--- title: How to use your LinkedIn content strategy to rank in AI search results date: 2026-05-14T14:49:53Z modified: 2026-05-15T11:14:55Z permalink: "https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/how-to-use-your-linkedin-content-strategy-to-rank-in-ai-search-results/" type: insight status: publish excerpt: "LinkedIn is now the second most-cited domain across major AI search tools. The content those tools index is text-based. Here's what that means for your strategy." wpid: 5504 insight_cat: - Social Media featured_image: /wp-content/uploads/2026/05/engin-akyurt-x1KElsXNet0-unsplash.jpg featured_image_alt: engin akyurt xKElsXNet unsplash author: Ben Matthews --- ![engin akyurt xKElsXNet unsplash](https://empower.agency/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/engin-akyurt-x1KElsXNet0-unsplash-600x400.jpg) ### Jaz Co-Founder 14 May, 2026 • 6 mins # How to use your LinkedIn content strategy to rank in AI search results LinkedIn is now the second most-cited domain across major AI search tools. The content those tools index is text-based. Here’s what that means for your strategy. - [ Social Media ](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/) When we published [what nonprofits need to know about AI-powered search](https://empower.agency/insights/seo/what-nonprofits-need-to-know-about-ai-powered-search/), the focus was on websites, earned media and technical SEO, the infrastructure that determines whether your organisation surfaces when someone asks an AI tool about your cause, your sector, or your work. What we didn’t cover, because the data wasn’t yet clear, was LinkedIn’s specific role in that picture. It’s now much clearer, and it has direct implications for how you think about your LinkedIn content strategy, not just your website. ## **What is LinkedIn’s new algorithm, and why does it matter?** In early 2026, LinkedIn confirmed the deployment of 360Brew: a 150-billion-parameter AI model that replaced the platform’s entire content ranking system. We covered the feed implications in detail in our [earlier piece on LinkedIn’s new algorithm](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/what-linkedins-new-feed-algorithm-means-for-your-content-strategy/). But 360Brew has a second consequence that has received far less attention. The old LinkedIn algorithm was, at its core, a reaction counter. It measured likes, comments, and shares in the first hour after a post went live, and used those signals to decide whether content deserved wider distribution. Under that system, video performed well: autoplay triggered a “view,” views counted, and the format got rewarded regardless of whether anyone actually stopped to engage with the content meaningfully. 360Brew works differently. It reads content semantically, evaluates whether the creator has genuine topical authority based on their profile and posting history, and weights dwell time, saves, and comment depth over raw engagement volume. A document carousel that someone works through deliberately sends a stronger quality signal than a video that autoplayed for three seconds in someone’s feed. This is the mechanism behind a finding that has surprised many organisations investing in LinkedIn video: according to [SocialInsider’s 2026 benchmarks report](https://www.socialinsider.io/social-media-benchmarks), which analysed 1.3 million posts across more than 16,000 business pages, video views dropped 36% year-on-year across every page size. Meanwhile, native document posts now lead all formats with a 7% engagement rate, up 14% year-on-year. Text-only posts saw the biggest year-on-year engagement jump of any format, at 12%. ## Explainer: Why video gets quietly deprioritised Video on LinkedIn has always generated high impression counts because autoplay registers as a view whether or not the member engaged. Under the old algorithm, those views counted as positive signals. Under 360Brew, the platform looks for evidence that someone genuinely stopped and found value. Passive autoplay doesn’t provide that evidence. A document carousel that requires active swiping, or a text post that generates genuine dwell time, does. The algorithm isn’t penalising video as a deliberate policy – it’s rewarding depth of engagement, and video structurally produces less of it on a professional network where people are scanning, not watching. All of this is what we’d term invisible engagement, and you can learn more about it here: [What LinkedIn’s new feed algorithm means for your content strategy](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/what-linkedins-new-feed-algorithm-means-for-your-content-strategy/). ## **The AI search connection** Here is where the two stories – LinkedIn’s algorithm shift and AI-powered search – come together. Since we wrote about AI search in October, LinkedIn has emerged as the second most-cited domain across the major AI tools: ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. When a policymaker, investor, journalist, or potential supporter uses one of these tools to research an organisation, a cause, or a body of evidence, LinkedIn content is among the most likely sources to surface in the response. But not all LinkedIn content surfaces equally. The content that AI search tools index and cite is text-heavy: substantive posts, articles, and expert commentary – typically in the 500 to 2,000 word range. Video is not indexed by AI search tools. It does not get cited. It does not shape how these systems describe your organisation to the people using them to build their understanding of a sector or shortlist organisations to engage with. This means the same shift that is reducing the reach of LinkedIn video within the feed is simultaneously making well-written LinkedIn text more valuable than it has ever been – not just for reaching your existing network, but for how your organisation appears to audiences who may never have heard of you. ## Explainer: How AI search tools use LinkedIn content AI search tools like ChatGPT Search and Perplexity crawl and index publicly available text content across the web, including LinkedIn posts and articles. When a user asks a question, the tool draws on indexed sources to construct its response, citing the most authoritative and relevant content it finds. - LinkedIn ranks highly as a domain because of the professional credibility of its content and the specificity of the expertise it contains. - Text posts, long-form articles, and document posts with text descriptions are indexable. - Video is not, because AI search tools cannot yet process video content at scale in the same way. An organisation whose LinkedIn presence consists primarily of video is therefore largely invisible to this layer of discovery. ## **What this means in practice** For organisations whose audiences include investors, policymakers, researchers, and journalists – people who are increasingly using AI tools to do their background research – the practical shift is straightforward. #### **1. Written posts earn more than LinkedIn audiences** A substantive post from a senior voice or specialist analyst – one that sets out a position, explains a finding, or responds to a development in the field – is now doing two jobs simultaneously. It reaches the LinkedIn network in the feed, and it contributes to how AI tools describe your organisation and your work to people who were never in that network. The value of that post extends well beyond its impression count. For many clients we work with, seeking to encourage expert and c-suite staff to engage on LinkedIn, this can incentivse the ROI on time spent crafting and posting, beyond the immediate audiences and timeline. #### **2. Document posts and carousels are the format to prioritise** They perform best in the feed under 360Brew, they generate the dwell time and saves the algorithm rewards, and the text within them is indexable by AI search in a way that video is not. For organisations with data-rich research output, this format is a natural fit – a key finding per slide, a clear narrative, a strong closing frame. #### **3. Personal profiles matter more than the company page** Company page posts now reach around 1 to 2% of followers. Personal profiles reach significantly more, because LinkedIn’s algorithm prioritises peer-to-peer interaction. When a researcher or senior leader posts or comments in their own voice – on their own content or on others’ – that content travels further, carries more algorithmic authority, and builds an individual AI search footprint that the company page cannot replicate. #### **4. Commenting thoughtfully on posts by others in your field generates impressions in its own right** This also puts your organisation’s thinking into the conversations that matter to your audience. Even more emphasis for your senior and expert teams to post, their impact far outweighs company posts #### **5. Video still has a role, but a narrower one** Short, native clips from live sessions, conferences, or genuine moments of expertise can still perform. The case against video is not absolute – it is a case against video as a default format for communicating research, analysis, and organisational positioning, where written content now delivers more on every dimension that matters. ## **The bigger picture** When we wrote about AI search in October, the core argument was that nonprofits and cause-focused organisations are well positioned for this shift – because the depth of expertise, the quality of analysis, and the authenticity of voice that AI tools reward are exactly what these organisations have. That argument is even stronger now. What 360Brew has done is extend that logic into LinkedIn specifically. The platform is no longer just a broadcast channel for reaching people who already know you. It is increasingly a source that AI tools draw on to describe your sector, your issues, and your organisation to people who don’t. The content that earns that role is substantive, text-based, topically consistent, and written by people with genuine expertise. That is a description of what the best communicators in the climate, nature, and policy space have always produced. The opportunity now is making sure it’s going out in the right format, on the right profiles, often enough to build the presence that compounds over time. If you would like to think through what this means for your LinkedIn strategy, [we would be glad to hear from you](https://empower.agency/contact/). _This article builds on our October 2025 piece on [AI-powered search for nonprofits](https://empower.agency/insights/seo/what-nonprofits-need-to-know-about-ai-powered-search/) and our March 2026 piece on [LinkedIn’s new feed algorithm](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/what-linkedins-new-feed-algorithm-means-for-your-content-strategy/). Data on LinkedIn format performance draws on SocialInsider’s 2026 LinkedIn Benchmarks report, which analysed 1.3 million posts across more than 16,000 business pages._ ## Related articles More insights from the Empower team - [ View content ](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/how-to-use-your-linkedin-content-strategy-to-rank-in-ai-search-results/) - [ Social Media ](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/) ### How to use your LinkedIn content strategy to rank in AI search results Read more - [ View content ](https://empower.agency/insights/digital-strategy/hum-sing-shout-strategic-content-framework/) - [ Digital Strategy ](https://empower.agency/insights/digital-strategy/) ### Hum, Sing, Shout: The strategic content framework that helps you plan and prioritise Read more - [ View content ](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/what-linkedins-new-feed-algorithm-means-for-your-content-strategy/) - [ Social Media ](https://empower.agency/insights/social-media/) ### What LinkedIn’s new feed algorithm means for your content strategy Read more - 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