You spend 30 minutes writing a thoughtful post. You hit publish.

Two hours later: 3 likes. (One is your mom).

You blame the algorithm. "LinkedIn hates me today," you say. "They must have changed the reach again."

The hard truth? The algorithm isn't suppressing you. Your formatting is ignoring the user.

The "3-Second Rule"

The average scroll speed on LinkedIn is incredibly fast. You have less than 3 seconds to earn a reader's attention.

If your post is a "Wall of Text"—a giant block of 15 sentences without breaks—the brain skips it automatically. It looks like work.

The Fix: "The Grid Test"

Before you post, squint your eyes at the preview. Does it look dense? Or does it look airy?

How to format for the feed:

  1. The Hook is Sacred: The first sentence must stand alone. It must provoke curiosity or state a conflict.
    • Bad: "I was thinking today about marketing strategy..."
    • Good: "Most marketing strategies are actually just wishful thinking."
  2. One Thought Per Line: Break up your paragraphs. Give the reader's eye a place to rest.
  3. Use Lists: Humans love structure. Bullet points (like this one) signal that the content is digestible.

The algorithm favors "Dwell Time"—how long people spend on your post.

But nobody dwells on a wall of text. They just keep scrolling.