5 LinkedIn Algorithm Audits That Will Fix Your Broken Content Strategy in 10 Minutes

After helping thousands of founders with their LinkedIn content and analyzing the latest algorithm data from the biggest studies in the space, I can tell you: Your LinkedIn probably isn't broken. It's miscalibrated.

And the fix is way simpler than you think.

Give me 10 minutes, and I'll walk you through five quick audits that will show you exactly where your LinkedIn strategy is leaking: format, hooks, consistency, audience, and system. By the end, you'll know which one to fix first, and it won't cost you a cent.

Audit #1: Your Format (The 20-30% Boost You're Missing)

Here's what most founders overlook about LinkedIn: The format you choose before you write a single word is already giving you either a small boost or quietly holding you back.

We're talking 20-30% differences here. Over dozens of posts, that compounds significantly.

Richard van der Blom just published his latest algorithm research, and the numbers are eye-opening:

• Text + Image posts: 1.22x multiplier in reach, 1.34x in engagement (both went UP this year)
• Text-only posts: 0.9x reach, 0.69x engagement (starting at a disadvantage)
• Video: Dropped from 1.49x reach multiplier down to 0.96x (LinkedIn heavily pulled back on the video feed)
• Document posts (carousels): Get the biggest boost, but they're harder to produce

Your Quick Win

For personal stories: Pair them with a picture of you.

For educational content: Use an infographic. According to the same research, infographics get 2.4x more engagement than the average image.

The obvious objection: "I'm not a designer." And you're right—making a good infographic from scratch takes time. But you can actually generate one that matches your post with a single click, whether through tools or AI platforms designed for this purpose.

Pro tip: Even if you just start adding an image to your text posts, you're already ahead of most people.

Audit #2: Your Hooks (Why Authenticity Beats Cleverness)

There's a ton of advice out there about how to open a LinkedIn post: use a pattern interrupt, ask a question, drop a bold statement. And honestly, all of these can work—or not.

Here's the distinction most people miss: The hooks that perform best on LinkedIn aren't clever. They're authentic.

Algorithm research shows two things that matter here:

1. Negative Hooks Outperform Positive Hooks by 20%

"I lost my biggest client last month" beats "Here's my secret to success."

This isn't about being negative for the sake of it. It's human psychology. Vulnerability is still rare on LinkedIn, and that's why it stops the scroll.

2. Before-and-After Hooks Get 6x More Clicks

If you show transformation in your first two lines, you get six times more clicks on the 'See more' button. People want to know how to get from A to B.

The Authority vs. Information Distinction

Numbers absolutely work in hooks. I use them all the time. But they work when they're your numbers, your proof, your experience.

"I analyzed 5,000 LinkedIn posts" works because it shows you did the work.

"Did you know 73% of marketers..." doesn't, because it's a stat you Googled.

The difference is authority versus information. Anyone can paste a statistic. Only you can share what you learned the hard way.

The Hook Audit

Look at your last five opening lines and ask:

• Do they sound like you talking or like a blog post?
• Do they show your experience or just share generic information?
• Could anyone have written that hook, or is it clearly yours?

If your hook could come from anyone, that's your problem. The fix: Lead with your story, lead with your proof. "Last month, I tested..." beats "Studies show..." every single time.

Audit #3: Your Consistency (The Number That Should Terrify and Excite You)

Here's a statistic that should change how you think about LinkedIn:

Only 1% of LinkedIn users post content once a week or more.

That's out of 1 billion users and 310 million monthly active users. Only about 3 million post consistently, and those 3 million generate 9 billion impressions per week.

At my company, we track what happens when people actually show up, and the difference is insane:

• Users who post consistently: Average gain of 4,863 followers
• Users who post on and off: Average gain of 783 followers

That's a 6x difference—not from better writing, not from viral hooks, just from showing up.

The Real Problem Isn't Laziness

I know what you're thinking: "I know I should post more, but I don't have the time."

Here's what I want to say to that: There isn't a talent gap on LinkedIn anymore. But there is a consistency gap.

Most founders fall off not because of laziness, but because they don't have the right system. They're facing a blank page every time, and that's exhausting. They're trying to willpower their way through it, and that doesn't work.

We'll get to the system in a minute, but first, there's a bigger problem than frequency...

Audit #4: Your Audience (The Most Important One)

Let me tell you a real story.

I once had a LinkedIn post go viral—80,000 views. I was buzzing, refreshing the notifications. "This is it. This is the post that changes everything."

You know how many clients I got from that post? Zero.

Then a few weeks later, I wrote a very specific post about a very specific problem that a very specific type of founder has. That post got maybe 1,000 views but led to three deals.

That's the moment I understood something most people on LinkedIn never figure out:

You don't need to go viral. You don't need 50,000 followers. You need 500 of the right people.

How to Know If You're Writing for the Wrong Audience

If your posts get likes from other creators, marketers, LinkedIn coaches, and random people—but your actual buyers are nowhere in the comments—your content is entertaining the wrong room.

The Audience Audit

Look at your last five posts and ask:

• Who commented?
• Who engaged?
• Are they people who could actually become clients?

If not, you have an audience problem. And no amount of better hooks or formats will ever fix that. You need to change who you're talking to.

Once You Know Your Audience, Everything Gets Simpler

Once you're clear about your 500 people, something magical happens:

• Your topics become obvious because you're not asking "What should I post about?" You're asking "What does my specific buyer struggle with?"
• Your format choices narrow because you know whether your audience responds to stories or frameworks
• Your hooks write themselves because you know their language, their fears, their frustrations

This is the part most people get backwards. They try to figure out the perfect system first—the posting schedule, the content calendar, the tools. But all of that is noise until you're clear on the who.

Once the who is locked in, the how becomes almost simple.

Audit #5: Your System (The 2-4 Hour Weekly Framework)

Here's where I need to be really direct with you.

Most LinkedIn advice is built by creators—people whose full-time job is LinkedIn. They'll tell you to spend two hours a day writing, commenting, DMing.

If you're a founder, that's insane. You have a product to build, clients to serve, a team to manage. You can't spend 20 hours a week on LinkedIn, and you don't need to.

What Actually Works for Founders

Step 1: 30 Minutes Per Week, One Slot

Saturday morning, Sunday night—whatever works. You sit down and batch create your posts for the week. All of them. One go.

If you know your audience from Audit #4, and you've nailed your format from Audit #1, this is genuinely fast. You're not starting from scratch, you're not staring at a blank page—you know who you're writing for and what format works.

Step 2: 15-30 Minutes Per Day, Not Writing—Engaging

Strategic, laser-sharp comments on your buyer's posts. DM when somebody engages with your content or views your profile. This is where deals actually come from.

Total weekly investment: 2-4 hours. Not 20, not 10. Two to four.

That's the whole system: Batch once, engage daily, track what works, repeat.

Why This Changes Everything

LinkedIn is not a content platform. Not for founders.

For creators, sure—LinkedIn is the product. The audience is the business.

But for you, LinkedIn is a tool. It's a networking tool. It's a pipeline tool that happens to use content as its input.

And when you see it that way, everything changes:

• You stop chasing viral posts
• You stop comparing yourself to people who do this full-time
• You stop trying to be a creator and start being a founder who uses LinkedIn to put the right message in front of the right 500 people with the least amount of effort possible

That's not a content strategy. That's a business strategy.

Your Next Step: Pick One Audit

Here's what I want you to do right now: Pick one audit. Just one.

• If you're posting text only, fix your format—add an image this week
• If you're opening with stats and questions, try a personal story
• If you haven't posted in two weeks, post tomorrow (doesn't matter what)
• If you're getting likes from the wrong people, rewrite your next post for your buyer
• If you don't have a system, block 30 minutes this weekend and batch

One audit. One fix this week.

Drop a comment and tell me which one you're starting with—I'll reply to every single one.

Next week, I'm going deep on one of these audits (the hook audit), and I'll show you exact formulas that are working right now in 2025.

Ready to implement these audits systematically? Watch the full video above for even more context and examples, and consider how you can batch your content creation to make LinkedIn work for your business—not the other way around.