A LinkedIn pre-publish checklist

LinkedIn is scanned, not read — people are between meetings, on a phone, deciding in a couple of seconds whether to expand your post or keep scrolling. This checklist catches the mistakes that cost you that decision.

1. Does the first line earn the click to "see more"?

LinkedIn truncates aggressively, usually after two or three lines. That first line has to be specific and credible, not a generic hook like "I learned something today."

2. Is it formatted for scanning?

Short paragraphs, one idea per line, and white space. A wall of text reads as effort avoided by the reader, not effort put in by you.

3. Are you leading with a person or a takeaway, not a company?

LinkedIn's algorithm and its audience both favor posts that read as one person's actual experience over posts that read as a press release.

4. Did you cut the corporate language?

Words like "synergy," "leverage," "excited to announce" (unless you genuinely are) read as filler. Say the plain version of the sentence.

5. Is the link in the post, or in a comment?

LinkedIn's algorithm has historically treated outbound links in the post body less favorably than the same link dropped in the first comment. If reach matters more than a fast click, use the comment.

6. Are your hashtags minimal and specific?

Three relevant hashtags, not ten generic ones. LinkedIn users don't browse hashtags the way Instagram users do — treat them as light categorization, not a discovery strategy.

7. Does the post make a claim you can back up?

LinkedIn's audience is professionally skeptical. A specific number or a named example lands better than a broad, unverifiable assertion.

8. Would a stranger in your industry understand this without context?

Posts that assume too much shared history with your existing network don't travel through shares the way self-contained ones do.

9. Is the tone confident without being a lecture?

The best-performing LinkedIn posts share a specific experience and let the reader draw the lesson, rather than stating the lesson outright.

10. Did you read it out loud once?

If a sentence is hard to say, it's hard to read. This catches more awkward phrasing than a silent re-read does.

Thirty seconds against this list before you post saves you from the two or three mistakes that quietly cap reach on an otherwise decent post.