LinkedIn Content Tips: Which Is Better, a Like, Share, or Comment?

If your company is using social media as part of your B2B digital marketing mix, you should already understand the basic mechanics of how to like, share, and comment on LinkedIn content. However, you might wonder: “What is more valuable, a like, a share, or a comment,” particularly as it relates to a company page post?

Currently, LinkedIn is using an AI system 360Brew to rank content, which has affected how their algorithm works. Agorapulse notes that the change to LinkedIn’s algorithm has negatively impacted organic performance with engagement decreasing by 25%. The shift to AI-powered ranking has increased the importance of creating relevant and quality content along with achieving intentional and meaningful engagement with customers.

In this article we'll review what happens when you comment, like, and share on LinkedIn and how the move to AI rankings affects the way your company tracks engagement with LinkedIn content.

How Your LinkedIn Feed is Determined

In LinkedIn, content that generates discussion is preferred, and subsequently rewarded, by the professional social network platform.

This is why commenting is going to propel your post further and faster than a like or a share.

The most basic way to explain how your LinkedIn feed is determined is this: LinkedIn wants to show content to its users that is high-quality and applicable to their interests. Likes, shares, and comments act as signals to LinkedIn that content is good and relevant.

To understand how LinkedIn determines what's in your feed, check out this post, “Putting members first: testing and measuring how content appears in your Feed.”

Let's examine what likes, shares, and comments look like, how they're similar, and how they behave differently in your LinkedIn news feed.

To Like or to Share on LinkedIn

Let's take a quick dive into what happens when you like or share and how these actions signal to the LinkedIn algorithm that there’s something interesting to see, extending the reach of a post. We'll also take a quick look at emoji reactions.

LinkedIn Likes and Shares

One of the biggest differences between a like and a share is that, with a like, you are passing along your approval without comment. With a share, you can give your own comment and even @mention people you want to see the post.

Here is a great visual comparison:

Example of a LinkedIn Like

When you only like content, you don't have the ability to pass along any comments. For this reason, likes are seen as more passive engagement signals than comments.

A big advantage when liking, especially for the original post, is that a liked post will pass along the social activity of the original post. Your connections who like the post that you liked will be adding a like to the original content. (Note the 47 likes on the above liked post versus the 3 likes on the shared post below.)

Example of a LinkedIn Share

As you can see, liked and shared posts appear similar. However, in the share, a comment is passed along with the post. This allows the person sharing to @mention someone, such as in the example above, in which the author of the piece receives a shout-out.

Sharing a post also lets you add your thoughts on the article that you're sharing, such as why someone should read the article, your general opinion on the piece, why you found it helpful, etc.

Reacting on LinkedIn with Emojis

Emojis provide more expressive ways than a like to respond to posts. Originally, LinkedIn created reaction emojis based on the most common 1 to 2-word comments being used on the platform.

Posters can use these reactions to better gauge the impact their posts are having on their social community.

Which reaction a user chooses doesn’t matter because the LinkedIn algorithm gives them equal weight and only cares that someone interacted with the post. Emojis don’t influence the algorithm. Instead, emojis affect audience engagement behavior.

In the TSL Marketing post below, you can see where 6 readers that felt a post about a marketing strategy eBook deserved more than a like gave their approval through the celebrate emoji.

LinkedIn Comments

The popularity of a post could be defined by the amount of time people spend interacting with it, a metric LinkedIn calls dwell time. Nothing proves this more than a long thread of comments underneath a post.

While leaving a comment takes much more effort than hitting the Share button, commenting yields big payoffs.

Posts are sorted based on what the LinkedIn algorithm thinks has high quality, so adding relevant, valuable, and thought-provoking commentary can help position the post at the top of the list. Under the new algorithm, comment quality now matters more than volume: Generic "Great post!" comments no longer move the algorithm.

Comments can include thanking the user for sharing or asking them a question, but lengthier comments add even more value to the conversation.

Social media content expert Buffer underscores this change by pointing out that virality no longer influences the algorithm. Instead, as Buffer points out, “meaningful connections and relevant conversations drive growth.”

Comments also benefit the commenter. For example, when you comment on a post generated by your company or shared by a co-worker, you have a chance to show off your knowledge and experience related to the topic, positioning yourself as an expert in your subject matter. The approach can lead to making new connections through the value of your comments.

Some tips for commenting:

Add your opinion on the post topic
Mention relevant experiences and facts
Bring relevant people into the discussion with tagging
Avoid including external links in posts which are now penalized ~60%

For best results, keep the conversation going. Below, you can see how our team used commenting to generate interest in a case study that detailed the marketing journey of one of our MSP clients.

Tracking LinkedIn Engagement in 2026

While likes, shares, and comments are still important engagement signals, LinkedIn’s new approach to ranking content affects how performance gets evaluated.

Dwell time is now the primary engagement signal: A post someone reads for 30+ seconds outperforms one with 50 quick likes.
Saves are now a tracked engagement type: LinkedIn added saves to post analytics in late 2025. Saves reportedly drive 5x more reach than a like and 2x more than a comment.

These changes should influence your LinkedIn social media marketing strategy.

To Like, Share, or Comment?

So, which engagement signal is better? Hands down, comments dominate the LinkedIn algorithm, making commenting alone superior even to likes and shares combined. LinkedIn especially values thoughtful comments and the dwell time that results from conversational threads.

Comments provide more data than likes and re-shares and promote engagement. That’s why many successful posts end with a question. Questions prompt discussions. However, marketing automation company DataSlayer warns against engagement bait, such as “Agree? Comment” which LinkedIn now labels as spam behavior.

While comments dominate, all 3 actions are instrumental in extending your marketing reach. We encourage the TSL Marketing team to like, share, and comment on any content that we're trying to promote on LinkedIn.

All 3 activities send social signals to the LinkedIn algorithm that the content has passed at least one user's approval. However, users shouldn’t take these actions just for the sake of the algorithm — the people seeing the liked and shared posts and comments will see social media proof that the content being passed along was deemed worthy by at least one of their network connections.

Why Engagement Signals Matter for Your Brand's Visibility on LinkedIn

The LinkedIn algorithm’s job is to identify engaging content so the social platform can make sure it gets in front of users. When your company’s content triggers the kind of interactions LinkedIn favors, you have a better chance of reaching your audience, expanding your brand’s reach, and attracting leads.

Of course, organic engagement only goes so far. If you want to accelerate your LinkedIn visibility and reach a highly targeted B2B audience, LinkedIn advertising can work in concert with your organic strategy. To find out more about how LinkedIn ads contribute to your marketing strategy, read our article “LinkedIn Ads to Generate Leads and Awareness in 2024.”

Want your content to get further faster? Learn more about TSL Marketing’s B2B Digital Advertising Services.