LinkedIn Social Selling Index: What Is a Good Score, Who Can Still See It and What to Track Now
- LinkedIn Strategy
Published •By Rob Illidge
The LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) is a score from 0 to 100 that rates how a member uses LinkedIn for selling. In 2026 LinkedIn limited the score to Sales Navigator license holders, and LinkedIn itself says the score "no longer accurately reflects the modern sales environment." A good score has always been relative: higher than the average for your industry and rising over time. This guide explains what SSI measures, who can still see it, how to raise it, and the seven-step workflow B2B sales teams can run and measure with or without it.
In short
- SSI scores four habits, each out of 25: establishing a professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights and building relationships.
- From late August 2026 members without Sales Navigator saw a notice that access would end, and by early September the page showed "Your access to the Social Selling Index (SSI) has been discontinued."
- LinkedIn published no pass mark. It ranked each member against their industry and their network, so "good" means above your industry average and improving.
- Teams get further by tracking what SSI was a proxy for: consistent posting, useful comments, engagement from target accounts, meetings and pipeline.
- Vulse gives every connected seller a Vulse Score from 0 to 100 for reach, engagement, consistency and growth, with a team leaderboard and live LinkedIn analytics.
What is the LinkedIn Social Selling Index?
SSI is LinkedIn's measure of social selling activity, introduced in 2014. It adds four components, each worth up to 25 points:
| Component | What it rewards |
|---|---|
| Establish your professional brand | A complete profile and posts that your audience responds to |
| Find the right people | Using search and lead tools to reach decision makers |
| Engage with insights | Sharing and commenting on content that starts conversations |
| Build relationships | Growing a network of relevant, senior connections |
The score measures behavior on LinkedIn. It does not count meetings booked, opportunities created or deals won, which is the main reason sales leaders treat it as a habit check and measure results separately.
Who can still see their SSI score?
Sales Navigator license holders. Members on free and Premium accounts lost access during 2026.
LinkedIn has published no dated announcement, so the clearest record comes from people who watched the change happen:
- In 2025 LinkedIn replaced its SSI resource with a page titled "From SSI to AI", which says "the SSI score no longer accurately reflects the modern sales environment" and points sellers to the tools inside Sales Navigator. SmartCompany reported the shift on 28 October 2025.
- On 30 August 2026 LadyBugz Marketing recorded a banner on the SSI page for a free account saying access "will be discontinued soon" and that Sales Navigator was needed to keep it.
- Then on 8 September 2026 consultant Rafał Szymański recorded the new message for accounts without a license: "You do not have access to SSI. Your access to the Social Selling Index (SSI) has been discontinued."
The practical effect for a sales team is simple. If only some of your sellers hold Sales Navigator licenses, SSI can no longer be a team-wide measure, and your baseline needs to come from data everyone has.
What is a good SSI score, and how do you raise it?
LinkedIn showed each member their rank against their industry and against their network, and it published no fixed pass mark. A good score is one above your industry average that keeps rising. A seller scoring evenly across all four components is in a stronger position than one who is high on one and low on the rest.
If your sellers still have access through Sales Navigator, each component responds to a specific habit:
- Complete the profile, write a headline for the buyer, and publish one or two posts a week.
- Save leads and accounts, and use search filters to reach the buying group.
- Comment on posts from prospects and customers, and share a view on industry news.
- Connect with the people you speak to, and ask for introductions through shared connections.
Those same four habits are worth building when the score is out of reach, which is where a team workflow comes in.
A LinkedIn social selling workflow for B2B sales teams
Vulse is the employee advocacy and social selling platform built only for LinkedIn, and this is the workflow we see sales teams settle into. It has seven steps and runs on a monthly review cycle.
Step 1: Set goals and record a baseline
Choose two or three outcomes: meetings booked from LinkedIn conversations, engagement from target accounts, or opportunities where the buyer engaged with a seller's content. Then record where each seller starts. With live LinkedIn analytics in Vulse the baseline covers impressions, reactions, comments, shares and followers for every connected profile over the same date range. Add SSI as one more column for sellers who hold a Sales Navigator license.
Step 2: Choose the operating model
Sales Navigator and an advocacy platform do different jobs. Sales Navigator is built for finding and tracking leads and accounts. A platform such as Vulse is built for the content side: planning, drafting, scheduling and measuring what a whole team publishes. Many teams run both.
| Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Is the connection through LinkedIn's official API? | Each seller authorizes their own profile, with no shared passwords |
| Can one manager plan for many profiles and Pages? | Leaders and sellers stay consistent without extra admin |
| Do drafts sound like the individual? | Buyers respond to people, and sellers approve posts that sound like them |
| Is there a review step before posts go live? | Regulated teams need approval on record |
| Does it show team totals and each person's figures? | Coaching needs person-level detail |
| Is pricing published? | Budgeting is easier with a per-seat price |
Vulse answers each of these with an official API connection (a LinkedIn API partner since 2019), shared scheduling for profiles and Pages, Tone Match drafts, governance controls, a team dashboard and published pricing. For a wider view of the category, see our guide to social selling platforms for LinkedIn.
Step 3: Plan content around buyers and accounts
Map each priority audience to two or three themes, then give every role a clear job:
| Role | What to post | Rhythm |
|---|---|---|
| Sales development reps | Questions buyers ask on first calls, short lessons, event takeaways | One post a week, plus comments every day |
| Account executives | Customer problems solved in general terms, views on industry change | One or two posts a week |
| Sales leaders | Market outlook, hiring, team wins, customer stories | One post a week |
A week of posts can be planned in one sitting with a shared schedule, which keeps the time cost to minutes per seller. Buyers reward the effort: in LinkedIn and Ipsos's 2026 Trust Advantage research, 86% of B2B buyers said seller expertise drives trust, and 45% described the sellers they meet as trustworthy. Posts that show expertise close that gap before the first call.
Step 4: Standardize voice and approvals
Tone Match learns how a person writes on LinkedIn and applies that style to the drafts it generates, with voices available for a person, a team or the whole company. Each seller reviews and approves their own drafts, and governance controls let managers review posts before they go live. Write down which topics need a second review, such as pricing, customer names and regulated claims. Our guide to LinkedIn ghostwriting for executives covers the approval steps for leadership profiles.
Step 5: Connect profiles and publish securely
Each person connects their profile through LinkedIn's own sign-in, so a marketing lead can prepare and schedule a post for the CEO or a seller while passwords stay private. Agree who may draft, who reviews and who has the final say on each profile; the profile owner keeps that final say. Vulse is ISO 27001 certified, with hosting in the UK, Europe or the US (security).
Step 6: Activate and coach participation
Commenting is the habit that turns content into conversations. Give sellers a short daily routine: open a saved list of target accounts, leave two or three comments that add a point of view, and follow up when a prospect replies. Our guide to running an employee commenting program has a full routine.
A team leaderboard ranked by Vulse Score keeps participation visible, and sorting by posts shows who needs a ready draft. Use it to start coaching conversations about quality and relevance as well as volume.
Step 7: Measure, learn and improve
Review five layers each month and compare them with the baseline:
| Layer | Metric | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Participation | Sellers posting each week, posts per seller | Vulse team dashboard |
| Reach | Impressions and followers gained | Live LinkedIn analytics |
| Response | Reactions, comments, shares and engagement rate | Live LinkedIn analytics |
| Account engagement | Comments and profile views from target accounts | LinkedIn notifications and Sales Navigator |
| Pipeline | Meetings and opportunities linked to LinkedIn activity | UTM links and CRM fields |
Keep activity and outcomes in separate columns, so posting and pipeline are each read on their own. Use the findings to adjust themes, coaching and target accounts for the next month. Our post on LinkedIn analytics for employee advocacy explains each layer in more depth, and the sales teams page shows how the dashboard looks for a sales group.
SSI and Vulse Score: what each one measures
| LinkedIn SSI | Vulse Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | 0 to 100 | 0 to 100 |
| Measures | Four selling habits: brand, finding people, engaging, relationships | Content performance: reach, engagement, consistency and growth |
| Who can see it | Sales Navigator license holders | Every member connected to Vulse, and their manager |
| Team view | Inside Sales Navigator | Team leaderboard and weekly email report |
| Use it for | A habit check for licensed sellers | Coaching, recognition and month-on-month comparison across the whole team |
The two scores answer different questions, and teams with Sales Navigator can use both.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good LinkedIn Social Selling Index score?
LinkedIn published no pass mark. It ranked each member against their industry and network, so a good score is one above your industry average that is rising, with points spread across all four components.
Has LinkedIn discontinued the Social Selling Index?
LinkedIn has limited it. Since September 2026 members without a Sales Navigator license see a message that their access has been discontinued, and license holders can still view the score. LinkedIn's own guidance says the score no longer reflects the modern sales environment.
How do I raise my SSI score?
Build the four habits it scores: complete your profile and post weekly, save and search for the right leads, comment on prospects' posts, and connect with the people you speak to.
Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator enough for social selling?
Sales Navigator covers finding and tracking leads and accounts. Teams that want sellers publishing consistently usually add a platform for planning, drafting, scheduling and team analytics, such as Vulse.
How can I post on LinkedIn for my CEO without sharing a password?
Ask the CEO to connect their profile to a platform that uses LinkedIn's official API, such as Vulse. They sign in with LinkedIn once, you prepare and schedule posts, and they approve each one.
How do I measure social selling on LinkedIn for a sales team?
Track participation, reach, response, engagement from target accounts and pipeline each month against a starting baseline, and compare sellers over the same date range.
How much does Vulse cost?
On annual billing, $18 per user per month for 1 to 10 seats, $14 for 11 to 49, $10 for 50 to 99 and $6 for 100 or more. Monthly billing runs from $8 to $24 per user per month.