If you use Facebook to promote your business, blog posts, services or website, there is a change you need to know about.
Some Facebook Pages and professional accounts are now being limited to just two posts containing external links per month unless they subscribe to one of Meta's paid plans.
Yes, really.
And while Meta has been testing the idea since December 2025, September 2026 appears to be an important step forward. Following the launch of its new Meta One subscription service, more businesses are reporting that Facebook is asking them to pay if they want to publish more link-based content.
This isn't yet a universal rule affecting every Facebook Page. Meta is still describing its approach as evolving, and availability and features vary by account and region.
But for businesses that rely on Facebook to send people to their own websites, the direction of travel is worth paying attention to.
What is Facebook actually limiting?
The restriction applies to posts containing links that take users away from Facebook to an external website.
Affected Pages have reportedly been told that they can publish only two link posts per month without subscribing to a paid Meta service.
That could mean:
A link to your latest blog article
A link to a new service page
A link to a landing page
A link to a special offer
A link to an online booking system
A link to your latest news or case study
You can still create normal Facebook posts. The issue is specifically the ability to use Facebook as a route to an external website.
And that distinction is important.
Facebook isn't necessarily stopping businesses from communicating with their audience.
It's potentially putting a limit on how often businesses can say:
"Here's something on our website. Click this."
This isn't completely new
Meta first confirmed a limited test of the two-link restriction in December 2025.
At the time, selected professional accounts and Pages were reportedly restricted to two link posts per month, with Meta describing the experiment as a way of understanding whether publishing more links provided additional value for paying users.
At that point it was easy to dismiss the whole thing as another small Facebook experiment.
Fast-forward to September 2026 and the situation looks rather more interesting.
Meta has now launched Meta One, a new subscription service covering Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Meta AI. Its business plans include additional professional features, with Meta specifically listing links in organic posts and Reels among the enhanced publishing features on its Advanced plan.
At the same time, more Facebook Page managers have reported seeing the two-link restriction.
That's why this deserves attention.
So is Facebook charging businesses £9.99 to post links?
Not quite.
This is where some of the headlines have become a little misleading.
The original BBC report referred to a test involving a subscription starting at £9.99 per month. The current Meta One structure is broader, with different business and creator plans, features and prices. Meta says pricing and availability can vary according to region, app and account.
So it would be inaccurate to say:
"Facebook now charges every business £9.99 to post links."
It doesn't.
The more accurate description is:
Meta is testing and expanding restrictions on external link posts for some Facebook Pages, while introducing paid subscription plans that provide additional publishing capabilities.
That distinction matters.
Why should businesses care?
Because Facebook has traditionally been used as a distribution channel.
A business creates something on its own website and then uses Facebook to tell its audience about it.
For example:
Website
New article → New service → New case study → New offer
↓
"Here's our latest article..."
"Here's our new service..."
"Here's what we've been working on..."
↓
Potential customer
Clicks through to your website.
That's a perfectly sensible digital marketing strategy.
The problem is that the middle part of that journey isn't something you own.
You don't own Facebook.
You don't own its algorithm.
You don't control how many people see your posts.
And you don't ultimately control the rules governing what your Page can publish.
Now we may be seeing another layer added to that equation:
You may not even be able to use Facebook to send people away from Facebook as freely as you once could.
The bigger lesson: don't build your business on rented land
This is the part businesses should really pay attention to.
The issue isn't whether £10, £50 or £150 a month is expensive.
For a business that generates enquiries worth hundreds or thousands of pounds, the subscription itself might be insignificant.
The bigger question is:
What happens if a platform changes the rules?
Facebook can change its algorithm.
Google can change its search results.
Instagram can change its reach.
LinkedIn can change its distribution.
TikTok can change its commercial model.
And Meta has now demonstrated that it can experiment with restricting a previously available publishing capability and potentially put additional access behind a subscription.
That's the reality of building your marketing strategy on somebody else's platform.
Your website is still the asset you own
This is why we generally recommend that businesses treat social media as a distribution channel, not the foundation of their digital presence.
Your website should remain the central hub.
Your social channels should help people discover you.
Your email database should allow you to communicate with people who have chosen to hear from you.
Your analytics should tell you what is actually generating enquiries and sales.
And your SEO strategy should help people discover your business without requiring you to pay another platform every time you want to reach an audience.
The ideal journey looks more like:
Google / Social / Email / Referral
↓
Your website
↓
Enquiry / booking / sale
↓
Your CRM and customer relationship
rather than:
↓
↓
↓
Hopefully someone clicks
What does this mean for SEO?
Interestingly, the Facebook change is another reason not to think about SEO in isolation.
If your business publishes a genuinely useful article on your website, that article can potentially:
Rank in Google
Appear in AI search experiences
Be shared through Facebook
Be shared on LinkedIn
Be included in email marketing
Be referenced in sales conversations
Generate organic traffic over time
Provide content for other marketing channels
The website is the underlying asset.
Social media is one way of distributing it.
That distinction becomes increasingly important as platforms introduce more restrictions, subscriptions and algorithmic controls.
What should businesses do now?
There's no need to panic.
If you're running a Facebook Page and haven't seen the restriction, you may not currently be affected. Reports suggest that the rollout remains inconsistent, and Meta's own documentation indicates that features vary by account and region.
Instead, use this as an opportunity to review where your website traffic actually comes from.
1. Check your Facebook Page
Have you received a notification about a link-posting limit?
If you have, find out exactly what is restricted before changing your strategy or signing up for anything.
2. Look at your analytics
Don't assume Facebook is driving significant traffic simply because you post regularly.
Look at your analytics and find out how much traffic Facebook actually generates and, more importantly, whether that traffic generates enquiries or sales.
3. Don't abandon your website
If your website is effectively just somewhere you send people after they've already discovered you on social media, you may be more dependent on Facebook than you realise.
Your website should be doing more of the heavy lifting.
4. Build your email database
Unlike a Facebook audience, an email list is something your business can actually take with it.
Use appropriate consent and make it easy for customers and prospects to hear from you directly.
5. Invest in organic search
SEO isn't immune to change, but a properly structured website can generate visibility across multiple search journeys rather than relying on a single social platform.
That's particularly important for local businesses.
Someone searching for "web design agency in Hertfordshire", "SEO agency near Berkhamsted" or "digital marketing agency Hemel Hempstead" is already expressing a different type of intent from someone scrolling through Facebook.
What about local businesses in Hertfordshire?
For smaller businesses, this is arguably even more important.
A local company doesn't necessarily need millions of Facebook followers.
It needs to be visible when potential customers are actually looking for its products or services.
For a business operating in Hertfordshire, that might mean being visible for searches around:
Berkhamsted
Hemel Hempstead
Tring
Watford
St Albans
Aylesbury
Chesham
North London and surrounding areas
The exact locations obviously depend on where the business operates.
But the principle is the same:
Don't just build an audience. Build discoverability.
A strong website, properly structured local SEO, Google Business Profile optimisation, useful content, reviews and a clear conversion journey can continue working even when Facebook changes the rules.
Facebook isn't dead
It's worth making this clear.
This isn't an argument for deleting your Facebook Page.
Facebook remains a significant platform and can be valuable for brand awareness, community, advertising, customer communication and content distribution.
The lesson is simply not to confuse having an audience on Facebook with owning that audience.
They're very different things.
And Meta's latest changes are a useful reminder of that distinction.
The bottom line
Facebook hasn't suddenly become a £9.99-a-month service for every business.
But the platform is clearly experimenting with putting more professional publishing capabilities behind paid subscriptions, and more businesses are now reporting restrictions on external link posts.
For businesses that depend heavily on Facebook to generate website traffic, it's worth paying attention.
Because the real question isn't:
"Can I afford Meta's subscription?"
It's:
"How dependent is my business on a platform I don't control?"
That's a much more important question.
At Rufus Design, we believe your website should remain the centre of your digital marketing strategy, with SEO, social media, email marketing, paid advertising and other channels working together to drive people towards an asset that your business actually owns.
Facebook can change its rules.
Your website shouldn't have to change its business model every time it does.
About Rufus Design
Rufus Design is a digital marketing and web design agency based in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. We work with businesses across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the wider UK on website design, SEO, digital marketing, PPC, analytics and ongoing digital strategy.
