Written by Danny Green, PR and Communications Manager, Freshfield

Whether you love it or hate it, LinkedIn is an important platform for businesses and individuals who want to build strategic visibility and create opportunities.

However, with the decline of platforms like Twitter/X and Facebook, more users have shifted their focus to LinkedIn, and what was traditionally a business-to-business platform has become a broader social media channel – for better or for worse.

With emerging “LinkedInfluencers” and the rise of AI-generated content, our feeds have seemingly prioritised volume and visibility – sometimes with a little extra cheese – over originality and substance.

However, it looks like that’s about to change with the rollout of an update to LinkedIn’s algorithm.

What’s changing with the new LinkedIn algorithm?

If you’re getting fed up with LinkedIn’s style over substance approach, the 2026 algorithm update is positive news.

The platform is making serious changes to the way content is ranked and distributed. By moving away from rewarding high-volume posting and surface level engagement to prioritising content that displays relevance, expertise and holds attention.

Content will now be benchmarked by how much ‘dwell time’ a post receives, a profile’s topic consistency and meaningful comments that lead to genuine discussions.

Posting more won’t compensate for saying less

This shift from engagement to expertise is a welcome change and one that should cleanse our feeds of so-called ’AI slop’ and raise the bar for topical, human content.

LinkedIn is aligning itself with real professional behaviour. Speaking in an authentic tone, providing genuine insight and celebrating your wins with real emotion – these are the type of posts that LinkedIn will favour.

Credibility is the new KPI

Businesses need to look at LinkedIn as a real-time reputation management engine where you can tell engaging, human stories that reflect your personal and brand journey.

To get the most out of the new algorithm you need to be focussed on building trust, generating discussion and offering an expert perspective.

Doing so correctly will result in better visibility for yourself or your brand and build a genuine connection with your audience.

What does good look like?

How you communicate, either as an individual or a brand, needs to display your personality and provide value to the reader. If your content feels generic or AI-generated, LinkedIn will deprioritise it and you will lose visibility.

Next time you are updating your content planner, ask yourself what strategic purpose does it serve? It can’t just be because you’ve not posted this week, it needs to capture attention and give people something worth responding to.

When posting a thought leadership piece, it can’t be a rehash of another blog you may have seen, or a tick box activity for legacy content. Each piece needs a strategic and distinct viewpoint that will generate discussion and position your brand as a consistent expert in your area.

At the same time, long running campaigns need to be built around sustained messaging that reinforces your brand positioning, rather than one-off outputs.

And if you’re running a business account, use your people. Audiences trust people more than they trust companies, so creating a culture that encourages employee generated content can do wonders for your brand visibility and organic reach.

At a time when digital spaces are saturated with chatbots, AI-generated content and a merry-go-round of nonsense, authenticity on LinkedIn matters more than ever. To stand out, focus on sharing content that is useful, genuine, original and worth engaging with. And try and avoid the cheese!

Freshfield has been supporting businesses for over 25 years, at every stage of their communications journey. To find out more about our expertise, please visit here.

If you want to discuss a project, contact our team today.