How LinkedIn became a top source for ChatGPT and other LLMs
LinkedIn has quickly grown into a top-cited source for large language models (LLMs).
Profound, a marketing platform for optimizing AI search visibility, found LinkedIn to be the most-cited domain for professional queries across all AI search platforms between November 2025 and February 2026. Semrush also called the social network a top source for LLM answers, second only to Reddit by a small margin (both accounted for over 11% of citations).
That’s not an accident. Ninety-four percent of B2B buyers say they leverage LLMs in the early stages of the buying journey, according to a LinkedIn study. Further, 56% of B2B buyers say their decisions are influenced by an influencer or creator in the later stages.
As such, LinkedIn has cultivated an expansive network of over 100 million verified professionals — i.e., influencers and creators — sharing takes, tips and thought leadership that is now a go-to resource for the likes of ChatGPT, Google AI and more.
“The LLMs gravitate towards the same things B2B buyers often do, which is credible information from verified sources at scale,” Alex Josephson, vice president of brand and content strategy for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, told The Current in a recent interview following the company’s IAB NewFronts presentation.
AI and creators are a potent mix for B2B marketers
It wasn’t that long ago that LinkedIn ranked outside the top 20 sources for AI search. But in the three-month period measured by Profound, it skyrocketed.
The AI search engines are “increasingly drawing from on-platform published content,” according to Profound, and posts, long-form articles and newsletters accounted for 35% of all LinkedIn citations within ChatGPT answers, up from 27% in November.
That’s where LinkedIn’s creator partnership program comes in.
At the NewFronts, the company detailed Top Voices 360, which identifies the platform’s biggest topics of conversation and the experts with the largest audiences and integrates them into branded content.
“Typically, where you’re seeing marketers lean in on LinkedIn today is not just publishing on their company page,” Josephson said, “but having their leaders, customers and subject matter experts or influencers they partner with all singing from the same song sheet with the content they’re publishing and points they’re making. And that sends a strong signal for LLM detection.”
Video is increasingly playing an outsized role in those content mixes on LinkedIn, Josephson acknowledged.
“Text is typically the taxonomy that LLMs circle around,” Josephson said. “But what drives engagement, comments and eyeballs on LinkedIn is, of course, video, as well. Any piece of video content is accompanied by a text-rich post, so you can think of that as gasoline on the fire.”
Why video has blown up on LinkedIn
Anyone with a LinkedIn account will probably tell you that video has noticeably grown in its standing on the platform. That goes for creator partnerships, too, with sponsorships being integrated into the editorial series Shows by LinkedIn.
It raises a chicken-and-egg question: Is video blowing up on LinkedIn because the platform has incentivized users to do so? Or is LinkedIn merely following user behavior?
Josephson asserted it’s the latter, saying that video creation has increased 27% year over year, which is 60% faster than other formats, and consumption has grown 33% year over year.
He said it’s a reflection of the evolving demographics on LinkedIn, where 7 out of 10 B2B buyers are millennials and Gen Zers and that 2 out of 3 active decision-makers are under the age of 45.
That shift is already showing up in ad spend. LinkedIn reported a 30% year-over-year increase in advertiser investment in video formats. So, at the NewFronts, LinkedIn said it’s streamlining how B2B marketers use LinkedIn data to reach CTV audiences.
“Finding information via social channels and video content is just the norm for them, and they’ve grown up on the open web,” Josephson said. “That’s being reflected in how they make decisions when it comes to B2B.”
“A couple years ago, the question was about if and when do we invest in video on LinkedIn,” he added. “Now it’s about optimization and adopting best practices.”