What it is
This check looks at whether a site links out to any social media profiles it maintains — typically shown as small icons in a header or footer linking to accounts like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X (Twitter). It's explicitly an optional signal, not a requirement — plenty of legitimate, trustworthy businesses have no active social presence at all, and that's a completely fine choice.
What this check actually flags is a specific, avoidable gap: a business that does maintain active social accounts, but never links to them anywhere on its own website, missing an easy opportunity to connect the two.
Why it matters
For visitors who do check, an active, linked social profile serves as a kind of ongoing, external evidence that a business is real and currently operating — recent posts, visible followers, and public engagement all add up to a form of credibility that a static website alone can't fully provide on its own. It also gives interested visitors another way to stay in touch beyond a single website visit.
Because this is optional, it shouldn't be treated with the same urgency as a broken contact form or missing HTTPS — but for a business that already invests time in social media, not linking it from the main website is a small, easy inconsistency to fix.
How to fix it
- Decide whether you actually maintain active social media accounts worth linking — an abandoned account with no recent activity can do more harm than good if linked.
- For each active account, add a small icon link in your site's header or footer, using recognizable platform icons.
- Make sure each link opens the correct profile and opens in a new tab, so visitors don't lose their place on your site.
- If you don't currently maintain any active social accounts, this is genuinely optional — there's no need to create profiles solely to satisfy this check.
- Re-run your Launch Readiness check to confirm the links are now detected, if applicable.