A
Algorithm
The LinkedIn algorithm determines which content a user sees in their feed. It evaluates posts based on three main factors: content quality, relevance to the reader, and the level of interaction the post generates. LinkedIn particularly rewards substantive discussions and professional expertise. A post is first shown to a small portion of your network; if that group responds positively (likes, comments, shares), the reach is gradually expanded. The algorithm penalizes engagement bait and prioritizes posts that spark valuable conversations. According to recent data, organic reach continues to decline, making it increasingly important to understand how the algorithm works.
Article
A LinkedIn Article is a long-form blog post published directly on LinkedIn. Unlike a regular post (max. 3,000 characters), an article has no character limit and allows you to include headings, images, links, and formatting. Articles are discoverable via Google and receive a permanent URL on your profile. They are ideal for thought leadership, in-depth analyses, and evergreen content. While articles typically get lower reach than native posts, they attract a more targeted audience and build long-term authority.
Audience Network
The LinkedIn Audience Network extends your LinkedIn campaign to third-party websites and apps. Your ads appear not only on LinkedIn itself but also on partner sites — similar to the Google Display Network. The Audience Network significantly expands your reach, but click quality is often lower than on LinkedIn itself. Tip: test your campaign on LinkedIn only first, and enable the Audience Network only when you want to scale your results. You can exclude specific placements via Campaign Manager.
B
Bidding Strategy
Your bidding strategy determines how LinkedIn spends your budget in the ad auction. The three options are: Maximum delivery (LinkedIn optimizes automatically), Cost cap (you set a maximum cost per result), and Manual bidding (you bid per click or impression yourself). For beginners, maximum delivery is the safest choice; for experienced advertisers, manual bidding provides more control. The right bidding strategy depends on your campaign objective, budget, and competition within your target audience segment.
Boosting
Boosting on LinkedIn means converting an existing organic post from your Company Page into a paid advertisement. You select an audience, budget, and duration, and LinkedIn shows the post to a larger audience. It is the quickest way to get started with LinkedIn Ads, but offers fewer targeting options and optimization capabilities than a campaign via Campaign Manager. Boosting is suitable for brand awareness; for lead generation, you are better off running a full campaign.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is a campaign objective in LinkedIn Campaign Manager focused on maximizing the number of impressions. LinkedIn shows your ad to as many people in your target audience as possible. The platform optimizes for views, not clicks or conversions. This objective is suitable when you want to introduce your brand to a new audience or build top-of-funnel visibility. The cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is typically lowest with brand awareness campaigns.
C
Campaign Manager
LinkedIn Campaign Manager is LinkedIn's central advertising platform. Here you create campaigns, build audiences, choose ad formats, set budgets, and analyze results. The structure works with campaign groups (for budget limits and scheduling), campaigns (for objectives and targeting), and ads (the actual creatives). Campaign Manager offers extensive targeting by job title, seniority, industry, company size, skills, and more. It is the only way to professionally advertise on LinkedIn.
Carousel
A LinkedIn carousel is an ad format where users can swipe through multiple cards (slides), each with its own image, text, and call-to-action. Organically, you can achieve a similar effect by uploading a PDF as a document post. Carousels perform above average on LinkedIn because they keep users engaged longer — the algorithm interprets swiping as engagement. They are ideal for step-by-step guides, tips, case studies, and comparisons.
Company Page
A LinkedIn Company Page is your organization's profile on LinkedIn. It contains your company description, logo, cover photo, location, industry, number of employees, and open positions. Employees can link their profile to the Company Page. You can post organic content, create events, and run ads from your company page. A well-optimized Company Page is essential for employer branding, thought leadership, and B2B lead generation.
Connection
A LinkedIn connection is a mutual relationship between two profiles. Both parties must accept the connection. You can have a maximum of 30,000 first-degree connections. Connections see each other's posts in the feed, can message each other, and view each other's contact details. LinkedIn distinguishes three degrees: 1st (direct connections), 2nd (connections of your connections), and 3rd (three steps removed). Strategically expanding your network is a core component of social selling.
Content Suggestion
Content Suggestions is a LinkedIn feature where the platform suggests trending articles and topics relevant to your industry and audience. Page administrators can find these suggestions in their Company Page admin panel. It is a handy source of inspiration when you do not know what to post about, but use suggestions as a starting point — not as ready-made content. Always add your own expertise and perspective.
Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking on LinkedIn makes it possible to measure which actions users take after clicking your ad. You set this up via the LinkedIn Insight Tag (a piece of JavaScript on your website) in combination with conversion definitions in Campaign Manager. You can track form submissions, page visits, downloads, and purchases. Without conversion tracking, you are advertising blind — you know how many clicks you get, but not how many of those actually turn into valuable leads.
Creator Mode
Creator Mode is a profile setting that transforms your LinkedIn profile from a traditional resume-style profile into a content platform. When Creator Mode is enabled, the "Follow" button becomes the default action instead of "Connect," your featured posts appear at the top of your profile, and you gain access to LinkedIn Live and Newsletters. Creator Mode is ideal for thought leaders, consultants, and anyone who wants to grow their reach by consistently publishing content.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
CPC is the amount you pay per click on your LinkedIn ad. The average CPC on LinkedIn ranges between $5 and $10 — significantly higher than on Facebook or Google Display. The cost depends on your target audience (C-level targeting is more expensive), your bidding strategy, the quality of your ad, and the competition. Despite the higher CPC, LinkedIn Ads can be profitable for B2B companies thanks to the higher lead quality.
CPM (Cost Per Mille)
CPM stands for cost per mille, meaning the cost per thousand impressions of your ad. On LinkedIn, the average CPM ranges between $25 and $60, depending on your audience and campaign objective. CPM bidding is suitable for brand awareness campaigns where you want maximum reach. For lead generation or website traffic, CPC bidding is often more effective because you only pay when someone actually takes action.
D
Dark Post (Direct Sponsored Content)
A dark post is an ad that does not appear on your Company Page but is only visible to the targeted audience. In LinkedIn terminology, this is called Direct Sponsored Content. The advantage: you can test multiple variations of an ad (A/B test) without flooding your page followers with similar posts. Dark posts are the standard practice for professional LinkedIn advertisers who want to optimize their creatives.
DM (Direct Message)
A DM on LinkedIn is a private message sent through the messaging center. You can send free messages to your 1st-degree connections. To message people outside your network, you need InMail (paid) or Sales Navigator. DMs are powerful for social selling and networking, but spammy messages (pitching immediately after connecting) are a common mistake. Build a relationship first before making a business proposal.
Document Post
A document post is a LinkedIn post where you upload a PDF, PowerPoint, or Word file that users can swipe through like a carousel. It is one of the best-performing organic formats on LinkedIn: the swiping action is counted as engagement by the algorithm, giving document posts above-average reach. Popular use cases include: step-by-step guides, checklists, infographics, mini-guides, and comparisons. Keep each slide visually appealing and limit the text per slide.
Dynamic Ad
A Dynamic Ad is a personalized ad format on LinkedIn that automatically integrates the viewer's profile photo and name into the ad. There are three types: Follower Ads (attract more followers), Spotlight Ads (drive traffic to a page), and Content Ads (promote content downloads). Dynamic Ads appear in the right column of the desktop version. They stand out due to the personalization, but click-through rates are typically lower than Sponsored Content in the feed.
E
Employee Advocacy
Employee advocacy is the strategy where employees share and promote company content through their personal LinkedIn profiles. Personal profiles reach an average of 5 to 10 times more people than company pages. Many organizations set up formal employee advocacy programs with tools like Haiilo, DSMN8, or Ambassify. The key is authenticity: let employees share in their own words, not simply copy-paste company content.
Engagement
Engagement on LinkedIn encompasses all interactions with your content: likes (reactions), comments, shares, clicks, and saves. You calculate the engagement rate by dividing the total number of interactions by the number of impressions, multiplied by 100%. On LinkedIn, an engagement rate of 2-4% is good, above 5% is excellent. The algorithm uses engagement as the primary indicator to determine whether a post gets distributed more broadly. Comments carry more weight than likes, and longer comments carry more weight than short ones.
Event
With LinkedIn Events, you can create and promote online and offline events. Attendees can register, receive reminders, and see the event in their feed. You can link events to LinkedIn Live for livestreams. Events are powerful for webinars, product launches, networking events, and knowledge sessions. An added benefit: you can retarget attendees afterward via Matched Audiences in Campaign Manager.
F
Featured
The Featured section is a prominent area at the top of your LinkedIn profile where you can showcase your best content. You can add posts, articles, links, images, and documents. The Featured section is a digital business card: it is the first thing profile visitors see after your headline and summary. Use it strategically to demonstrate your expertise — for example, a case study, a popular post, a whitepaper, or a link to your services.
Follow
Following on LinkedIn is a one-way action: you see someone's public posts in your feed without them having to accept you. Since Creator Mode, profiles can display the follow button by default instead of the connect button. Followers count toward your total reach. Many thought leaders on LinkedIn have more followers than connections. The difference from connecting: a connection is mutual and gives access to contact details; following is passive and only provides access to content.
Frequency
Frequency is the average number of times a person in your target audience sees your ad. You can view this metric in Campaign Manager. A frequency that is too low (< 2) means your message may not stick; too high (> 7-10) leads to ad fatigue — people become irritated and your performance declines. The ideal frequency depends on your campaign objective: for brand awareness, 4-6 times is effective; for conversion campaigns, 2-3 times is often sufficient.
G
Group
A LinkedIn Group is an online community centered around a specific topic, industry, or field. Members can start discussions, ask questions, and share content. Groups were once a core element of LinkedIn, but their popularity has declined with the rise of the algorithmic feed. Nevertheless, niche groups can still be valuable for networking and finding potential clients. As a marketer, you can start your own group to build a community around your expertise.
H
Hashtag
A hashtag on LinkedIn is a clickable keyword that begins with the # symbol. Hashtags make your content discoverable to people who follow that topic, even if they are not in your network. LinkedIn recommends 3 to 5 relevant hashtags per post. Use a mix of broad hashtags (#marketing, #leadership) and niche hashtags (#b2bsales, #linkedintips). Placing hashtags in the comments does not work — they must be in the post itself to impact discoverability.
I
Impression
An impression is a single view of your content or ad in someone's feed. If the same person sees your post twice, that counts as two impressions. LinkedIn counts an organic impression when the post is visible for at least 300 milliseconds and at least 50% is in view. For ads, LinkedIn applies similar viewability standards. The number of impressions indicates your reach, but not the impact — for that, you look at engagement and clicks.
InMail
InMail is LinkedIn's paid messaging feature that allows you to send private messages to people outside your direct network. You receive InMail credits with LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter. In Campaign Manager, you can also send Sponsored InMail (now called Message Ads) as an ad format. The average open rate of InMail is 50-60%, significantly higher than email. Personalization is crucial: generic InMails get ignored, while targeted messages with a relevant hook convert significantly better.
Insight Tag
The LinkedIn Insight Tag is a piece of JavaScript code you place on your website. It enables LinkedIn to identify website visitors (based on their LinkedIn profile), measure conversions, and build retargeting audiences. The Insight Tag is essential for any serious LinkedIn Ads strategy. After installation, you gain access in Campaign Manager to demographic data about your website visitors — job title, industry, company size — even if they did not click on an ad.
L
Lead Gen Form
A Lead Gen Form is a form that opens directly within LinkedIn when someone clicks your ad. The form is automatically populated with data from the user's LinkedIn profile (name, email, job title, company). Because the user does not have to leave LinkedIn and does not need to fill in anything manually, conversion rates are up to 5 times higher than with landing pages. Lead Gen Forms are the most effective format for B2B lead generation on LinkedIn. You can export the leads as a CSV or connect them to your CRM via Zapier or a native integration.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is LinkedIn's online course platform with thousands of video courses on business, technology, marketing, and creative skills. As a marketer, it is relevant because completed courses and certificates appear on your profile, which supports your expertise. Additionally, you can share LinkedIn Learning courses as content to help your network. For companies, LinkedIn Learning offers a team subscription that you can use as an employee benefit.
LinkedIn Live
LinkedIn Live is LinkedIn's livestreaming feature that allows you to broadcast video in real time to your followers. Livestreams generate an average of 7 times more reactions and 24 times more comments than regular video posts. You need an approved streaming tool (such as Restream, StreamYard, or Vimeo). LinkedIn Live is available for profiles with Creator Mode and for Company Pages that meet the criteria. It is ideal for Q&A sessions, product demos, panel discussions, and events.
Lookalike Audience
A lookalike audience on LinkedIn is an audience that resembles an existing source list in terms of characteristics. LinkedIn analyzes the profiles in your source (for example, your customers or website visitors) and finds similar profiles based on job title, industry, skills, and behavior. You can choose from 1-15% similarity — the lower the percentage, the more targeted but smaller the audience. Lookalike audiences are powerful for scaling your reach to people who resemble your best customers.
M
Matched Audiences
Matched Audiences is the umbrella term for all custom targeting options in LinkedIn Campaign Manager. There are four types: Website Retargeting (visitors to your website, via the Insight Tag), Contact Targeting (upload of email lists), Account Targeting (target specific companies by name), and Lookalike Audiences. Matched Audiences allow you to run highly targeted campaigns — for example, showing an ad to decision-makers at your 500 dream clients. It is one of the most powerful features of LinkedIn Ads.
Message Ad (Sponsored InMail)
A Message Ad (formerly Sponsored InMail) is an ad that appears as a private message in your target audience's LinkedIn inbox. The message includes a personal greeting, text, and a call-to-action button. LinkedIn only delivers Message Ads when the recipient is active on the platform, which increases the open rate (average 50%). Each user receives a maximum of one Message Ad per 45 days from the same advertiser. The format works well for event invitations, whitepapers, and personalized offers.
N
Newsletter
A LinkedIn Newsletter is a recurring publication that you send via your profile or Company Page. Subscribers to your newsletter receive a push notification and email with each new edition — a major advantage over regular posts that depend on the algorithm. Newsletters are available for profiles with Creator Mode. They are particularly effective: the average open rate is 30-50% and you build a dedicated readership. Each article is searchable via Google, which also boosts your SEO.
O
Objective
The objective is the goal you choose when creating a LinkedIn campaign. The three main categories are: Awareness (brand awareness), Consideration (website traffic, engagement, video views), and Conversion (lead generation, website conversions, job applications). Your chosen objective determines which ad formats are available, how LinkedIn optimizes, and which bidding options you have. Choose your objective based on your actual goal, not based on the lowest cost per result.
Organic Reach
Organic reach is the number of people who see your LinkedIn content without you paying for it. Your organic reach is determined by the algorithm, the size of your network, the quality of your content, and the level of engagement. On LinkedIn, the average organic reach of a company page post is 3-5% of the number of followers. For personal profiles, this is higher: 10-25%. Organic reach has been declining for years, making LinkedIn Ads increasingly relevant for B2B marketers who want to reach their target audience.
P
Page Analytics
Page Analytics are the statistics available to administrators of a LinkedIn Company Page. You gain insight into visitor numbers, follower growth, reach, engagement, and demographic data about your audience. The analytics are divided into five categories: visitors, followers, leads, content, and competitors. By analyzing this data, you can determine which content performs best, when your target audience is active, and how you are growing compared to similar company pages.
Poll
A LinkedIn Poll is an interactive post where you ask a question with up to four answer options. The duration can be set to 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, or 2 weeks. Polls generate above-average engagement because voting is a low-barrier form of interaction. The algorithm rewards this interaction, giving polls broad reach. Use polls strategically: ask questions that are relevant to your target audience and spark conversation in the comments. Avoid trivial polls — they harm your credibility as an expert.
Profile
Your LinkedIn profile is your digital business card and resume on the platform. The key elements are: profile photo, cover photo, headline, summary (about), work experience, skills, recommendations, and the Featured section. Your profile is searchable via Google and within LinkedIn. An optimized profile with relevant keywords in your headline and summary increases your discoverability. LinkedIn reports that profiles with a professional photo are viewed 14 times more than profiles without one.
Profile Views
Profile views are the number of times someone visits your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn shows you the last 90 days of profile views and provides limited insight into who viewed your profile (depending on the visitor's privacy settings). An increase in profile views after posting content is a healthy sign: it means your content is generating curiosity. With LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator, you can see all profile visitors, including their job title and company.
R
Reaction
A reaction on LinkedIn is an emotional response to a post. There are six options: Like (thumb), Celebrate (clap), Support (heart), Funny (laugh), Love (heart with hands), and Insightful (lightbulb). Each reaction counts as engagement and contributes to the post's reach. The type of reaction can indicate how your content is being received. From the algorithm's perspective, the type of reaction makes no difference — a "Like" carries the same weight as an "Insightful."
Recommendation
A recommendation is a written testimonial on your LinkedIn profile from someone you have worked with. Recommendations are visible to everyone and strengthen your credibility. Unlike endorsements (skill confirmations), recommendations require personal text. They are particularly valuable for consultants, freelancers, and service providers. Tip: ask for specific recommendations ("Can you describe how the project went?") instead of generic requests — specific testimonials are more convincing.
Retargeting
Retargeting on LinkedIn is the practice of re-engaging people who have previously interacted with your brand. Via Matched Audiences, you can retarget: website visitors (via the Insight Tag), people who opened your Lead Gen Form, video viewers, event attendees, and Company Page visitors. Retargeting campaigns typically perform 2-3 times better than cold-audience campaigns because the audience already knows your brand. It is an essential component of a mature B2B lead generation strategy.
S
Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is LinkedIn's premium sales tool, specifically designed for B2B sales professionals. It offers advanced search filters (40+ criteria), lead recommendations based on your preferences, real-time insights about your prospects (job changes, company news), and InMail credits. Sales Navigator is a separate product with its own interface — it is not an upgrade of your standard LinkedIn account. Pricing starts around $80 per month. It is indispensable for account-based sales strategies and social selling.
Showcase Page
A Showcase Page is a sub-page of your Company Page that you can create for a specific brand, product, service, or initiative. Showcase Pages have their own followers, content, and analytics. They are useful when you have multiple audiences that you want to target with different content. Example: a software company can have Showcase Pages for each of its products. Limit the number of Showcase Pages — too many pages dilute your content and are difficult to maintain.
Social Selling
Social selling is the use of LinkedIn to build relationships, earn trust, and ultimately create sales opportunities. It is not about hard selling, but about providing value: sharing relevant content, posting substantive comments, sending personal messages, and demonstrating your expertise. LinkedIn measures your social selling activity via the SSI score. According to LinkedIn, social sellers generate 45% more sales opportunities and are 51% more likely to hit their targets than colleagues who do not practice social selling.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content is the most widely used LinkedIn ad format. These are paid posts that appear in your target audience's feed, labeled "Promoted." Sponsored Content can consist of an image, video, carousel, or document. The format feels native — it looks like a regular post, but with the added power of targeting and reach. Sponsored Content is suitable for virtually any campaign objective: brand awareness, website traffic, engagement, and lead generation.
SSI (Social Selling Index)
The Social Selling Index is a score from 0 to 100 that measures how effectively you use LinkedIn for social selling. The score consists of four equally weighted components: establishing your professional brand (profile quality), finding the right people (searching and filtering), engaging with insights (publishing content), and building relationships (interaction and connections). You can check your SSI for free at linkedin.com/sales/ssi. A score above 70 places you in the top tier of your industry. LinkedIn states that a high SSI correlates with 45% more sales opportunities.
T
Targeting
Targeting on LinkedIn is the process of selecting the audience for your ad campaign. LinkedIn offers the most detailed B2B targeting of any social platform. You can filter by: job title, seniority, department, industry, company size, company name, skills, education level, location, and more. Additionally, you can use Matched Audiences for retargeting and list-based targeting. The minimum audience size is 300 members. The more specifically you target, the higher the cost but also the more relevant your reach.
Text Ad
A Text Ad is a simple LinkedIn ad format that appears in the right column and at the top of the page on desktop. It consists of a small image (50x50 pixels), a short headline (25 characters), and a description (75 characters). Text Ads work on a CPC or CPM basis and are the cheapest LinkedIn ad format. They are suitable for brand awareness and website traffic, but click-through rates are low compared to Sponsored Content. Text Ads are not displayed on mobile.
Thought Leader Ad
A Thought Leader Ad is a relatively new LinkedIn ad format (2023) that allows you to promote an organic post from an employee as an advertisement. The post appears under the person's name, not the company's — which comes across as more authentic. Thought Leader Ads combine the credibility of personal content with the targeting and scaling capabilities of Campaign Manager. They perform an average of 2-3 times better than standard Sponsored Content in terms of engagement, because they feel like a recommendation from a person rather than a corporate ad.
V
Video Ad
A Video Ad is a Sponsored Content advertisement in video format that appears in your target audience's feed. LinkedIn supports videos from 3 seconds to 30 minutes, but the optimal length is 15-30 seconds for awareness and 1-2 minutes for consideration. Videos autoplay without sound — so always add subtitles. Video Ads are effective for product explainers, customer stories, and brand introductions. The cost per view (CPV) typically ranges between $0.06 and $0.25.
Video (Native Video)
Native video on LinkedIn is a video that you upload directly with your post, as opposed to a YouTube or Vimeo link. Native videos get significantly more reach than linked videos because LinkedIn rewards content on its own platform. The maximum length is 10 minutes for personal profiles and 15 minutes for Company Pages. The first 3 seconds are decisive: start with a compelling hook. LinkedIn counts a view after 2 seconds of playback at a minimum of 50% visibility.
W
Website Demographics
Website Demographics is a free reporting tool in Campaign Manager that shows you which LinkedIn users visit your website — even if they did not click on an ad. It requires the Insight Tag to be installed on your website. You gain insight into the job titles, industries, company sizes, seniority levels, and locations of your website visitors. This is valuable market intelligence: you discover which professionals are interested in your offering, even if they do not fill out a form.
Website Conversion
A website conversion is a campaign objective in Campaign Manager that optimizes for specific actions on your website, such as a form submission, download, or purchase. You define conversions via the Insight Tag and specific URL rules or event-specific triggers. The difference from the "Website visits" objective is that LinkedIn does not optimize for clicks, but for the likelihood that someone will actually convert. This requires sufficient data (at least 15-20 conversions per week) for the algorithm to optimize effectively.