The link in the comments
The post talks about a resource whose address appears nowhere in its text. The link waits in the first comment, where it does not penalize distribution.
The link has not disappeared, it has moved: the post keeps its reach, and you make the trip.
What holds, and what does not
The technique itself is neutral. What changes is the gap between what the line promises and what the post delivers.
If you write, say precisely where the link leads: the title of the resource, the site, what can be found there.
If you move the link to a comment, say why, in one sentence, without presenting the detour as a service.
If the post relies on an external resource, make sure it teaches something even to those who will not click.
Do not announce a link in the comments that you will publish hours later, or never.
Do not present working around the platform as a favor to the reader.
Do not empty the post of its content to force the trip through the link.
Three markers
The signal phrase
"Link in the comments", "it's just below", "in the first comment". A fixed formula replaces the address, to the point of having become a convention of the feed.
The body of the post is a dead end
No address, no domain name, sometimes not even the exact title of the resource. The whole text talks about it, nothing leads to it.
The first comment belongs to the author
Published within the minute, often pinned, sometimes topped up with a reminder. The post and its comment form a single two-story device.
The same mechanism, three forms
« The link is in the first comment. »
The sentence closes the post like a signature. It assumes the reader knows the rules of the game: the click requires a detour.
« I'm not putting the link here, LinkedIn doesn't like that. It's just below. »
The author explains the maneuver while performing it. The platform's constraint becomes an argument of complicity with the reader.
« I detailed everything in the article. You know where to find it. »
The post summarizes, the article develops, the comment connects. Each story keeps the reader on the post a little longer.
The mechanism
The platform has an interest in keeping its users at home. A post containing an external link is shown less than one without, because it organizes the exit. Moving the link to a comment works around that treatment: the post circulates as a self-contained text.
The detour produces a second effect: to find the link, the reader opens the comments. That opening, the time spent, and the possible click on the author's comment are all signals counted in the post's favor.
The phrase "link in the comments" has become so common that it works as a shared code. The regular reader no longer questions the detour; they execute it. That is the sign of an established technique: it no longer hides, it names itself.
Four questions
A link moved aside to avoid throttling distribution.
Under some posts, the announced comment does not exist or arrives hours later. The referral then served to get the comments opened, nothing more.
If the text delivers the essentials and the link goes deeper, the detour is a light toll. If the text is only a trailer, the value sits entirely behind the detour.
An article, a tool, a sign-up, a sales page: the destination says whether the device serves the reader or the prospecting.
"LinkedIn doesn't like links" is an honest explanation of the maneuver. "To make your reading easier" is not: the link in the post would be simpler.
The neighbors
The withheld payoff
The substance waits at the bottom of the post; here, it waits one story lower still.
The disguised call to action
When the link's destination is an offer, the detour through the comment is its first step.
The keyword comment
The same logic pushed one notch further: the link is no longer even public, it is obtained in exchange for a comment.
Put the link where you would go and read it yourself.
Three whole posts a month, no credit card.