Weekday mornings, before people get buried in work.
If you want the short answer: post Tuesday through Thursday, between about 8am and 10am in your audience's time zone. That's when most professionals check LinkedIn, over coffee or between their first meetings, and it's the window large studies of millions of posts keep landing on.
But that's the average across everyone. Your audience isn't everyone, and the real best time is the one your specific followers respond to. Here's how to use the general rule as a starting point, then find your own.
Best times by day
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: the strongest days. Mid-week is when LinkedIn activity peaks and people are in a work mindset.
- Monday: decent, though mornings are often eaten by inbox triage. Late morning works better than first thing.
- Friday: weaker as the day goes on. Attention drifts toward the weekend by the afternoon.
- Saturday and Sunday: low volume for B2B, but also low competition. If your audience is founders or creators who scroll on weekends, a Sunday post can stand out.
Across all days, the morning window (roughly 8am to 10am) is the safest bet, with a smaller bump around lunch and early evening.
Why the first hour matters most
People talk about a LinkedIn "golden hour," and it's real. After you post, LinkedIn shows your content to a small slice of your network first. If those people engage quickly, the algorithm expands your reach. If they don't, the post stalls. That's why timing matters at all: posting when your audience is awake and active gives that first test group a chance to react.
This is also why a great post at 11pm underperforms a decent post at 9am. We go deeper on this in what are LinkedIn impressions, since reach is downstream of that early engagement.
What about the 5-3-2 rule?
You'll see the "5-3-2 rule" mentioned alongside timing, but it's about what you post, not when. The idea: for every 10 posts, share 5 pieces from others, 3 of your own, and 2 personal. It's a content-mix guideline, not a schedule. Useful, but it won't tell you the best hour to hit publish.
When not to post
Avoid late nights, early Monday mornings before people are working, and Friday afternoons. Public holidays in your audience's country are usually dead. And don't post twice in a few hours, since your newer post competes with your older one for the same network.
How to find your real best time
Generic charts are a starting line, not the answer. Your audience might be West Coast engineers who show up at 10am Pacific, or European founders active at 7am their time. The only way to know is to look at your own data: post at different times for a few weeks, then see which slots actually earned reach and engagement.
That's hard to track in LinkedIn's native analytics, where each post's numbers live in isolation. MyFeedIn's LinkedIn analytics keeps your full posting history in one place, so you can spot the days and times that consistently perform for your audience and stop guessing. Pair that with a realistic cadence, covered in how often you should post, and timing stops being a coin flip.