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Research · checked October 2026

Do link previews get more clicks? What the research says

Most “previews get 2–3× more clicks” claims lead nowhere. Below are the numbers we could trace to a source, with links, and what each one does and doesn’t prove.

The numbers, drawn

Bigger image next to a link → more clicks

Large images in Google DiscoverBefore = 100. Two publishers, Google case study [1]
Food blog · CTR+79%
Magazine · CTR+30%
Magazine · clicks, 6 months+332%
Small imageLarge image
Link tweets with an imageNo image = 100. 100 tweets, Buffer [2]
100
+18%
100
+150%
ClicksRetweets
No imageWith image
Visits from links in chats3M hits, 5 sites, 2 years [3]
≈ 1 in 5visits, filed by analytics as “direct”
Where copied links get shared [4]
84% chats & email16%
Bars are indexed to the “before” value because the sources publish changes, not absolute counts.
Why it matters for a store

How a product link travels, and where it’s won or lost

  1. Shopper finds a product“Is this the one you meant?”
  2. Pastes the link into a chat84%of copied links go to chats and email [4]
  3. Friend sees only the previewImage, title, domain. No page, no gallery, no price unless it’s in the image.Won or lost here
  4. The visit shows up as “direct”≈ 1/5of inbound traffic, invisible as a channel [3]
NO PREVIEW
is this the one you meant?yourstore.com/products/linen-shirt-sand-m18:42
WITH A PRODUCT PREVIEW
YourStoreLinen shirt
Sand$68
Linen shirt — Sand | YourStoreyourstore.comis this the one you meant?18:42
getwowlink makes this preview for every product →
How much to trust each number

The evidence at a glance

SourceResultSampleStrengthWhat it doesn’t prove
[1] GoogleCase study, 2021CTR +30% … +79%2 publishers, DiscoverChosen by Google, in its own feed; not stores, not chats
[2] BufferOwn account, 2013Clicks +18%100 tweets, 1 accountTwitter in 2013; read +18% as a cautious floor
[3] Marjan et al.Peer-reviewed, 2020≈ 1/5 of traffic via chats3M hits, 5 sites, 2 yearsHow much traffic chats bring, not how previews change it
[4] RadiumOneVendor data, 201684% of copied links go privateQuoted in [3]The seller of dark-social tracking measured it; direction, not exact share
The most honest number is yours

Measure it on your own store with getwowlink analytics

None of the studies used your products or your customers. getwowlink shows where your product links get shared and how many visits each share brings, including the chat traffic your usual analytics files as “direct”.

  1. 1Turn on visit analyticsA few-hundred-byte script or the WordPress plugin. No cookies. Collect two weeks with your current previews as the baseline.
  2. 2Publish a product designEvery product page gets its own preview. The day it goes live is marked on the chart.
  3. 3Compare before and afterVisits from shares and visits per share, by platform and by page, against the period before.
Visits from sharesyourstore.com · last 30 daysSAMPLE
Current previewsProduct design liveWith product previews
WhatsApp
Telegram
Facebook
X

Visits per share isn’t a click-through rate: platforms don’t say how many people saw a link. For orders, compare the same dates in your store’s own analytics. Visit totals come with every plan; by platform, by page and design impact with Pro and Agency.

How link preview analytics works
Sources

Every number on this page

  1. [1]Google Search Central. How large images in Discover improved CTR and increased visits to publisher sites. Case study, 2021. developers.google.com/search/case-studies/large-images-case-study
  2. [2]Buffer. How Twitter’s Expanded Images Increase Clicks, Retweets and Favorites. November 2013. buffer.com/resources/the-power-of-twitters-new-expanded-images-and-how-to-make-the-most-of-it
  3. [3]Marjan, Graham, Bruce, Mitchell. Dark social: The biggest missed opportunity in digital marketing. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing 8(3), 2020. openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/89474
  4. [4]RadiumOne dark social data, 2016, as quoted in [3].
All links checked October 2026. Spotted a better study? Write to contact@getwowlink.com and we’ll add it.

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