Simple copy/paste link query

unfortunately, as far as i know you cannot bypass that because you are linking to an empty cell that excel believes is a number and so shows a zero, however help is at hand, you can place this code on a standard module (Alt+F11, then right click on the left ahnd side and choose Insert, Module) then when you run the code from within the VBE or from a button or shortcut it should enter the correct formula to eliminate the 0's

Sub Eliminate_0()
Dim Rng As Range, MyCell As Range
   Set Rng = Range("A1:A15")
   Rng.Copy
    Range("B1").Select
    ActiveSheet.Paste Link:=True
    Application.CutCopyMode = False
    For Each MyCell In Rng
    If MyCell.Value = "" Then
    MyCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = "=If(" & MyCell.Address & "=" & Chr(34) & Chr(34) _
     & "," & Chr(34) & Chr(34) & "," & MyCell.Address & ")"
    End If
    Next
End Sub