LinkedIn SSI Score Benchmarks by Industry
Staffing and recruiting carries the highest industry average SSI at 58 and construction the lowest at 25, against a platform-wide average of 32. The spread tracks how much of an industry's daily work happens inside LinkedIn, not how well those industries sell.
Last updated: September 2026 · Next update: December 2026 · Methodology
Average SSI by industry
| Industry | Average SSI |
|---|---|
| Staffing and recruiting | 58 |
| Software and IT services | 44 |
| Marketing and advertising | 43 |
| Professional services and consulting | 41 |
| Financial services | 39 |
| Insurance | 36 |
| Real estate | 34 |
| LinkedIn average (all industries) | 32 |
| Healthcare and life sciences | 31 |
| Education | 30 |
| Legal | 29 |
| Manufacturing and industrial | 27 |
| Construction | 25 |
Compiled from aggregated self-reported scores. The all-industries average of 32 is held identical to the figure on Creator's main SSI benchmarks page. LinkedIn does not publish official industry SSI averages, so no row here is a LinkedIn-stated number.
What Creator can compute alongside it: engagement per post
| Cut | Bottom 25% | Median |
|---|---|---|
| All posts | 12 | 34 |
| English-language posts | 14 | 44 |
| Dutch-language posts | 14 | 20 |
| Published 2026 onward | 14 | 48 |
Computed with benchmark_within_sender('reactions_plus_comments') on 2026-09-09. Creator's dataset carries no industry label, so this table is a market and recency cut rather than an industry cut. It is here because it is the measured half of what SSI's Engage with insights pillar rewards, and because the Dutch row shows that a smaller market moves the number as much as a sector would.
Highest industry
58
Staffing and recruiting
Lowest industry
25
Construction
Platform average
32
All industries, all roles
What the industry spread does and does not tell you
It measures platform-native behaviour, not selling skill
Recruiting scores 58 because searching and messaging on LinkedIn is the job. Construction scores 25 because the work happens on sites and phones. Neither number says anything about which industry closes more revenue.
A low-SSI industry is usually an opportunity, not a warning
In a sector averaging 27, three or four people are publishing seriously. Reaching 55 there costs less effort than reaching 70 in staffing, and the competitive gap it opens is larger.
Your industry rank moves without you doing anything
LinkedIn shows a rank against your industry alongside your score. That rank falls when your sector gets more active, even if your own score held steady. Track the score, treat the rank as context.
The published half of SSI is worth more than the score
The Engage with insights pillar rewards reactions and comments given and received. Creator's computed median for received engagement is 34 reactions and comments per post across 433 accounts, rising to 48 for posts published from 2026 onward. That number predicts inbound conversations. The SSI total does not.
Frequently asked questions
Which industries have the highest LinkedIn SSI scores?
Staffing and recruiting leads at an average of 58, then software and IT services at 44 and marketing and advertising at 43. Construction sits lowest at 25, with manufacturing at 27 and legal at 29. The platform-wide average is 32. The ranking follows how much of each industry's daily work happens inside LinkedIn.
Why does LinkedIn SSI vary so much by industry?
Two of the four SSI pillars score search and messaging activity. Industries whose work runs on LinkedIn search, recruiting above all, bank those points every day. Industries whose work happens on sites, in clinics or in courtrooms never touch those pillars, so they cap out near 50 even when their content is good.
How does LinkedIn decide which industry I am ranked in?
It uses the industry set on your profile and on your current company page, not the sector you sell into. That means a marketer working at a manufacturer is usually ranked against manufacturing. If your industry rank looks strange, check the industry field on your profile before reading anything into the number.
Should I benchmark my SSI against my industry average or against 70?
Against your industry average first. A 48 in construction, where the average is 25, reflects far more effort than a 48 in staffing, where the average is 58. The 70-plus target is a sales-role standard and it is unreachable for most people in industries that do not use LinkedIn search daily.
Does a low-SSI industry mean LinkedIn is a weak channel there?
No, usually the opposite. A low average means few competitors publish, so a single consistent account owns the attention in that niche. What changes is the tactic: in low-SSI industries, growth comes from content and inbound conversations rather than from search-and-message outbound, which is what SSI actually scores.
Methodology
Industry SSI figures are compiled from aggregated self-reported scores across Creator's user base plus published social selling reporting. LinkedIn does not publish official industry SSI averages, so no figure here is a LinkedIn-stated number.
The all-industries average of 32 is held identical to the figure on Creator's main SSI benchmarks page, so both pages give one answer to the same question.
Industry classification follows the industry field set on the profile at time of measurement. Scores above 92, the top 1%, are excluded so a handful of outliers cannot lift a sector average.
The engagement table is computed, not compiled: benchmark_within_sender('reactions_plus_comments') against Creator's production LinkedInPost table on 2026-09-09. Creator's dataset carries no industry label, so that table is labelled a market and recency cut rather than an industry cut.
Compiled industry benchmarks: aggregated Creator user survey data plus published LinkedIn Sales Solutions SSI documentation and social selling reporting. Computed engagement figures: Creator LinkedInPost dataset via benchmark_within_sender(), 2026-09-09.
Understand the terms
Social Selling Index (SSI)
LinkedIn's 0–100 score across 4 sales-readiness pillars.
Industry Rank
Your SSI percentile against others LinkedIn places in your industry.
SSI Pillar
One of the four 25-point components that sum to the SSI total.
Platform-Native Behaviour
Work that happens inside LinkedIn itself, which SSI rewards.
Compiled Range
A benchmark band drawn from published reporting rather than computed from a dataset.
Inbound Conversation
A DM thread started by someone who read your content first.
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