Looking to understand the Instagram algorithm?
Instagram algorithm dictates what social media users see in their news feeds. It profoundly impacts every Instagram user as it influences what content they get to see and when.
The more you know how the mighty Instagram algorithm works, the better you can shape it.
So, in this post, let’s find out what the Instagram algorithm is, how it ranks different Instagram content, and how you can influence its consideration in 2023.
What Is the Algorithm in Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t rely on any single algorithm or the algorithm, per see.
Instead, the social media platform uses various tools, processes, algorithms, and classifiers to determine what people see on their Instagram feed and in which order.
They also combine to determine when to show you which type of content.
However, as a concept, people refer to the Instagram algorithm as the rules and determinants that rank different Instagram content shared by its users on the platform.
There are various factors for the explore page, Instagram feed post, Instagram carousel, and Instagram Reels. These factors determine which content appears on which user’s feed and in what order.
The primary purpose of Instagram algorithms are to make the user experience as enjoyable and personalized as possible.
Therefore, it analyzes various information regarding the content and the user to tailor content following a particular user’s behavior and interests.
The social media platform also changes the criteria for ranking content from time to time to reflect the latest trends and user behavior changes.
So, you must remain updated in order to grow an Instagram following with the help of its algorithms.
What Are the Main Ranking Factors for Instagram Algorithms?
Instagram doesn’t rank all user-generated content similarly. Instead, it uses different sets of criteria for different Instagram algorithms.
The social media platform considers thousands of pieces of relevant information regarding content and user behavior for ranking and displaying it in the most personalized way.
Still, some generalized criteria apply to most Instagram algorithms and classifiers. The most important among them are:
- Interpersonal Interactions: The interactions between the content creator and its viewer are vital in ranking. If you comment, like, or send direct messages to a particular user, their posts and reels will rank more prominently on your feed or vice versa. The same applies to users in your family and close friend groups.
- Habitual Preferences: Instagram algorithms display content after predicting how likely you are to interact with a particular content type or format. To determine this, it considers your recent interactions with specific Instagram posts, stories, and reels, along with when and how you respond to each type.
- Content Relevancy: Instagram analyzes different signals regarding specific content to establish its relevance for users before showing it to them. It includes content posting time, how the people you follow react to it, the broader trends, etc. That’s how you often find content liked by your friends ranking higher on your feed.
- Session Time & Frequency: How frequently you visit Instagram and how much time you spend on it influences what you see on your Instagram feed and explore page. Consequently, irregular Instagram users are likelier to see content posted by their friends and family than a brand or influencer they follow.
By fulfilling the above criteria, you can take advantage of Instagram platforms and enjoy increased view counts and engagement for your content.
First, however, you must learn the vital signals specific to every Instagram algorithm to make the most of it.
How Does the Instagram Algorithm Function in 2023?
When you open the Instagram app and log in, the social media platform’s background processes get busy finding the most relevant content for your interest and behavior.
It starts by planning what content type it wants to rank and for which section. This is when content sensitive to you gets marked and possibly taken down from the platform.
Instagram algorithms scan and analyze every content available before displaying the ones you are more likely to find interesting.
In addition, the social media platform keeps track of every session and activity to learn your behavior – what you like or dislike, which content creators you prefer, and so on while using Instagram.
This information tracking goes beyond the Instagram app and includes your activity across other platforms, apps, or websites if permitted.
If you control which of your outside-platform activity can be tracked by Instagram algorithms for privacy reasons, your post-viewing relevancy may suffer.
However, users don’t constantly interact in the same way in the various sections of Instagram.
Consequently, the social media platform has developed a set of algorithms and processes with specific criteria for each main area of the network – Instagram Posts, Explore page, and Instagram reels.
As Instagram feed posts and stories work within similar standards, they are overseen by the same algorithm.
How Instagram Algorithm Ranks Posts and Stories
Although vastly different, Instagram feed posts and Instagram Stories have inherent similarities.
You only see these posts from your followers, albeit with some sponsored posts here and there.
The Instagram algorithm for feed posts and stories has undergone enormous changes over the last few years. It now considers interest to be the most important thing for ranking.
The most important among the numerous signals the social media network collects to measure interest are:
- How much time are you likely to invest in viewing or enjoying the post or story? Instagram Stories benefit if you let certain users’ content slides run their course.
- How much is the possibility of you interacting with the posts? In this case, interactions refer to liking, commenting, or saving the posts.
- Is there any possibility of you saving the post in your Instagram archive? Or visiting the poster creator’s Instagram profile?
Each action has different likelihoods and weights, which are then calculated to measure the probability of how relevant you will find specific content.
The algorithm also analyzes various signals regarding the content before showing a feed post or Insta story to an Instagram user’s home feed.
These signals broadly include:
- The quality of the image or video.
- How original or creative the content is.
- How compliant it is with the Instagram Community Guidelines.
- Whether the content was reported.
These signals and predictions change dynamically as more factors regarding your behavior across platforms get added, removed, and replaced.
For example, the Instagram algorithm initially preferred the Instagram Stories feed with more content slides.
However, it has evolved with a less is more philosophy, rewarding users who post no more than 10 slides in their daily story feed with more engagement.
How Instagram Algorithm Ranks Explore Page
The Explore page on Instagram works significantly differently than the other sections. Its primary purpose is to enable users to discover new things within and beyond their interests.
Hence, the page displays quality content the broader Instagram community shares, requiring more information and analysis.
First, it determines which posts to display on your Explore page. Next, the algorithm dives into the information it collected regarding the posts and Instagram reels you’ve liked, commented on, and saved.
In addition, it considers whose posts you interacted with the most and if you share any particular interest. Finally, it explores similar topics and content related to your recent interactions.
For example, if you have liked a lot of pictures from a friend’s Paris trip, you may stumble upon a reel or image post containing a Parisian location or monument.
The same goes for substitute or complementary goods, items, hobbies, events, etc.
After the initial sorting, the algorithm analyzes the content against Instagram’s recommendation guidelines. Then, it removes sensitive content from the list, like tobacco products, nude content, self-harm or graphic imagery, etc.
Finally, the Explore page algorithm analyzes the essential signals regarding your interest and habitual preferences. It includes the following:
- Post-related information such as quality, engagement, broader context, interaction frequency, etc.
- The viewer and the post creator’s recent interactions between themselves and with other Instagram users.
- Personalized information regarding your Instagram sessions, activities on Instagram and other social media, time of the day, etc.
The final stage mainly focuses on ranking the content already sorted in the previous analyses, weighing and valuing your Instagram activities like the story and feed post algorithm.
How Instagram Algorithm Ranks Instagram Reels
The Instagram Reels algorithm is a cross between the feed posts and Explore page algorithm, albeit with tweaks for measuring video content quality.
The platform displays reel videos mainly from the people you don’t follow, but it still needs to be suitable for your mood and viewing habit.
Like the other sections of Instagram, the process begins with selecting content to display. Then, the content must comply with the recommendation guidelines used in the Explore page algorithm.
Once sorted, it analyzes your and the Reels creator’s interest-based signals to rank the content in your reel feed.
However, unlike Instagram posts and Explore, the primary purpose of Instagram Reels is to be entertaining. So the algorithm measures each reel video against a set of criteria to measure its fun value.
As a result, the social media platform is more likely to recommend an Instagram Reels video that:
- Has good quality resolution and sounds.
- Is original and free of watermarks.
- Delights, encourages, or excites viewers.
- Only feature a few essential texts.
- Does not contain any borders or focus on political issues.
Your viewing habits and interests continue to play a vital role in what Reels videos you see and in which order.
So, in addition to the fundamental interactions, it also considers your previously saved music and reel templates to understand you better. Check out the following video on YouTube to learn more:
What Changed in Instagram Algorithms in 2023?
As mentioned above, Instagram algorithms keep evolving all the time with new sets of rules and factors.
These changes reflect the latest trends on Instagram and the wider online community. It also considers what matters to an Instagram user in a specific period.
All Instagram algorithms undergo periodic updates, tweaking how you see and consume content. The most significant changes to note in 2023 are:
- Instagram Feed Posts: Since the beginning of 2022, Instagram has started testing three different home feed views – home, favorites, and following. The algorithm also started pushing more video content, although it has come down a notch amid significant dissatisfaction among Instagram users.
- Instagram Stories: Instagram now prioritize your interaction with the story creator more than the content of the stories and rank them higher. It also doesn’t consider posting time or the number of slides in an Insta story deck as crucial as last year.
- Instagram Explore: Instagram users can now search Instagram posts using hashtags and search keywords. Therefore, caption texts have become as crucial as hashtags for featuring content on the Explore page.
- Instagram Reels: Instagram algorithms can now detect videos shared elsewhere and devalue them accordingly in the ranking. It also rewards video content with accessible on-screen captions with more discoverability and engagement.
Despite the changes, the core principles of Instagram algorithms remain intact. Your content must remain original, engaging, and entertaining to get their blessings.
Learn about the most recent changes from the following YouTube video:
How To Make the Instagram Algorithm Work for You?
As Instagram is now more transparent than ever, you can learn much about how the algorithms work for sorting and ranking content across the platform.
So what do you do with that information? You could influence the algorithm and make Instagram work for personal or marketing purposes.
You can train Instagram algorithms with certain tricks, so it picks the posts you enjoy the most.
Ensuring your content gets more engagement is also possible with an effective social media strategy and content creation techniques.
How To Influence What You See on Instagram?
Despite a multitude of factors determining what you see on Instagram, you can have some control over it. It requires training Instagram algorithms with some careful activities and interactions.
Some of the most effective ways you can influence what content the Instagram algorithm serves you are the following:
- Creating a close friend list and muting unwanted users in Instagram profile settings.
- Liking and commenting on several Instagram posts shared by a particular user you want to see on the feed.
- Following relevant hashtags that resonate with your passions and interests.
- Saving posts you like and sharing them on your Instagram Stories feed.
- Visiting the profile of your favorite Instagram accounts and sending them direct messages.
- Marking what you don’t want to see on the Explore page as “Not Interested.”
Instagram algorithms follow your every move, sometimes across the entire web.
So if you don’t want a product popping up in your Instagram feed after you searched for it on Amazon, make sure to disable tracking in your Instagram app.
How To Ensure Your Content Gets Picked Up?
Feeding the Instagram algorithm with the content it likes is the most fruitful way to increase your Instagram content’s reach, discoverability, and engagement.
It is the ultimate Instagram marketing trick to ensure jaw-dropping content performance.
However, with so many different criteria in play, creating content to the algorithm’s liking is easier said than done. Nevertheless, you can still try with the following guidelines:
- Create Compelling Content: Instagram values creative, experiential, and entertaining content above anything else. So don’t be afraid to push your limits in trying to create engaging Instagram content before sharing them.
- Post During the Best Times: Go beyond the basics of Instagram and find the best times to post different types of content. Business users can get ahead quickly by sharing posts relevant to ongoing cultural or social events.
- Create Caption with Hashtags: Captions and hashtags are vital to increasing your post’s discoverability and getting featured in the Explore section. You must create an attention-grabbing caption with relevant hashtags.
- Spark Engagement and Discussion: The more people engage with your content, the higher your future posts will rank. You can facilitate greater engagement and discussions by asking thoughtful questions, replying to comments, creating free giveaways, etc.
You must also avoid falling foul of the Instagram community and recommendation Guidelines. While it may sound daunting, you can comply with the guidelines with some basic common sense. One rule of thumb is to avoid posting anything you think is sensitive or violent, even for seconds. Also, be creative and don’t copy anyone else’s creations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Is My Post’s Reach So Low on Instagram?
The reach of your Instagram posts can get low if you post irregularly or have a small number of followers. Posting during the least-engaging times can also damage your post’s visibility.
You must create original content and encourage engagement by sharing them with persuasive captions to increase post reach.
Do Instagram Shadowbans Users?
Instagram doesn’t shadowban or silence any of its users.
Instead, this concept mainly arises from users experiencing a significant post-engagement downturn because of various signals used by Instagram algorithms.
If the platform blocks your account for policy violations, it usually explains the reason with a notification.
Wrapping Up
By analyzing thousands of signals against numerous criteria, Instagram algorithms make their choices utterly unpredictable. Not to mention the seemingly unannounced updates and changes.
However, now that you know how the latest Instagram algorithm works, you can make it work in your favor by creating and sharing informed content.
Then, even if the rules change, you don’t have to chase its preferential treatment in the dark and hope for the best.
If you remain vigilant and organized, you can always stay a step ahead of any Instagram algorithm updates and keep getting more followers and engagement.
If you do, don’t forget to comment on your experience.
