For most LinkedIn posts, start by testing weekday posting times, especially Tuesday through Thursday. There is no single best hour that applies to every audience: recent studies favor different times, from early morning to late afternoon. To start, compare a morning posting time with an afternoon one in your readers’ time zone.
When you publish a post affects who sees it soon afterward. Timing studies describe patterns in past posts, but those patterns do not guarantee future results. PressQueue helps WordPress publishers schedule posts to LinkedIn through Buffer, so you can test posting times consistently. “Engagement” means reader interactions such as reactions, comments, and shares, though studies do not all measure it the same way.
What recent LinkedIn timing studies found
The studies disagree on the best hour. Buffer analyzed more than 4.8 million posts and found that weekdays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. performed best overall, with Wednesday at 4 p.m. as its top time. Its other top times include Friday at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Buffer says its 2026 results shifted later than its 2025 findings, when engagement was concentrated more heavily in working hours. These times refer to the audience’s local time zone, according to Buffer’s LinkedIn analysis.
Other studies favor earlier hours. SocialBee analyzed 494,774 posts and found its strongest window was 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., with Wednesday at 8 a.m. as its top single slot. Sprout Social’s 2026 analysis points to weekday windows around midday and afternoon, including Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The full SocialBee findings and Sprout Social’s time windows show how much recommendations vary.
So, start by comparing two weekday posting times, such as 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., instead of treating one study’s top time as a rule. Use the time zone of the people you want to reach. If your audience spans several regions, test a time that suits your main audience first, then try another slot for readers elsewhere.
The studies differ because they examine different posts, time periods, audiences, and ways of measuring results. One study may count interactions per post, while another uses an engagement rate or impressions. A comparison of multiple 2026 studies finds that they broadly agree on weekdays but disagree about the time of day; see the study comparison. Treat these results as starting points, not proof that a particular hour causes stronger reach.
Test times against your own audience
Compare posting times over several weeks. Keep the posting days and general type of content consistent, and alternate between morning and afternoon times. For example, publish similar kinds of posts on Tuesday or Wednesday at 8 a.m. one week and 4 p.m. the next. Avoid changing several things at once, such as the topic, format, and time, because you will not know which change affected the result.
Record when you publish each post and track the results that matter to you, such as reactions, comments, or clicks. LinkedIn’s post display uses relative timestamps such as “3h” or “2d,” which makes it hard to recover exact posting times later; Buffer recommends recording them separately. Compare similar posts and look for patterns across several posts instead of drawing conclusions from one unusually popular post.
Do not rely on a supposed 60- or 90-minute “golden hour” as a guaranteed window for reach. Buffer says LinkedIn has not confirmed such a rule. Timing is one factor to test alongside whether the post is useful and relevant to the people you want to reach.
Schedule LinkedIn posts from WordPress with PressQueue
PressQueue is a free, open source WordPress plugin. It hands your posts to Buffer, and Buffer posts them to LinkedIn and your other channels. To test posting times, set them in Buffer and use PressQueue to add posts to that schedule. You can also choose a date and time for an individual post.
To get started:
- Make sure your WordPress site supports plugin uploads and that you have a Buffer account with your LinkedIn channel added.
- Download pressqueue.zip from the PressQueue download page. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add Plugin > Upload Plugin and upload the ZIP.
- Paste a personal Buffer API key from your Buffer settings into PressQueue. There is no Buffer login button. The key is stored encrypted.
- Turn on the LinkedIn channel in PressQueue, then create a sharing rule. Rules start switched off, and PressQueue starts in test mode, which records what it would share without sending posts. Test the rule against recent posts before switching it on.
- For timing, choose the end of the Buffer queue or the top of the queue, ahead of posts already waiting. For a one-off post, choose a date and time in PressQueue instead.
A one-click rule can share every new post to all your channels. You can also limit a rule by post type, category, tag, author, or other taxonomy. Check the channel selection before enabling it, especially if your Buffer account has channels beyond LinkedIn. See the PressQueue documentation for setup details.