If you’ve noticed your LinkedIn feed showing posts that are weeks or even months old, you’re not alone. Many users have reported this issue on LinkedIn’s help forums and social media. There are a few potential reasons your LinkedIn feed may be displaying outdated content:
How the LinkedIn Feed Works
To understand why you might see old posts in your feed, it helps to know how the LinkedIn feed algorithm works. LinkedIn’s feed shows you posts based on:
- Posts from connections you engage with frequently
- Posts getting a lot of reactions and comments
- Paid partnerships and sponsored content
- Posts similar to content you’ve liked and commented on in the past
So your feed is personalized based on your network and interests. However, if you haven’t been very active on LinkedIn lately, the algorithm has less recent data to work with. This means you may start seeing outdated posts in your feed.
You Have Many Connections Sharing Old Content
Another reason you may be seeing old posts is if you have a lot of connections who share content weeks or months after it was originally published. For example, someone might share an interesting article they read a while back that they think their network would like. Or businesses may reshare evergreen content periodically to keep it circulating.
Since these old posts can still pick up engagement, they may be resurfaced by the algorithm in your feed. Even though they’re outdated, they’re still considered relevant based on the criteria mentioned earlier.
An Influx of New Connections
If you’ve recently added a lot of new connections, this can also lead to old posts appearing in your feed. That’s because LinkedIn’s algorithm takes some time to learn your preferences and which new connections you actually interact with.
As a result, you may initially see a wider variety of posts as LinkedIn figures out the optimal content to show you from these new connections.
You Made Changes to Your Profile or Settings
Similarly, if you made major changes to your LinkedIn profile or adjusted your feed preferences, this can disrupt the relevance of the posts you see. For example, if you added new skills or interests, the algorithm now has to determine what content related to these new areas you want to see in your feed.
It takes some time for your feed to readjust based on changes to your profile and settings. During this transition period, you may notice more unrelated and outdated posts.
An Increase in Sponsored Content
In today’s social media landscape, organic reach is decreasing. That means brands have to pay more to ensure their content is seen by their target audiences. As a result, LinkedIn has been placing more and more sponsored posts in feeds.
While these promoted posts help keep LinkedIn profitable, it also means you have less room in your feed for recent organic content. Sponsored posts stay at the top of your feed longer, so you may have to scroll further to see new updates from your network.
How to See More Current Content
If you want your LinkedIn feed populated with the most recent, relevant content, here are some tips:
- Comment on and like posts more consistently. This gives the algorithm better signals.
- Follow hashtags related to your interests. The posts will appear in your feed.
- Refresh your feed often to see new content faster.
- Adjust your feed filters to only see posts from the last 30 days.
- Hide posts you don’t want to see again.
- Stay active daily on LinkedIn to keep giving the algorithm current data.
The Pros and Cons of an Algorithmic Feed
While frustrating at times, LinkedIn’s algorithmic feed does have some benefits:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Surfaces relevant content you may have otherwise missed | Can fail to show you the most recent updates |
| Learns your preferences over time | Contains more sponsored content mixed in |
| Keeps your most engaged connections at the top | Changes to your profile/settings can disrupt it |
| Allows you to discover new connections | Relies heavily on your continued participation |
The algorithm makes it easier to see content you care about most. But it comes at the cost of some control over the timeliness and variety of posts.
Other Social Media Feeds for Comparison
It’s not just LinkedIn that uses complex feed algorithms. On Instagram and Facebook, you also may notice old posts resurfacing. However, since these platforms focus more on friends and family, you tend to see more real-time posting compared to LinkedIn’s business focus.
Twitter has gone in the opposite direction, defaulting to a strictly reverse chronological feed without any algorithmic influence. This guarantees you’ll see the newest content first. However, it also means you might miss important posts as they quickly get buried.
So most platforms are trying to strike the right balance between relevance and timeliness. LinkedIn just happens to lean more heavily into relevance, even at the cost of showing outdated posts occasionally.
Conclusion
Seeing old articles and posts on your LinkedIn feed can be puzzling and frustrating. But in most cases, it simply comes down to the imperfections of the algorithm trying to determine what content you want to see.
To ensure your feed contains more current, relevant updates, stay active on LinkedIn as consistently as possible. Like, comment, share, and post regularly. This gives the algorithm sufficient signals to show you better content.
Keep an eye on your connections as well. If several are sharing outdated content often, you may want to hide their posts. And be patient if you make major profile changes while the algorithm recalibrates.
While not ideal, getting some old posts mixed in with timely content is often the tradeoff for an algorithmically personalized feed. With consistent engagement, your feed should gradually improve and display content that aligns closely with your preferences.
What tips do you have for improving your LinkedIn feed? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!
