LinkedIn Top Voice Badge: Nomination, Renewal and Removal
LinkedIn Top Voice is an invite-only blue badge held for six months or more and renewed twice a year. See the nomination form, five factors and the gold badge's end.
LinkedIn assesses and renews every blue Top Voice badge twice per year, and a member it invites stays a Top Voice for at least six months, according to its Top Voices Help page, which read “Last updated: 9 months ago” when I opened it on 4 November 2026. That makes the LinkedIn Top Voice badge a term LinkedIn reviews on a schedule rather than a title you keep, and the same page also links a form for nominating yourself or another member, which LinkedIn reviews every quarter.
Two guides on the badge have not caught up with that page. ContentIn’s glossary entry on the badge, updated 22 July 2026, tells readers “You don’t apply” and never mentions nomination, the six-month term or the twice-yearly renewal. Buffer’s Top Voice guide, published 26 September 2024, mentions none of the three either. Apart from one Social Media Today report, everything below comes from LinkedIn’s own Help pages, each read on 4 November 2026 with its Last updated stamp.
What Is the LinkedIn Top Voice Badge?
The LinkedIn Top Voice badge is the blue profile badge LinkedIn gives to active members of its invite-only Top Voices program, which its Help page describes as “a select group of global experts, leaders, changemakers, public figures and innovators on LinkedIn”. The program was once called LinkedIn Influencer: “The LinkedIn Influencer program is now called Top Voices”, says LinkedIn’s Top Voices benefits page (last updated 4 months ago).
What LinkedIn’s Help pages say about Top Voice, as of November 2026:
- It is invite-only: “Top Voices is an invite-only program, and LinkedIn reviews content shared on the platform to identify new and emerging Top Voices.”
- You can nominate yourself or another member through a form, and “LinkedIn reviews nominations quarterly”.
- Badges are “assessed and renewed twice per year”, and an invited member remains a Top Voice “for at least six months”.
- LinkedIn “may add and remove members outside of the typical admission periods at its discretion”.
- The gold Community Top Voice badge is retired, along with the ability to earn it through collaborative articles, “starting October 8, 2024”.
- Top Voices get “complimentary access to a LinkedIn Premium Business subscription”, per the benefits page.
Blue Top Voice vs Gold Community Top Voice vs Verification Badge
Two other badges and one retired program name get mixed up with this one. Each row comes from the LinkedIn Help page in the last column.
| Badge | Status, November 2026 | How it is awarded | How long it lasts | LinkedIn source, last updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Top Voice | Active: “No, the blue Top Voice badge will still exist” | Editors pick members after reviewing content, nominations are reviewed quarterly, and editors can grant it for Prominence | At least six months, then “assessed and renewed twice per year” | Top Voices, 9 months ago |
| Gold Community Top Voice | Retired “starting October 8, 2024” | Was “awarded automatically to contributors” of collaborative articles | Each one expired “within 60 days from when it was awarded”; one earned on 8 October 2024 lasted “through December 7, 2024” | Community Top Voices (Gold Badge), 2 years ago |
| LinkedIn Influencer | Renamed: now Top Voices | Merged into the Top Voices program | Not applicable | Top Voices benefits, 4 months ago |
| Verification badge | Active, a separate feature | You verify your identity, workplace or educational institution; in India, identity verification uses DigiLocker | Until you remove it, or LinkedIn removes it (for example when an employer changes its approved work-email domains); a name change may mean verifying again | Verifications on your profile, 2 months ago |
LinkedIn says a verification badge “indicates your identity, workplace, or educational institution is confirmed”, and that adding one is available “with no additional cost”. Expertise is not on that list. For the India route, see how to verify your LinkedIn account with DigiLocker.
How LinkedIn Selects Top Voices
LinkedIn lists five selection factors on the Top Voices page and introduces them with “including but not limited to”, so the list is not complete. The third column is my reading of what each factor asks of a profile.
| Factor | LinkedIn’s wording | What it asks of your profile, my reading |
|---|---|---|
| Platform presence | ”Creating consistent content and regularly engaging with the community” | A regular posting rhythm and replies to comments |
| Quality and originality | ”LinkedIn looks for members with a distinctive voice and unique perspectives that shine through what they share” | Posts that carry a view or a detail only you could give |
| Subject matter expertise | ”news, commentary and analysis relevant to a particular industry, company or local economy” | One professional topic running through your posts |
| Safety, trust and professionalism | ”Profiles, content and on-platform interactions abide by LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies” | Posts and comments that stay inside the Professional Community Policies |
| Prominence | ”Editors may also grant Top Voice badges to select members with an outsized influence in their local market’s economy, job market or industry” | An editor’s call, outside anything a checklist covers |
A distinctive voice is easier to test than to define. The three-part test in my guide to thought leadership content starts with whether an informed reader could disagree with the post.
The same page adds best practices “for members hoping to earn the Top Voice badge”:
- Stay consistent and “Post regularly to maintain an ongoing presence”.
- Share professional topics, including industry insights and news analysis.
- Add value “in an engaging, non-promotional way (members who primarily or exclusively promote paid services are not considered)”.
- Vary topics and formats, “considering options like videos and newsletters”.
- Keep the conversation going by “engaging meaningfully with comments”.
- Keep all content within the Professional Community Policies.
Of these, the paid-services line is the only one that names a kind of member LinkedIn does not consider. If newsletters are the format you are weighing, LinkedIn newsletters vs articles compares who can start each and how they reach readers.
How to Get the LinkedIn Top Voice Badge Through the Nomination Form
The nomination form is the only route on the Top Voices page that a member can start. The Top Voices page answers “How can I nominate myself or another member to become a Top Voice?” in two sentences, and the steps below follow them:
- Open the Top Voices Help page linked at the top of this post and scroll to the nomination question at the bottom.
- Follow its “this form” link. It points to forms.office.com/r/edJuW8KjA3, which redirected to a Microsoft Forms page on forms.cloud.microsoft on 4 November 2026.
- Nominate yourself or another member: “You can nominate yourself or another member using this form.”
- Wait for the quarterly review. LinkedIn “reviews nominations quarterly and looks for exemplary voices who meet the highest standard of consistent, authentic, and trusted knowledge sharing.”
- If you are selected, the benefits page says “You’ll receive a LinkedIn notification to add the blue badge to your profile”.
The form’s questions load by script, so I have not listed its fields. Neither the Top Voices page nor the benefits page says whether LinkedIn replies to a nomination it turns down, or how often you may submit one.
Three Review Cycles LinkedIn Names
| What LinkedIn reviews | How often | LinkedIn’s wording | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| New creators for eligibility | Ongoing | ”The LinkedIn Editorial team vets new creators on an ongoing basis for program eligibility” | Top Voices benefits |
| Nominations | Quarterly | ”LinkedIn reviews nominations quarterly” | Top Voices |
| Existing badges | Twice a year | ”Top Voice badges are assessed and renewed twice per year” | Top Voices |
Before You Nominate: A Decision Rule
The middle column is LinkedIn’s wording; the last column is my call from it.
| If the posting history looks like this | LinkedIn’s wording that applies | Nominate now? |
|---|---|---|
| Mostly promotes paid services | ”members who primarily or exclusively promote paid services are not considered” | No: change the mix of posts first |
| A few posts a quarter, on scattered topics | Platform presence, “Creating consistent content” | Not yet |
| Regular posts on one professional topic, with replies to comments | Platform presence and Subject matter expertise | Yes, for the next quarterly review |
| Posts or comments that broke the Professional Community Policies | Safety, trust and professionalism | No |
| A colleague whose posts fit the third row | ”You can nominate yourself or another member” | Yes, nominate them |
Why a Top Voice Badge Disappears
A badge that vanished from a profile matches one of these lines in LinkedIn’s Help pages:
| Reason | LinkedIn’s wording | Page |
|---|---|---|
| The term was not renewed | Members “are eligible for badge renewal as long as they continue to meet the core program requirements” | Top Voices |
| A policy breach | LinkedIn “will remove Top Voice status from any member who does not consistently meet LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies” | Top Voices |
| Removal outside the renewal cycle | LinkedIn “may add and remove members outside of the typical admission periods at its discretion”; “We regularly evaluate existing Top Voices to include only the most engaged, prolific, and thoughtful contributors” | Top Voices; Top Voices benefits |
| It was a gold badge | Gold badges expire “within 60 days from when it was awarded” | Community Top Voices (Gold Badge) |
The six-month term is newer than Buffer’s 2024 guide. Social Media Today reported on 27 January 2025 that badge holders would “only retain it for a six-month period”, and that “Up till now, blue-badged Top Voices retained their badge indefinitely.”
What Happened to the Gold Community Top Voice Badge
LinkedIn’s gold badge page gives its reason in its own words: gold badges were “awarded automatically to contributors, and not manually awarded by our team”, which made it “challenging to maintain the highest quality standards”. So LinkedIn decided “to retire the gold Community Top Voice badge (gold badge) and discontinue the ability to earn them automatically through contributions to collaborative articles starting October 8, 2024.” The page adds that “There are no changes to our Top Voice (blue badge) program, which is invitation-only and led by LinkedIn’s editorial team.”
The contribution route that earned gold badges is gone as well. LinkedIn’s collaborative articles page, last updated 1 year ago, says:
- “We’re no longer creating new collaborative articles.”
- “You can’t add new contributions or edit existing ones.”
- “All existing collaborative articles and contributions are now read-only.”
Any guide that still tells you to contribute to collaborative articles for a badge describes a route LinkedIn has closed on both pages.
What Top Voices Get, and What LinkedIn Does Not Publish
LinkedIn lists the benefits on two pages:
| Benefit | LinkedIn’s wording | Page, last updated |
|---|---|---|
| Profile badge | ”You’ll receive a LinkedIn notification to add the blue badge to your profile” | Top Voices benefits, 4 months ago |
| LinkedIn Premium | ”complimentary access to a LinkedIn Premium Business subscription”; an existing subscriber has to cancel to receive the free one, effective “at the beginning of the next billing cycle” | Top Voices benefits |
| Editorial contact | ”Content tips, exclusive product access, feature opportunities and more” | Top Voices benefits |
| Community and news | ”exclusive community gatherings, opportunities for visibility in LinkedIn News, and additional benefits” | Build your voice FAQ, 1 year ago |
Premium appears only as something Top Voices receive; the selection factors never mention it. If you pay for Premium Business now, my breakdown of LinkedIn Premium cost in India lists the US dollar Premium Business price LinkedIn shows and the rupee prices the app stores list.
What none of these LinkedIn pages publish, checked by searching each page’s text on 4 November 2026:
- A follower threshold: “follower” appears on none of the four Help pages above that describe Top Voices.
- A minimum number of posts, or a posting frequency, for selection.
- A reach boost in the feed. The Top Voices page says the opposite: “Any member has the opportunity to reach a wide audience with their posts on LinkedIn, whether or not they are a Top Voice.”
- A country list. None of those four pages mentions India, so a Top Voices India list is not something LinkedIn Help describes.
For a measure of reach you can track yourself, what counts as a good number of LinkedIn impressions compares eight published benchmarks by follower band. Top Voices also sits apart from creator mode, which LinkedIn removed in 2024; where each creator mode feature went covers the Follow button and Creator Marketplace, a creator program whose Help page does publish eligibility numbers.
Check the Top Voice Page Before Each Review
The LinkedIn Top Voice badge runs on LinkedIn’s calendar: a quarterly look at nominations, a six-month minimum and a renewal twice a year. LinkedIn retired the gold badge in October 2024 and, by Social Media Today’s report, set the blue badge’s six-month term in January 2025, and the Top Voices page carried a 9-months-ago stamp on 4 November 2026, so the form and the cadence can change again.
Before you nominate yourself or a colleague, open the Top Voices Help page and read its Last updated line.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get the LinkedIn Top Voice badge?
LinkedIn invites members to Top Voices after reviewing content shared on the platform, and its Help page also links a form to nominate yourself or another member, which LinkedIn reviews quarterly. Editors can grant the badge to members with outsized influence in their local market, and members who primarily or exclusively promote paid services are not considered.
Is the LinkedIn Top Voice badge still available in 2026?
The blue badge is. LinkedIn's Help page on the gold badge says the blue Top Voice badge will still exist, and the Top Voices Help page, last updated 9 months before 4 November 2026, still describes it. The gold Community Top Voice badge is the one that ended, starting 8 October 2024.
Why did my LinkedIn Top Voice badge disappear?
LinkedIn assesses and renews Top Voice badges twice per year, after a minimum term of six months, so a badge can lapse at a renewal. LinkedIn also removes the status for breaches of its Professional Community Policies and may remove members at its discretion. Every gold Community Top Voice badge expired within 60 days of being awarded.
What is the difference between the blue and gold Top Voice badge?
The blue badge belongs to the invite-only Top Voices program led by LinkedIn's editorial team. The gold Community Top Voice badge was awarded automatically for contributions to collaborative articles, and LinkedIn retired it starting 8 October 2024.
Does LinkedIn Premium get you the Top Voice badge?
LinkedIn's Top Voices selection factors do not mention Premium. The link runs the other way: LinkedIn's benefits page says Top Voices get complimentary access to a Premium Business subscription, and a member who already pays for one has to cancel it to receive the free one.
