Understanding the Instagram Algorithm in 2024

Published on 29.08.2024 by Chizoba T

To grow your Instagram account, you need to get more followers. You can grow your following and increase engagement by properly understanding the algorithm. Remember that the algorithm keeps changing, and what worked in 2023 will not necessarily work in 2024. This article will guide you through everything you need to master the power of the Instagram algorithm.

What is the Instagram Algorithm?

The Instagram algorithm is a set of rules that determine the content shown to each user on the app's different sections, such as its feed, Explore feed, Stories, and Reels. The algorithm considers hundreds of factors, such as the user's location, profile, history, trends, relevance, and popularity.

That means social media determines who sees the content, what content they see, and which one they don't. Since the algorithm keeps changing, what worked in the past may not work today. Therefore, your social media strategy must evolve for the best results.

Unlike what many believe, there isn't one general algorithm that works for all Instagram areas. Each section has its rules; therefore, how the algorithm works for reels isn't the same as for stories. Consequently, it's essential to understand how the Instagram algorithm works for each section.

Understanding the Reel Algorithm

There is no doubt that reels have become very popular in the recent past. Since Instagram aims to compete with TikTok, the platform has been promoting reels. With this realization, creators are now focusing more on creating reels to get discovered. Remember that reels are meant to be entertaining, inspiring, and funny when considering the Instagram reel algorithm. Therefore, the algorithm prioritizes reels that provide this.

When determining the reels to show in the user’s timeline, the Instagram algorithm considers several factors, such as:

User engagement. This is the kind of reel a user has shown interest in, in the past through likes, shares, and comments. Therefore, if you are experiencing continuous and repeated post engagement, it will help you build a loyal following and hack the Instagram algorithm
Content. The music or audio the reel is using and its quality.
Interaction history. The algorithm considers if you have ever interacted with the person posting the reel. While Instagram will show the reels to new people, if someone has interacted with the reel in the past, it's an indication that they have an interest in it. Users who have interacted with similar posts are more likely to be shown such posts.
Post relevancy. After publishing an Instagram reel, the algorithm usually gives it a relevancy score, determining how it appears on the user's feed. The relevancy score is generally determined by factors such as trending topics and timeliness.

Other factors that the Instagram algorithm considers are:

Number of accounts a user follows. If the user follows many accounts, you will face more competition to appear in their feed.
Account activity. If users don't spend much time on Instagram, their chances of seeing your content decrease.
Personal accounts have a lower organic reach than the creator or business account.
Posts that do not comply with the Instagram community guidelines are usually removed. If this happens several times, the user’s account is suspended.
Accounts that spread misinformation are labeled as such and ranked lower in the Stories and feed. When an account keeps sharing misinformation, it's labeled as such, and the user’s content becomes more challenging to find.

There are several reasons why your reel can get penalized by the Instagram algorithm. These include:

Creating low-resolution or blurry reels.
Sharing reels with watermarks such as the TikTok logo.
Sharing reels without audio.
Reels on politics.
A lot of text in your reels.
Violating the community guidelines.

Understanding the Instagram Stories and Feed

When it comes to Instagram Stories and Feed, Instagram prioritizes showing you the recent posts of the people you follow. The algorithm then prioritizes the order in which you see the stories and feed posts. When doing that, the algorithm considers several factors, such as:

Basic information for posts and stories. You must consider factors such as the number of likes a post has gotten, the time it was posted, and whether there are location tags.
The account that made the post, the number of people interacting with it in the past few weeks, and the popularity of the account are all important factors that help the algorithm determine the probability of other users showing interest in a post.
A specific account interaction. It measures the period you have lingered on a user account, saved it, commented on it, or even visited the account's profile page.

With this information, Instagram determines the type of content to be presented to the user’s feed. While the above are the key signals Instagram uses to personalize a user’s main feed, users can also customize their feed by:

Following. The algorithm will display and prioritize the accounts you follow in chronological order.
Favorites. It will show and prioritize the posts from the account you mark as favorites.

Understanding the Instagram Explore Feed

In the recent past, there has been a significant change in the Instagram feed algorithm as it focuses more on interest. The Explore page helps users discover new things using the same signals as the Stories and Feed. It pays special attention to likes, shares, and comments. For instance, if you are a fan of the Prison Break Series, the Explore feed will show you more of such a series. The top signals the Explore Page considers are:

The content itself. Consider the popularity of posts and the speed at which they receive likes, saves, and shares.
User activity. The type of post a user likes saves, or comments on. It considers your historical interaction with the Explore page. That means if there is a page you have historically interacted with, it will appear more on the Explore page.
Account information. The algorithm considers the popularity of the content you have recently interacted with.

To appear in a user’s Explore feed, you must use several strategies, such as trending sounds and strategic hashtags. Therefore, you should post more news stories and hot topics to appear more on the Explore Pages. To prevent getting penalized by the Instagram algorithm, you should avoid violating the community guidelines.

How to Make the Instagram Algorithm Work For You

When creating an Instagram content strategy, you should provide the algorithm with what it needs. One of the requirements is to provide it with high-quality posts consistently. When you see a drop in Instagram engagement, remember that this cannot always be attributed to the algorithm. To future-proof yourself from future algorithm updates, there are several tips you should consider. These include:

Create Short, Fun, and Punchy Videos

As noted earlier, Instagram reels are some of the most promoted content on the platform. That means you can use them to gain more visibility on Instagram. Therefore, create a lot of reels that will keep your followers engaged. Since Instagram prefers entertainment, keep things lighthearted, fun, and entertaining. Since reel watch time is an important ranking factor, keep videos short to increase the chances of your users watching to the end.

Encourage Interaction in Your Stories

The popularity of Instagram Stories is an important ranking factor, meaning that the platform prioritizes the content with many interactions. For your stories to be seen by most people, you need to entice those who are fans of Stories.

You can use different elements to encourage engagement, such as polls, emoji sliders, and question stickers. For instance, if you are a brand that promotes products on Instagram Stories, you can ask your audience to differentiate between two products. This can increase interaction with your content and enhance its visibility on the Instagram algorithm.

Post Video Content Consistently

No matter how good your content is, the Instagram algorithm will not show many posts from one account. However, if people have heavily visited your accounts in the past week, this could work in your favor. If you post very infrequently, your content could be easily forgotten. Instead, you need to be consistent with your content.

A good starting point is one to two times a day. You can then observe whether posting more or less often works better for you. It is also important to experiment with different types of content. For instance, carousel posts are great for driving engagement, as they encourage users to keep watching the content longer.

On the other hand, Reels are great for driving reach, while stories will help you stay on people's feeds all day long. Even though the algorithm also prioritizes static photos, you should combine them with videos.

Add Hashtags and Keywords

Just like websites are organized by keywords, the same applies to Instagram, which is organized by hashtags. If you want your content to be easily discovered, use hashtags. Since users can search for content using hashtags, adding them increases the chances of discovering your content. Studies also indicate that posts with hashtags get higher engagement than those without.

Some of the areas to include your keyword tag on Instagram are:

Captions. Ensure you use a compelling caption with natural terms and keywords to help users find your posts.
Alt text. Add alt text to enable more of your content to appear on Explore.
Bio. When people search for keywords in your industry, having keywords increases the visibility of your page.
Hashtags. Since they are also searchable, you should make them keyword-rich.

Remember to use branded hashtags to keep your brand in people's minds. These hashtags will help increase your brand awareness and enable you to track content that your customers are creating.

Increase Engagement and Conversation

As noted above, one key factor that will affect your ability to appear in the search engine is engagement. When Instagram notices that your post is getting a lot of likes, comments, shares, and saves, it will reward your content with better visibility. There are several tips you can use to take your engagement to the next level. These are:

Asking questions. When making a post caption, ask members for their take. For instance, what are your annual goals? What are your expectations from us? What do you want to know most about us?
Post trivial questions. Encourage your audience to comment in the caption.
Tag a friend. You can encourage your fans to tag their friends who are their friends.
Story stickers. When your story’s engagement increases, the Instagram algorithm favors your posts. You can encourage people to respond to quizzes and comments.
Use emojis to react.

Focus more on building connections with your audience to enable lasting positive engagement. To do that, reply to comments and direct messages. The more you interact with your followers, the better. Don't be afraid to use emojis in your engagement with followers.

Create Shorter Reels

Instagram doesn't position itself as a platform for long videos. While it allows you to post videos up to 15 minutes long, the algorithm is more likely to post shorter reels than 90 seconds long. The Instagram team has stated that reels longer than 90 seconds can negatively impact your content distribution.

There are two factors affecting this.

Users tend to replay short videos. When that happens, it is a sign to the algorithm that the content is more engaging to the user.
With shorter reels, users consume more content in a single reel-watching time.

Therefore, there is evidence that shorter reels tend to perform better. However, creating reels that are less than seven seconds long is not advisable, as they are also considered poor quality. A good sweet spot to make your Instagram reels replayed is between 7 and 30 seconds.

Post at the Right Time

Another factor that affects your Instagram ranking is posting time. Posting when your followers are most active will increase the engagement level of your post. As noted earlier, increased engagement shows the algorithm how popular your content is. Therefore, post when your audience is scrolling and will likely see the content.

To find this information, you can look at the Instagram native app to determine the days of the week when your audience is most active. You can find the information by:

Opening the Instagram app.
Tap on profile.
Go to the professional dashboard.
Next to the Account Insights, tap on See More Followers.
Go to total followers.
Click on Most Active Times.

Various studies also indicate that the best times to post on Instagram are Wednesday and Thursday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Posting on Friday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. will also provide good results.

Create Inspiring Content

Create inspiring content that will inspire your audience. Fortunately, the Instagram native app will show you the kind of content and posts that your audience cares about. You can see an audience overview on the Instagram native app, which provides data from the last 90 days. However, you must dig deeper to determine the content your audience likes. To do that, you can use third-party social media tools such as Sprout Social. Find out which content is working using the metrics that matter to you. You can use third-party social media tools such as Sprout Social to do that.

Leverage the Latest Features

When Instagram introduces new features, it wants to ensure users adopt them. To drive adoption, begin promoting videos using the features. While no evidence exists that Instagram promotes certain posts, the platform provides prime locations for new features. That's why Instagram stories often appear at the top of the screen, while the Reel menu appears in the middle of the screen.

Create Different Types of Posts

One way to reach a diverse audience is to use different types of posts. These could include carousel posts, single images, stories, reels, and lives. When you create different types of content, it becomes easier to repurpose your Instagram videos. For instance, since not everyone on Instagram watches videos, you can repurpose your videos into carousel posts. Similarly, you can reach lovers of Instagram stories by repurposing your feed posts into stories.

Understand Content That Can’t Be Recommended

You might do everything right. But if you are posting content that is against the Instagram community guidelines meant to protect users from harmful content, sensitive topics and spam content, all your efforts will be in vain. It's also worth noting that even if your content follows the community guidelines, there are instances when it is not recommended. Some of the content that will not be recommended to users are:

Content impeding Instagram’s goal of fostering a safe community. This can include content that consists of topics encouraging eating disorders, self-harm, non graphic violence, explicit or suggesting content, or adult content.
Low-quality or sensitive content on finance and health. If the content depicts cosmetic procedures or salesy content making health-related claims such as miracle cures or other deceptive claims.
Broadly disliked content such as engagement baits, contests, giveaways, and click baits.
Repurposed content without any new spin or right authorship.
Misleading or false content, such as on vaccines or voting-related misinformation.
Non-original, third party or reposted content.

To avoid problems with your Instagram reels, you can follow several tips:

Avoid reporting other people's content without adding a spin to it.
Avoid posting content with third-party watermarks.
Avoid posting low-quality and low-resolution videos.

While you don't have to create all your content in the Instagram app, it's advisable to customize the raw footage for different channels before you post to them. Avoid posting videos with a TikTok watermark, as this will give you zero reach.

Keep Up-to-date With User Behavior

We noted earlier that staying updated within the Instagram algorithm can be hard for several reasons. This is because the Instagram algorithm is highly personalized, keeps changing, and differs in the app's various sections. That means if you want to pin down the Instagram algorithm, you need to understand what your audience is highly interested in.

Since the IG algorithm adapts to changing signals, you must keep posting regularly and testing and experimenting with different kinds of content. Find out the types of reels that are going viral and experiment more with them. At times, niche down and go broader at others. By doing that, you can easily stay in the minds of your followers and, therefore, increase your Instagram following.

Conclusion

Due to the many updates in the Instagram algorithm, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding it. That is why brands and content creators must keep updating themselves on the latest algorithm updates. Fortunately, following our guide makes it easy to stay updated on the Instagram algorithm in 2024. We recommend you also read our guide on how to grow an Instagram account.