LinkedIn Algorithm Quirks That All Growth Marketers Should Know!

The LinkedIn algorithm is always changing.

And, there’s always something new we’re discovering about the platform.

Instead of looking at the algorithm as something we have to beat, look at it as something that you have to live with and adapt to.

In today’s guide, we take a look at LinkedIn algorithm quirks that you can take advantage of to give your profile its best chance of performing better than everyone else.

Can I Beat the LinkedIn Algorithm?

The goal is not to beat the algorithm.

The goal is to adapt to it.

The goal is to make sure that your content and profile are optimized to be prioritized by the algorithm

Algorithms are hard to beat, they rely on complex code written by a team of specialized engineers that aim to benefit the majority of users and not favor any single operator.

The more optimized your actions are on LinkedIn, the better your chances are of being selected to be on top.

You want to give your LinkedIn efforts its best shot.

So let’s focus on that.

Because the truth is you won’t beat it.

But you can always join it in your rise to the top.

Quirk 1: The First Few Hours Matter If You Want to Go Viral

We’ve proven this time and time again.

The more traction your post gets in its first few hours, the higher the chance that it will be shown to more people affecting its chances of going viral.

The reasoning behind it is simple.

The LinkedIn algorithm wants to keep people on the site for longer because it means getting to show people more ads which affects their bottom line.

Now, if a post looks like it’s already performing well within your immediate circle of influence, they will want to make sure that it will also have the tendency to perform well with other people, so they will want to make sure it shows up in more feeds.

Couple that with organic sharing and engagement, and your post will get the traction it deserves.

This is why tracking your post in the first few hours is critical to know if it will achieve virality.

Quirk 2: Text Posts Perform Well

If you’re having trouble coming up with a “creative” post involving fancy slides or a cool video, opt for a plain text post.

Plain text posts have the tendency to perform well.

We’ve found that “plain text founder posts”, where LinkedIn users tell a unique story from their startup are a great way to gain traction because they allow their audience a chance to have an inside look into their story.

These narratives naturally create engagement which helps create virality and increase exposure for the profile’s owner.

Quirk 3: The LinkedIn Algorithm Favors Freshness

New posts will always perform better than old posts because the algorithm likes freshness.

You want to make sure that you’re posting regularly to tell the algorithm and your prospects that you have an active profile.

The more active you are, the higher the chances you appear in front of your audience more often.

Read more: What’s the Best Time to Post on LinkedIn? (Hint: Not Monday)

Quirk 4: Do Not Ignore LinkedIn SEO

There is no running away from search engine optimization.

Platforms that have search functionality primarily rely on keywords to function.

This is why you’ve got to make sure that your profile is optimized for LinkedIn SEO.

Your headline and about me summary can greatly affect your visibility in search.

If you want to perform well, make sure you do your keyword research. Check out what keywords your competitors are using to appear first on LinkedIn search. Are you using the same keywords? Are there supplementary keywords and phrases that you can adapt for your profile?

Research, adjust, and adapt accordingly.

Read more: LinkedIn SEO: Search Optimization But For Your Company Profile! (Best Practices & Examples)

Quirk 5: New and Original Content Works

Apart from posting regularly, another LinkedIn algorithm-friendly way to get your profile on top is to post original content.

Why does the algorithm prioritize this?

Because people like fresh content.

Now, you’re probably thinking, isn’t it a pain to produce fresh content all the time?

Yes, it is, but it’s part of the process.

This doesn’t mean you can’t reuse your old content as long as you give it a fresh shell and make it evergreen, or probably add a new twist.

Quirk 6: Long vs. Short

If you’re debating whether to post something long or short, go with the former.

The LinkedIn algorithm prefers things that are longer.

That is often debatable since sometimes all you need is a photo, but a lot of sources often concur that this is still a thing. We’ve seen a lot of our own long-form posts perform better than their shorter counterparts.

Instead of a simple status update, why don’t you go on with the long-form text founder story?

You even get to show prospects a little vulnerability which can go a long way.

Quirk 7: Personalization Also Affects Your Engagement

You know that if you use hashtags, you can get the algorithm to tag your posts alongside other posts which have the same hashtag.

So people who are interested in the same topic have a higher likelihood of seeing your content.

This just means one thing, you should be posting about topics that concern your target audience.

If you cater to marketers, it would make sense to talk about marketing topics instead of posting about things such as medicine.

Also, the more you post about things that are relevant to a certain industry the more you resonate with your audience. The more they engage with your posts, the more likely it is for the LinkedIn algorithm to push your content in front of your target audience.

Quirk 8: Quality First

This goes along the same vein as original posts, the LinkedIn algorithm favors quality over quantity. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t be posting regularly.

You need to ONLY post quality posts, then ramp up your number of posts.

Ideally, 3-5 high-quality posts a week should be able to help take your campaign to the next level.

Take your time in writing these posts and follow best practices.

Quirk 9: Video Works

Video is the most engaging type of content you can post.

But you can just post videos for the sake of having LinkedIn videos.

It needs to be optimized for the platform.

This means having videos with proper captions, formatted for LinkedIn, and featuring subject matter that resonates well with your audience.

Remember, it’s still a battle for proper engagement.

The algorithm favors videos because they keep people on the platform longer and they are often more entertaining than other post types. This leads to a better UX experience for other users.

LinkedIn Algorithm Bonus Quirk

Through our research and our work with other influencers, we’ve found one quirk that we’ve been pushing for years.

LinkedIn’s algorithm really likes it when your profile is optimized.

We’ve left out other algorithm quirks because we realized that most of them are based on proper profile completeness.

Think about it this way, if you want to get on the algo’s good side, you better make sure that you’re running a profile that’s complete, optimized for your audience, and fully updated.

Now we won’t go into all the details on how to optimize a profile in this week’s guide, we have dozens of guides available here. But, we’ll leave you with this, when it comes to LinkedIn optimization, a little goes a long way.

Takeaways from the LinkedIn Algorithm

So there you have it, our quick list of LinkedIn algorithm personal optimization tips that you can’t go wrong with.

The beauty of this list is that you can easily deploy it into your current campaigns.

All you have to do is to follow their guidelines.

Now we’re not saying that your content will automatically go viral if you follow these tips, but skipping out on them can be detrimental to your growth.