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LinkedIn analytics glossary: every term explained

By · Updated · 6 minute read

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The short answer

The LinkedIn analytics terms people most often confuse are impressions, members reached and views. Impressions count every time a post is shown, so one person can add several. Members reached counts each person once. Views are used for videos, articles and your profile, and need more than a post simply appearing on screen. The rest of this glossary defines each term LinkedIn uses for a personal profile.

These are the terms LinkedIn uses in the analytics for a personal profile, as of October 2026, with one or two that are useful for reading them. Jump to a term:

Impressions

The number of times your posts were shown on someone's screen. The same person seeing a post twice counts as two impressions.
This is the largest and noisiest figure. Use it to compare your posts with each other, not as a count of people. More on impressions.

Members reached

The number of different people who saw your posts. Each person is counted once.
It is always lower than impressions. Dividing impressions by members reached tells you how many times, on average, each person saw your posts.

Views

A count used for videos, articles and your profile, where the person has to do more than scroll past: watch a video for a moment, open an article, or visit your profile.
LinkedIn uses "impressions" for ordinary posts and "views" for these. The two are not interchangeable.

Engagements

The number of times people interacted with your posts, such as reacting, commenting or reposting.
LinkedIn's export gives one engagements figure for each post and each day, without splitting it by type.

Engagement rate

Engagements divided by impressions, as a percentage. It shows what share of the times a post was shown led to an interaction.
LinkedIn does not show this for a personal account as a whole, so you calculate it yourself. See the guide to engagement rate. What is a good engagement rate?

Reactions

The like and its alternatives (such as celebrate, support, love, insightful and funny) that people can leave on a post.
A reaction is the lightest form of engagement. Comments and reposts ask more of the person.

Reposts

When someone shares your post to their own followers, with or without adding their own comment.
A repost puts your post in front of people who do not follow you.

Followers

People who have chosen to see your posts in their feed. Your connections follow you by default, and others can follow you without connecting.
Not every follower is shown every post, and people who do not follow you can still see your posts.

New followers

The number of people who started following you on a given day.
The export lists this for each day of the past 365 days.

Profile viewers

The number of people who visited your profile, shown as one total for the past 90 days.
LinkedIn keeps no week-by-week history of this figure, so note it regularly if you want a trend. Who can see profile views. How to keep a history.

Search appearances

The number of times your profile appeared in LinkedIn search results during the latest week.
It counts appearing in results, not being clicked. It is shown for one week at a time, with no history. How to keep a history.

Post impressions

The headline figure on your analytics overview: total impressions across all your posts for the past 7 days, with the change from the 7 days before.
Because it covers only a week, one strong or weak post moves it a great deal.

Content analytics

The LinkedIn screen that shows impressions and engagements for your posts over a date range you choose, up to the past 365 days. It is where the Export button is.
It is sometimes labelled "Post impressions", after the overview figure that leads to it. How to export.

Top posts

The list of your best-performing posts for the chosen period. The export includes up to 50, ranked by impressions and by engagements.
If you posted more than that, quieter posts are missing from the export. How to export.

Demographics

The make-up of an audience by job title, seniority, industry, location, company and company size, given as percentages.
The export has two sets: one for your followers ("Audience demographics") and one for the people who saw your posts ("Content demographics").

Median (typical post)

The middle value when your posts are sorted by impressions. Half your posts did better and half did worse.
Not a LinkedIn term, but the most useful one for reading your analytics: unlike an average, it is not pulled upward by one viral post.

Impressions, members reached and views compared

CountsOne person can addUsed for
ImpressionsTimes shown on a screenSeveralPosts
Members reachedDifferent peopleOnePosts, in total
ViewsTimes watched, opened or visitedSeveralVideos, articles, your profile

Common questions

What is the difference between impressions and views on LinkedIn?

Impressions count how many times a post was shown on a screen. Views are counted for videos, articles and profiles, and need the person to do a little more, such as watching a video for a moment or opening an article. A post will always have more impressions than views.

What does search appearances mean on LinkedIn?

It is the number of times your profile appeared in LinkedIn search results during the latest week. It counts appearances in results, not clicks through to your profile.

What does members reached mean on LinkedIn?

It is the number of different people who saw your posts. Each person is counted once, however many times your posts were shown to them.

See this in your own numbers

Postaboo turns the analytics file LinkedIn lets you download into a clear report, and keeps your history as it grows. Free, with no LinkedIn login.

Get your free report See a sample report

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