Your LinkedIn Strategy is Wrong.
For years, the LinkedIn gurus told you the same thing:
“Don’t post external links. The algorithm will kill your reach.”
They were all wrong.
A new study just analyzed over 577,000 posts. It wasn’t based on feelings or what worked in 2019. It was based on hard data from 2025.
Here’s the deal: Posts with links get 13% more engagement.
Read that again.
The very thing you were told to avoid is actually helping. The algorithm doesn’t punish you for sending people off-site; it rewards you for sharing valuable content.
Myth busted.
But the study found more than that. It gave us a clear hierarchy of what actually works on the platform right now.
The undisputed king of content is the carousel.
Document posts have the highest engagement rate of any format. Period. People are willing to swipe if you give them something worth swiping for.
The biggest missed opportunity? Polls.
Almost nobody uses them. They make up a laughable 0.00034% of all posts.
But they get 206% more reach than the average post. It's a massive, untapped goldmine for attention.
Meanwhile, video engagement is up 87%. LinkedIn is hungry for it.
And at the very bottom of the barrel?
Text-only posts. The format most people default to is the single worst-performing content type across all metrics.
So what's the takeaway?
Stop listening to outdated advice. The game has changed.
Your New LinkedIn Playbook:
Share the link. It helps, not hurts.
Make more carousels. Turn your next text post into a 5-slide carousel.
Run a poll. It's the easiest way to stand out in a crowded feed.
The data is clear. The only question is whether you’ll use it.
