How to optimize your LinkedIn profile in 6 steps
Often referred to as “Business Facebook”, over the years LinkedIn has proved to be way more than that. It’s a place for online networking, education, knowledge sharing, and finding or creating business opportunities. Whether you are an employee or a company, the potential is huge. What matters is how much time and effort you put into it.
Starting with a few stats
Nearly 800 million people from 200 countries use the platform on a regular basis, while over 57 million companies include it in their employer branding efforts. Every second, 77 job applications get submitted, and every minute, 4 people are hired through the network. According to SimilarWeb’s December 2021 overview, LinkedIn received a total of 1.28 billion visits, with the average duration being 6 minutes and 57 seconds.
Why bother?
LinkedIn can be a great part of a company’s brand strategy, or a job hunting process if you’re an individual. With this many active users from all over the world, possibilities are almost endless. And you never know where a well-timed comment could lead you. Keep reading for a short guide on how to optimize your profile and stand out from the crowd.
Step 1 | Research and include keywords
If you want your profile to be searchable and easy to find on LinkedIn, consider optimizing it for relevant keywords. This is especially important if you are looking for a job or new collaboration opportunities, as most people search the network using keywords.
How can you do this?
- First, list your industry’s most obvious keywords. For example, if you are a copywriter, this list will include keywords such as “digital marketing”, “digital marketing specialist”, “content marketing”, “copywriting”. Take note of their variations, as the network algorithm takes these into account too.
- Search LinkedIn for each of those and see if the results align with where you would like to appear. Compare search volumes for similar keywords, as lower volumes give you higher chances to appear in the search results. You can also check how many people with the same keyword appear in your location — this helps you make informed decisions.
- If you feel comfortable, you can visit those profiles and pick a few keywords that they are using.
- Once you have a full list of relevant keywords, include them in different parts of the profile — position title, headline, About section, previous work experience, Skills section. Avoid keyword stuffing and keep it natural, but be generous with their usage.
- After a while, you can see which keywords people used to find you in LinkedIn’s Weekly search recap. It is also accessible by clicking on the Analytics section of the profile.
Step 2 | Write a compelling headline & summary
Don’t limit yourself to a headline that only describes your current position and company. A good one includes keywords that are important to you. If applicable, add relevant skills or experience. Character count is limited to 220.
Example
Jane Doe
Senior Copywriter at Stellar Ltd. | Content Specialist | B2B Experience | Leadership | Process improvement
Previously known as Summary, the About section allows you to describe yourself in up to 2.600 characters. You can choose to list your core competencies and interests as bullet points, or you can write a short story about yourself. In both cases, don’t forget to include keywords.
Step 3 | Profile URL customization
If you work in an area related to digital (or any other, really), you will be using your LinkedIn profile URL quite often. This can be customized in the “Edit intro” > “Edit contact info” part. It’s not a vital element, but we can agree that “https://www.linkedin.com/in/larakarlovic/” looks better than “https://www.linkedin.com/in/lara-karlovic-682987584/” 🙂
Step 4 | Attach your works
Certain industries are very visual, and it pays off to have your work showcased on your profile. Not only does it help you as an individual, but your company can earn potentially interested clients as well. This can be done in the Featured section which appears before your Activity, or under each work position. I suggest putting works you’re most proud of under Featured, and distributing the rest on related professional experiences. This gives the person looking at your profile an idea of your style and skills in this specific area (whether it’s graphic design, development, copywriting or something completely different).
Step 5 | My Company tab — company profiles only
LinkedIn My Company tab gives organizations an employee-only space to help them engage in conversations important to them. It also helps employees to stay connected to each other.
Here they can share organic content created by your marketing and HR team, celebrate one another, interact and engage with coworkers’ posts. According to LinkedIn data, engaged employees can increase Company Page views 8 times, and drive 4x Company Page follows.
Step 6 | Engage!
The more active you get — the higher the reach your profile will have. I don’t have any official data to support this, you’ll have to trust my word. But this conclusion is a result of several personal experiments and discussions about them with fellow LinkedIn members. Comment on other people’s posts (constructively, don’t just leave “Hey, great post” comments — nobody likes that), share content you find valuable, and write your own posts. These get you the most views, and as people engage, LinkedIn makes them visible to more and more users. As it is with everything in life — consistency is key. The Analytics section also shows your profile and post views, so you can keep track of your performance.
Implement at least some of these and you will certainly see improvement over time. Also, don’t forget to review and update your profile when needed, or adjust keywords if you’re not getting the desired results. Happy networking!
Resources:
https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#statistics
https://influencermarketinghub.com/linkedin-stats/
https://www.similarweb.com/website/linkedin.com/
