LinkedIn Algorithm 2025 Explained: How to Get More Engagement

LinkedIn remains the leading B2B social platform in 2025, with more than 1 billion users and over 80% of its members playing a role in business decision-making (LinkedIn, 2024). However, posting on LinkedIn without understanding how the algorithm works can leave your content unseen. The platform’s algorithm has evolved to reward valuable, relevant, and professional interactions, prioritising meaningful content and real conversations over vanity metrics or outbound links.

This article breaks down the LinkedIn algorithm in 2025, including how it works, the ranking factors, and proven strategies to help you boost visibility, engagement, and results.

1. How the LinkedIn Algorithm Works in 2025

The 2025 LinkedIn algorithm aims to personalise content for each user based on professional relevance and engagement behaviour. The algorithm follows a four-stage model:

1. Initial Testing: When you post, the content is shown to a limited audience—usually your most active connections.
   
2. Engagement Quality: LinkedIn evaluates dwell time, reactions, comments, and shares.
   
3. Relevance Scoring: The algorithm analyses how well your content fits the interests and industries of potential viewers.
   
4. Distribution Scaling: If the content performs well, it’s shared with a wider audience beyond your connections.
   

The core idea is that authentic, engaging content triggers algorithmic amplification (LinkedIn Engineering, 2023).

2. Key Ranking Signals for LinkedIn Posts

To gain maximum reach in 2025, your content must hit specific algorithmic signals. Based on LinkedIn and third-party research, these include:

• Dwell Time: How long someone spends reading your post. Longer dwell times mean higher quality (LinkedIn Engineering, 2023).
  
• Comment Depth: Comments with thoughtful responses have more weight than simple likes.
  
• Engagement Velocity: Early engagement in the first 60 minutes boosts visibility.
  
• Relevance Match: The more your post aligns with the viewer’s interests or industry, the higher the score (HubSpot, 2025).
  

LinkedIn confirmed that dwell time was added as a core ranking signal back in 2021 and has only grown in importance since (LinkedIn Engineering, 2021).

3. Top-Performing Content Types in 2025

The type of content you publish significantly affects how far it travels. According to recent studies:

Post Format	Performance Summary
Text-only posts	Highest engagement for storytelling and professional tips
PDF Carousels	Great for value-packed slides or checklists
Native videos	Favoured if short and with captions
Polls	Useful for quick insights, especially in B2B
Images with quotes	Moderate reach if visually clean
Posts with links	Penalised unless link is in comments

Note: Posts that contain external links in the post body often receive 40% less reach compared to posts that keep users on LinkedIn (Socialinsider, 2024).

4. Best Times to Post on LinkedIn in 2025

According to HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report (2025), optimal posting times are:

• Tuesday to Thursday
  
• 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM or 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (local time)
  
• Weekends are best avoided unless your audience is international
  

Posting during these windows increases your chance of engaging users who are most active during business hours (HubSpot, 2025).

5. Personal Profiles Outperform Company Pages

LinkedIn’s algorithm gives preference to individual creators over business pages. This is because users engage more with people than with brands. A 2024 internal report showed that employee content generates 2x more engagement than company pages, even when sharing the same message (LinkedIn, 2024).

Strategy tip: Use your personal profile to share:

• Company updates with a personal spin
  
• Behind-the-scenes experiences
  
• Thought leadership and expert commentary
  

Encouraging employee advocacy through tools like EveryoneSocial can help scale this effort.

6. Boost Engagement with Creator Mode and Newsletters

In 2025, Creator Mode is now enabled by over 30 million users globally (LinkedIn, 2024). Activating it allows access to:

• LinkedIn Newsletters
  
• Live video
  
• Audio events
  
• Follow button prioritisation
  

LinkedIn newsletters have an average open rate of 45%, significantly higher than traditional email newsletters (Content Marketing Institute, 2024). Publishing consistently builds your semantic relevance, helping LinkedIn associate your profile with specific keywords and industries.

7. First 60 Minutes: The Golden Window

The algorithm heavily weights early engagement. The first hour determines whether your post will be shown to a wider audience.

Do this in the first 60 minutes:

• Respond to all comments promptly
  
• Tag relevant people only if they’re mentioned in the content
  
• Ask team members or close connections to comment early
  
• Use a strong hook line to stop the scroll
  

Example hook:

“Here’s why your LinkedIn posts are underperforming—no one’s telling you about dwell time.”

This line encourages curiosity and increases time spent on post, a key metric for ranking.

8. Use Hashtags Strategically (Not Excessively)

LinkedIn recommends 3–5 hashtags per post for optimal results. Use a mix of:

• Niche-specific (e.g., #B2BSaaS, #EmailMarketing)
  
• Broad but relevant (e.g., #Leadership, #Hiring)
  
• Branded hashtags for tracking
  

According to LinkedIn’s Content Best Practices (2024), using more than 5 hashtags may signal spammy content and reduce visibility.

Tool tip: Use RiteTag to find trending hashtags related to your topic.

9. Focus on Comments, Not Just Likes

Likes are good, but comments drive visibility. LinkedIn ranks discussions as stronger signals of engagement. Posts with at least 20 meaningful comments within the first 4 hours are 3x more likely to be featured in second-degree networks (LinkedIn Engineering, 2023).

Boost comment count by:

• Ending posts with open-ended questions
  
• Sharing a controversial opinion (professionally)
  
• Posting mini-case studies and asking for feedback
  

Example CTA:

“Have you tried this? Comment with your experience—I’m curious to learn from others.”

10. Avoid These Algorithm Mistakes in 2025

The following actions can suppress your reach:

• Including outbound links in the post body
  
• Engagement bait like “Comment YES if you agree”
  
• Over-tagging (limit to 1–3 relevant people)
  
• Inconsistency in posting frequency
  
• Copying viral posts without adding original value
  

LinkedIn’s algorithm is increasingly detecting low-quality, AI-generated, or repurposed content and ranking it lower (LinkedIn Engineering, 2023).

References

Content Marketing Institute. (2024). B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/

HubSpot. (2025). State of Marketing Report 2025. https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing

LinkedIn. (2024). LinkedIn Pages and Engagement Trends. https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions

LinkedIn Engineering. (2021). What is Dwell Time and Why It Matters. https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog/2021/dwell-time

LinkedIn Engineering. (2023). How LinkedIn Uses AI to Rank Your Feed. https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog

Socialinsider. (2024). LinkedIn Benchmarks: How Content Types Affect Engagement. https://www.socialinsider.io/

EveryoneSocial. (2025). Empowering Employee Advocacy on LinkedIn. https://everyonesocial.com/

RiteTag. (2025). Hashtag Performance Tools. https://ritetag.com/