Everyone's heard the “white hat SEO” tactic of being yourself. Just put out quality content, and views will come. Yet there’s no denying that algorithms matter. They have the power to sway our decisions, exacerbate our biases, alter our subconscious, and affect our lives in unpredictable ways.
Reach, engagement, and follower growth have dropped by 50% for almost all LinkedIn creators in the last year, according to the highly anticipated LinkedIn Algorithm Insights 2024 report by Just Connecting HUB.
When changes are happening for 95% of creators, the issue isn't random. It's algorithmic.
Understanding even the basics of how the LinkedIn algorithm changes work can mean the difference between being seen by hundreds, and seen by millions.
Background On LinkedIn's Algorithm
LinkedIn has over a billion users worldwide, including more than 238 million in North America. 65 million people use LinkedIn to look for work every week, and 6 are hired every minute from the platform. The potential benefits of extending your reach are enormous—if you understand how the LinkedIn algorithm works.
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is built for professional networking. The LinkedIn algorithm is unique because it isn't designed for content to "go viral." It's more interested in showing people content that is relevant to them—in order to stoke more meaningful comments and relationships.
LinkedIn is upfront that the metric that matters is engagement. It's even built into the way they detect and handle spam. The more positive engagement you get, the more LinkedIn feels good about showing it to others. It also shows you what it thinks will be most relevant based on what it knows from your LinkedIn profile, connections, interests, and how you've interacted with content.
If you send someone a direct message, the chance you'll see their post again shoots up 70%, according to the Just Connecting report. If you save someone's post, there's a 90% chance you'll see their next one. How long viewers spend on your post is also factored in, which suggests long-form posts may have an advantage.
The Biggest Algorithm Changes
Should your LinkedIn poll have two answers or three? The difference can be a 25% drop in reach. LinkedIn algorithm updates can have a big influence on how people engage with your post. Among other things, the latest algorithm change has flattened much of the differences in algorithm for mobile and desktop LinkedIn users, so these differences are felt more or less across the board.
Comments Matter Even More
The latest LinkedIn algorithm update gives comments slightly more weight in boosting reach. Longer comments (>15 words) are twice as effective as shorter ones. "As an author, adding another 2-4 comments after the initial first hour can effectively reintroduce your post into the feeds of all participants, typically resulting in an additional 25% growth," according to the Van der Blom report.
Posting helpful, quality comments on other people's posts also helps your profile by increasing profile views, followers, connections, and, therefore, people seeing/interacting with your own content. However, stay away from letting AI do the work for you, which nets a much lower response.
Collaborative Articles
LinkedIn is leaning hard into some of the new features they've unveiled, like Collaborative Articles. Just commenting on one has a significantly higher chance of showing up on people's LinkedIn feeds than dropping a note on a regular post. Users who contribute enough to earn the Top Public Speaking Voice badge are also promoted more. Any badge you earn will give your profile a boost, but recent platform updates have raised the bar for qualifying.
Creator Mode
While not strictly an algorithm update, LinkedIn is not setting all profiles to Creator Mode by default. The biggest impact is that how your followers engage will have more impact than contacts. It also opens the option for everyone to use LinkedIn Audio Events (think one-off podcasts) and LinkedIn Live—which get 12x more engagement than ordinary video posts.
Hashtags
Previously a social media golden child, hashtags—especially custom ones — no longer have a material positive impact on reach. However, the first 2-3 hashtags are included in your post URL, which is helpful for SEO.
Broadly used hashtags are also useful for helping people search for and find content related to a topic. (For example, if you're interested in #socialselling, LinkedIn may suggest content from #sales.)
Outbound Links
It may surprise you to learn that including a link to an external site leads to a 25-35% drop in reach. The Van der Blom report attributes this to LinkedIn users preferring to stay on the platform—behavior that feeds into the algorithm de-prioritizing those links.
The report recommends circumventing this penalty by publishing the post without outbound links and then editing the post to include them. Since the latest algorithm update, comments made by the author that include a link are now given less visibility.
Format of your LinkedIn Posts
One notable addition to the LinkedIn formula is formatting. "For the first time, we've observed that factors such as the ideal length of text, subject matter, and posting frequency may differ depending on the format you choose," according to the Van der Blom report.
Some formats have fallen in and out of favor over the years. For example, PDF posts used to get more than twice the reach of ordinary posts, but it appears the algorithm is starting to de-prioritize them.
Optimal Post for Storytelling: Text and Photo
The most common post format is a combination of text and images, which make up 48% of LinkedIn content.
The ideal text and photo post has:
- 900-1,200 words focused on a single timely topic with relevant keywords (which improves searchability)
- Starts with a compelling hook, has an authentic voice, and ends with a strong and clear call to action.
- Short sentences (<12 words) and generous use of line breaks to avoid blocks of text.
- 1-5 relevant, personalized (not stock) images in a vertical format, with brand colors, that include people, and aren't screenshots or promotional images. GIFs are especially relatable, and therefore effective.
While high-quality visuals are crucial for LinkedIn posts, making them might be challenging. Editing each image manually is time-consuming and demands specific skills, whereas working with a designer might be costly. Instead, you can use AI tools such as an AI art generator or photo editor to create visuals by writing text prompts.
Optimal Post for External Calls-to-Action and Building Thought Leadership: Text-Only
Want people to download a report from your website, or take another action off the platform? According to Van der Blom's report, text-only posts with a strong hook (e.g. a bold statement) and ending with a question are especially effective. For an even smoother user experience, consider including a phrase like "Scan the QR code in our profile bio to access the full report instantly" at the end of your post.
Text-only posts are also great for sharing advice, strategies, or war stories about being in your field. This is especially useful for executives who want to establish themselves as thought leaders and build a following of people who trust their insight and advice.
Optimal Post for Engagement: Videos
Videos are a great example of how reach momentum is controlled by the algorithm. They lost favor for a while, but have been growing in reach again since September 2023, according to the Van der Blom report.
If your goal is to get people engaged with your content, leveraging the best AI video generator can significantly enhance your strategy. The Van der Blom report suggests keeping videos between 1-2 minutes unless your video is very engaging (then you can go up to five.) High-quality visuals, clear audio, subtitles, and anything to make the experience accessible to a broad audience will increase viewership and positive perception. Utilizing AI video generators can help meet these quality criteria efficiently, broadening your content's appeal.
Optimal Post for SEO: Articles
Articles are the bottom rung in terms of reach but are invaluable for SEO. They also help build out the Newsletter function, which is available exclusively to LinkedIn users who have "Creator Mode" switched on. Since the middle of last year, the platform has allowed creators to create multiple newsletters—helpful for subject matter experts with more than one core subject area.
The most impactful articles are original content (not regurgitated from a corporate blog) between 800-1,200 SEO-optimized words and posted on weekdays, when people are in the "office" and may be more willing to engage with long-form, work-related content.
The best-performing articles feature a single high-impact video, hyperlinks to credible sources, and a compelling cover image—and are posted bimonthly rather than once a week. You can further extend your reach by promoting the article in a post and sharing it with LinkedIn groups that will find it relevant.
Key Takeaways for LinkedIn Users
There is no one perfect format, time, or action that can guarantee views. Rigidly following the "optimal" post structure won't do much if your content isn't compelling enough to get people to engage. On the other hand, consistently putting out great new content that resonates with your social network will trump any advantage from timing or algorithm hacking.
The algorithm is trying to adapt to human behavior in order to continue providing more relevant content and user engagement. It also doesn't just work on a post-by-post basis. It has a running "memory." If the last 10-15 things you've posted do poorly, it's a good measure that you may not be posting content people want to read. That being said, there are some changes that can give content creators a boost.
Tips for Maximizing Engagement on LinkedIn
Skip the Engagement Pod
LinkedIn's Editor-in-Chief, Dan Roth, has said that the platform will penalize manufactured engagement (e.g. engagement pods where a group agrees to like everything for each other).
Directly asking for engagement in the post still seems to offer a modest boost, according to research by Just Connecting. If you're going to ask your readers for a favor, an instant repost (without any additional text) now leads to an even higher boost in reach (40% vs. 30% last year).
However, the most effective LinkedIn content strategy is to go with the algorithm, not against it. Authentic content and connection with other LinkedIn members will always trump manufactured likes and generic comments.
Tag Your Posts
When it makes sense, tag 1-4 people who are likely to respond to your post. Their engagement is worth 1.5x more than someone not tagged—but be careful. If your response rate is less than 60%, your reach could slow. When in doubt, tag them in the comments, which doesn't come with the same penalty. Don't tag more than 15 people, which could get your post tagged as spam.
Time your Posts
There's a lot of different advice about the best time to post on LinkedIn, but the answer will depend on your target audience. If you are targeting a global audience, The Algorithm Insights 2024 Report suggests you'll get the most traction if you post between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. in your local time. In other words, if you're posting from New York, that will be about early morning in California and evening in Singapore.
Post Consistently
While posting blog posts daily works well for SEO, posting too often on LinkedIn may dilute your reach. According to the Algorithm Insights 2024 Report, your posting rhythm "conditions the algorithm to serve your content reliably to your audience."
While the report offers specific rules (like one video per week, or two if it's a company page), it seems more important to loosely plan to post a few times a week and then be open to letting conversation flow. For example, if a post is still getting significant traction, it makes more sense to let it ride than break momentum with a new post.
Stick Around After Posting
Conventional advice says that the first hour after posting is crucial. The algorithm evaluates how people react to your post to gauge its quality (or flag it for spam).
Now it seems the algorithm is also looking at how your post is also reviewing engagement at the 6-hour and 24-hour marks. The result is that some posts are "seeing substantially more reach on the 2nd and 3rd day compared to 1 year ago." It also helps to circle back around these time milestones to add comments to your own post.
You can start the conversation off by adding comments in the form of questions or further insight. If you tag people, make sure they will be interested in what you have to say—a lack of response is a negative sign for the algorithm. Then stick around to respond to comments, especially in the first hour after posting.
LinkedIn engagement is a game of momentum. You should ideally try to extend the momentum of anything you post, share, or do. For example, keep the conversation going after a LinkedIn Live session by sharing resources, or a highlights-only breakdown of what happened.
Use Polls
The Richard Van der Blom report found that LinkedIn polls are heavily underutilized tools. They achieve twice the medium reach and are often featured in LinkedIn's Trending Content. They're especially effective on company rather than individual pages.
The key is to pick a question that will appeal to a broad base, explain what you're trying to achieve with the poll, and avoid topics that are too promotional or political. Van der Blom's report recommends sticking to three answers and considering allowing an option to expound (e.g., "Other, see comments.") Continuing the conversation in the comments and sending invitations to connect with voters are all great ways to piggyback on the poll to grow reach.
Potential Implications Of The Algorithm Changes
Businesses with company pages have seen their initial reach drop by 25% in the last year since the latest update. Comments, likes, instant reposts, and "See More" clicks all help (in that order), but the effect is dampened if they're performed by employees. LinkedIn has also removed featured hashtags, which means companies should be incorporating them into their posts.
While all the rules can be overwhelming, it helps to remember that LinkedIn's goal is to foster a community that offers real value to people who use it. Offering free and helpful content—not locked behind paywalls or in return for contact information—goes a long way. It also won't hurt as LinkedIn continues to tweak its algorithms.
All LinkedIn posts benefit from a strong hook, a conversational tone, and compelling images—especially GIFs. The algorithm has long favored "dwell time," or how long people spend on your post, so anything that keeps them on the page longer (e.g., an in-depth analysis) will help.
Research by Just Connecting also suggests that the LinkedIn algorithm can only be affected by up to 16.6%. The base level of reach is determined by your network, follower-to-connection ratio, past content engagement, and whether influencers are engaging with it.
That means algorithm changes, while important, are just a small part of the puzzle for businesses and marketers going forward.
Optimizing Social Selling on LinkedIn with Warmly
If you're going to make LinkedIn social selling a core part of your growth strategy (and considering the rewards, every B2B company should be investing in it), then you have to remember the part it plays in your overall sales strategy.
Because LinkedIn doesn't exist on its own. It works in tandem with your website. With multiple options for adding CTAs across your posts and profile (as you can see in the screenshot below), LinkedIn can become an extension of a B2B website.
With the right strategy, you can align your LinkedIn demand generation (optimized to work with the algorithm) and your website demand capture - and that's where Warmly comes in.
There's no point generating lots of interest in your product with posts, directing people to your website to (hopefully) convert, and then losing them once they're there. That's a waste of your demand generation efforts.
With Warmly, you can:
- De-anonymize visitors to your site.
- Use automated chat to engage and nurture prospects.
- Get notifications when the warmest leads perform high-intent actions (like visiting your pricing page, or reaching out to a salesperson), so you can get your top-level SDRs and AEs involved.
And, with AI Prospector, you can create personalized outreach campaigns for those hot-ticket leads for email and LinkedIn.
The end result? A cyclical, signal-based revenue orchestration system, fueled by AI and human interaction.
Book a demo of Warmly today to see our clever workflows in action.