Pro Tips for LinkedIn’s Algorithm

YOUR LINKEDIN QUESTIONS ANSWERED! 

Do you have questions about your LinkedIn profile or how to use LinkedIn? Send your questions to our LinkedIn Expert Debbie McCormick and she’ll answer them in the magazine! Use info@LinkedInBossLady.com with subject Dear Debbie. 

Dear Debbie: 

I don’t understand the LinkedIn algorithm. What makes some posts trend and some not? 

~Lindsey V. 

After “How do you write a good LinkedIn profile?” this has to be the question I get asked most often, Lindsey, so thank you for bringing it up here. 

Here are some good Pro Tips for how to get the LinkedIn algorithm (which I’m just going to shorten to “LinkedIn”) to give your posts some love. 

First, though, you need to know about The Hour of Power. That’s what I call the first hour after a post is published because LinkedIn pays close attention to how much interaction your post gets in its first hour of its life, using that as a major part of its determination as to how many of your connections will get to see the post in their feeds. 

The more interaction your post has, the higher LinkedIn rates it in terms of being a “quality” post and one it will spread more widely. 

Okay, Pro Tips: 

1. Post consistently on the same day(s) at the same time(s). That way your supporters will get in the habit of being on the look out for you. 

2. Have an agreement with a select few of your best friends and supporters that you can shoot them an email or a text when you’ve posted. That way they don’t have to hope they catch your post within that Hour of Power, they’ll know it’s there and can acknowledge and comment on it. Be sure you have their agreement first. Choose people for whom you’re willing to do that. 

3. Use good grammar and spell check. No one likes to wade through a text that uses their when it should be there and hasn’t been given the once over for mistakes. LinkedIn is sensitive to proper word usage. 

4. Tag in the post only people whom you know will respond, and keep the tags to a maximum of three. 

5. Use only three or four hashtags. Not three or four lines of them — 😣 — three or four in total.  

6. Mix up your types of posts: one day do a written post, another day do a short video. I try to keep my vids about one LinkedIn or marketing tip, and around 3 minutes in length, but sometimes I get excited, think of something else along the same lines to tell you and it goes up to 5. Once in a while, do an 300-500 word article and tease it through a short post that will appear in your connections’ feeds. 

7. If you want the reader to see or read something off of LinkedIn, always put the live link in the first comment of the post. You can show the link at the bottom of the post too, but make sure it’s not live (not hyperlinked) or LinkedIn will punish you for taking readers off the platform. 

So here’s how that goes: 

1. Publish the post, telling the reader that the live link will be in the first comment. 

2. Then be the first person to comment on your own post, putting the live link there. 

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Debbie answers your LinkedIn questions every week here in YES I CAN Living Magazine. 

For further help or support from her, you can schedule a one-on-one Make Your LinkedIn Profile A Client Magnet profile review at https://LinkedInWithDebbie.as.me. 

You can also connect with her on these platforms: 

 LinkedIn.com/in/DebbieMcCormick 

@LinkedInBossLady 

facebook.com/DebbieMcCormickConsultingLinkedIn