How LinkedIn’s Algorithm Works, According to the LinkedIn Team

February 11, 2024 Lawrence

In this article, we’ll highlight the key points from the LinkedIn team about the LinkedIn algorithm and share practical tips for applying this knowledge to your content.

How LinkedIn’s Algorithm Works, According to the LinkedIn Team

LinkedIn’s algorithm has always been a bit of a mystery — until now.

The social media platform recently underwent some key algorithm changes, and the team (Dan Roth, editor-in-chief, and Alice Xiong, a product management director) sat down with Entrepreneur to explain them.

In this article, we’ll highlight the key points from the team’s interview about the LinkedIn algorithm and share practical tips for applying this knowledge to your content.

How the LinkedIn algorithm works

Unlike YouTube and Instagram, which have their Shorts and Reels and Explore Page, LinkedIn feeds you content primarily from one place — your Feed. When you type in the LinkedIn URL, this is the landing page, so it’s your first impression of all the content on the platform.

With over 1 billion members and the number of daily posts in the millions, if not billions, there’s no way around it: relevant content is key.

The promise of the algorithm is that if you create quality content relevant to a specific audience, they will see your content. The reverse is true for your audience of LinkedIn users: what they engage with is what they’ll see.

If you always engage with B2B marketing content, you’ll see more of that on your Feed. If you always post about B2B marketing, your target audience will inevitably see more of your content. And the more niche your approach is, the better the algorithm can direct your content to the top of the right Feeds.

With this context in mind, all the updates are in service of getting the right content in front of the right audience.

Virality is not a factor in the algorithm

Before, the LinkedIn algorithm amplified the most engaging (viral) content. When work and personal lives merged a few years ago, the platform saw an influx of personal content reminiscent of what you’d see on Facebook.

With the change in posting style, membership and engagement grew, but it also caused a lot of irrelevant, low-quality content to float to the top of users’ Feeds. So, with the algorithm updates, viral content is more likely to hurt your visibility and engagement than help it. It might start hitting Feeds where it isn’t relevant, and not getting much engagement beyond reactions.