Linkedin’s New Algorithm Is Here—Your Marketing Strategy Needs This Shift

TL;DR: Don’t give up on LinkedIn! Try adjusting your LinkedIn marketing strategy first to improve reach and engagement.

If you are at the point of giving up on LinkedIn, don’t. The company quietly launched a new algorithm this year that is asking you to completely rethink your LinkedIn marketing strategy anyway.

I’m giving it a go, for myself, but especially for my clients. And definitely for one client in particular.

This client poured money into a LinkedIn marketing strategy (devised by another marketing agency) over the past few years. Multiple posts per week. Videos. Custom graphics. Specific hashtags and content categories.

They have gotten zero clients directly from LinkedIn. Zero. That’s so depressing.

I told them not to give up, so this blog post is as much for them as it is for you. And me! I’ll be making a lot of changes to my LinkedIn profile and strategy during the holidays when things are quiet and I can actually breathe.

So, here’s what you need to know.

LinkedIn’s all-new algorithm that changes everything

If you’ve noticed that impressions on your LinkedIn posts have dropped this year, and thought, “What the hell?!” you weren’t the only one.

That was due to their new algorithm called 360 Brew. (You can read more about it in this terrific, in-depth blog post from AuthoredUp. I’ve summarized their findings below.)

Go ahead and take a look at your analytics on LinkedIn for the past year. My impressions are down 21%. Yours are likely down that much – or more. I’ve read about drops of up to 80%. Yikes!

This is not just an update to their algorithm. It’s completely new.

Your LinkedIn feed is based on your profile

The old algorithm tracked clicks and connections to understand what topics you are interested in. The new one makes inferences based on the language you use in your profile, not from clicks, and delivers content accordingly.

Engagement is measured by saves, not volume

The more engagement you used to get, the better. Now, “saving” a post is the holy grail of engagement. Also, thoughtful comments and conversations between commenters will expand your reach.

Format doesn’t matter

The old algorithm used to change to favor, say, video or polls over text. No longer. Clear, in-depth content of any format rules the day.

Also, hashtags no longer matter

Because LinkedIn “reads” for context, it doesn’t need the topic clues that hashtags have traditionally provided.

How do I adjust my LinkedIn marketing strategy?

Choose two to three core topics you want to be found for

These need to appear in your headline, the first paragraph of your “about” section (so LinkedIn know what you are going to write about and are interested in), and the top skills section.

Don’t bury the lede in your posts

In other words, pack the first sentence or two with information as if it were a headline or the title of your post. It should include:

Statistics
Names of companies, products, and people
Industry jargon, god help me (so the meaning of your post is clear to the people you want to reach)

Create posts that are worthy of a save

Time to go above-and-beyond with your LinkedIn content! No more throw-away polls because you couldn’t think of anything to post this week.

Based on their research, AuthoredUp said content that earns saves includes things like:

Step-by-step frameworks or processes with real examples
Data breakdowns with non-obvious insights
Annotated templates or checklists
Contrarian perspectives backed by evidence

Ask for thoughtful comments

A comment like, “Great read!” or “So interesting!” is worthless and will not help you increase your reach.

Ask questions that will generate deep, thoughtful comments. Instead of, “What do you think?” ask, “What part of your content marketing strategy utterly failed this year?”

Track these metrics

You can still track impressions, but these metrics are more important (per AuthoredUp):

Saves per post
New followers from posts
Profile views from posts
Comment depth
Discussion threads in your comments

Remember, this is all new to me, too, so I will be working on improving my profile and strategy right alongside you!

A LinkedIn marketing best practice I’m trying in 2026

In two words, it’s LinkedIn newsletters. A single email sent by the amazing Kait LeDonne, who I’ve been following for a few years, finally convinced me.

LinkedIn newsletters support long-form content, which people actually spend the time reading. She said that Chartbeat found that average engaged reading time actually increases with longer word counts – up to 2,000–4,000 words (yes, thousand, not hundred).

Plus LinkedIn newsletters have a built-in distribution platform. As Kait wrote, “Unlike a fleeting post, a newsletter issue goes out to all your subscribers with a notification and even an email. It lives on a dedicated page and is highly searchable. In fact, it’s treated more like an article – meaning it doesn’t get lost in the feed frenzy.”

Another LinkedIn strategy I’m continuing

My top post of the past year was a highly personal one:

Personal content tends to do really well on LinkedIn. Just don’t overdo it.

The post above is somewhat tied to my work life, but because work is NOT my life, it’s more about real life.

I’ll be sprinkling in more personal posts in 2026.

So, are you giving up on LinkedIn? Or will you stick with it?

I really think adjusting to their new algorithm will make a big difference for your LinkedIn marketing strategy in 2026 and beyond. I will report back on what happened with my new LinkedIn strategy in a year!