What is the LinkedIn algorithm?

LinkedIn's algorithm takes into account a number of factors to determine who sees what posts on the platform.

The topics, personas and types of posts a person is most likely to engage in determine how their feed will look.

LinkedIn has 810 million members. The algorithm processes billions of posts a day - all to make the newsfeed as interesting as possible for each user.

After all, LinkedIn's ultimate goal is to prioritize relevant content and promote engagement.

Linkedin 2022 algorithm: how it works

If you know how to make your content appease the algorithm, it can absolutely work in your favor.

But, if you miss the mark, you can find your content buried in LinkedIn purgatory.

So how does LinkedIn's algorithm work? Get ready to take some notes!

LinkedIn decides if your post is spam or real content

LinkedIn's algorithm measures a number of factors to guess how relevant a post might be to your audience.

It will segregate your content into one of three categories: spam, low quality or high quality.

Here's how LinkedIn determines which category your post falls into:

Spam: You may be marked as spam if you use bad grammar or include multiple links in your post.
Avoid posting too frequently (more often than every three hours) and don't tag too many people (more than five).

Hashtags such as #comment, #like, or #follow can also mark a post as spam.

Low quality: These posts are not spam. But they also don't follow content best practices. If you can't make your post engaging, the algorithm considers it low quality.

High quality: These are posts that follow all of LinkedIn's recommendations for content:
The post is easy to read
It encourages responses with a question,
Uses three or fewer hashtags,
It contains strong keywords.
Tag only people who are likely to actually respond.

LinkedIn puts your post to the test

Once LinkedIn's algorithm determines that you haven't posted something too spammy, it will release your post to a handful of your followers.

If there is a lot of engagement (likes! comments! shares!) right away, LinkedIn will push it to more people.

However, if no one is interested at this stage (or worse, if your audience marks your post as spam or decides to hide it in their feed), LinkedIn won't bother to share it further.

This all takes place in the first hour after the post is shared, which means it's make-it-or-break-it time!

Make the most of this time:

Publish at a time when you know your followers are online
Respond to any comments or questions
Foster engagement with a question or prompt
Publish consistently so your fans know when new material is coming.
Be active elsewhere on LinkedIn by interacting with other posts. You never know if seeing your name won't inspire someone to take a peek at your latest content, right?

LinkedIn delivers your engaging content to more users:

If your post gains engagement, the powerful algorithm will start sending your content to a wider audience.

Who sees your post depends on three ranking signals:

How closely connected you are.

The closer you are connected to a follower, the more likely they are to see your content.

This means people with whom you work or have worked, or people with whom you have interacted in the past.

Interest in the topic.

LinkedIn's algorithm determines a user's interests based on the groups, pages, hashtags and people they follow.

If your post mentions topics or companies that overlap with a particular user's interests, well... that's very good news!

According to LinkedIn's Engineering blog, the algorithm also looks at several other factors. These include the language of the post and the companies, people and topics mentioned in it.

Probability of involvement.

This "likelihood of engagement" factor is measured in two ways.

First, how likely is the user to engage with your post (this is based on their previous behavior and what they have engaged with your posts in the past).

The second signal: how much engagement does the post itself receive in general? If it's a hot post that generates a lot of discussion, more people are likely to want to engage with it.

11 tips to master the LinkedIn newsfeed algorithm

Be relevant

Easier said than done, right? There are several ways content creators can look at relevance.

First, there is the cardinal rule: Know your audience. Start by conducting a thorough research of your audience.

Use analytics and information from other platforms. Chart interests and better understand what your audience cares about. You can even use your competitors' audiences to create personas.

Use these findings as starting points for your marketing strategy on LinkedIn.

Relevance can also apply to formats. LinkedIn members prefer to engage in rich media:

Posts with images receive twice as many comments as text posts
Videos on LinkedIn get five times more engagement.

Schedule your posts for the best time of day

Getting good engagement in the first hour is key. You won't see likes and comments if your audience is asleep.

To get maximum exposure, schedule your posts for a time when most of your followers are usually online.

Promote your posts (on and off LinkedIn)

One of the best ways to increase engagement with your posts is to increase the number of people who see them.

There are several tactics that creators can use to gain additional traction on LinkedIn:

tag relevant companies and members
use keywords strategically
include relevant hashtags.

Avoid outbound links

LinkedIn wants you to go nowhere. So it's no surprise that the algorithm doesn't prioritize posts with outbound links the same way it does other types of posts.

Encourage involvement

LinkedIn's algorithm rewards engagement - especially posts that inspire conversation. One of the best ways to start a conversation is with a question.

Ask your audience to share their opinions or insights with you. Asking the right questions positions your brand as a thought leader.

It also gives you the opportunity to learn more about your audience's interests. (Of course, if you want LinkedIn members to engage in conversations with you, be sure to reciprocate the dialogue)!

Create original, engaging content

Original posts go much further and generate more engagement than shared posts.

If you're going to use content from other sources or use a user-generated content strategy, try to find a way to rephrase it by adding your own commentary or value.

Build your network strategically

Connectedness and relevance are key factors when it comes to gaining favor with the algorithm. As such, developing a healthy and active network has the potential to reap exponential rewards.

Whether you maintain a personal profile or a page on LinkedIn, be sure to:

Complete your Personal Profile and Page as completely as you can, and keep them updated. (According to LinkedIn, pages with complete information have 30 percent more page views per week)!
Add connections (people you know or find interesting to see updates from).
Encourage employees to show that they work for your company and use the company hashtag.
Follow others and gain followers (this is different from connections on LinkedIn).
Participate in LinkedIn groups or run your own.
Give and receive recommendations.
Make sure your profile is public so people can find you, add and see your posts.
Join conversations and generally be active online.
Promote your LinkedIn pages on your site and in other appropriate places (e.g., employee bios, business cards, newsletters, email signatures, etc.) It is useful to set up custom URLs for this purpose.

Optimization with LinkedIn Analytics

If something achieves good results, replicate it.

Use LinkedIn Analytics to understand which posts are performing best and why.

Maybe it's because you published them all at a certain time? Or maybe each post contained a question?

Whatever it is, learn and use these insights to improve your content strategy on LinkedIn.

Now read this post again and implement all of these things to make the LinkedIn algorithm your friend!