This Is How the Instagram
Algorithm Works in 2023
It's a common question amongst social media managers, creators, and anyone trying to grow on social.
So, we’re breaking down how the Instagram algorithm works for feed posts, stories, the Explore page, and Instagram Reels in
Ranking on Instagram
You’ll often hear the Instagram algorithm referred to as a
singular concept, but there are really multiple algorithms at
play.
In fact, Instagram describes it as a "variety of algorithms,
classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose. We want
to make the most of people’s time, and we believe that using
technology to personalize everyone’s experience is the best
way to do that.“
In other words, Instagram's algorithms have one goal: to
Ranking on Instagram
Each part of the app – Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels, Search and more – uses
its own algorithm tailored to how people use it.
We rank things differently in these different parts of the app, and have added
features and controls like Close Friends, Favorites and Following so you can
further customize your experience
And if you work in social media, you can use this to your
advantage.
How?
By tailoring your strategy to "hack" what Instagram's algorithm is
prioritizing — so you can reach more users and build a community
Content based on different factors
Content based on different factors
Feed
Feed
The Instagram Feed algorithm has changed a lot over the
last few years, pivoting to a model that favors interest.
But how does the algorithm know what content you're
most likely to interact with?
According to Instagram's CEO Adam Mosseri, it's a
complex process:
"We add and remove signals and predictions over time,
working to get better at surfacing what you’re interested
in.”
Feed
These signals include:
1.Information about the post: Is it a photo or a video? When was it
posted? How many likes does it have?
2.Information about the poster: How interesting are they to you?
Are they your friend? How often do people engage with their
content?
3.Your activity: Do you tend to watch a lot of videos? What type of
content do you typically engage with?
4.Your interaction history: Do you typically like or comment on
the poster’s posts?
Takeaway
The Takeaway
The Instagram algorithm monitors every interaction you
make on the app, from the posts you like to who you interact
with, in order to serve you content it believes you will
interact with.
What Else Can Impact Feed Post Ranking on Instagram
There are some additional factors, beyond the interest
score, that can impact where a post lands in someone's
Home feed. These include:
• Image or video quality
• Originality (i.e. whether the post has been already shared on
Instagram)
• Watermarks
• Violations of Instagram's Community Guidelines
• Reported content
W h a tE n g a g em en ta rem o stim p o rta n to th eIn sta g ra m A lg o rith m ?
Engagement is key, especially when
it comes to the Instagram algorithm.
It considers how likely you are
to comment, like, save, spend
time, or tap on a profile
• Is this post likely to be liked or commented on?
Keeping this in mind, as you plan • Is this a post someone would save and come
your content and captions — ask back to?
yourself these questions: • Does this post include a CTA (for example,
“Click the link in my bio”) that will prompt
someone to tap on your profile?
Creating content that will encourage this type of
engagement can help you “hack” the Instagram
algorithm for your benefit.
Reels in 2023
According to Instagram, brands and creators should create
Reels that are entertaining, inspiring, or experimental and
use creative tools like text, camera effects, or filters.
You should also avoid posting Instagram Reels that are
low-resolution, too blurry, have already been on Instagram,
contain borders, or are visibly recycled from another app.
These types of Reels will be deprioritized — meaning they’ll
be less likely to appear across the app.
Reels in 2023
Reels in 2023
Knowing how to "hack" the Reels algorithm can be a huge
advantage for anyone looking to grow on Instagram.
Much like feed posts, Instagram prioritizes Reels based on
what it believes a viewer will be most likely to interact
with, and uses a set of signals to help rank content.
These types of Reels will be deprioritized — meaning they’ll
be less likely to appear across the app.
Reels in 2023
The most important signals, roughly in order of importance,
are:
• Your activity. We look at things like which reels you’ve liked, saved, reshared, commented on, and engaged
with recently. These signals help us understand what content might be relevant to you.
• Your history of interacting with the person who posted. As with Explore, it’s likely the video was made
by someone you’ve never heard of, but if you have interacted with them, that gives us a sense of how
interested you might be in what they shared.
• Information about the reel. These are signals about the content within the video such as the audio track or
visuals in the video, as well as popularity.
• Information about the person who posted. We consider popularity signals such as number of followers or
level of engagement to help find compelling content from a wide array of people and give everyone a chance
to find their audience
How the Instagram Stories Algorithm Works
The Instagram Stories algorithm typically prioritizes content from
the accounts you interact with the most, rather than the
specific content of a story.
While Instagram says they look at a variety of signals for Stories,
the most notable are:
• Viewing history: How often you view an account's stories.
• Engagement history: How often you engage with an account's stories.
• Closeness: Your overall relationship with the author and how likely you
are to be connected as friends or family.
How the Instagram Stories Algorithm Works
Due to their short-lived nature, timeliness is less
important for stories — but it can have a slight impact on
ranking once a story gets to 10+ hours.
With this in mind, it's a good idea
to regularly share Instagram Stories that encourage
engagement — poll, question, and quiz stickers are all
great ways to drive interactions.
Explore Page
The Instagram Explore page
algorithm delivers content
that it thinks you’ll be most
interested in, based on your
prior interactions.
While your Instagram Home
feed is made up of content
from accounts you already
follow, the Explore feed
consists almost entirely of
content from new
accounts.
Explore Page
According to Instagram, “the most important actions we predict in
Explore include likes, saves, and shares.”
And the most important signals they look at are:
• Information about the post: How popular a post seems to be — like how
quickly users are interacting with it. These signals matter much more here
than they do for Feed and Stories.
• Your activity in explore: How you've interacted with posts in the past.
• Information about the person who posted: How many times people have
interacted with them in the past few weeks, sometimes including you.
Explore Page
The Explore page is
constantly evolving,
with new topic
categories and
advanced search
functionalities being
introduced all the
time.
For example, you can
now search by
keywords, as well as
hashtags, to discover
Explore Page
This suggests that the Explore page algorithm also considers the
visual content of your posts along with the words in your caption.
So, by continually sharing engaging content with strong
captions, relevant keywords, and niche hashtags, you’re
optimizing your posts for Explore page potential.
How you can influence what you see
How you use Instagram heavily influences the things you see and don’t see.
You help improve the experience simply by interacting with the profiles and
content you enjoy, but there are a few more explicit things you can do to
influence what you see
How you can influence what you see
Personalize your Feed and Stories
• Add accounts to your Favorites list to make sure you don’t miss their
content. New posts from your Favorites will appear higher in your Feed.
You can also customize your feed to only show content from your Favorites
or from accounts you follow (Following will show you the last 30 days of
posts from those you follow in chronological order).
• If you just want a break from recommendations, you can also snooze all
suggested posts in your feed for 30 days. Learn more here
• Pick your Close Friends. You can select your close friends for Stories. This
was designed as a way to let you share with just the people closest to you.
How you can influence what you see
Personalize your Feed and Stories
• Mute people you’re not interested in. You can mute an account’s Feed
posts, Stories, Messages, or Notes if you’d like to stop seeing what they
share, but are hesitant about unfollowing them entirely. This way, people
don’t know you’ve muted them.
• To stop seeing posts from an account, you can unfollow that account at any
time. People won’t be notified when you unfollow them.
• Respond to surveys from Instagram. We send surveys to people asking “is
this post worth your time?” and use learnings from these surveys to help
improve our recommendations overall.
