LinkedIn is getting more attention. Over the past year, content sharing in the app is up 15%, while comments in the feed have increased by 24%, according to Gyanda Sachdeva, LinkedIn's VP of Product Management. Double-digit rises in engagement point to expanded opportunity, and these insights could steer you on the right path to boosting your LinkedIn performance in 2026.

Share Expertise Not AI-Generated Generic Content

Sachdeva says users should share their expertise and experience in the app. "People want to hear from other humans, and they want to hear real, lived experiences and insights. We consistently see that the content driving the strongest engagement falls into a few key themes." Those themes are industry news and your perspective on it, product announcements, or trends shaping your field; informative content especially around work, business, or the economy; and career stories and advice from your own lived experience, featuring insightful lessons and stories that only you can tell.

Your own professional insights, guided by your own experiences that nobody else has—that's valuable. If you can capture your learnings into concise summaries, those should do well on LinkedIn. But don't use AI to generate these for you. LinkedIn has added AI tools into every element of its app, including post creation, though even Sachdeva notes that relying too much on AI is not the way to go: "While I encourage you to use AI as a tool to brainstorm or sharpen your thinking, professionals want to hear from real professionals about real experiences. AI is best used to augment your expression. Think of AI as a tool, not a crutch: members, not AI, power the best engagement on LinkedIn."

So why would LinkedIn add this as a post generation option? I don't know, but users should especially avoid using AI as a replacement for their own thoughts and insights on LinkedIn. The platform's entire value proposition is professional networking and expertise sharing—AI-generated generic content undermines that completely. Learn how to develop authentic content that reflects genuine expertise rather than algorithmic pattern matching.

LinkedIn Cracks Down on Engagement Pods and Fake Activity

LinkedIn also continues to increase its actions to address fake engagement in-stream. Many LinkedIn users have reported seeing examples of automated engagement and engagement pod activity in the app. LinkedIn's VP of Product Oscar Rodriguez provided an update on efforts to address this: "Over the last few months, we've continued to take significant steps to address this. We've removed LinkedIn groups exhibiting signs of engagement pod behaviors. We've also reached out to thousands of members whose actions showed signs of participation in engagement pods or use of automated commenting tools, reminding them of our policies and warning of possible account restrictions and removals from LinkedIn programs, including Top Voices."

LinkedIn is looking to tackle platform misuse in a targeted way, and you can expect to see more action on this front in 2026. This enforcement matters because fake engagement distorts what content appears successful, encouraging others to pursue engagement gaming rather than quality content creation. By removing pods and warning participants, LinkedIn is attempting to restore authentic engagement signals that its algorithm depends on.

Posting Frequency and Algorithm Fluctuation Explanations

Sachdeva says users should aim to publish between 2-5 LinkedIn posts per week for optimal impact, with members who post twice per week seeing up to 5x more profile views on average. "For best results, focus on quality and consider spacing out posts to give each breathing room when on very similar topics. Keep in mind that posting more than once a day won't hurt your total reach, but people want to see content from a range of voices."

Sachdeva addressed recent questions about algorithm changes and relative impacts on post reach: "Distribution and reach naturally fluctuate based on what you're posting, things like the topic, timing, format, and even what your audience is engaging with that day. And because more people are posting and joining conversations on LinkedIn there is simply more activity in the feed overall. That naturally means a bit more competition but also more opportunities."

Regarding recent questions about possible gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm, Sachdeva stated: "There are many signals that can impact the distribution of your post, such as usefulness and uniqueness of the content, timeliness of the topic, relevance to the viewer, frequency of posting, use of media, if you've got context in the video post caption, or whether the language feels promotional or generic. These and many other factors determine what gets distributed and to whom. Importantly though, we do not factor in gender, age or other demographics of the poster into content ranking."

Many users have conducted their own experiments and have not been satisfied with LinkedIn's answer, but based on official guidance, demographics are not a factor in content ranking. 

Video Content and Strategic Posting Recommendations

Sachdeva reiterates that hashtags are not important: "Hashtags do not impact distribution, so no need to include them." Video posts are driving big response—videos are 20x more likely to be shared in the app, while video content generates 1.4x more engagement than other post types. Sachdeva says that a strong hook, highlighted in text form, is key to driving video engagement.

Users should focus on creating relevant, timely posts that spark conversations for their audience. "A strong first sentence, a clear point of view and a simple narrative that brings people into the story can go a long way in helping your content land." These are valuable pointers from someone overseeing how LinkedIn's systems run, with in-depth knowledge of its content focus and usage trends. Worth noting for your 2026 approach.

Master Professional Content Strategy at The Academy of Continuing Education

LinkedIn's guidance is remarkably clear: share authentic expertise, post consistently but not excessively, use video strategically, and avoid AI-generated generic content. The marketers who succeed on LinkedIn will be those who actually follow this advice rather than gaming engagement through pods or automating their presence through AI tools.

Ready to build LinkedIn strategies based on genuine expertise and professional insights? Join The Academy of Continuing Education and develop the content creation skills ambitious professionals need to stand out on platforms where authenticity increasingly determines reach.