Business owners feel frustrated because their goal (driving traffic off-app to their website) is in direct conflict with social media's primary goal (maximizing on-app scroll time). This fundamental misalignment means the platform's success metrics work against your business objectives, creating a constant struggle for results.

Reliance on SEO is a critical vulnerability. Publishers are bracing for "Google Zero," a scenario where search provides no organic traffic. This existential threat is forcing a rapid pivot from optimizing for algorithms to building direct audience relationships via newsletters and subscriptions, as organic traffic declines by double-digits.

Contrary to a popular myth among marketers, a Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn stated that adding an external link to a post does not inherently reduce its reach. Poor performance is caused by low-value, self-serving content that users ignore, not the link itself. Valuable content with a relevant link can perform very well.

In an AI-driven world, optimizing for website traffic is a losing game. A better long-term strategy is to create high-value content (podcasts, videos, newsletters) across various platforms. This approach helps people directly and simultaneously feeds the large language models that are increasingly becoming information gatekeepers.

The middle of the marketing funnel is compressing as AI provides answers directly on the search results page. This drastically reduces website clicks, forcing marketers to rethink traffic-based goals and find new ways to engage customers off-site.

Telling users to 'click the link in bio' actively instructs your most interested audience members to stop engaging with your content (liking, commenting, saving) and navigate away. This lack of engagement from interested parties signals to the algorithm that the post is not valuable, reducing its reach.

Avoid building your primary content presence on platforms like Medium or Quora. These platforms inevitably shift focus from serving users to serving advertisers and their own bottom line, ultimately degrading reach and control for creators. Use them as spokes, but always own your central content hub.

With 80-90% of AI-powered searches resulting in no clicks, traditional SEO is dying. The new key metric is "share of voice"—how often your brand is cited in AI-generated answers. This requires a fundamental strategy shift to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), focusing on becoming an authoritative source for LLMs rather than just driving website traffic.

LinkedIn suppresses posts with external links. To drive traffic, create a text-only post and direct readers to your profile's 'Featured' section. There, you can place a clickable, visual link to your webinar, website, or product without penalty.