Master Instagram’s algorithm – what’s new for 2025?

With over 2 billion users, Instagram is one of the most powerful platforms for connecting with your audience and showcasing your brand.

In January 2025, the social platform announced some major updates to its algorithm and if you’re a business looking to grow your online presence, there is big news you should know about.

The algorithm – the set of rules that determines what content appears on users’ feeds – plays an important role in reaching both your existing followers and potential new followers. It’s always changing based on how people engage with posts and what Instagram determines is best to keep users in the app. So, to get the most exposure for your Instagram content, you need to play by the platform’s rules.

Here’s an overview of everything you need to know in 2025 about the algorithm, from the way content is ranked to the sizes your grid posts should be.

First, it’s important to understand that Instagram organises content into two categories: connected reach, which is content shown to your current followers and unconnected reach, which is content shown to people who don’t follow you yet (think the Explore page and recommendations).

Meta’s Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, talked about three key factors in a recent Instagram Story, that carry the most weight and lead to content being shown to more users:

Watch time

Instagram recently announced that it will now prioritise Reels up to three minutes, increasing from its previous focus on videos up to 90 seconds. The longer someone watches your content, whether they’re a current follower or not, the better it is for your reach.

Likes

Instagram is looking to show users more content they enjoy, so it’s still important that you get likes on your photos and Reels.

Sends

This means creating shareable content and it is the top metric for reaching new people. To grow your reach, design posts that people will want to send to their friends. Think funny, relatable, or useful content – basically, the kind of thing you’d put on your Stories or send in a group chat.

Then when looking at your Instagram insights, pay close attention to average watch time, likes per reach and sends per reach.

We’ve seen first-hand how impactful these metrics can be through one of our recent campaigns, supporting the launch of Spinnaker Tower’s Sky Bar with social media and influencer partnerships. The results speak volumes. During the launch month alone, Sky Bar’s Instagram reach grew by 30,000 people, with 5,000 profile visits. Within just two weeks, over 500 bookings were made, climbing to 1,500 by the end of the first month.

These stats highlight the importance of leveraging Instagram as part of your marketing strategy, and how we can help businesses achieve tangible results.

Five golden rules

Adam Mosseri recently explained in a reel, “if you want to maximise your reach and grow your account as fast as possible, make sure you do these five things.”  These are:

1. No watermarks. Content reposted from TikTok or other platforms with watermarks won’t perform well.
2. Instagram is encouraging audio use across all formats, even photos and carousels. Don’t overlook this and make sure you use trending music!
3. Stick to three minutes or less for videos. As we mentioned above, Instagram’s extended video recommendation limit of three minutes means longer videos are now important, but shorter, engaging clips are still valued.
4. Repurposed or lightly edited content is fine, but your own ideas will get more engagement. Avoid reposting the same image or video with an exact copy of another caption.
5. Stay on top of your account health by going to Profile > Menu (the three lines in the corner) > Account Status. This ensures you’re not unknowingly flagged and at risk of losing your account.

Taller grid posts – the latest update

A significant and somewhat controversial change for Instagram in January 2025 was the move to support portrait posts in the grid, rather than squares. Now you can upload taller images and videos with a 4:5 ratio (1080 x 1350 pixels).

In an Instagram Story, Adam Mosseri explained that the majority of what is uploaded to Instagram today is vertical and square grids “overly crop them.” He said rectangular, portrait posts stand out more in the feed and give a fresh more dynamic feel, with more room to create engaging carousels.

We’re not sure if we agree, and many social media users appear to feel the same, so we’ll see how long this sticks around!

For now, make sure to resize your photos before uploading to the 4:5 ratio or 1080 x 1350 pixels.