Dwell Time

Dwell time is the number of seconds a user spends with their feed position on a given post. LinkedIn doesn't show creators their dwell time data directly, but there's strong evidence from behavioral testing and LinkedIn's own engineering blog that it's the most heavily weighted signal in the distribution algorithm. more than likes, more than comments.

The implication: a post someone reads for 45 seconds before scrolling without reacting is treated as better-performing than a post they react to and scroll past in 3 seconds. This is why long-form text posts and carousels (which require genuine reading time) consistently outperform quick takes and one-line posts in reach.

How to engineer dwell time: write posts that take at least 30 seconds to read, use paragraph breaks that create pull-through (each line ends in a way that makes you want the next one), and use formats that require physical interaction. swipeable carousels and "see more" text expansions both extend the dwell window significantly.