Publishing an article on LinkedIn is a completely different ballgame than firing off a quick status update. It’s your chance to really dig into a topic and build your professional brand.
Getting started is simple. Just head to your LinkedIn homepage and look for the ‘Write article’ button right at the top of your feed. Clicking that will take you straight into LinkedIn's long-form editor, where you can start crafting your piece.
Why Bother With LinkedIn Articles?
Knowing the "how" is easy, but understanding the "why" is what really gives you an edge. Think about it: a regular post has a short lifespan and gets buried in the feed within hours. An article, on the other hand, is a permanent asset. It lives on your profile indefinitely, acting as a testament to your expertise for anyone who stops by.
I like to think of each article as a piece of professional real estate. When a potential client or a recruiter looks you up, they won’t just see a resume. They’ll discover a library of your thoughts, your analyses, and your unique perspective. That’s what builds trust and proves you know your stuff.
How to Tell Articles and Posts Apart
It's easy to get them mixed up, but their purposes are quite different. A post is for a quick thought or an immediate update. An article is for a deep dive, a story, or a detailed guide.
Here's a quick breakdown to help you decide which one to use:
LinkedIn Article vs Standard Post Quick Comparison
Feature | LinkedIn Article | Standard Post |
---|---|---|
Length | Up to 125,000 characters. Ideal for in-depth content. | Limited to 3,000 characters. Best for quick updates. |
Formatting | Rich formatting options (H1/H2, quotes, bullets, images). | Basic formatting (bold, italics, emojis, tagging). |
Lifespan | Permanent on your profile; indexed by search engines. | Short-lived; disappears quickly in the feed. |
Best For | Thought leadership, case studies, detailed guides, tutorials. | News, quick tips, questions, sharing links, company updates. |
Discovery | Shows up in followers' feeds and Google searches. | Primarily seen by your immediate network and followers. |
Ultimately, posts are for reach and engagement right now, while articles are for building long-term authority and a searchable portfolio of your expertise.
Establish Yourself as a Go-To Expert
When you consistently publish insightful articles, you stop being just another name on a list and start becoming a recognized expert. You’re not just telling people you have skills; you’re showing them. This shift can open up some incredible doors—speaking gigs, podcast invitations, and high-value consulting inquiries often start with a well-written article.
Imagine a marketing director who writes a detailed breakdown of a recent algorithm change. That single piece could easily catch the eye of an event organizer looking for a sharp, knowledgeable panelist for their next conference.
Attract a Higher Caliber of Connections
Great content is a magnet for great people. When you share something truly thoughtful, you attract professionals who are genuinely interested in your field. The conversations that follow are miles ahead of a generic "I'd like to connect" request and can lead to powerful, mutually beneficial relationships.
The real goal isn’t just to get more views. It’s to be remembered for the value you bring to the table. A single, powerful article can build more genuine credibility than a hundred superficial posts ever could.
A well-crafted article is a cornerstone of any serious content plan. If you want to dive deeper into building a cohesive presence, check out our complete guide on creating a winning LinkedIn content strategy.
Navigating the LinkedIn Publishing Platform
Ready to get your ideas out there? Good news—LinkedIn’s publishing tool is incredibly user-friendly. It’s built for writers, not coders. To get started, just head to your LinkedIn homepage and look for the “Write article” button right under the regular post box.
Clicking that button takes you straight into the article editor. It’s a clean, no-fuss interface designed to let you focus on what matters: your writing. Everything you need to craft a polished, professional-looking article is right at your fingertips.
Thinking strategically, publishing on LinkedIn is more than just a one-off task. It's a continuous process that builds your credibility and solidifies your professional reputation over time.
As you can see, each piece you publish contributes to a larger goal, moving you from just sharing knowledge to gaining real professional recognition.
Mastering the Editor's Core Features
Once you're in the editor, your first job is to craft a magnetic headline. This is more than just a title; it’s the hook that convinces someone to click. Be clear and create a little intrigue. For example, instead of a vague "Thoughts on Project Management," try something specific like "The Project Management Mistake That's Secretly Costing Your Team Hours."
Next up is your cover image. This is your article’s visual handshake in a crowded feed, so make it count. The ideal size is 1200 x 627 pixels. You can upload a custom graphic or find a high-quality stock photo that visually sums up your topic.
The main writing area functions like most word processors you’ve used, but with a few key formatting tools optimized for online reading. Simply highlight some text, and a small toolbar will pop up, giving you options for:
- H1 and H2 headings to break your article into logical sections.
- Blockquotes to make powerful insights or quotes pop.
- Bold and italic text for emphasizing key terms.
- Numbered and bulleted lists to make complex info easy to scan.
Think of your formatting as a roadmap for your reader. Headings are the chapter markers and lists are the quick-reference guides. The easier you make it for people to find what they're looking for, the more likely they are to read to the end.
Embedding Rich Media for Higher Engagement
Let’s be honest, a wall of text can be intimidating. To keep your readers hooked, you need to mix in some rich media. The editor makes this a breeze. Look for the small square icon with a plus sign—this is your media insertion tool.
Clicking it opens up a world of possibilities. You can embed a YouTube video to show a concept in action, drop in a SlideShare presentation to back up your points with data, or add a series of images to tell a visual story. This doesn’t just make your article more dynamic; it also tells the LinkedIn algorithm that you’re delivering high-value, comprehensive content. A how-to article, for instance, becomes ten times more useful with a short video walking through the steps.
Crafting Content That Captures Attention
Sure, anyone can publish an article on LinkedIn. But getting someone to actually stop scrolling and read it? That takes a bit more finesse. The best articles live at the crossroads of what you know and what your audience truly cares about. Don't just lecture on your expertise; solve a problem they're facing right now.
Your introduction has to do all the heavy lifting. It needs to grab them from the very first sentence. Skip the boring preamble and get straight to the point by hitting a nerve or asking a tough question. Instead of something generic, try leading with, "Are your team meetings draining productivity? Here’s a framework that fixed ours." Right away, you've framed your article as a valuable solution, not just another piece of content.
Niching Down and Using Hashtags
Here's a hard truth: being a generalist on LinkedIn makes you forgettable. The real key to building authority is to own a specific niche. If you’re in marketing, don't just write about "marketing." Dig deeper. Write about "B2B SaaS content strategy for early-stage startups." That kind of laser focus pulls in the exact people you want to connect with.
Hashtags are basically your article's built-in distribution system. Think of them as signposts pointing the right professionals your way. I've found the best approach is to use a mix of both broad and niche tags.
- Broad: #Leadership, #Marketing, #ProjectManagement
- Niche: #SaaSGROWTH, #AgileTransformation, #EmployerBranding
Your article isn't just a piece of content; it's an invitation for conversation. The more specific and valuable it is, the more likely you are to attract the right people to that conversation and establish your credibility.
Navigating Outbound Links and CTAs
This next part is crucial, and it’s something a lot of people get wrong: outbound links. The LinkedIn algorithm really, really wants to keep users on the platform. Every time you add a link that sends someone away, you risk tanking your reach—sometimes by as much as 20-35%. Considering that posting original content weekly can double your engagement, that's a hit you don't want to take.
So, what's the workaround? Instead of dropping links throughout your article, publish it clean. Then, immediately after it goes live, add your most important link or call-to-action as the very first comment. This little trick satisfies the algorithm and still gives your most engaged readers a clear next step.
Getting Your Article in Front of the Right People
Hitting "publish" is a great feeling, but it’s really just the starting line. The real work begins now: making sure people actually see what you’ve written. The secret is to play nice with the LinkedIn algorithm, which is designed to keep users scrolling and engaged on the platform.
Your biggest ally here is visual content. I’ve seen it time and time again—articles that break up text with multi-image carousels, embedded slide decks, or even short videos will always perform better than a wall of words.
The numbers back this up. Visuals like carousels can pull in engagement rates as high as 6.6%, which is huge on LinkedIn. Documents and videos aren't far behind. For a deeper dive into the data, you can check out the latest LinkedIn engagement statistics on wavecnct.com.
Nail Your Timing and Hashtags
When you post is almost as important as what you post. Think about your target audience's workday. The sweet spot for publishing is typically Tuesday through Thursday, somewhere between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. in their local time zone. That’s when professionals are most likely to be taking a break and scrolling their feeds.
Take a look at how top articles are showcased on LinkedIn's publishing platform.
What do they all have in common? They grab your attention instantly with a strong cover image and a headline that promises a clear benefit. That's what you're up against.
Finally, don't even think about publishing without using hashtags. They are your ticket to getting discovered by people outside your immediate network.
Pro Tip: I always recommend a mix of broad and niche hashtags. For instance, you could use a high-traffic tag like
#DigitalMarketing
to get broad exposure, but then pair it with something more specific like#B2BContentStrategy
to attract the exact readers you want.
Figuring out the right hashtags can feel like throwing darts in the dark, but it doesn't have to be. We put together a complete guide to help you master the art of using LinkedIn hashtags for maximum visibility. Get these three things right—rich media, smart timing, and targeted hashtags—and you'll give your article the best possible chance to take off.
Automating Your Content with EvergreenFeed
Keeping up the momentum with your LinkedIn articles is all about consistency. But let's be realistic—finding the time to publish every day, or even every week, is a huge challenge for most of us. This is exactly where automation tools step in, helping you stay in front of your network without the daily scramble.
One of the smartest ways to do this is with a tool like EvergreenFeed, which is built specifically to schedule and recycle your best content. Instead of a great article getting buried in the feed a day after you post it, you can add it to a content library. From there, you can have it shared again automatically at the best times, making sure it keeps finding new eyes.
Building Your Content Library
Think about that awesome article you wrote last month—the one that got tons of comments and shares. With a tool like EvergreenFeed, you don’t just post it once and forget it. You drop it into a "bucket" of your A-list content.
Then you set a simple schedule, like sharing one piece from this bucket every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Just like that, you've created a reliable flow of valuable content for your audience. It also gives your best work the long lifespan it deserves, driving traffic and engagement weeks or even months after you first hit publish.
The real secret to growing on LinkedIn isn’t just about creating great content; it's making sure that content gets seen over and over again. Automation turns your best articles into assets that work for you 24/7.
This strategy keeps your profile active and popping, which is a huge signal to the LinkedIn algorithm that your content is worth showing. If you're ready to get this system working for you, our guide on how to automate social media posting breaks down the entire process. By setting up an automated workflow, you can turn the chore of manual posting into a smooth, hands-off engine that builds your professional brand.
Got Questions About Publishing on LinkedIn?
Even after you've got a plan, a few questions always pop up. It's totally normal. Let's walk through some of the most common things people wonder about when they first start publishing articles on LinkedIn, so you can hit that "publish" button with confidence.
How Long Should My LinkedIn Article Be?
This is probably the number one question I get. While there's no single magic number, I've found the sweet spot for really grabbing attention and showing you know your stuff is somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
That gives you enough room to dive deep into a topic and provide real value, but it's not so long that you'll lose your reader's interest. The goal is to be comprehensive, not just to pad the word count.
Can I Edit an Article After I've Published It?
Absolutely! And you should. LinkedIn makes it incredibly simple to go back and make changes. Just navigate to your article, find the "Edit article" button, make your tweaks, and republish. It’s a great feature for fixing those pesky typos you only notice later, updating old stats, or adding new insights to keep a piece relevant.
What's the Real Difference Between an Article and a Post?
It’s easy to get these two mixed up, but they serve very different purposes.
Think of a post as a quick status update. It's short-form, capped at 3,000 characters, and perfect for sharing a quick thought, a link, or a company update. It's designed for immediate, in-the-feed engagement.
An article, on the other hand, is a long-form piece of content. It’s basically a blog post that lives permanently on your profile. You get advanced formatting options, a unique URL, and it can even show up in search results.
Posts are for sparking conversation right now. Articles are for building your legacy—they are long-term assets that establish your authority and credibility over time.
When Is the Best Time to Publish?
Timing can make a surprising difference in how many people see your work. From what I’ve seen and what the data shows, you'll get the most traction by posting on weekdays.
Specifically, aim for Tuesday through Thursday, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. This window lines up perfectly with when most professionals are actively scrolling their feeds. Hitting this peak time helps you tap into LinkedIn’s impressive 6.5% average engagement rate. If you want to dive deeper into the numbers, Buffer has some great LinkedIn engagement stats.
Ready to keep your LinkedIn profile buzzing with great content without spending all day on it? EvergreenFeed can automate your posting schedule, saving you hours and making sure your best content gets seen again and again. Give it a try at https://www.evergreenfeed.com.