How does the Instagram algorithm work?

Each section of Instagram has a different algorithm that uses unique “signals”—or information about the post, the person who posted, or the user—to predict what users will like the most, and what should be prioritized in their Feed or Explore Page.

From the time you publish a post to how often someone “likes” your content, these signals are all weighted differently on each part of the platform to rank posts. For example, when clicking through Stories, people most likely want to see content from their friends. But if they’re browsing Explore, they want to see something new.

At the end of the day, Instagram’s goal is to make users’ time on the platform worthwhile by showing them what they’ll like and what’s most relevant to them.

Let’s answer the question “How does the Instagram algorithm work?”?with help from their blog by looking at how each part of the platform ranks posts.

How the Instagram Reels algorithm works

It’s no secret that Instagram Reels are crushing the reach game. Instagram famously went all-in on this format when it first launched, and so did many social media managers.

Reels are meant to entertain, so the Instagram Reels algorithm aims to prioritize entertaining, funny, and inspiring videos. For example, this Reel by Figo achieved over 3 million views—while it’s funny, it also states what their business is all about.

Here are the top signals the Instagram Reels algorithm uses to determine which Reels to show users:

1. User engagement: What Reels has someone engaged with recently? (I.e.: Likes, comments, shares.)
2. Interaction history: Have you ever interacted with the person who posted the Reel before? Reels are meant to reach new people, but past interactions suggest interest.
3. The content: What audio or music does it use? How’s the quality?
4. Who posted it: How popular is the person who posted it?

What to avoid in your Reels

Just as you can win points with the algorithm, you can lose points, too. Avoid these common mistakes.

• Low-resolution Reels (blurry or low-res)
• Watermarked Reels (including the TikTok logo)
• Reels with no audio
• Too much text
• Political Reels
• Violating Instagram’s community guidelines—check out Instagram’s recommendations resource for more.

How the Instagram Feed and Instagram Story alg

algorithm works

As Instagram put it on its blog, “Feed and Stories are places where people want to see content from their friends, family, and those they are closest to.”

The default Home feed is still algorithmic. Knowing how it works can help you pull ahead of the competition.

Here are the top signals the Instagram Story algorithm and the Feed algorithm use to predict what a user is most interested in:

1. The content itself: How popular is it? How many likes and comments does it have? When was it posted? If it’s a video, how long is it? Is it tagged with a location and, if so, which one?
2. Who posted it: How many times has a user interacted with content from the person who posted the content in previous weeks? How interesting do they find the person who posted?
3. User activity: How many posts have a user liked, and what were they about?
4. Interaction history: How interested is a user in content posted from a particular account? How often do they comment on those posts?

Pro tip: Engagement matters—the more likely Instagram thinks a user is to actually interact with a post, the higher that post will be ranked.

The five interactions Instagram uses most to rank posts in the Feed are: how likely someone is to spend time on a post, comment, like, reshare or tap the profile picture.

What to avoid in your Feed posts and Stories

• Posting too often. Instagram tries to avoid showing too many posts from one person to users in a row.
• Violating Instagram’s community guidelines: This is something you should avoid with all posts.
• Posting misinformation. Do this too many times, and Instagram might make all of your content, not just the one post, harder to find.

How the Instagram Explore page algorithm works

If you’ve ever liked one too many dance videos only to find your whole Explore page is full of dance content, you already have an idea of how Explore works.

Explore decides what to show you by looking at two things: your past interactions, and other accounts who like the same content you do. This helps Instagram get to know you better and surface new posts and accounts you might enjoy.

Here are the top signals the Instagram Explore page uses:

1. The content itself: How popular is a post? How quickly is it receiving likes, comments, shares, and saves?
2. Interaction history: If you have interacted with anyone who shows up in your Explore page, they may show up again.
3. User activity (generally and in Explore): What kinds of posts do you like, save or comment on? And how have you historically interacted with the Explore page?
4. Info about the account that posted: How popular has their content been recently?

What to avoid showing up in Explorer

The biggest tip here is to ensure your posts don’t violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines—i.e., avoid showing potentially sensitive content.

Doing this will prevent your content from being shared in Explore.