diff --git a/src/layouts.jl b/src/layouts.jl
index dba708ee..6c47949c 100644
--- a/src/layouts.jl
+++ b/src/layouts.jl
@@ -692,9 +692,22 @@ function link_axes!(axes::Axis...)
     end
 end
 
+# figure out which subplots to link
+function link_subplots(a::AbstractArray{AbstractLayout}, axissym::Symbol)
+    subplots = []
+    for l in a
+        if isa(l, Subplot)
+            push!(subplots, l)
+        elseif isa(l, GridLayout) && size(l) == (1,1)
+            push!(subplots, l[1,1])
+        end
+    end
+    subplots
+end
+
 # for some vector or matrix of layouts, filter only the Subplots and link those axes
 function link_axes!(a::AbstractArray{AbstractLayout}, axissym::Symbol)
-    subplots = filter(l -> isa(l, Subplot), a)
+    subplots = link_subplots(a, axissym)
     axes = [sp.attr[axissym] for sp in subplots]
     if length(axes) > 0
         link_axes!(axes...)