Everything You Need to Know About the Instagram Algorithm in 2023

Whether you’re using Instagram for personal or business purposes, you want your content to be as visible and engaging as possible. Understanding the Instagram algorithm can go a long way in improving your experience on the platform. It often determines who sees your content and who doesn’t. Catering to the algorithm will help you improve your engagement and become a more effective Instagram marketer. So, what is the Instagram algorithm and what should I know about in 2023? 

Instagram Algorithm 

Instagram’s algorithm is actually a combination of algorithms, or what Instagram describes as “a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose” that aim to personalize user experience. 

The algorithm ranks content across users’ feeds, post feeds, explore pages, etc. It takes into account engagement metrics, hashtags, and metadata to analyze every piece of content posted on the network. In doing so, content is distributed on the platform to ensure users access what they’re most interested in seeing. 

How Instagram Algorithm Works in 2023

Instagram is committed to improving user experience, so it continuously improved its algorithms to realize this vision. Instagram’s has three overarching categories with individual algorithms and updates—feed and stories, explore page, and reels. 

Feed and Stories

Instagram users are primarily interested in seeing their friends’ posts on their feed and stories. So, Instagram has engineered its algorithm to show you posts by users you follow, beginning with their recent posts. To achieve this, the algorithms rely on: 

• Data on the posts in terms of likes, location, date posted, etc.
• User’s information, for example, the frequency of their interactions 
• Your activity on the platform 
• Your history with certain users 

Instagram uses this set of information to predict what you might want to see on your feed and stories. These predictions include speculating how you may react to a post, whether you’ll engage with it, how long you’ll look at it, or if you’ll visit the poster’s profile. 

Explore Page

The explore page isn’t like the feed or stories platforms where people tend to want to see posts from who they know and follow; it consists of posts and accounts that a user may be interested in. As such, the mechanics of algorithms differ here. For instance, it will look at posts you’ve looked at, liked, or who you’ve recently engaged with to understand your interests. So, when your explore page is full of posts and accounts you might have checked out recently, that’s the algorithm at work. 

Reels

The primary purpose of reels is fun and entertainment so algorithms may work a little bit different from other categories but similarly to the Explore Page. Reels may come from accounts you don’t follow or have never searched. 

Instagram’s Reels algorithm is strongly based on how you’ve engaged with video content in the past. The platform also looks at whether you go to the audio page associated with a specific Reel, as an indication that you might be interested in making your own Reel inspired by one you watched. It analyzes this using the following set of information: 

• Your activity 
• History of interaction with the account 
• Data about the reel
• Data about the poster 

Improve Your Instagram Presence with Pink Dog Digital

Want to improve your Instagram presence and effectiveness but don’t know how to go about it? Our team of experts specializes in effective digital solutions for businesses, allowing you to get the visibility and engagement you need on your social media platforms.

For more information, give us a call at 410-696-3305.