A new study from LinkedIn reports that adding a link in your post can boost engagement by 13%, contrary to the usual advice for writing posts. Try to find out which kinds of content perform the best.
A recent study of half a million LinkedIn posts challenges the usual advice on marketing. Analysis of 100.000 posts finds that posts that include links get 13.57% more interactions and 4.90% more views than those without links.
The investigation by LinkedIn and Metricool looked in detail at the profiles of more than 48,000 businesses for three years. The results allow marketers to reassess how they use LinkedIn.
Link Performance Contradicts Common Advice
There are experts in social media who have been warning users not to post links on LinkedIn for many years.
Many said that in order to retain members on LinkedIn, the company will display these postings to fewer individuals.
According to this recent research, that is incorrect.
According to the statistics, links to other websites were included in around 31% of LinkedIn postings. Compared to postings without links, these posts regularly performed better.
Content Format Performance Reveals Unexpected Winners
The performance of different forms of information varied significantly, according to the study.
Of all the formats, carousels (document postings) have the greatest engagement rate (45.85%), making them the most effective for engagement. LinkedIn users are prepared to invest time in scrolling through several presentations.
Polls are a chance lost. Although they only account for 0.00034% of all posts examined, their reach was 206.33% more than that of typical postings. They work well, although they are little used.
Posts with merely text fared lower than those with images in every statistic. They had the fewest interactions, while being the most prevalent.
Video Content Shows Remarkable Growth
Last year, the amount of video content on LinkedIn went up by 53% and the amount of engagement went up by 87.32%. It is growing faster than YouTube, Reels and TikTok.
Industry-Specific Insights
Performance by industry was broken out in the study. Unexpectedly, sectors with smaller fan bases tend to have higher levels of involvement.
Compared to education or retail organizations, manufacturing and utility companies had fewer followers, but each post garnered greater engagement.
This casts doubt on the notion that gaining more followers inevitably leads to better outcomes.
Practical Tips for Marketers
Based on these findings, here’s what LinkedIn marketers should do:
Looking Ahead
Using reliable data, the Metricool analysis questions core LinkedIn marketing assumptions. The fact that includes links improves rather than detracts from your posts is the most practical conclusion for SEO and content marketers.
Marketers should routinely compare outdated guidance with actual performance data. In 2025, what used to function on LinkedIn could not work anymore.
