Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile (That Really Work)

Last updated on July 3rd, 2020 at 09:30 pm

When it comes to expanding your outreach and developing a strong online presence, LinkedIn is the place to be. Hence, maintaining an active profile on this platform is more important than ever.

However, not all are equally good to harness the true power of LinkedIn.

If you are looking for proven tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile, you are at the right place.

Proven Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile:

1- Keyword Optimization

It’s no secret that keywords help in optimizing every single webpage for Google search results.

Hence, a good way to make your LinkedIn profile stand out from the rest is to use the right keywords.

Understand that recruiters are looking for specific skills and not your name. They aren’t just looking for people who respond to the ads that they put on LinkedIn.

So you must help them find you. You can fill your profile with the keywords that will rank highly for your profession.

If you’re unsure of how to do this, it’s best to hire LinkedIn profile writers for the job.

When writing your LinkedIn profile, make sure to:

Limit the headline to 120 characters
List your current work experience and past work experience
Optimize the profile with keywords that are relevant to your desired position
List all the relevant skills and remove irrelevant awards and workshops

2- Work on Your Profile Picture

Your profile picture is the first thing that a recruiter will see when they open your profile.

Therefore, it’s the first impression you’re likely to make. No one is perfect, but that’s no reason you can’t look spiffy in a suit or a formal dress. Make sure to get a professional photo taken at a studio.

Also, ensure that you’ve used the necessary accessories. These can include a tie, a bowtie, earrings, and even a pin if that’s necessary. You should dress for the job you want. That’s true for the workplace and even your LinkedIn profile.

Make sure people see you as a competent and professional individual, even if you’re lacking some skills. Uploading the right profile picture can improve your chances of getting recruited.

3- Work on Your Headline

This goes back to the first impression thing. Your headline is probably the second thing recruiters will notice after your picture.

Make sure your headline best reflects your qualifications, experience, and interests. It should include a ‘wow’ factor that makes recruiters want to visit your profile.

Think of the headline like that of a news story. It works on the same principle. Whatever may follow, it’s your job to make the headline tantalizing so the reader wants to read on.

You can include multiple titles and keywords in the headline or make it comprehensive enough to list all your qualities.

If you’re unsure of how to generate a headline that can encompass your entire career, don’t lose hope. Maybe some LinkedIn profile writers can help you out here.

4- Update Your Profile Regularly

This is a no-brainer. You need to update your LinkedIn profile with major events that occur in your professional life. LinkedIn profiles rank very highly on Google search results.

If someone is searching for you through LinkedIn or Google, they’re likely ending up in the same place. Make sure that they don’t have to click anywhere else to find out what you’re doing.

5- Customize Your URL

Getting a vanity URL for your LinkedIn profile page is a good idea. Why?

It’s because it’ll make you more visible on Google’s search results.

Remember that the URL of a website is also listed on Google’s search results.

Hence, if your name is featured on the web URL, you have a better chance of showing up on the first page. Moreover, a generic URL that is just a string of numbers and letters doesn’t establish your identity. A vanity URL is much easier to remember.

6- Develop Your Brand

Personal branding is very important in today’s day and age, and brands aren’t restricted to corporations anymore. They’re about how people portray themselves professionally and personally. Such branding is conveyed heavily through interactions on social media- such as how an individual responds to posts and what type of comments they write.

It can also be how they appear on their social media. Establishing a brand can help you get traction with different companies and businesses. It’s all about projecting a brand that people identify with and want to associate with.

7- Make Your Profile Public

This is something that only a few people do. Why would you even want to be on LinkedIn if your profile isn’t public? Don’t you want recruiters to find you? They’re not going to be on your network.

So, wouldn’t you want to make it easy for them to find you?

It can be understood if you’re on vacation or if you want to be left alone for a while, but not in other circumstances.

LinkedIn is a way to advertise your skills to the professional world. Making your profile ‘private’ goes against this purpose.

8- Use Your Profile to Learn from Your Peers

LinkedIn, like all social networks, is a place where you interact with your contacts. It shouldn’t just be a place where you broadcast your influence, but learn from others. What this will do is help you imbibe different skills to help market yourself.

Learn to spot how people are marketing themselves by sharing articles and writing posts. Learn how people are interacting with each other and networking so that they benefit from those interactions.

9- Join Like-Minded/Common Interest Groups

By joining and seeking out groups that have fellow professionals as members, you can improve your standing in certain circles. Groups can also help you solve problems that you are facing.

For example, groups can be built on discussing how to apply for different positions or to improve your first impression in an interview.

They can also delve into deeper topics like improving your standing at a specific company. Groups may also help to share industry secrets that only insiders are aware of. Take advantage of all of this to help boost your LinkedIn profile.

If nothing else, it will help you build a network of contacts. All that will do is help you seek out high-value positions. It may also help you get a foot in the door for positions that many others may be applying for.

10- Add High Demand Skills to Your Profile

A good way of finding out which skills are in high demand is to go through freelancing and job portals. LinkedIn itself can help you find out which skills are the most valuable in your respective field.

Getting those skills or highlighting them in your profile specifically can help optimize your profile for search results.

11- Get Written Recommendations

Very few people know that there’s a written recommendation section on LinkedIn. You can get recommendations from your peers and superiors if you so desire. This will work as all recommendations do, to your advantage. It will add credibility to your profile and help recruiters hire you.

It would be foolish not to use this tool that will only help your profile grow and be appreciated. If someone is vouching for you, it will only boost your credibility in the eyes of the employer.

So get on it now. Try to contact your current or former bosses to get recommendations on LinkedIn.

12- Add Relevant Links and Projects

Adding this section to a profile will allow you to list specific projects that you’ve work on. You can include your various achievements on these projects and even add a link to a presentation or document. This will help to highlight how you tackle specific projects, what you’ve accomplished as a leader, etc. It’s one thing to have a list jot down what skills you have, and another to have proof of it in black and white.

You can even add a description that will relate your project to a position that you’ve held before. If it helps to bolster the information already in your resume, that’ll be great.

Remember that your LinkedIn profile is essentially a CV. Use that to its full potential.

13- Publish Long-Form Posts

This is another part of building your network. Writing long-form blog posts about topics that you have expertise in can help establish your authority on certain subjects.

You don’t need to be too regular, but if there is a topic that you particularly find to be blog-worthy, you shouldn’t hesitate.

Not only will this help establish you as a unique voice, but it may catch the eye of some important people. It may even help you to get speaking engagements as experts or even an interview for a job. You may even get a consultancy out of it when all is said and done.

14- Refrain from Including Irrelevant Information

This is pretty straightforward. If you won a prize for the best orator and you’re now working as a software programmer, it’s pretty irrelevant.

However, if you’re looking for a speaking engagement, you should probably list it. It’s all about curating your profile for what position you want to have.

A specific mix of skills may be right for a position that you want now, and completely unfit for something 10 years down the line. Make sure that your profile is filled with useful information. Recruiters find it hard enough to sift through thousands of CVs. They don’t want to bump up against useless information when looking at a candidate.

15- List your Awards and Accomplishments

This is another no-brainer. If you’ve won prizes or awards for achievements in your field, flout them all you want. However, listing irrelevant awards can only hurt your profile.

Don’t list a competition that you won in 7th grade, especially if it has nothing to do with your profession. That establishes that you perhaps have nothing to show for yourself. Even if you have one achievement that helps you stand out in the crowd, list it without hesitation.

Using these LinkedIn profile optimizations will help recruiters reach you faster. They will also help keep them interested. If you do a good enough job, it will help you get a foot in the door. Good luck!

Do you want to share other tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile? Please leave them in the comment section. I’d love to know about them.

Author Bio

As a Sr. Editor at a content writing service, Dave and his team at Content Development Pros have helped small and large businesses get results through content.