Why has your LinkedIn reach dropped, despite better content and growing followers? You’re not imagining things. LinkedIn has changed the rules, and my guest Richard van der Blom is here to explain exactly what’s going on and how recruiters can adapt.
Richard is the founder of Just Connecting, a globally recognized LinkedIn training agency. His annual LinkedIn Algorithm Report has become the gold standard, downloaded over 5 million times and cited by brands such as Salesforce, PwC, and Nestlé. In this episode, Richard unpacks what’s changed in 2025, why reach is down across the board, and what content types and formats are working right now.
You’ll learn how to adjust your strategy to align with your goals, whether it’s increasing engagement, expanding reach, or driving conversions. Richard also shares why native vertical video is crushing, how to avoid repetitive posting mistakes that limit visibility, and why “hybrid” AI-assisted content consistently outperforms both human-only and AI-only writing. If you’re a recruiter who wants more visibility, leads, and conversions from LinkedIn, this one’s a masterclass.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [3:25] How Richard reverse-engineered the LinkedIn algorithm—manually—and built a global data project.
- [8:35] LinkedIn confirms: organic reach is intentionally down 50% or more. Know why.
- [12:37] Relevance over reach: the five content types that LinkedIn prioritizes in 2025 and how to align them with your business goals.
- [18:42] Why recruiters need a diverse content strategy to maintain reach and engagement.
- [21:21] Post formats that are working best and which are declining.
- [26:10] Selfies: how they can be used to boost your reach and when not to misuse them to kill engagement.
- [28:07] How to use polls for lead generation and market research
- [32:02] Why hybrid content (human + AI) performs better—and Richard’s exact content creation workflow.
Why Reach Is Down—and How to Fix It
Richard explains how LinkedIn intentionally reduced organic reach in 2025, shifting the focus from virality to relevance. Recruiters posting great content but seeing fewer impressions aren’t alone. Richard shares how to adapt by aligning your content with your goals (e.g., visibility, engagement, or conversion) and how to choose the right format accordingly. He breaks down the five types of posts that consistently perform for top LinkedIn creators:
- Personal storytelling
- Educational “how-to” content
- Achievement and project updates
- Conversion-focused offers (e.g., job posts)
- Industry insights and trends
Here is the takeaway: Be clear with your goals: is it to increase reach or conversion? Mix up your content strategy. Don’t just post jobs—show your expertise, share client wins, and give candidates a reason to engage with you beyond openings.
Post Formats That Work in 2025
The algorithm favors native vertical video, carousel documents, and polls—but format alone isn’t enough. Richard explains which format fits which goal, and why consistency + variety matter more than ever. He also busts the myth that selfies are always good for reach, as they can hurt your engagement if misused!
As stated above, you have to be clear with your objective: visibility, engagement, or lead generation. Don’t just stick to text posts or job links. Use at least three different content formats and match them to your goal.
Hybrid Content (Human+AI) Performs Better
According to Richard, hybrid content is the most effective form of content creation because it combines the strengths of both human creativity and AI optimization.
100% AI-generated content can backfire and result in lower engagement. Audiences can sense AI-generated content from a mile away, which can appear impersonal and result in minimal impact. While some may still publish AI-only content just to stay visible, it fails to deliver real value or results.
On the other hand, 100% human-written content has its limitations. Most LinkedIn creators are not professional copywriters, which means their content often suffers from weak structure, unremarkable hooks, grammatical errors, and poorly crafted calls to action. These shortcomings reduce the overall effectiveness and appeal of their posts.
Hybrid content leverages the best of both worlds. Richard outlines his process, which starts with drafting a post himself to ensure originality and relevance. He then uses AI tools like ChatGPT to improve the post by suggesting stronger hooks, enhancing structure, and creating engaging calls to action. However, he does not publish the AI-generated suggestions as-is: he reviews and edits them to maintain his tone and voice. This approach not only boosts the quality of the content but also makes him feel more confident that the post is grammatically correct and professionally structured. Richard shared that since adopting this hybrid method, his engagement levels have improved significantly.
