How Instagram's algorithm ranks content

How IG thinks about Views vs. Shares vs. Likes and how your brand should optimize your content

Author

Jack Appleby
January 22, 2025

In partnership with

I’m icing my ankle while I write this. The overgrown kid in me thought playing 3 basketball games in a day was a good idea… then I tripped over the free throw line… with no other players near me. To be fair, I did hit 8 threes in that game, but my goofiness remains unparralled.

Washed up rec basketball aside, Instagram gave us a peek at the algorithm! Feels a whole lot like looking into the Pulp Fiction briefcase. Let’s talk about:

  • How Instagram ranks Views vs. Likes vs. Shares

  • How your brand can optimize your Instagram content

  • A bunch of new Instagram features

—Jack Appleby

How Instagram’s algorithm works + what it means for your brand

I pulled my hair out for yearsss trying to Meta reps to explain their algorithms & best practices to me & my brand partners, and they were kindaaa all useless. Turns out I should’ve been going straight to the top.

Head Of Instagram Adam Mosseri has made himself the most important follow for the social media industry. Whereas most platform leaders either stay quiet or attend inaugurations, Mosseri has made himself the spokesperson & FAQ machine, sharing answers like:

But he’s just started a new series that’s the most valuable for us: Explaining Ranking in 2025. It’s where he breaks down how Instagram ranks your content & decides what to distribute to the feed & followers.

Let’s dig into his explanation + talk about how it affects your content

The most important metrics for Instagram Success

Many brands shifted their focus towards sends/shares over the last year, but that isn’t quite right (ironically, it was a previous Mosseri video that caused the overcorrect).

There are several metrics Instagram uses to vet your videos, and sends isn’t even #1. The big three to keep an eye on?

  • Average Watch Time: how much of each video did viewers watch?

  • Likes Per Reach: pretty self-explanatory here.

  • Sends Per Reach: how many viewers DMed the video to someone else

Whether you’re trying to get content in front of your followers or pursuing new eyeballs in the Reels feed, these 3 are always the most important. That said, there are some nuanced differences in the stack ranking depending on who you want to see your content, so let’s dive a little deeper.

The two types of ranking

Because Instagram operates as both a follow-based and algorithmically-recommended platform, content has to be ranked slightly differently based on a user’s relationship with your content.

Fundamentally, there are two types of rankings on Instagram:

  • Connected Reach: accounts that follow you

  • Unconnected Reach, or Recommendations: accounts that don’t follow you

You probably get the concept—Instagram’s just given them official names now. But even within there, there are slight differences between connected & unconnected reach in their rankings!

Sometimes it’s Sends, sometimes it’s Likes

Mosseri’s made it clear that watch time is the most important metric on all content, though their algorithms do slightly tweak the preferred engagement type depending on that user’s relationship with your content.

  • For Connected Reach, Likes > Sends: Instagram wants your followers smashing the like button first and foremost

  • For Unconnected Reach, Sends > Likes: When Instagram shows your content to people who don’t follow you, they want those people sharing the content

That’s gonna be tough to action against, but we’ll talk about it in the next section.

So… what does this mean for brands?

Let’s throw away the technical language for a second. Mosseri’s telling us that watch time, likes, and shares are the most important metrics to care about.

Which… well, in a word… duh.

If people watch your videos most of the way through, and people hit the like button, and people send your video to their friends, Instagram’s gonna show your video to more people.

We spend so much time trying to understand the mythical algorithms when at the end of the day, those algos are just analyzing the most basic of metrics for us. If your content isn’t getting seen? It’s not because you’re making an algorithmic mistake—it’s because the content just isn’t compelling enough.

The way to win on Instagram has always and will always be in the fundamentals of content. You need to:

  • Create can’t-miss creative ideas: the core concept has to be something your targeted audience would be excited about

  • Create can’t-miss social hooks: your first 3 seconds must be wildly compelling in the visuals on screen, the audio, and story hook

  • Make Reels as long as makes sense for the story: If your creative idea works best in 30 seconds? Make a 30 second Reel. If you need 90 seconds? Use 90 seconds (but be honest with yourself & make sure there’s no fluff)

  • Showcase your brand / product’s emotional benefits: if your brand’s content isn’t actually about how your brand makes people’s lives better, who cares if you get views—they won’t translate to sales

If you do all that, you’re gonna get seen! Followers & strangers alike will engage with your content, and the algorithm will push your content to more people! Put all your effort into these areas before you worry about nitty gritty optimizations.

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Social Cues

Normally I’d throw you more writing from other thought leaders here, but Instagram’s dropped so many updates in the Great Battle Of TikTok that any extra reading time should probably just go towards understanding what’s changed.

IG titled this blog “Finding success on reels in 2025,” so we should probably pay attention. It’s a quality rundown of the bunches of changes they’re making right now.

This feature’s been out a month now, but I haven’t written about it yet because… I’m not sure I get the use case yet. Essentially, it lets you show content exclusively to people who don’t follow you, then if you like the results, you can also push it to your followers. Something about that doesn’t click with me yet, but maybe it does for you? Reply to this if you’ve got thoughts.

You gotta applaud the competitiveness. TikTokers should naturally be shaken up, and Meta is offering all kinds of benefits to first time users—$5,000 Breakthrough Bonuses, early access to Facebook Content Monetization, and more.