Link retargeting for the links you share

Build ad audiences from people who click links you share, even to other sites.

Impact
Low
Effort
Medium
Filed under
Ads, Social Media
Updated

Link retargeting means sending the links you share through a short-link tool that fires your ad pixel (such as the Meta Pixel) when someone clicks, even if the page behind the link belongs to someone else. Each clicker joins an ad audience you can show ads to later. It suits sites with little traffic of their own, or people who mostly share affiliate offers and other people's articles. It also comes with consent and affiliate-program rules you need to check first.

How to do it

  1. Choose a link tool that supports retargeting pixels. JotURL lists the Facebook pixel, Google Tag Manager, the LinkedIn Insight tag, Pinterest, TikTok and others, with up to 5 retargeting codes per tracking link. U2L offers Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn pixels on its short links.
  2. Save your pixel ID in the tool once. Meta now calls it the Meta Pixel.
  3. Create a link for each destination you share. Group them by topic, for example one set for CRM articles and another for email tools, and name the links to match.
  4. Share the links in your posts, newsletters and replies as you normally would.
  5. In your ad platform, build a custom audience of people who fired the pixel. Check how many people it holds before you plan a campaign.
  6. Show those people an ad that continues the topic they clicked on, and send them to a page you own.

What it looks like in practice

Say you run a newsletter for freelance designers and often link to a popular invoicing article on someone else's site. You put that URL through your link tool with your pixel attached. Everyone who clicks becomes part of an "invoicing" audience. A few days later you show them an ad for your invoice template pack. You never needed visitors on your own site to build the audience.

When it backfires

  • Consent rules apply. Meta's Business Tools Terms require "a clear and prominent notice on each web page where our pixels are used", and where law requires consent for cookies you must obtain it before Meta cookies are stored. A tool that fires your pixel on a click-through page puts that duty on you. Visitors in the EU and UK are the usual concern.
  • Sensitive topics. Meta's terms bar sharing business tool data that is based on health information, financial information and other sensitive categories. Retargeting people who clicked a link about debt or a medical condition is a risk.
  • Affiliate programs may ban it. Amazon's Associates policies say: "You will not use a link shortening service, button, hyperlink or other ad placement in a manner that makes it unclear that you are linking to an Amazon Site." They also exclude commissions on purchases from a link that sends people to Amazon through an intermediate site without the customer taking an action there. Read each program's rules before putting a redirect in front of its links.
  • You only learn the click. You do not see what visitors do on the other site. The audience tells you what they read, not whether they were interested in it.
  • Slower links. These tools resolve the click on their own page before forwarding. U2L says the redirect completes in "under a second", but it is still an extra step between the click and the page.
  • Tiny audiences. If you share a few links to a small audience, the retargeting pool may be too small to be worth the setup. Start with the posts that already get clicks.

Sources

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