My usual engagement rate on LinkedIn is over 12% every single time.
Every single time, if it’s without a link.
My impressions numbers are usually over 1000 even if I post in the middle of the night (without a link).
LinkedIn penalizes you if you share a link on your post because it takes you away from the platform, and that’s bad for them.
And this is the exact reason why you should have a newsletter where you don’t get penalized for using links.
Go ahead, scream to a void or have a safe place where you can actually build a following that is not dictated by algorithms.