Guessing the algorithm’s operation with 100% accuracy is difficult, especially since LinkedIn often updates its rules. Therefore, we will focus on:
- Promoting your content
- Increasing your profile visibility in search and how to get recommended
- How to effectively automate routine actions using automation tools
What do people mean by a LinkedIn algorithm?
Most creators recoil when they hear the word “algorithm” – it sounds mysterious and daunting. Nevertheless, it is precisely this mechanism that can showcase your profile and business to a broader audience.
In simple terms, an algorithm is a unified mechanism within a social network that determines what appears in our feed and search results. If you appeal to users, the algorithm promotes your content organically to similar users.
The primary goal of any algorithm is to make the platform enticing so that people spend more time online, ultimately leading to increased revenue from advertising. Therefore, those who create engaging content are indispensable to any algorithm.
Another important task of the algorithm is user protection. It guards against spam, harmful content, and misinformation, which also makes the platform valuable.
LinkedIn algorithm explained: trusted scheme
Sometimes the algorithm seems like a mysterious wizard working through random forces. However, in reality, this mathematical monster has visible patterns and principles of operation.
LinkedIn algorithm insights for 2024 highlight major factors that matter:
- Engagement Prediction: Metrics like the number of comments or shares are important to the algorithm. However, as a creator, your main goal shouldn’t be to chase these metrics. It’s crucial to first understand your ultimate goal as a content creator, such as promoting products on LinkedIn or generating leads. Over time, as these metrics improve, the algorithm shows your posts to a larger audience. Therefore, what gets a lot of shares might not always be beneficial in the long run. When you reach those for whom it truly matters, the algorithm works for you organically.
- Time and Actions: Algorithms prioritize quality content, considering factors like the time spent viewing content and the actions taken by the audience afterward. For example, if your post receives many comments and people spend time engaging with them, the system will show this post to more people.
- Network Influence: The algorithm takes into account whom you’re connected with and who your contacts are. LinkedIn decides whom to show in recommendations, adds to your network, recommends posts from people similar to your following, and targets advertising accordingly.
- Discoverability: It’s important to show content to those who find it interesting and to adapt your personal profile and each post accordingly. Using hashtags in posts and keywords in your profile is crucial. Collaborating with those who already have a strong audience also helps in discoverability.
- Regular Algorithm Changes: The most challenging aspect is that algorithms are not static, so there are no geniuses who know exactly what will become popular. The main task is to attract users to content and earn from advertising, but the methods constantly change.
Best tip to understand the algorithm: To understand the mechanisms, use credible sources, like LinkedIn’s engineering blog. For instance, in one article authors explain how the collaborative article system works on LinkedIn and emphasize that the primary recommendation factor for articles is the set of skills listed in the profile.
Part 1 – Effective LinkedIn posting: Feed algorithm
In this section, let’s delve into how the algorithm perceives your content and determines who to display it to. Understanding these factors is crucial.
The following classifications of content are based on a reputable LinkedIn Learning course by a digital marketing expert. Types of content for the algorithm are:
Spam content
Avoid tagging unrelated individuals in your posts. Grammar and writing style are vital. Low-quality content isn’t well received, especially on this network. Consider using additional tools like AI or external writers. The more errors, the higher the likelihood of the content being flagged as spam.
- Excessive use of tags. While tags are important, an excess of them, especially irrelevant ones, can make the algorithm classify the post as spammy. Experts suggest adding only 3-5 tags per post.
- Too frequent posting. Posting several times a day can be seen as spam by the algorithm, making it challenging for your content to appear in users’ feeds. It’s advisable to maintain a minimum of 12 hours between posts.
Irrelevant content
While not necessarily spam, content with minimal interaction from users may not fare well. If LinkedIn introduces new content to users, and few engage with it by liking, commenting, or sharing, the algorithm may perceive it as low-quality for the community.
Quality content
Engagement is key to the algorithm’s assessment of content quality.
Creating high-quality content is easier when you know trending topics. Consider discussing subjects that are currently trending and generating widespread interest. Personal topics can be particularly engaging for both users and the algorithm. For instance, sharing your personal career journey or unique insights in your professional field often leads to increased engagement on social platforms like LinkedIn.
LinkedIn feed algorithm: How does LinkedIn decide what to show you?
We’ve analyzed the feed on an active profile to better understand what weight the LinkedIn algorithm gives to certain content in the feed. Here are the trends we’ve noticed:
Ads
These are paid posts that generate revenue for the platform, so they can’t be ignored. Typically, you’ll see ads that the algorithm deems relevant to you, with a high likelihood that you’ll take targeted actions such as filling out forms or subscribing. Often, these are regular posts but can garner thousands of likes on LinkedIn because they’re boosted based on the advertiser’s budget.
Suggested – 2nd degree connections
These are organic posts, often from second-degree connections – contacts of your contacts. For this reason, the LinkedIn algorithm heavily relies on who’s in your network and strives to show you the best content from contacts already interesting to you. Since these posts have already garnered organic engagement, the algorithm showcases them to you as well.
Viral content – Does it exist on LinkedIn?
Despite everyone dreaming of making a post go viral on LinkedIn, it’s highly unlikely. The platform isn’t built for virality. However, in rare cases, if a post isn’t spam and gathers a record number of reactions in a short time, it might be categorized as micro viral. This is explained by the developers.
Factors that influence content virality
LinkedIn carefully monitors to ensure every post isn’t spam, hence developing an algorithm to filter content. Factors affecting virality and post acceleration include:
- The post itself. Before making your post viral and showing it to a larger audience, the algorithm checks the content type and looks for negative reports. If reports exist, the post is likely classified as spam and won’t be promoted.
- People interacting with the post. Likes and comments are great, but who’s giving you this attention matters. The algorithm scans these individuals, their connections, and the age of their profiles. It also checks how diverse these participants’ networks are. If the algorithm determines these are real profiles, not bots or random engagement, your content will be organically promoted.
- Engagement indicators. The number of likes and comments matter. If your post receives numerous reactions from verified profiles in a short time, without reports, the algorithm might boost its virality. Based on our feed, it’s likely to start showing this post to your second-degree contacts in the feed.
How to adjust every LinkedIn post for the algorithm
Golden hour of posting
It’s important to consider that user activity varies throughout the day. Choose the days and times when your target audience is most likely to be reading their feed. Also, take into account the time zone in which your audience lives. Here is a link for more details – Best time to post on LinkedIn to increase your engagement
Hashtag strategy
Carefully selecting hashtags for each post is crucial for discoverability. People follow hashtags, and everyone subscribed to a hashtag will see your post in their feed, guaranteeing that your content reaches its target audience.
Keywords
Social networks allow users to search for posts, so including relevant keywords can increase the chances that your content will be found. Add keywords to your text to enhance visibility.
Engage with questions
Encouraging interaction is a common piece of advice from content creators. Whether it’s a text, post, or video, don’t leave the door to discussion closed. Your content should invite the audience to continue the dialogue.
Viral content
Often, the most unexpected content goes viral. The best approach to achieving virality is to frequently create and test content. Something as simple as a post that gathers 20,000 impressions can become micro-viral, especially if it aligns well with your brand.
Scheduled posting tools
Planning your posts in advance can help maintain consistency and relieve the daily stress of posting. You can schedule a series of posts in advance and set them up for auto-posting. This not only saves time but ensures your presence is felt even when you’re not actively online.
Part 2 – Rank higher in the search: LinkedIn algorithm hacks
LinkedIn uses an algorithm not only for content recommendations but also to instantly deliver search results. Since it functions both as a social network and a search engine, you can meticulously filter people, posts, groups, vacancies, and other content.
How does LinkedIn rank users in the search?
The extent to which your profile is optimized for search affects its visibility not only in LinkedIn’s algorithm but also in Google search results. Additionally, the algorithm for displaying profiles is optimized for X-Ray search, similar to Google – see our article for more details.
Search results vary from person to person
There are no universal positions in search results like in Google. The display of profiles depends on each person’s activity, niche, and current network. Typically, without additional filters, the search will show your second-level contacts first and then sort by relevance using keywords in the profile.
You can see how many times your profile has been found via search in your page setting.
The search results also depend on your current location, and the algorithm takes your profile location into account unless another is specified in the search.
The algorithm searches for keywords across all sections
Based on the developer blog, LinkedIn currently places significant importance on skills when recommending people. However, the network also searches for keywords in job titles, headlines, profile descriptions, and work experience. Therefore, it is important to add the words by which you want to be found.
Adding too many irrelevant words to your profile can be risky – if the algorithm sees that people open your profile and then close it quickly because it is not relevant to their search, it will show you less frequently in the results.
People You May Know (PYMK) algorithm is multi-stage
It employs a sophisticated multi-stage ranking system for candidate generation and selection. After the initial screening, the algorithm evaluates each profile to assess the likelihood of you sending them an invitation and of their accepting it before selecting which ones to recommend to you.
In the final stage, re-rankers come into play to enhance fairness and diversity in the recommendations.
There is no universal rule for how to be featured in these recommendations.
LinkedIn search algorithm tips to be seen
Make your profile appealing
It’s great if you are found through search, but how much interaction visitors have with your profile is crucial. You can engage visitors and the algorithm with a high-quality profile photo and cover image, featured posts, and carefully completed bio and work experience. Read about our experience generating AI images for LinkedIn.
Skills are very important to the algorithm
According to an article from the development blog for the profile search and retrieval system, user-filled skills are key to visibility for employers. The algorithm can now parse skills not only from this field but also from the work experience and summary sections – read the detailed breakdown in the article.
Service categories rank you higher
You can specify the services you offer in your profile. Profiles with filled-out services are always ranked higher in search results than those without. The algorithm strives to efficiently offer the right profiles, so if your service matches a search query, you will rank higher.
Keywords in profile descriptions
As LinkedIn’s algorithm also functions as a search engine, you should choose keywords relevant to your position. This can be done by analyzing top profiles in your field and using word cloud tools. Learn how in our article about keywords.
Endorsements may influence retention
Endorsed skills and written recommendations can influence the trustworthiness of your profile. Although we haven’t noticed a direct link between top profiles in search results and the number of endorsements, their presence can ultimately help users see that your profile is legitimate and spend more time exploring it. To get endorsements, you can start by endorsing your contacts How to get and give endorsements on LinkedIn: Full guide + automation
Commenting gets you exposed
By leaving a comment, you are visible not only to the post creator but also to their contacts, and if the post is viral, your name will appear in the feeds of second-level contacts through recommendations. Therefore, unique and detailed comments can organically boost your profile.
Being tagged by other users and influencers
For the algorithm, being tagged by established accounts is an important sign of trustworthiness. If an influencer tags you, their contacts are likely to visit your profile, and the algorithm will more frequently recommend you among their contacts.
Set your status to LION
A LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) is someone who accepts all connection requests without exception. If someone sees the LION mark in your headline from a search, they are more likely to send you an invite. Noticing this trend, the algorithm might show your profile more frequently and prominently in results.
How to beat the LinkedIn algorithm with an automated tool
While the algorithm strives to combat automation, there are tools available that closely mimic manual activity in their operations.
For instance, Linked Helper employs page navigation akin to human behavior, manually entering names in the search for adding connections instead of using URLs, which is a behavior not typical of humans.
Moreover, the software incorporates pauses at intervals, resembling natural human behavior. As a result, such tools aren’t flagged by the algorithm as robotic; they function more like personal assistants executing daily routine tasks on your behalf.
Consistent auto engagement
Automation tools ensure ongoing activity on your profile. You can become the most active user, consistently engaging with your contacts’ content. This eliminates the need to manually consume excessive content; all actions are handled by the automated assistant.
Targeted and steady network growth
Utilizing Linked Helper allows you to segment and add only relevant contacts, teaching the algorithm quickly about your industry and positioning you for recommendations among targeted individuals.
Boost posts with auto tagging
While excessive and irrelevant tags can be detrimental and signify spam, Linked Helper allows for targeted tagging.
For instance, you can curate genuinely compelling content and boost its visibility through strategic tagging, reaching a wider audience without resorting to traditional advertising. By selectively tagging users who are genuinely interested, you enhance engagement.
Should you use engagement pods to beat the algorithm?
Some opt for engagement groups over automation, where members engage with each other’s content. However, such groups may be less effective in the long run, as they may not comprise your target audience, potentially training the algorithm to display your content to non-targeted viewers.
FYI: LinkedIn algorithm changes June 2023
In 2023, the LinkedIn algorithm attracted considerable attention online due to changes observed by users. What new developments did participants notice?
- Increased Emphasis on First-Degree Connections’ Content: The algorithm now places more importance on strengthening connections within your network. Consequently, your feed will showcase more posts from your direct contacts rather than suggestions from second-degree connections.
- Preference for Lengthier Comments and Conversations: Quick comments like “Thanks,” “Cool,” or “Congratulations” may not carry as much weight anymore. The algorithm can now discern the depth of engagement and who is commenting. Hence, mutual comments through groups may not effectively promote content.
- Prioritization of Engaging Content from Industry Experts: The algorithm evaluates not only a post’s content but also the creator’s expertise on the topic. It’s crucial to provide detailed information about your work experience and positions.
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