As a business looking to build your brand and reach your target audience on LinkedIn, two of the most important metrics to understand are views and impressions on your LinkedIn page. But what do these terms actually mean and what is the difference between them?
Quick Answers
LinkedIn views refer to the number of times your LinkedIn page has been viewed by unique visitors. Impressions refer to the number of times any content associated with your page, such as your posts or ads, has been seen.
Views measure engagement with your page itself, while impressions measure the reach of your overall content and activity on LinkedIn.
Understanding LinkedIn Page Views
LinkedIn page views specifically measure how many times your LinkedIn page has been viewed. Each visitor to your page counts as a unique view, even if they view your page multiple times.
For example, if you have 100 views on your company page in a month, that means 100 unique people have visited and viewed your LinkedIn page during that time period. It does not mean your page was viewed 100 times total, since visitors can view a page more than once.
Page views indicate how many people are intentionally engaging with your brand by viewing your LinkedIn presence. A high number of views signals that you are reaching your target audience and they are interested in your content. An increase in views over time is a positive sign of growing brand awareness and engagement.
What impacts your LinkedIn page views?
There are several factors that can influence the number of views your LinkedIn page receives:
- Number of followers – The more followers you have, the more people that will see your page in their feed.
- Posting frequency – Posting regularly keeps your content fresh and gives followers a reason to check your page.
- Post engagement – Posts that get lots of comments and reactions will be more visible and drive curious visitors.
- SEO optimization – Pages with optimized SEO profiles tend to rank higher in search results.
- Paid promotion – You can pay to boost the visibility of your page and posts.
- Brand awareness – A strong overall brand presence will naturally drive more LinkedIn traffic.
Growing your follower base, creating engaging content, and promoting your page are key strategies to increase page views over time.
What are LinkedIn Impressions?
Whereas LinkedIn page views measure engagement with your profile page, LinkedIn impressions track engagement with all of the content associated with your company profile. This includes:
- Your LinkedIn posts
- Sponsored content or ads
- Shared articles and links
- Follower updates that appear in the LinkedIn feed
Specifically, an impression is counted each time any post, update, or activity related to your page is displayed to a LinkedIn user in their feed. Even if they don’t click or interact with the content, simply seeing it counts as an impression.
For example, you may create a post that reaches 1,000 LinkedIn users. This would be counted as 1,000 impressions for that post. Impressions are an important metric because they measure the overall reach of your LinkedIn presence.
What impacts your LinkedIn impressions?
There are a few key factors that can help maximize your LinkedIn impressions:
- Follower count – More followers means more feed impressions.
- Post frequency – Regularly posting keeps your content circulating.
- Post optimization – Well-optimized posts tend to be picked up by LinkedIn’s algorithm.
- Sponsored posts – Paying to promote posts widens their reach.
- Engagement – Highly engaging posts often go “viral” on LinkedIn.
Overall, creating content that resonates with your audience and encourages engagement is the best strategy for increasing impressions.
Views vs. Impressions: Key Differences
Now that we’ve defined views and impressions, what are the key differences between these LinkedIn metrics?
Metric | LinkedIn Page Views | LinkedIn Impressions |
---|---|---|
Definition | Number of times your company page has been viewed | Number of times any post or activity from your page is displayed in the LinkedIn feed |
What’s counted | Each visit to your page | Any time a follower sees your post or update in their feed |
Significance | Measures engagement with your page | Measures reach of your overall LinkedIn presence |
In summary:
- Views count unique visits to your page only.
- Impressions count every single time any piece of content is displayed.
- Views indicate interest in your brand specifically.
- Impressions measure the impact of your overall LinkedIn activity.
Should You Focus on Views or Impressions?
For most brands on LinkedIn, impressions will be significantly higher than views. After all, people scrolling through their LinkedIn feed are exposed to far more content impressions than they will take the time to click through and view pages.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when evaluating views vs. impressions for your LinkedIn strategy:
- Views are a quality metric – They measure engaged visitors, not just scroll-bys.
- Impressions indicate overall reach and awareness.
- Having strong numbers for both is ideal – This means you have an active presence and engaged audience.
- Prioritize impressions in the short-term – Widen your reach as much as possible first.
- Then focus on increasing engaged views – Improve page quality to convert impressions.
A best practice approach is to:
- Establish a strong overall LinkedIn presence with regular posts, updates, and sponsored content. This builds your impressions.
- Then optimize your company page content – about us, products/services, employee bios, etc. This drives engaged visitors to view your page.
With a comprehensive strategy targeting both impressions and views, you can build a recognizable and well-regarded brand on LinkedIn that leverages the platform’s unique capabilities.
Tips to Increase LinkedIn Views and Impressions
Here are some proven tips to improve both the views your LinkedIn page receives as well as the number of impressions for your content:
Boost Page Views
- Showcase team members – Add employee photos and bios.
- Personalize the page – Tell your brand story.
- Refresh content frequently – Give visitors new reasons to come back.
- Use multimedia – Videos, images, presentations, etc.
- Include calls-to-action – Follow, share, comment, visit site, etc.
Increase Impressions
- Post daily – Consistent organic content is key.
- Leverage hashtags – Makes you discoverable.
- Promote posts – Pay to widen their reach with sponsored content.
- Share variety – Articles, images, videos, live video, etc.
- foster engagement – Ask questions, run polls, encourage comments.
Measuring Progress and Setting Benchmarks
Here are some tips for monitoring your LinkedIn views vs. impressions performance and setting realistic goals:
- Track weekly and monthly – Look at trends and seasonality.
- Set view count targets – aim for gradual monthly increases like 10-20%.
- Benchmark impression CTR – 0.5-2% click-through rate is a good goal.
- Review after promotions – Assess the impact of your campaigns.
- Optimize underperforming content – Double down on what works.
- Consider industry averages – Gauge your results vs competitors.
Be patient – Growing engagement and reach takes time. Stick with what performs and continuously fine-tune your approach.
Conclusion
LinkedIn views and impressions provide valuable insight into how your brand is performing on the platform. While both metrics are important, make sure you are tracking them separately to understand engagement with your page and overall content reach.
Focus first on expanding the visibility of your posts and activity. Then refine your company page to convert impressions into engaged visitors. With a comprehensive LinkedIn strategy and consistent high-quality content, you can build brand awareness and establish your business as an authority in your industry.