Understanding LinkedIn’s Algorithm: Focus on the Content, Not Recency

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Trapica

7 min readAug 13, 2019

Nobody wants to produce content for LinkedIn only for it to go unnoticed, right? After spending all that time formatting and creating content you think will be valuable for those in your industry, it’s a shame to see it go to waste. Therefore, it’s important to understand the LinkedIn algorithm.

We know that this is a word that instills fear and confusion into many, and this is likely a hangover from a time where the Google algorithm seemed to be changing on a weekly basis. While trying to work on an SEO solution, the secrets of the Google algorithm made it VERY hard. However, it’s a different story with LinkedIn and it’s clear what type of content they want on their platform: valuable articles for the professional world.

What’s more, we also know that the content itself takes precedence over recency. If you’re struggling with your LinkedIn content strategy, don’t worry because we’re going to break everything down into manageable chunks in this guide. You’ll learn how the algorithm works, why content is more important than recency, and some top tips for success in 2019!

1. The LinkedIn Algorithm

Before anything else, we should make it clear that we’re talking about the algorithm that sorts the homepage feed. How does the platform decide what posts to show on our feed? How does it decide to either show or ignore your own content?

In total, there are four steps.

Step 1: Initial Filter

Before your content is even seen by another human, it will be judged by a bot. Regardless of whether your post is a simple infographic or a full article, it will be classified as ‘Spam’, Low Quality’, or ‘Clear’. While Low-Quality posts have a small chance of success, Spam posts have none. Ideally, your content will be classified as Clear.

Step 2: Engagement Test

Just how valuable is your post? To find the answer to this question, it will have a temporary place on the feed. With high-quality content, people will comment, share, like, and engage. When this happens, it passes through to the third step in this algorithm.

On the other hand, other LinkedIn users may ignore it, hide it, or even mark it as spam. Whenever this happens, the algorithm will assume that it isn’t adding value and it’s unlikely to go any further. If this seems to be happening frequently, pay attention to our advice in the second half of this guide. For now, here are some quick-fire tips -

Ensure you aren’t being offensive
Ask yourself whether the content has value
Make sure it’s relevant to other professionals
Don’t post multiple times a day

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Step 3: Virality Check

After engagement, there’s still the issue of spam. Why? Because, in recent years, platforms like LinkedIn have learned that spammers have hundreds of accounts and can get the engagement they need without another human actually interacting with the content. With this in mind, their solution is to assess the quality of your profile alongside your credibility.

Is the post relevant to those who will see it in their feeds? If the answer to this is negative, your content will work backwards until it gets another chance to show credibility. Sometimes, the algorithm can keep your post in the feed but without making a call either way. If your audience engages further, it will re-enter this third step.

If you’ve ever wondered why people talk about posting at particular times, this is exactly why. By posting while most of your audience is asleep or offline, the lack of engagement will hold the content back.

Step 4: Human Editors

Up until now, it has all been about bots, computers, and advanced technology. For other platforms, this is completely normal, and the algorithm would end here. However, LinkedIn is unique in that it uses a network of real people.

If a human being grants your post enough credit to remain on the feed, this is great news because you’ll enter a positive spiral. As it stays on the feed, it gets organic engagement, re-enters the algorithm, analyzed before the eyes of a human, stays on the feed, etc.

Often, you probably see posts that are weeks old and you’re wondering why. Well, now you know. Let’s face it, this simply wouldn’t happen on Twitter or Facebook…and this is why your high-quality content is more likely to be rewarded in the long-term on LinkedIn.

2. Quality vs Recency

In 2019, you need a good strategy on LinkedIn otherwise your content will not be viewed.

The biggest mistake we see from content creators is that they choose quantity over quality. Because they don’t understand the LinkedIn algorithm, they think that one post a day is required for people to see their name on the feed. In reality, it’s quality that wins. Thanks to the algorithm, your content from five weeks ago can show more prominently than somebody else’s content from that very day.

Now, there are two very different reactions to this news -

You’re disappointed and think that the algorithm seems too random to even try.
You’re excited because it means you can finally focus on producing the very best content that resonates with professionals.

If possible, we highly recommend taking the second mindset. You don’t have to rush to produce average posts just to get noticed, you can take your time and really show your value with high-quality, organic content. Rather than showing in the feed once and getting forgotten, the very best posts stay relevant for weeks and get the engagement they deserve.

3. Our Top Tips

As promised, we’re going to finish on some tips and advice for overcoming the LinkedIn algorithm. Get your content seen, grow your network, and enjoy success.

Alter Your Strategy

This isn’t Twitter or Facebook, so you can’t necessarily treat it like these two platforms. There’s still room for humor and content of a light-hearted nature, but it should remain professional, so it’s a delicate tightrope to walk. As long as you understand your audience and remain professional while still shining some personality through, you won’t go wrong.

In our experience, there are different ways to appeal to the LinkedIn audience. This includes content with:

Value for businesses, employees, or anyone with a career
Inspirational themes (with regards to work-life)
News from a particular industry
Tips and advice for careers and business growth

In terms of your strategy, you also need to consider the type of content and how you present it. Professionals on LinkedIn seek value from content, this is your opportunity to teach and impart wisdom. What’s more, they like reading on-the-go so make sure your posts look good and read well on mobile devices.

Hashtags and Keywords

Now you’re focusing on content and not recency, you have time to really get involved with hashtags and keywords. Just a note on keywords; use them naturally. There’s nothing worse than reading content that sounds as if it was written by a robot.

Grow Your Network

Why try to reach out to everybody when you can forge your own audience and ensure their return time and time again? To get started, we recommend focusing on your LinkedIn branding. This means filling out business details, adding connections, following others, joining conversations, and asking employees to add your company to their work history.

Gain Influencer Status

Don’t worry, you’re working hard for a reason. High-quality content, as well as engagement, will push you towards ‘Influencer’ status. Once you gain this little badge, everything you post will bypass the spam test.

More importantly, you’ll have credibility as a leader within your industry. As long as you pay attention to this guide and keep producing fantastic, organic content, you WILL get recognized for your hard work.

Build Your Content Marketing Score

We’ve focused quite heavily on content alone, but three other factors contribute to your Content Marketing Score:

Partnership, employee, and influencer engagement
Employee shares
Paid efforts

You could have the best content in the world, but you’re still going to struggle with the algorithm if you aren’t investing in paid strategies, your employees aren’t sharing posts or tagging your company, and if influencers and employees aren’t engaging.