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How does instagram explore work


How to Get on the Instagram Explore Page 2023

When it comes to Instagram, getting on the Explore page is a surefire way to gain more exposure. Through the Explore page, you can maximize your reach and get your content in front of relevant users and potential customers. That means more views and impressions and possibly more Instagram followers.

How can your brand make the most of this prime real estate and get on the Instagram Explore page? Let’s find out.

  • What is the Instagram Explore page?
  • Why does it matter to your brand?
  • How does the Instagram Explore page algorithm work?
  • 5 tips for getting on the Instagram Explore page

What is the Instagram Explore page?

The Explore page on Instagram is a collection of content based on a user’s individual interests. The Instagram algorithm curates content based on similar accounts or content interacted with. The Explore page includes photos, videos, Reels and even Stories. Instagram curates the content on this page to the taste of each user, so no two Explore pages are alike.

Instagram users access the Explore page by tapping on the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the app screen.

Source: Instagram

From the top search bar, you can use keywords to find popular content, accounts and tags related to a specific topic.

You can further filter the results according to niche categories. For example, the Explore page for “DIY crafts” shows more filters to narrow down your search by material or medium. This helps Instagram users get specific with their searches. As a business owner, it can give you ideas on what type of content your customers are looking for based on the search results Instagram returns.

Why the Instagram Explore page matters to your brand

Your brand should care about getting on the Instagram Explore page because it means more people may see your content. With Instagram projected to have nearly 1.2 billion monthly active users by 2023, this increased visibility will have several related benefits:

  • Increased followers: More than 200 million accounts visit the Instagram Explore page daily. That’s 50% of the platform user base. And among these users, Instagram will display your content in front of those who are most likely to be interested in your account. This means you have a good chance of turning some of them into new followers.
  • Increased engagement: If users like the content they see, they’re likely to engage with it by liking, commenting or even sharing with friends. So when they discover your content through the Explore page, it could boost engagement for your brand.
  • Increased sales: When more people discover your content through the Explore page, it helps get your products in front of the right people. Moreover, your shoppable Instagram posts can also show up in the Explore page. More people discovering your products could translate to an increase in sales.

How the Instagram Explore page algorithm works

Instagram uses a Feed Ranking System to personalize each user’s feed and Explore page. The Explore page algorithm relies on machine learning to collect ranking signals and decide what to display. It uses an “unconnected recommendation system,” where the platform chooses posts based on each user’s activity on Instagram.

The Instagram algorithm then ranks these posts based on several factors. These factors include engagement, freshness, content quality and relevance.

To sum up, Instagram personalizes the Explore page based on:

  • Posts that are fresh and see a ton of engagement
  • The types of content you regularly engage with
  • Accounts that you’re already following
  • The types of posts that see engagement from people you follow

For example, let’s say you follow a lot of food accounts and engage with Reels related to cooking. In this case, Instagram will collect popular food-related content for your Explore page.

The ranking system is currently based on relevance and interaction. As long as they meet the necessary criteria, Instagram equally favors content from all types of accounts. This is great news if you’re running an Instagram business account. It means you stand as good a chance of getting on the Explore page as an influencer or a personal account.

5 tips on how to get on the Instagram Explore page

With millions of posts created every day, visibility on Instagram is very competitive. This also makes it challenging for posts to show up in the Explore page. Use the following best practices for Instagram to improve your chances:

1. Share engaging content

Engagement is one of the major ranking signals that the Instagram Explore page algorithm looks for. Creating engaging content is easier said than done. Take a look at your existing content and your target audience. What types of Instagram content do they engage with the most? A quick Instagram audit can help you with these discoveries.

Ideally, your content should have two main qualities – it should be useful and it should catch the eye. Does your content add value? Does it help your followers achieve anything or solve a problem? Or perhaps it informs and educates them. You could even create content just to entertain them if that aligns with your brand personality.

2. Get inspiration from other posts on the Explore page

If you’re not sure how to create engaging content, look at what types of content usually make it to the Explore page. This can inspire you to create the kinds of posts your target audience is engaging with. It can show you what approach is working for other accounts relevant to your industry so you can get inspired and craft your content strategy.

Perhaps people are enjoying bite-sized how-to videos. Or maybe infographic carousels seem to see high levels of engagement. Do you see more “before and after” transformations than regular customer stories?

Make a note of the winning “recipes” and find a way to use them for your own Instagram content strategy.

3. Perfect your timing for optimal engagement

Timing is an important factor when it comes to getting engagement on social media. With thousands of new content coming up every minute, your post could get lost in the feed if it doesn’t see immediate engagement. The key to tackling this problem is by posting when your followers are most likely to see it.

The best time to post can vary by location, industry and audience. So take a look at how your own followers are behaving to understand when to publish your content. A platform like Sprout Social makes it easy to find your best times to post. With the Optimal Send Times feature Sprout uses engagement data from your profiles to identify the best times to post for the most audience engagement.

 4. Keep things fresh with new formats

When Instagram introduces new content formats, it tends to display these formats prominently for users to engage with. Notice how Reels have a dedicated tab on the Instagram app. It’s because Instagram wants the feature to succeed.

Creating Reels improves your chances of driving engagement and organic reach. It can also help diversify your feed, allowing you to keep your audience interested and engaged. Beyond Reels, make sure you experiment with other content formats as well. This can include Stories, carousels and shoppable posts. Ideally, take a look at the trending content format right now and then leverage it for your own strategy.

For example, Sprout’s Instagram account regularly switches up formats to include videos, carousel infographics, employee spotlight photos and Reels keep the feed diversified.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sprout Social (@sproutsocial)

5. Consider investing in paid ads

Reaching audiences through organic posts can be hard, so it helps if you can amplify your efforts with some paid ads. Instagram allows you to run ads in Explore, which prominently displays your content to users browsing the Explore page.

Keep in mind that these ads won’t guarantee you a spot on the main Explore page. But they will appear when a user clicks on one of the posts from their Explore page and scrolls down. This still significantly improves your content visibility. And it allows you to reach relevant users even if you haven’t made it to their organic Explore page.

Earning your place on the Instagram Explore page

More than 157 million Instagram users are in the US and are the second largest audience group by country. So leveraging the Explore page gives you the potential to reach millions of new and relevant users.

The good news is that getting on the Instagram Explore page doesn’t have to be rocket science. Using the right blend of good content, timing and fresh content formats can get you ahead of the race. But to perfect your approach, you need to have a better understanding of what your audience wants to see from you.

Want to know what consumers expect from brands on social? Download the Sprout Social Index™: Social Media Trends in 2022 & Beyond to discover valuable insights about social consumers.

How To Get On The Explore Page

Landing a spot on the Explore page is the best free exposure you can get on Instagram.

Explore is a discovery engine that helps users find new content, and getting featured there is instrumental to growing an audience on Instagram.

Over 200 million users visit the Explore page every day.

It exclusively contains content from accounts users don’t already follow.

That guarantees your posts will be seen by people outside of your existing audience.

“Tell me more!”

Ok, here’s the deal. There’s no exact formula to getting on the Explore page.

But it helps if you know how the algorithm works.

Understanding how Explore works allows you to optimize content for the ranking signals its algorithm looks for.

This article will teach you how to do that. First, let’s break down the algorithm. Next, I’ll provide actionable tips to use on your next pieces of content.

Lastly, you’ll leave here knowing all about the Explore page and how to get on it.

How Instagram Explore Works

While the Instagram home feed displays content from friends, family, and other people you follow – the Explore page surfaces content from accounts that users have no direct connection to.

When you want to change things up and dig into some photos and videos you haven’t seen before, Explore is where you can go to find it.

How does Instagram figure out what to show people on this page?

That’s what this section is going to cover.

Instagram Explore Ranking Factors

Instagram’s Explore algorithm uses the same signals as the main feed to rank content.

Those signals are:

  • Information about the post: Including captions, hashtags, location tags, likes, comments, etc.
  • A user’s activity on Instagram: The Explore page is personalized for each user based on what they engage with on Instagram.
  • A user’s history with the content creator: Content is more likely to appear in Explore if it’s published by an account a user has interacted with before.
  • Information about the content creator: Includes criteria such as the content they publish, how many followers they have, how much engagement their posts receive, etc.

Two-Stage Ranking System

Content goes through two stages before it ends up in the Explore recommendation system: the candidate generation stage (also known as sourcing stage) and the ranking stage.

Candidate Generation Stage

When curating content for the Explore page the algorithm begins by looking for “seed” accounts, which are accounts people have interacted with before.

By analyzing the seed accounts, Instagram can find related accounts a person might be interested in.

After the Explore algorithm rounds up a selection of seed accounts, and similar-to-seed accounts, it analyzes the photos and videos the accounts have posted or engaged with.

The candidate generation stage is illustrated in the example below:

Screenshot from Instagram-engineering.com, November 2019

“There are many different ways people can engage with accounts and media on Instagram (e.g., follow, like, comment, save, and share). There are also different media types (e.g., photo, video, Stories, and Live), which means there are a variety of sources we can construct using a similar scheme.”

At the end of the candidate generation stage, the algorithm will have compiled thousands of eligible pieces of content (candidates) to show a user.

Instagram then takes a sample of 500 of those candidates and sends them to the next stage.

Ranking Stage

The second stage of selecting content for Instagram Explore involves a three-pass filtering process.

In the first pass, the algorithm narrows down the candidates from 500 to 150

Then the candidates are reduced from 150 to 50, and finally from 50 down to 25.

Now the algorithm is ready to fill the Explore page with the highest-quality and most relevant posts.

All of this happens in the blink of an eye every time a user visits the Explore page or pulls down to refresh it.

The final 25 candidates are what is shown on the first screen of a person’s Explore grid.

How does Instagram select the 25 most relevant pieces of content from a pool of 500 candidates? The company explains:

“We predict individual actions that people take on each piece of media, whether they’re positive actions such as like and save, or negative actions such as “See Fewer Posts Like This” (SFPLT). We use a multi-task multi-label (MTML) neural network to predict these events. The shared multilayer perceptron (MLP) allows us to capture the common signals from different actions. ”

Instagram predicts what actions people will take on a post after seeing in Explore.

Likes, comments, and saves are all positive actions a user might take. Each action carries its own weight.

Instagram uses the weight of a predicted action to measure how relevant a piece of content is to a given user.

For example, if the action of saving a post is weighted higher than liking a post, then Instagram will select a post a user is likely to save.

Instagram does not provide any specific details about the weight of user actions.

It’s worth noting that the algorithm disregards multiple posts from the same seed account. So it’s unlikely that you’ll see consecutive posts from the same creator in Explore.

How To Optimize Content For Instagram Explore

You can increase your chances of getting on the Instagram Explore page by optimizing content for its known ranking signals.

To recap, those signals are:

  • Information about the post.
  • A user’s activity on Instagram.
  • A user’s history of interacting with the content creator.
  • Information about the content creator.

Here’s what you can do to get your content picked up by the Explore algorithm.

Information About The Post

Write detailed captions that make it easy for Instagram to identify what’s in each post you publish.

Adding relevant hashtags is important as they tip off the Explore algorithm while adding another layer of discoverability to your content.

When applicable, include a location tag so Instagram can show it to users who enjoy local content.

A User’s Activity On Instagram

This is a tricky signal to optimize for because what other users do on Instagram is out of your hands.

For this one, start by thinking about who your ideal audience is and what types of accounts they’re likely to engage with.

Then think about what you can do to be similar to those accounts.

If you want to attract the types of users who engage with brand accounts, then you need to position yours in a way that Instagram can identify it belongs to a brand.

A User’s History With The Content Creator

Again with this ranking factor, you can’t force users to engage with your content.

So you have to go out there and get in front of the audience you want to attract.

Comment on posts, reply to comment threads, and maybe even share others’ content in your stories.

If they engage with you back it counts as an interaction.

Now you’ve just increased your chances of appearing in their Explore feed.

Information About The Content Creator (You)

This is a ranking factor you have full control over via the information you publish to your profile.

In addition to completely filling out your profile page, it helps to build a content strategy around a defined niche.

Your goal is to make it clear what type of content creator you are.

If your niche is 3D printers, then sharing pictures of your fishing weekend is only going to confuse Instagram’s algorithm.

“Is this a 3D printing page or a fishing page?”

There should be no doubt what your page is about.

Other information about your account, like whether you have a history of being reported by other users, is considered as well.

Instagram avoids surfacing borderline content in the Explore feed. So it’s a good idea to publish content that’s suitable for most audiences.

Other Recommendations

Post At The Right Time

Have you ever checked your Instagram insights to see when your followers are most active?

You should, because posting at the right time is key to getting as many likes and comments as possible.

Instagram’s main feed prioritizes freshness, and it’s the engagement you get there that will determine whether your content makes it to Explore.

To access this feature you need to have an Instagram business account.

While logged into your business account, tap the three-line menu button in the upper right corner.

Select Insights and scroll until you see the Audience section.

This section has a breakdown of your followers including when they’re active and what their demographics are.

Posting when your followers are most likely to be online could be an effective way to generate more engagement from them.

But don’t feel as though you’re constrained to those times.

It’s a good idea to experiment with different posting times to see what works best.

Customize Your Video Thumbnails

After uploading a video Instagram lets you customize the thumbnail before publishing it.

This is a feature you shouldn’t ignore, because the Explore feed is 100% visual.

A thumbnail is the only way for a someone to get an idea of what a video is about before watching it.

You can’t upload custom thumbnails like you can on YouTube, but you can pinpoint an individual frame to use as a thumbnail.

Take a video of a cooking tutorial, for example. A thumbnail of the finished dish is more informative than a shot of the raw ingredients.

A mediocre thumbnail can detract views from a video people may otherwise enjoyed and shared with their friends.

Unfortunately they didn’t tap on it it in their Explore feed because they didn’t know what it was about.

Stay On Top Of Updates

When it comes to optimizing content for social media algorithms, it never hurts to keep up with what’s new.

I don’t mean the latest memes, or what’s trending in popular culture. I mean what’s new with Instagram itself.

Instagram is always upgrading its app with innovative new features, or content formats inspired by competitive social media sites.

When Instagram introduces something new, the app raises awareness by boosting visibility of whatever was recently added.

For example, when Instagram launched Reels, the format was immediately given a prominent placement in peoples’ Explore feeds.

Early adopters of Reels would have benefitted from greater exposure during the launch window, as there was a smaller pool of content to pull from.

Whether the new format ends up being the next big thing, or fizzles out in a few months, is irrelevant if you jump on it early.

Time invested in creating the content isn’t wasted if it helps amplify your reach.

How do you learn about Instagram’s latest features as soon as they’re launched?

Stay glued to our news updates at Search Engine Journal.

We filter through the noise to keep you informed about the features that matter to marketers and businesses.

Conclusion

Getting on the Instagram Explore page isn’t as simple as completing a checklist or following a formula.

In addition to building a brand and cultivating an engaged audience, you have to stay on top of platform updates and keep the machine fed with new content.

But it’s not impossible to get there. Accounts blow up on Explore every day. Follow the advice in this article and yours could be one of them.

More Resources:

  • How Instagram’s Algorithm Works & IG Content Best Practices
  • Instagram Analytics Guide: 10 of the Best Tools to Get Insights
  • Latest News And Actionable Tips For Using Instagram

Featured Image: MandriaPix/Shutterstock

Category Instagram

Instagram told how algorithms actually work - Social networks on vc.

ru

This day has come! On June 8, Instagram officially spoke on its blog about how Instagram algorithms actually work. This publication will be of interest not only to marketers, SMM specialists, bloggers, but also to everyone who uses Instagram. I share a full translation of the official article of the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri.

72 848 views

What is the Instagram "algorithm"? nine0003

Instagram doesn't have a single algorithm that keeps track of what people do and what they see or don't see in the feed. Instagram uses many algorithms, classifiers and processes, each with its own purpose.

We want to make the most of your time and believe that these technologies help the social network to personalize the user experience and make the time spent more efficiently.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

nine0017

When we first launched Instagram in 2010, it was a single stream of photos in chronological order. But as more people joined and shared content, it became more difficult for them to see everything that appeared on the social network. By 2016, people were missing 70% of content, including almost half of messages from friends. Therefore, Instagram has developed a “smart feed”, in which posts are ranked depending on what excites and interests the user. nine0003

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

Each part of the social network - Feed (tape), Stories, Explore (Interesting), Reels uses its own algorithm, adapted to the experience of a particular user.

How does the feed and stories algorithm work?

The feed and Stories ranking algorithm can be broken down into .

  1. In the first step, Instagram chooses what to show the user first - these will be all the recent posts shared by the people they follow. There are, however, a few exceptions (such as ads), but the vast majority of what he sees is content from subscriptions. nine0034
  2. Instagram then collects all information about the user's preferences and what was posted by whom. The social network calls these “signals”, and there are thousands of such signals: when the post was published, whether the person uses the phone or is on the site, how often they watch the video, and so on.

Here are the signals in the feed and Stories that move posts higher in the search results in order of importance to the user:

  • Post data. nine0043 This is both an indicator of the popularity of a publication (how many likes it was given) and a technical one: when the post was made, how long the video lasts in Stories, what geotag was set.
  • Note that Instagram first said that geolocation is also taken into account when ranking posts!
  • Information about the author of the content. Instagram looks at how many user interactions there have been with posts and Stories of an author over the past few weeks. This data allows the social network to understand how the account and its publications can be of interest to a person. nine0034
  • User activity. The social network studies the number of likes, comments on other posts in order to assess the activity of a person and better understand his interests.
  • The history of user interactions with the content author. The social network looks at how often and to whom the user writes comments and likes posts and Stories.

From these signals, Instagram creates a set of predictions - these are the probabilities of user interactions with content. There are many such predictions. There are five of them in the tape:

  1. watch time,
  2. commenting,
  3. like,
  4. save,
  5. go to profile.

The higher the likelihood that a person will perform these actions, the higher the content ranking. Over time, signals and forecasts change - this is how the social network tries to better understand the interests of the audience.

There are a few restrictions. nine0043 First example - Instagram tries not to show too many posts from the same person. The second example is reposting posts in Stories from the feed. Previously, the social network believed that the audience was only interested in viewing original content, and therefore the ranking priority for reposts was low.

The World Cup and other public events have shown that the authors want to be heard. Therefore, Instagram “does not want to interfere” with the distribution of important content. nine0047

Instagram wants to let people express themselves, but when users post content that could compromise another person's safety, Instagram intervenes. After all, there are “Community Guidelines” that apply not only to the feed and Stories, but to all of Instagram. Most of these rules are aimed at ensuring the safety of users. If you post something that goes against the Community Guidelines and Instagram sees it, of course, the relevant content is removed. A systematic violation may eventually lead to the blocking of your account. If the user believes that Instagram has made a mistake, an appeal must be filed. nine0003

How does the Instagram algorithm in recommendations work?

The Explore tab has been designed to help users find something new. The grid consists of recommended photos and videos that Instagram itself finds for people, which is very different from the feed and Stories. Earlier, representatives of the social network have already talked about the operation of the algorithm, but now there is more information.

The first step the algorithm takes is to determine the set of posts to rank. To find photos and videos that might be of interest to a person, he looks at the signals: what posts he liked, saved or commented on in the past. nine0003

For example. If you are subscribed to dumplings, then the algorithm looks at who else is subscribed to the profile with dumplings and what those who read this dumpling profile are interested in. From here, a kind of cloud of topics related to dumplings is created that may potentially interest you and will be shown to you in the recommendations section.

Once it finds a group of photos and videos that you might be interested in, the algorithm sorts them by how interested the soulless algorithm thinks you are in each one, much like Feed and Stories are ranked. nine0003

The best way to guess how interested you are in something is to predict how likely you are to react to the content in some way. The most important actions predicted in Explore include likes, saves, and shares.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

  1. Information about the post. Here the algorithm looks at how popular the post seems to be. These are signals, such as how much and how quickly other people like, comment, share, and save a post. These cues matter much more in Explore than they do in Feed or Stories. nine0034
  2. Your history of interaction with the author. The post is most likely shared by someone you've never heard of, but if you've interacted with them, it gives the algorithm an idea of ​​how interested you might be in that content.
  3. Your activity. These are signals such as which posts you have liked, saved or commented on, and how you have interacted with posts in the recommended past. nine0120
  4. Information about the author. These are signals like how many times people have interacted with this person over the past few weeks to help find interesting content from a wide range of people.

In addition, Instagram tries not to show questionable content in Interesting. For example, scenes of tobacco smoking or vaping. Yes, such content can be shared in the feed and Stories, but the chance of it getting featured is low. nine0003

Shadowbanning Pro

"People often accuse us of 'shadowbanning them' or silencing them. It's a broad term they use to describe the many different experiences they have on Instagram. We acknowledge that we have not always done enough to explain why we hide/remove content when we do, what is recommended and what is not. As a result, we understand that people will inevitably come to their own conclusions about why something happened, and that those conclusions can be confusing for people.” nine0003

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

Instagram cannot promise you that you will consistently reach the same number of people when you post and Stories. The truth is that most of your followers won't see what you share because most of them watch less than half of their feed.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

But the head of the social network notes that the social network is trying to be more transparent and is developing an improved notification system in the application so that people know why their message was deleted, and is exploring ways to tell people when what they post is contrary to the recommendations. nine0003

My opinion on the shadow ban

Shadowban is a strange item. It seems to be there, but it seems to be not. This is the only way I can explain the existence of this term. No one can prove its existence and action, but many believe and fear.

You have probably seen how many social network users ask questions in Stories: “Did you see my post in the feed?”, “Little likes on the last post, it seems no one sees it?”. One gets the impression that everyone brings their own meaning to this concept, thereby causing confusion. In my opinion, Instagram explains everything logically: if you break the rules, copy other people's texts, make posts on prohibited topics, use cheat services, you get less in the feed, your coverage drops, and there can be no talk of impressions in the recommendation. Everything is logical and understandable! nine0003

Many people like to subscribe to hundreds and even thousands of accounts, so it's simply impossible to see the entire feed. Due to such subscriptions, those accounts to which the user is subscribed suffer. Conclusion - subscribe only to those pages that you will actually read every day, and everyone will be fine!

I have never encountered a shadowban and neither have my clients. However, if you break something, it will affect your account, reach, and so on, whatever one may say.

The shadowban is just a myth created by the users themselves to force the audience to like and comment. But why does no one think that the problem may be in your content, which is not relevant or interesting?

Julia Toloknova, Content Marketer, SMM Specialist SMM360.RU

How can you influence what you see on social media?

  1. Choose your close friends. You can choose your close friends for Stories. This feature was designed to ensure you can only share with the people closest to you, but Instagram will also prioritize those friends in both the feed and Stories. nine0034
  2. Turn off people you are not interested in. You can restrict other people's accounts if you want to stop seeing their content, but are hesitant to unfollow them.
  3. Mark suggested posts as Not Interested. Every time you see a featured post, you can indicate that you don't like it. The social network will do its best not to show you similar recommendations in the future. nine0034

Providing more context on how content is rated, displayed and moderated on Instagram is only part of the equation. We can do more to help you shape your Instagram experience around what you like. We also need to keep improving our ranking technology and of course make fewer mistakes. Our plan is to actively explain our work on all three fronts from now on. Keep for updates. nine0003

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

Recommendations

  1. Create unique, high-quality and useful content.
  2. Do not use prohibited promotion methods (mass following, mass looking and mass liking).
  3. Do not subscribe to hundreds of accounts whose news you will not physically be able to scroll through.

Terminals

nine0009
  1. Instagram doesn't have a single algorithm that keeps track of what people do and what they see or don't see in the feed.
  2. Instagram ranks posts in the feed based on the interests of the user and does it individually for everyone.
  3. The more often your posts are bookmarked, the more often users will see your content in the future.
  4. The longer your Stories are watched, the more often users will see your Stories. nine0120
  5. Geolocation is also taken into account when ranking posts.
  6. Shadowban does not exist.

Read more useful information about working on Instagram here @smm360.ru!

How the Instagram Algorithm Works and How to Get Maximum Reach

Instagram explained how news feed generation algorithms work. Previously, the platform had never published such data, and there were many rumors about the social network among marketers. The site also answered the most common of them. nine0003

Read more: Understanding Instagram's algorithmic feed will help you get the most out of your posts and engagement.

The chronological tape was not more convenient

This is not said by the representatives of the social network (and certainly not by users), but by the numbers: users missed 70% of all posts, and 50% of friends' posts, when the results were formed in the order of publication of posts.

Users now see up to 90% of their friends' posts, according to Instagram. Recall that in recent months, Facebook has been paying attention to maintaining contacts between friends and family within the social network. nine0003

Top Factors for Instagram Ranking Algorithm

Instagram uses machine learning to analyze your social media behavior to create a personalized feed for each user. Even if two people follow the same list of accounts, their newsfeeds will differ depending on interactions with those accounts. Next, let's take a closer look at what affects the work of the feed on Instagram.

Interest

Instagram predicts whether a post will interest you based on your previous activity with similar content. The similarity of publications is also determined by machine vision. nine0003

Relevance

Priority is given to publications made recently.

Relationships

Instagram determines how close you are to the author of a post. Comments under his photos and marks on joint photos are taken into account.

Three additional ranking factors

Instagram representatives also identified three additional factors affecting the display of posts in the feed.

Frequency

How often you visit Instagram: the algorithm tries to show you the best posts since your last visit. nine0003

Number of subscriptions

If you follow a large number of accounts, the algorithm has a wide selection of posts to add to your feed - so you see the posts of a particular person less often.

Behavior

How much time do you spend in the app, and how do you view the content: quickly scroll through the feed or go to your account and see the posts there.

Myths about how Instagram algorithms work

The Instagram team has debunked well-known user misconceptions about how Instagram works, especially how the feed is displayed. nine0003

1. Instagram has no plans to bring back the timeline. This will complicate the use of the service. However, the company listens to user dissatisfaction with the current algorithm. Gradually, changes will be made to its work.

2. Posts in the feed are not hidden, but only ranked. If you scroll for a very long time, you will see posts from absolutely all the accounts you follow.

3. The Instagram algorithm doesn't prioritize posts with videos as well as posts with photos. nine0288 It analyzes what content the user watches more often, and it is in his personalized feed that posts with this type of content are more likely to get.

4. Instagram does not rank above users who post Stories, Live, or use any other features of the app. It's a myth that using Stories affects reach.

5. Users who post content too often are not demoted in the feed. But if the posts are published one after another with a small period of time, Instagram will in most cases add posts from other users between them. nine0003

6. Account type has no effect on reach : Switching from a business account to a personal account and vice versa will not produce any results.

7. Shadow ban (hiding posts in search results by hashtags) does not exist v.

How to improve the performance of your Instagram account knowing the feed ranking factors?

1. Post regularly

You need to catch the eye of your followers to stay in their feeds. Some marketers and bloggers advise making at least one post a day. For some, this is too much - sometimes creating content takes time and effort. Three posts per week will be enough. nine0003

2. Communicate with the audience

Yes, those same questions “How will you spend your summer?” actually work on Instagram too. Ask your audience open-ended questions, and if you run a brand account, try to engage subscribers in a conversation - not only about your product, but also on abstract topics.

3. Engage with similar content

Browse accounts similar to yours, reply to friends in direct on Stories, participate in discussions relevant to your profile topic. nine0003

4. Study the audience

Determine what your subscriber likes: photo or video, long or short text, useful information or beautiful pictures.

To do this, ask them directly - for example, through a survey in Stories, or analyze the account's old posts. You can quickly do this in Popsters.ru: it will show the most popular and discussed posts of all time, determine the days of the week and hours when subscribers are most active, show on the charts the optimal text length for your audience - and many more metrics that will help you improve content in the account. nine0003

Terminals

  1. Three main factors of new algorithms for ranking the news feed in Instagram: interest, relevance, relationship with the author of the publication.
  2. Three additional factors: posting frequency, number of subscriptions, user behavior.
  3. Ranking algorithms do not hide posts, but only arrange them, if you scroll through the feed for a long time, you can find any publication from subscriptions.

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