To put it simply, in this era of the Facebook algorithm, photos are the new link posts.
If you're not utilizing photo posts as traffic drivers, you're leaving both traffic and revenue on the table. As such, True Anthem continues to recommend all publishers share at least 75% of their Facebook posts as photos.
How you package these photo posts can also impact your results.
👉 Reminder: As a reminder, as of June 2026, on Facebook photo posts averaged 19.9x more views and 11.6x more aggregated clicks when using these features.
The Big Takeaway
If you are looking for the quick formula to optimize your traffic-driving photo posts, here is our north star recommendation:
Link in the First Comment Only & Include a CTA in the caption.
Your best opportunity for traffic is found when your link is placed exclusively in the first comment and you've included CTA language in your caption.
👉 Tip: We can help automate both your link location & call-to-action language so you don't need to manually add either to your posts!
The Research Details
The True Anthem team previously conducted a massive analysis of approximately 180,000 Facebook photo posts to find out exactly what works best. We have repeated this analysis several times after the initial analysis, and the results persisted.
As we've shared, the data revealed the best way to maximize your click-through rates (CTR) was with the link in the first comment only (later corroborated by Meta), but there were plenty of other findings in our research to help inform the Facebook photo post best practices. The best location for the link in a photo post did not vary by the vertical.
Where Should the Link Go?
As previously stated, the study highlighted a clear hierarchy for driving traffic based on customer performance data:
First Comment Only: Placing the link in the first comment instead of the caption provides the strongest overall opportunity for driving link clicks.
Testing Both Locations: If you are still looking to test having the link in both locations simultaneously (and though Facebook advises against it!), leading with the link at the very beginning of the caption tends to yield stronger results than placing it at the end.
Note: While these trends are clear, remember that subject matter, caption duration, and the specific phrasing of your CTA still create natural variability in how individual posts perform.
Understanding the Anatomy of a "Photo Post CTA"
How exactly do you write a CTA for a photo post when the link is in the comments? The data isolated three main types of text and visual cues that successfully grab reader attention, though there is no perfect phrasing or character count:
"Directional" Emojis: Visual pointers like 👇, ➡️, ⬇️, or ⬇.
"Directional" Language: Phrasing that tells the user exactly where to look, such as "Full story below" or "Link below to find out why".
"Actionable" Language: Explicit instructions detailing where the information lives, such as "Full story in the comments" or "Check it out in the comments".
When a post combined no link in the caption with at least one of these directional or actionable elements, it successfully drove users to the comment section to click through.
What About Post Reach and Views?
You may be wondering if adding a CTA or changing link placements is ever a cause for the Facebook algorithm to suppress your post's reach.
The data showed that including a CTA within the caption of a photo post has no impact on overall post views. Your reach will likely remain steady; the CTA simply helps convert the audience that does see the post into active website visitors.
Still have questions or looking for help in changing your link content types over to photo posts? Reach out to your Customer Success Manager at csm@trueanthem.com.
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