Unfiltered

Why even LinkedIn doesn't know how its algorithm works

Quality posts should get more impressions. But the algorithm can't tell what's quality anymore.

Paul Mah

17 Oct 2025 — 2 min read

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Susan Q Yin

Still trying to figure out how the LinkedIn algorithm works? Don't sweat it because even LinkedIn itself doesn't really know.

For today's Unfiltered Friday, let's talk about the LinkedIn algorithm. Because if you can't beat it, you might as well have a little fun bashing it.

The story so far

Gary Ang, PhD recently shared two papers published by LinkedIn researchers that described the use of generative AI to show the best content to the right people.

I think I was supposed to check them out and come back with a smart take about whether LinkedIn has started implementing it at scale. And maybe how to beat it.

But since I fell sick this week and had half the week wiped out - and maybe I'm just not smart enough - let me explain why it probably doesn't matter.

How it's supposed to work

At its heart, what LinkedIn does is simplicity itself, which is to make sure the right people see your posts. Quality posts are allocated more impressions. It starts by showing content to those with an interest in the topic. It gives more weightage to connections and followers.

So easy right? But what makes a good post good - and deserving of more people seeing it? Well, that's why it gets tricky.

What's actually happening

Everyone wants their posts to fall into that nice bracket. In fact, there's a group, potentially in the millions, actively gaming the algorithm.

Automated systems like posts en masse. There are ways to cajole friends to click like - tag 30 friends in a post, tag 30 friends in a photo, tag 30 friends in a comment.

And that's before you throw in new changes, such as giving comments more mileage to encourage social interaction, which promptly got gamed by AI commenting bots.

And of course, the distribution of eyeballs is no longer even remotely commensurate with effort. To make the point, look at how my joke that took 15 seconds to punch out got twice the views of a post that took an hour to research and write.

So, I doubt LinkedIn knows what a good piece of content is. Throw in the rampant gamification muddying the waters, and even LinkedIn probably doesn't know whether a given post will tank or take off.