Large discrepancy in clicks: Hubspot vs. LinkedIn

[SBaicker]

Hi all - I have seen some similar posts but nothing that addresses the exact issue I am seeing: When I post links via Hubspot's social media tool to LinkedIn, LinkedIn is reporting sometimes 200% more clicks than Hubspot is. Other times, Hubspot is reporting maybe 50% more clicks than LinkedIn does.

I would like to report on this data, but I am at a loss. Does anyone have any idea of what could be causing this, or which set of data I should trust? I know data in Hubspot is only collected for 30 days; I'm talking about posts that are less than one week, sometimes even less than 24 hours, old.

Thank you in advance!

[Sweely]

The short answer is:

Discrepancies between HubSpot and LinkedIn are completely normal and stem from fundamental differences in how each platform defines, measures, and filters a "click." HubSpot uses its own proprietary shortened tracking links to count clicks, while LinkedIn counts clicks on various elements of the post within its network.

The vast differences you're seeing in both directions are likely due to: HubSpot counting multiple clicks from the same user to the same link, versus LinkedIn counting bot traffic or other post interactions as clicks.

The solution to get reliable, unified data is to stop relying on front-end platform reporting and instead build a server-side data pipeline using the HubSpot API and the LinkedIn Conversions API to send validated conversion events directly from your website backend into both platforms ✅

The long answer is:

Your experience with the click discrepancies is extremely common, and your skepticism about the numbers is warranted.

The issue is that HubSpot and LinkedIn are not counting the same thing, which is why neither number is consistently reliable.

When you post via the HubSpot social tool, HubSpot wraps your link in a unique, shortened `hubs.ly` URL.

The HubSpot tracked clicks metric registers every time that shortened link is clicked.

This can often be much higher than LinkedIn's number because HubSpot doesn't filter out things like repeated clicks from the same user, internal bot checks, or clicks that happen before the user's browser fully loads the destination page.

Conversely, the Network clicks metric in HubSpot is an estimate pulled from LinkedIn's API, and the raw number you see in the LinkedIn app is often higher than HubSpot's data because LinkedIn counts various interactions within the post itself - such as a click on your profile picture, the "see more" link, or even clicks on videos - as a "click" or includes bot traffic in its initial count before filtering.

Since combining the two HubSpot click metrics still doesn't align with LinkedIn's number, you can't reliably report on any single click metric for cross-channel comparison.

The ultimate solution for reporting sanity and trustworthy data is to shift your focus from tracking unreliable "clicks" to tracking highly reliable conversion events.

This involves setting up a server-side tracking environment using Google Tag Manager and a tool like Stape or Google Cloud Platform.

In this setup, you would use the HubSpot API to pull key contact data and the LinkedIn Conversions API (CAPI) to send authenticated, server-to-server conversion events (like `lead` or `purchase`) back to LinkedIn.

This bypasses browser-side issues like ad blockers and privacy settings that block the standard LinkedIn Insight Tag.

You feed your CRM data into HubSpot via its API, and you feed your most accurate conversion data back to LinkedIn via CAPI.

By using the APIs, you are exchanging confirmed, high-integrity events that both systems can agree on for performance metrics, allowing you to use HubSpot's detailed contact data for attribution, while giving LinkedIn the high-quality, validated conversion data it needs to optimize your ad spend, finally giving you a single source of truth for your reporting efforts.

This comment was generated with the assistance of an AI tool, incorporating my expertise in conversion tracking 🙂

[AMattick]

I’ve faced similar issues where LinkedIn counts clicks from users seeing the post directly, while HubSpot might not track all of them. 

[Aakar · Accepted solution]

@SBaicker - it's difficult to say why, but social networks and HubSpot might track clicks differently. If you drill down your social post on HubSpot, you will see two types of clicks.

- HubSpot tracked clicks

- Network tracked clicks

I guess, if you combine these two, the number will be more or less similar to the clicks you see in LinkedIn.

[SBaicker]

Thanks Aakar - of course, when I add Tracked Clicks and Network Clicks, that total becomes 50% higher than the number LinkedIn reports. To use a recent example with a small number of clicks, the combined clicks in Hubspot totals 96, while the LinkedIn reported number is 66.