Glossary
The LinkedIn glossary
Plain definitions of the 41 terms that come up most, with a link to the full explanation where we have written one. We add to it as new terms come up. No jargon for its own sake.
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- 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree
- How closely you are connected to someone. 1st degree means you are directly connected, 2nd means you share a connection, and 3rd means you are two people removed. The degree affects what you can see and how you can contact them. Read the full explanation.
A
- About section
- The About section is the free text summary near the top of a LinkedIn profile, capped at 2,600 characters, where you describe your work in your own words. Only the first few lines are visible before a reader has to click See more. Read the full explanation.
- Activity section
- The part of your LinkedIn profile that lists your posts, comments, articles and other activity, newest first. It is the only native record of what you have published, and LinkedIn hides it from your profile if you have had no activity for 360 days. Read the full explanation.
- AI-assisted commenting
- AI-assisted commenting is the use of an AI language model to draft comments on social posts while a person reviews and approves each one before it is posted. It is a category of tools, not an official LinkedIn feature. Read the full explanation.
C
- CFBR
- CFBR stands for Comment For Better Reach. People leave it, or ask for it, to add an extra comment to a LinkedIn post so the algorithm shows the post to more people. Read the full explanation.
- Comment character limit
- The maximum length of a single LinkedIn comment. Long comments are truncated behind a see more link, so the opening words carry most of the weight. Read the full explanation.
- Comment control
- A LinkedIn setting that lets the author of a post choose who can comment on it: anyone, only their first-degree connections, or no one. The option you pick is saved as your default for future posts. Read the full explanation.
- Comment gating
- Asking people to comment a specific word to receive something, usually a link or a file sent by DM. It inflates comment counts, which is why it spread, and why it is treated as engagement bait. Read the full explanation.
- Commercial Use Limit
- A cap on how many profiles you can view via search in a calendar month on a free account. LinkedIn does not show you an exact remaining count, and it resets at the start of each month. Read the full explanation.
- Creator mode
- A LinkedIn profile setting that adds a Follow button as your primary action and surfaces your posts and chosen topics to visitors. It suits people who publish regularly for an audience beyond their direct network.
D
- Dwell time
- How long someone stays on a post instead of scrolling past. It is one of the signals the feed uses to judge whether content is worth showing to more people, which is why the first two lines of a post matter so much. Read the full explanation.
E
- Engagement bait
- Content designed to extract reactions rather than earn them, such as comment-to-receive offers or manufactured polls. Platforms generally discount it once detected. Read the full explanation.
- Engagement pod
- A private group that agrees to like and comment on each other's posts. Reciprocal rings are detectable and the borrowed engagement tends not to reach an audience that actually cares. Read the full explanation.
- Engagement rate
- Engagement rate is a metric that measures how much interaction a post gets relative to its audience, calculated as total engagements divided by reach (impressions or followers) times 100. Read the full explanation.
F
- Featured section
- The Featured section is an area near the top of your LinkedIn profile where you pin your best posts, articles, links, and media so visitors see your strongest work before your activity history. Read the full explanation.
- Follow vs Connect
- Following is one-directional and has no limit; connecting is mutual and counts toward connection limits. Some profiles show Follow as the primary button by choice. Read the full explanation.
- Follower growth rate
- Follower growth rate is the percentage change in your LinkedIn followers over a set period, calculated as new followers divided by your starting count, times 100. It measures momentum relative to your size, not raw follower numbers. Read the full explanation.
G
- Golden hour
- The window right after publishing when early engagement most strongly influences how widely a post is distributed. It is why replying to comments quickly matters more than the exact posting time. Read the full explanation.
I
- Impressions vs views
- An impression counts each time your content appears on a screen, while a view is a more deliberate look such as a profile visit or a video play. Impressions run much higher than views, so the two should never be compared directly. Read the full explanation.
- Interest graph
- The interest side of how LinkedIn builds your feed: the topics, follows, and engagement patterns it uses to match content to you, rather than only your direct connections. It is an industry term, not an official LinkedIn feature name. Read the full explanation.
L
- LinkedIn algorithm
- The ranking system that decides which posts appear in a feed. It tests a post on a sample of your network first, then expands distribution if that sample engages. Read the full explanation.
- LinkedIn jail
- An informal term covering three different situations people confuse: a temporary restriction, a permanent restriction, and a perceived drop in reach. Only the first two are actual LinkedIn account states. Read the full explanation.
- LinkedIn reactions
- The set of one-tap responses (Like, Celebrate, Support, Love, Insightful, and Funny) you can add to a post or comment on LinkedIn. Your reaction is shown to your network.
M
- Mention (tag)
- A mention, or tag, is when you type the @ symbol and select a member or company so their name becomes a clickable link in your post or comment and they get notified. Read the full explanation.
O
- Open to Work
- A setting that signals you are looking for a role, either privately to recruiters or publicly with a photo frame. The two modes behave very differently in who can see it. Read the full explanation.
P
- People You May Know
- A feature on your My Network page that suggests LinkedIn members to connect with, based on shared connections, similar profile information, the same company or school, and contacts you have imported. Read the full explanation.
- Personal branding
- The deliberate practice of shaping how others perceive you professionally, so the reputation you have matches the one you want. It is a general marketing concept, not an official LinkedIn feature. Read the full explanation.
- Profile strength (All-Star)
- LinkedIn's own completeness meter, with three levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and All-star. You reach All-star by completing seven sections, and LinkedIn says the level is visible only to you and that completing your profile improves how discoverable it is in search. Read the full explanation.
- Public profile
- A public profile is a simplified, logged-out version of your LinkedIn profile that non-members and search engines can see. You control which sections appear, and you can turn it off entirely in your visibility settings. Read the full explanation.
R
- Reach
- On LinkedIn, reach is the number of distinct members who saw your content, unlike impressions, which count every time it was shown, including repeat views to the same person. Read the full explanation.
- Repost
- A LinkedIn feature that shares another member's post to your own feed. Plain Repost shares it unchanged, while Repost with your thoughts adds your own commentary above the original post. Read the full explanation.
- Ring the bell
- Ringing the bell means tapping the notification bell on a LinkedIn member's profile to subscribe to their posts, so you get notified each time they publish. You must follow or connect with them first. Read the full explanation.
S
- Shadowban
- A widely used term for a suspected silent reach penalty. It is not an official LinkedIn account state, and a reach drop usually has a more ordinary explanation. Read the full explanation.
- Social Selling Index (SSI)
- A LinkedIn score from 0 to 100 built from four components, originally a Sales Navigator metric. LinkedIn itself notes a high score does not necessarily correlate with sales outcomes. Read the full explanation.
- Suggested posts
- Suggested posts are feed items LinkedIn shows you from accounts you do not follow, chosen from what your connections engage with and what LinkedIn judges relevant. LinkedIn offers controls to hide them but no single switch to remove them all. Read the full explanation.
T
- Thought leadership
- A reputation for being a trusted, original source of useful expertise on a specific topic, earned in public over time rather than self-declared. Read the full explanation.
- Top Voice
- A LinkedIn badge awarded to selected contributors for a topic. The community version is earned through collaborative articles, while the blue badge is invitation only, so the badge signals recognition rather than a setting you can switch on.
V
- View as member
- A button in the LinkedIn Page admin view that switches you to the non-admin version of your own Page. Some post controls, including turning comments off on a Page post that is already live, are only available from this view. Read the full explanation.
W
- Weekly invitation limit
- A cap on how many connection requests you can send per week. Sending too many, or having many go unanswered, is one of the most common triggers for a restriction. Read the full explanation.
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