Futures Add Margin Advice

I’m trying to understand the best way to manage liquidation risk when trading with leverage. Is it more effective to place limit orders near your liquidation price, or to use auto add margin? Which method actually pushes your liquidation price further away? I’m confused because one time I placed a limit order about $4000 above my average entry to improve my position, but it actually made my liquidation price worse instead of better. I’m not sure why that happened. Can someone explain the mechanics behind this and share the best strategies for safely adding margin and increasing the distance to liquidation?