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Make an outstanding first impression by identifying the right keywords, optimizing your headline and summary, getting social proof, posting relevant content, and more! Discover the full guide to optimizing your LinkedIn profile.
Let's have a look at how to get an outstanding first impression by optimizing your personal LinkedIn profile. You learn how to set up your profile SEO, AKA: be more visible on LinkedIn.
As of 2023, over 875 million professionals are on LinkedIn. It’s more important than ever to have a profile that stands out, as it can make a huge difference in your professional journey. Whether you're job hunting, recruiting, networking, or building your business, your LinkedIn profile is your first impression. Not only do you need to keep it updated, but you also need to keep up with the trends and platform updates:
✔️You will get more search appearances and appear more frequently in front of potential customers.
✔️You get more contact requests.
✔️Recruiters with great opportunities will be able to find you faster.
✔️Visibility is good for your personal brand.
✔️People will see you as an expert because your profile is professional-looking and relevant. (Plus, your cold messages will be backed by credibility.)
✔️For sales and businesspeople: You'll get more sales through LinkedIn and grow your business quickly.
To get started with LinkedIn SEO I have prepared a few important categories, which I think are particularly relevant when it comes to visibility on LinkedIn. Let's get started:
When it comes to keywords, it's important for you to know what you want to rank for.
For example: if you are a salesperson or freelancer aiming to get new clients, make sure you include keywords in your profile that your prospects might be searching for (also consider using hashtags in your profile).
Here is an excellent example of great keyword visibility from a person who knows how to put himself in the spotlight of the LinkedIn search:
To find keywords that people might be searching for, think of what comes to your mind when you face the same challenges as they do. Other options to find keywords are:
- Asking your current clients
- Searching on Google
- Using keyword research tools
Your profile should include your company & product name and variations of keywords that are highly relevant to your product or service.
Make sure you include them as often as you can without keyword-stuffing. While it may still work today, chances are high that LinkedIn will change the way the search works and you'll be at a disadvantage. Just like in the early days of the Google search.
The optimal LinkedIn headline is on point and shows what you do and what you can do for people. You have 220 characters to get very precise about who you are and what you offer.
This is a great example:
❌ Avoid sentences like this: "I help CEOs of companies with more than 25 employees to..."
Why? Because these days everybody wants to be ultra-specific and relevant towards one customer segment.
While this is not bad, some people just gonna make this extremely awkward by trying to pitch in every sentence. Most people are just annoyed by this kind of people - including me. Don't be like this.
Also, having a headline that comes straight to the point by showcasing what you do and where you work has a greater impact. For example, I stumbled upon Oli’s post on my LinkedIn feed, and because of his simple and straightforward headline, I instantly got what he does for a living and the position he holds in his organization.
If you want to see examples of outstanding LinkedIn Headlines, click the link.
A helpful description includes:
As an example, check out Eric's profile summary. The summary is engaging and informative at the same time:
Why Does This Profile Summary Work?
While this is not going to directly influence your LinkedIn profile appearance it raises the chance of getting noticed by potential clients. Get more visibility by posting content regularly. To grow your LinkedIn network, you have to find out what content works for you. Inlytics gives you detailed insights about:
In addition to creating content, you can use the data you gathered through Inlytics to grow your network and reach out to prospects.
Open the company pages of the companies your followers work for. Check out their other employees and identify the people you could pitch to.
Send them a connection request with a personalized note—mention why you’re reaching out and start a conversation.
Keep adding such connections to your network and publishing relevant content; you’ll have no trouble monetizing your presence!
To get your LinkedIn game up and running, sign up for our free LinkedIn Analytics & Post Scheduling Tool.
You can add up to 25 different skills in your profile. Again: Include your most important SEO keywords in here. Then, request Endorsements from the relevant connections.
If you see a profile that is packed full of real and positive recommendations about the person and their work, this adds massive trust. You can use this feature to your advantage: go and asks managers, clients, and colleagues to give you recommendations. It will be worth it!
This one is simple. Include all the work and jobs you have had in your target industry so far. Include what you did there, what you accomplished, and what skills you developed in the process.
It's a good way to reference certain skills, for example: "I was working on a project to include AI into an existing..."
Your profile image is one of your most important assets. Make sure that it leaves a positive first impression. To get an optimized LinkedIn profile image you should follow these tips:
If you are unsure whether your LinkedIn profile photo is good enough, you can use Photofeeler to get real people's feedback on your photo. The process usually takes a few hours and you should get a pretty good understanding of the quality of the image. By the way, the tool is free to use.
You can create free LinkedIn Banners by yourself or use a tool like Canva to create a banner in minutes. Use few words and focus on the visual impact. Your content should be all about your value proposition. Throw in a CTA, too!
For example, you can include some of the following into your LinkedIn header:
This one is simple: I have written a guide on how to set up a custom URL on your Linkedin profile: LINK. Check it out.
You will find plenty more tips and tricks in our inlytics Dashboard. Go ahead and take a peek - it's free to get started.
LinkedIn introduced Creator Mode to help professionals who are big on content creation to amplify their reach and post impressions. You’ll get access to new features, including:
To turn on Creator Mode on LinkedIn, simply go to your profile and click on the edit button next to your profile picture.
Your featured section is your chance to impress your profile visitors with your work and top-performing content. Stuff it with things you’re extremely proud of—be it results, accomplishments, or content pieces.
Here are a few extra tips on how to optimize your Featured section:
LinkedIn supports its users by introducing features to help them with their goals on the platform. For example, if you’re looking for a job, you can turn on the “open to work” frame by making it more prominent to recruiters.
Similarly, you can add a name pronunciation audio recording.
Finally, you can add a link at the top of your profile (right under your headline)—it could be your portfolio, resume, website, blog, or anything you want visitors to notice right away.
Just click on the edit pencil on your profile and keep exploring these new features!
For good measure I have prepared all the frequently asked character limits of LinkedIn in 2023.
The lengths for all input fields:
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is an essential step toward establishing your professional brand on the platform.
Make the best use of what LinkedIn offers, and fill in your profile details with all the impressive things you’ve done! Remember to stay consistent, update your profile regularly, and always focus on providing value to your audience.
Before you know it, you'll be well on your way to achieving your professional goals on LinkedIn!
WRITTEN BY
I help startups to validate their critical assumptions, sharpen the business case and ultimately generate traction.
