Instagram reveals 2021 Algorithm ranking secrets
In June 2021, Instagram finally decided to reveal more about how the Instagram platform actually ranks content, demystifying the ranking system giving creators, brands, and users alike insights into how the platform ranks content and chooses what to show to whom in which parts of the app. Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s CEO, revealed the insights on the platforms blog in a comprehensive explanation.
We’ve summarised the important bits so you can cut to the chase and understand how it affects your content rankings.
THE ALGORITHM EXPLAINED
Each part of the Instagram app uses a different algorithm to rank content. The ranking is based on how users use the section. That is, your feed, stories, reels and explore pages use different signals and algorithms to prioritise which content is shown to in each section.
Rankings: Feed and Stories
In your feed and stories users are interested in seeing content and recent posts from people in their community; people they follow, close friends and family. Instagram take the information they have on those posts such as who made them, your preferences (gleaned from your behaviours), and what is in the post to decide which would be of most interest to you, ranking them based on how interested the algorithm thinks you’ll be in that piece of content from that person.
TOP RANKING FACTORS (Feed & Stories)
- Information about the post
- Information about who posted
- Your behaviour/activity
- Your history of interactions with that person
Rankings: Explore
The explore page is all about discovery of new things, new accounts and topics you’re interested in.
You don’t follow the people or accounts you see on the Explore Page. What you see is based on the new content you interact with, watch and like. The algorithm will then show you related or similar content so you can continue to discover new content and creators.
TOP RANKING FACTORS (Explore Feed)
- Information about the post
- History of interactions with the person posting the content
- Your activity/ behavioural signals
- Information about the person who posted
Rankings: Explore
Reels are all about entertainment and based on further messaging from Instagram since the June release, will be increasingly important for the app. Instagram is heavily pushing short form video content and is backing small creator reels at the moment so it is a great to time embrace this part of Instagram.
What influences which reels you see? Your activity. Such as watches, comments, likes, saves, shares, follows, and even whether you click from the creator’s reel through to the original audio track page from the reel itself. This click, to Instagram, is a signal that the reel has inspiring someone else to create a reel- this is exactly what Instagram want users to do more of.
TOP RANKING FACTORS (Reels)
- Your activity and behaviour: what you’ve liked, commented on and engaged with
- Your interaction history with the reel’s creator
- Information about the reel
- Information about the creator of the reel
HOW YOU CAN INFLUENCE WHAT YOU SEE
With a little understanding of how the Instagram algorithm works, you can influence how your content performs (as a creator) and, the type of content you see (as a user).
CREATORS
- Mindfully Create. Create content for each Instagram section, tailoring it to prompt the engagement you want to see
- Analyse Insights. Regularly check which content is performs to stay on top of changing user preferences
- Use Instagram’s full suite of features. Especially short form videos (reels) as Instagram is promoting small creators embracing new features
USERS
- Refine your Close Friends List. This will give their content higher priority in your feed
- Mark “Not interested” on recommended posts you don’t like and mute community members you’re not interested in hearing from (but don’t want to unfollow)
- Engage Mindfully. Instagram tracks behaviour and will respond to your actions. If you don’t want to see more of it, don’t engage with it!
Instagram will continue to evolve into the future, with Instagram already revealing in the next iteration (6-12 months) short form mobile first video will be even more important (read more about this in our news article here). So it’s a great time to get creative and experiment with features and content strategy and make the Instagram algorithms work for you so you can connect with an authentic and engaged audience.
Source: Instagram Blog, Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works, 8th June 2021 By Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram