by Kathy Bernard
The LinkedIn algorithm (the system that selects content for your newsfeed) uses a three-step process to determine what you or your audience sees.
1. Quality filtering. Every post is classified as spam, low quality, or high quality. To ensure your content is high quality, don’t tag unrelated individuals or more than five people. Proof your posts to prevent errors and wait at least 12 hours between posts.
2. Engagement testing. The algorithm shows your post to a small audience sample of 1st degree connections to gauge interaction. If it gets strong engagement within the first hour, it pushes it to 2nd and 3rd-degree connections.
3. Network/relevance ranking. LinkedIn prioritizes posts from people and topics you engage with most.
Who sees your posts depends on their profile (including their location, career, and skills), how relevant content is to their interests, and what topics and people they have engaged with before.
Recent updates may impact how your content performs:
- Because LinkedIn now rewards expertise, share thoughtful insights, industry trends, and actionable advice to reach larger audiences.
-The algorithm now penalizes clickbait like “Comment YES to agree!”
- Posts that get strong interaction in the first hour and keep users engaged long-term will see wider distribution.
- LinkedIn rewards native content, like text posts, carousels, and videos over posts with outbound links. For that reason, share an external link in your post’s comments instead of the main post.
Pay attention to how LinkedIn populates your newsfeed and use that knowledge to reach a larger audience.
Kathy Bernard (kathy@wiseru.com), CEO of WiserU.com, is a St. Louis-based LinkedIn consultant/trainer who equips businesses to maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, or fundraising.