Glossary
The LinkedIn glossary
Plain definitions of the 18 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.
C
- 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 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.
F
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
T
- 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.
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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