As a professional looking to grow your presence and influence on LinkedIn, understanding your LinkedIn ranking can provide valuable insight. Your LinkedIn ranking indicates how you compare to other LinkedIn members and can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your profile and activity on the platform.
What is LinkedIn ranking?
LinkedIn ranking refers to the position you hold relative to other members based on your profile views, connections, and engagement. It aims to quantify your reach and authority on LinkedIn. The ranking is displayed as a numerical score between 1 and 10 and is shown on your public profile page.
A higher number indicates greater authority and influence on the platform. For example, someone with a ranking of 8 likely has more connections, profile views, and engagement compared to someone with a ranking of 3. Improving your LinkedIn ranking takes consistent effort in building your network and participating actively over time.
How is the LinkedIn ranking calculated?
LinkedIn uses a proprietary algorithm to calculate your ranking. While the exact formula is not publicly known, LinkedIn has indicated the ranking is based on four key factors:
- Your number of profile views
- Your number of connections
- Engagement with your posts and content
- Your profile completeness
Increasing any of these factors can help boost your ranking over time. Having an error-free, optimized profile with your skills, experience, education, and accomplishments can increase views and connections. Sharing valuable content and insights consistently, commenting on other posts, and interacting with your network all contribute to higher engagement.
Why does LinkedIn ranking matter?
Your LinkedIn ranking can matter for several reasons:
- Gauge your influence: Your ranking provides a metric for assessing your reach and authority on LinkedIn.
- Measure your efforts: It helps you quantify the impact of your networking and content marketing initiatives on the platform.
- Benchmark yourself: You can compare your ranking to industry peers and track your progress over time.
- Indicate interest from recruiters: A higher ranking suggests wider visibility and curiosity from recruiters.
- Build credibility: A top ranking conveys subject matter expertise and thought leadership in your field.
While the ranking should not be viewed as the single determinant of your success on LinkedIn, monitoring it over time can provide a useful gauge for your profile’s effectiveness.
How to find your LinkedIn ranking
You can find your numerical LinkedIn ranking displayed prominently on your public profile page, under your name and headline. However, your ranking will only be shown if:
- Your profile is set to public
- You have at least 50 connections
- You have had at least 15 profile views in the past 90 days
If you meet these thresholds but still do not see a ranking, you may need to wait for a while as LinkedIn’s algorithm learns more about your engagement and activity. Patience is key in allowing the ranking to stabilize and improve over time.
How to improve your LinkedIn ranking
Here are some proven tips to boost your LinkedIn ranking:
- Add more connections. Focus on connecting with those you know and trust first.
- Complete your profile 100% including skills, summary, experience, education, etc.
- Engage consistently by liking, commenting, and sharing posts.
- Publish your own long-form posts and articles.
- Participate actively in relevant LinkedIn groups and discussions.
- Check your profile analytics to see top viewed skills and content areas.
- Ask connections to endorse you for your top skills.
- Craft an informative, keyword optimized headline.
Improving your ranking takes consistency over weeks and months. Post valuable insights, be helpful to your network, and participate in conversations to establish yourself as an expert. LinkedIn’s algorithm will detect this organic engagement.
Typical LinkedIn ranking distribution
While each member’s ranking depends on their specific use of LinkedIn, the distribution of scores tends to follow a typical pattern:
| LinkedIn Ranking | Percentage of Members |
|---|---|
| 10 | 1% |
| 9 | 2% |
| 8 | 5% |
| 7 | 10% |
| 6 | 20% |
| 5 | 30% |
| 4 | 15% |
| 3 | 10% |
| 2 | 5% |
| 1 | 2% |
As this data indicates:
- The majority of members (around 80%) fall between a ranking of 3 and 7.
- Only about 10% of members achieve a ranking of 8 or higher.
- A very small elite group (1%) reaches the max ranking of 10.
So while reaching a high ranking of 8 or above takes significant effort, it can greatly boost your visibility and authority on the platform compared to most other members.
Tips for each LinkedIn ranking tier
To improve your ranking, it helps to understand typical profiles and suggested actions for each tier:
Ranking 1-3
Profiles in this range often:
- Have fewer than 100 connections
- Little to no profile completeness
- Very low or no engagement
Tips to reach 4-5 ranking:
- Add more connections
- Complete your profile summary and key details
- Engage by liking and commenting on posts weekly
Ranking 4-5
Profiles in this range often have:
- 100-500 connections
- Basic profile with summary
- Occasional commenting but not sharing own content
Tips to reach 6-7 ranking:
- Join relevant industry groups
- Add media to your profile like images and presentations
- Share articles and resources to establish thought leadership
Ranking 6-7
Profiles in this range typically have:
- 500-2000+ connections
- Robust profile showing skills and experience
- Frequent engagement through likes, comments, shares
Tips to reach 8 and above:
- Publish long-form posts to boost authority
- Ask connections for recommendations and endorsements
- Engage consistently to build community
Ranking 8-10
Profiles in this elite range have:
- 2,000+ connections
- Optimized, completed profiles
- Very high engagement and original content
Tips to maintain high ranking:
- Stay active daily with new content and conversations
- Build relationships with other influencers
- Monitor analytics to refine content strategy
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn ranking provides valuable insight into your influence and reach on the platform. Improving your ranking takes consistency over time in building connections, sharing insights, and engaging with your network. Focus on providing value to others through your participation, and your ranking will gradually reflect your growing authority in your industry.