How the LinkedIn algorithm works

The LinkedIn algorithm has two primary goals:

1. To prioritize relevant content
2. To promote engagement

Relevancy trumps recency, which is why the homepage feed is set by default to “top” posts. But members still have the option to switch to “recent” posts. (Hootsuite, 2019).

The things I want to stress in order to comprehend in the best way the LinkedIn algorithm are mainly two:

1. Value, Value, Value: nothing is more worth than value. Your content is what your connections and third people read, therefore what value should your article or post bring to your audience?
2. Promote Engagement: Don't be shy! promote your content with your friends, ask them to put a like or comment on it. It's normal and most of all this is a real leverage on beating LinkedIn algorithm!

Therefore much like Facebook and Instagram, the LinkedIn algorithm prioritizes content you’re most likely to find relevant and engage with over the most recent content. Moreover, the LinkedIn algorithm uses the following signals to filter and rank the posts that show up in members’ feeds.

• Personal Connections: it considers who you’ve interacted with directly, through comments, shares, and reactions. It also considers information on profiles, such as interests and skills, and who members work with, among other signals.
• Interest Relevance: the LinkedIn algorithm measures a post’s affinity to someone’s interests based on the groups they’re in, and the hashtags, people, and pages they follow.
• Engagement Probability: first the algorithm evaluates the likelihood that you will share, comment, or react to a post, secondly, as LinkedIn puts it, the model also takes into account timely feedback to content creators.

Here’s how it works (based on Falcon.io)

Step 1: Every time you post something, the LinkedIn feed algorithm determines whether it’s spam, low quality, or good to go. Obviously, you want to be in the “good to go” category.

Step 2: If you passed go, your content appears in the feed temporarily. During this stage, LinkedIn’s algorithm bots look at how your audience engages with the content.

If they’re liking it, commenting on it, or sharing it, that’s a good sign you’ll make it through to the next filter.

Step 3: At this step, the LinkedIn algorithm will look beyond the content of your post to determine if it should keep showing up in users’ feeds.

They’ll look at you and your network to determine whether or not this is a spam post and whether your network will enjoy it.

Step 4: At this point, editors review your post to determine whether it should keep showing, whether they might include it somewhere else like a channel, or whether they can derive any takeaways from it for future algorithm tweaks and product development.

As long as it keeps getting engagement, your post stays in the mix, continuing its algorithmic journey through the feed.

Tips on how to “beat” the LinkedIn algorithm

1. Be relevant: provide value to your content and for the audience that read your post and article
2. Promote your posts: Tag companies and members, use keywords strategically, include relevant hashtags and ask friends to support your post and article.
3. Encourage engagement: Posing the questions to your audience to learn more about your audience’s interests and keep your post alive.
4. Focus on a niche: “We know from our data that members are more interested in going deep on topics they’re interested in,” (LinkedIn) Focus on a specific group of people that can share your same interests.
5. Post at the right time: The best time to post on LinkedIn is 7:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., and 5:45 p.m. EST. The best day for B2B brands to post on LinkedIn is Wednesday (followed by Tuesday). The best days for B2C brands to post on LinkedIn are Monday and Wednesday.
6. Build your strategic network: Connections and relevance are crucial factors when it comes to currying favour from the LinkedIn algorithm