnel.
4. Where you must include a URL in-body, use your own domain rather than a shortener, because shorteners are more strongly associated with spam patterns in these classifiers.
5. Route link-free posts toward a destination that is not a URL: a named report people ask for in the comments, or a search term that reliably surfaces your page.
6. Track assisted effect rather than clicks - watch branded search volume and direct sessions in the days following a well-performing post, since that is where link-free distribution actually shows up.

## What this produces

A posting pattern with measured reach difference and a link placement rule you can defend.

## Where this goes wrong

- assuming a suppression penalty exists without testing it on your own account, where the effect size varies wildly
- writing a teaser and hiding the link, which is the worst of both - no value and no click
- asking people to comment a keyword for the link, which now attracts engagement-bait filtering

---

From the QuQi skill library - https://www.quqi.io/skills/link-suppressed-platform-writing
Free to download · no account, no email

What you need first

  • a body of published work you can quote from
  • a clear idea of what the post is for - traffic, authority, or list growth
  • a way to check reach on posts with and without links

Method

  1. 01 Run your own test before believing any published multiplier: post ten similar items, half with in-body links, half without, and compare median rather than mean reach, since one viral post will distort the average badly.
  2. 02 Write the post to be self-sufficient - it should deliver the finding, the number, or the method, so that a reader who never clicks still got value and still associates it with you.
  3. 03 Put the link in the first comment immediately after posting, and mention in the body that the source is in the comments rather than saying "link below", which reads as a funnel.
  4. 04 Where you must include a URL in-body, use your own domain rather than a shortener, because shorteners are more strongly associated with spam patterns in these classifiers.
  5. 05 Route link-free posts toward a destination that is not a URL: a named report people ask for in the comments, or a search term that reliably surfaces your page.
  6. 06 Track assisted effect rather than clicks - watch branded search volume and direct sessions in the days following a well-performing post, since that is where link-free distribution actually shows up.

What this produces

A posting pattern with measured reach difference and a link placement rule you can defend.

Where this goes wrong

  • assuming a suppression penalty exists without testing it on your own account, where the effect size varies wildly
  • writing a teaser and hiding the link, which is the worst of both - no value and no click
  • asking people to comment a keyword for the link, which now attracts engagement-bait filtering

Use this skill in your own AI

The download is a plain markdown file with the name and trigger in its frontmatter. Where an assistant supports skills it can load itself, that frontmatter is what it reads to decide this one applies.

Claude Code Save it as ~/.claude/skills/link-suppressed-platform-writing/SKILL.md and Claude loads it on its own when what you are doing matches the trigger line. Put it in .claude/skills inside a project instead if the whole team should have it.
Claude Upload the file in the skills section of your settings. Once it is there it applies itself in any conversation where the trigger fits, so you do not have to remember it exists.
ChatGPT There is no skills format to install into, so paste the file contents into a Project instruction or a Custom GPT instead. It then applies to every chat in that project rather than only the one you paste it into.
Anything else Paste the markdown into the chat before your question. It works in any assistant, it just has to be pasted again each time.

Questions about this skill

When is this the right approach rather than just moving the link to the first comment?

When you post to LinkedIn, X, Instagram or Threads and want reach that does not depend on where the URL sits. Moving the link treats placement as the problem, but a teaser is still a teaser wherever the link lives and it earns no saves or replies. Use this when the post itself has to stand up unclicked.

What do I need before I change how I write?

Published work you can quote from, a decision on what the post is for, and a way to read reach on your own account. Without your own test you are working from someone else's multiplier, and effect size varies wildly between accounts. Ten similar posts, half with in-body links, compared on median rather than mean, is the cheapest evidence available.

What do I end up with?

A measured reach difference for your account and a link placement rule you can defend when someone asks why the URL is in the comments. The rule is the durable part; the number ages. Track branded search and direct sessions in the days after a post that landed, because link-free distribution shows up there and nowhere in a click report.

What ruins this most often?

Writing the teaser anyway and hiding the link, which is the worst of both: no value delivered and no click earned. Asking people to comment a keyword for the link now attracts engagement-bait filtering. The quieter one is an in-body shortener, which sits closer to spam patterns in these classifiers than a URL on your own domain does.

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