LinkedIn profile, what is it? Why does it really matter? Should we optimize it regularly? Which sections are prioritized for optimization? Is there a LinkedIn profile optimization checklist?
Well, I have to admit that your LinkedIn profile is completely different from your profile on other platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.
Maybe in those platforms, it doesn’t really matter what your job is or what your skills are, but the story of LinkedIn is different. This business-oriented social media platform can determine your career path.
By using an optimized profile you might be able to get your dream job, generate more and better leads, find potential partners for your company, and find investors or new talents for vacant positions in your business.
Well, these things cannot be done anywhere other than LinkedIn. This popular social network with more than 870 million users, is specifically designed for creating and promoting career and business relationships including job finding, recruiting, marketing and sales, business development, and more. So all its features serve the same purpose.
So, let’s talk a little more about your LinkedIn profile. This section of LinkedIn is your digital identity on this social media platform. Your profile allows you to introduce yourself and make a good first impression on anyone who meets you for the first time. You have many different sections in your profile that you can use to introduce yourself to your audience in the best possible way.
Imagine that you are at an official meeting and you see a person who attracts your attention due according to others’ comments about him/ her about how they can help you with your business. But your opinion changes at the first glance and you say to yourself, “That person is not even dressed properly for this official meeting, how is she/he going to help me with my business?”
LinkedIn Profile Optimization Checklist: 1. Update your profile picture 2. Create a Compelling LinkedIn Headline 3. LinkedIn Summary Section 4. Use CTAs. 5. Update LinkedIn Skills Section 6. LinkedIn Experience Section 7. Customize Your URL 8. Have Glowing Recommendations 9. Utilize LinkedIn SEO 10. Showcase Your Projects 11. Optimize Your Location 12. Align your industry 13. Make Yourself Contactable 14. Accomplishments 15. Connections 16. Add a Background Photo 17. Take a Skills Assessment 18. Showcase Your Passion for Learning
The first impression is very important, the person whom everyone complimented is not even wearing a formal dress but a dirty t-shirt, and pajamas with messy hair and slippers. This is not exactly the image you have of a professional.
LinkedIn profile is the first impression, you only have one chance to attract the attention of others on LinkedIn and that is through optimizing your profile as much as possible.
We all know how important and effective branding on LinkedIn is, and professionals, particularly salespeople, understand this very well. That’s why they spend a lot of time building their brand on LinkedIn. But branding on LinkedIn is unfortunately not as important as it should be for many of the users.
Many of us are so busy with our personal affairs that we never think about making our brand known on LinkedIn. But believe me, this neglection will cause you to lose many opportunities to progress in your career.
Your profile is the cornerstone of your personal brand. LinkedIn continuously adds features to its platform to increase the effectiveness of personal marketing and ways to show people’s skills and motivations.
Which topics are most important for LinkedIn profile optimization?
Since branding is so important and profile optimization is its first requirement, I want to give you a checklist of the most important sections you should optimize in a LinkedIn profile. Shall we?
1. Update your profile picture
Your profile picture is the first thing anyone sees, whether they are a recruiter, a regular user, a potential customer, an investor, etc. Many times people decide from the photo you chose for your profile whether they should advance with the profile and click on it or not.
It is very important to choose a professional photo. I suggest a plain background, formal dress and strongly suggest you never use a photo you took with your friends or loved ones (the focus should be on you). The picture must be taken in sufficient light and don’t forget to smile, please don’t look like a serial killer.
2. Create a Compelling LinkedIn Headline
The second thing that can convince people to click on your profile link is the title you choose for your headline. This section is very, very important because it is what most users use to find you on LinkedIn.
Make sure your headline contains keywords that describe the title or what you do and avoid the most overused buzzwords like “expert”. You can use up to 120 characters in this section. Tell people who you are, and what you specialize in, to the right of your headline now shows your current company, which college or university you studied in, your complete contact info, etc.
3. LinkedIn Summary Section
People love storytellers, this is exactly what you can do in the summary section; tell your story to people who view your profile. The first three lines of the summary you are viewing are shown and the rest are in the “show more” link.
That is why you are to write so appealing to convince the reader to click on “show more” in a three-line space. Write in the first person language, it can create an interesting conversation between you and the reader.
make sure to fill the summary with keywords. It helps people to find you so much easier. Because, honestly, it is rare that people search for you with your username anyway.
4. Use CTAs.
Ask viewers to do something. For example, if they think that you are suitable for an open job position, they will contact you, I must emphasize that it is not really professional to say it very directly.
For example, don’t say “Please email me with any questions you may have,” instead you can say, “I love meeting new people and learning new things, so please feel free to say hello and share a story with me.”
5. Update LinkedIn Skills Section
The tools and technology section (skills) is one of the most attractive parts of everyone’s resume. You can mention up to 50 skills in this section and use LinkedIn’s rearrangement feature, to sort them to serve your goal.
Remember that only the first three skills will be displayed in your profile, and to see the rest, viewers must enter the “more skills” link. Since it is very rare for a viewer to do such a thing, it is vital to put the most important skills in the first three rows.
In addition, you can ask your friends, current and former colleagues, current and former managers, etc. to endorse you. These small approvals can give a lot of credibility to your claim that you have those skills.
In order not to make this request too directly, you can go to their profiles and endorse their skills, in most cases, that person endorses your skills in return.
6. LinkedIn Experience Section
According to LinkedIn statistics, users only spend 1 to 3 minutes checking each profile, and we all know that the first section they review is the job experience section. So it is better to spend some time on this one.
Add information about the jobs you had and have and try to be clear about them. Even if you work in a very famous company like Apple, people can’t guess what your role was there.
If you worked in smaller companies, tell them which industry this business was engaged in and what was your position, what achievements you had, and what skills you developed in this job.
7. Customize Your URL
When you create a LinkedIn account, the platform provides you with a default URL. But because these URLs are very public, they are not remembered by viewers. I suggest you enter your profile and click on the edit URL. In my LinkedIn URL, I included the title of the work I am good at.
8. Have Glowing Recommendations
Well, some people wonder if the recommendations are really that important to have or not. I say they are, because even if you think, “Hey, many of these recommendations never even get to be read.” According to my experience, someone who has several recommendations always has more chances of getting employed than someone with no recommendations. So ask your former colleagues and managers for recommendations (directly or indirectly).
9. Utilize LinkedIn SEO
Keywords are much more important than you think. Remember to identify the specific keywords of your industry, the ones you want to find in the results section. Use them in different sections of your profile, especially in the headline, summary, and content you share on your company page or feed.
If you want to promote your own brand and gain the confidence of others, you should demonstrate that you are active on LinkedIn. think that you open this profile on LinkedIn to see if the owner is good enough for a vacant position in your company. You look at his/her last post and see their latest post has been published a few months ago. Who knows if that person is still alive or not? please try to post twice a week. Share Interesting articles you find interesting, react and comment to other members’ posts, and re-poster content on your company page. Show that you are active on the platform, both to other members and to LinkedIn algorithms.
10. Showcase Your Projects
It is very important to tell people that you have done different projects successfully. Fortunately, you can add these projects to your own profile and add a URL to document your project.
11. Optimize Your Location
This one may not seem so important, but it’s very important to tell your correct location to your target audience. For example, if you live in Munich, Germany, and if you want to move to Pris, make sure to update the location in your LinkedIn profile. This makes you closer to your target market (especially in businesses that need in-person meetings) because you are “a local” in this scenario.
12. Align your industry
Try to network with people who work in your industry. Not everyone who works for the company you work for will work in the same industry as you. An accountant works in a completely separate industry from an engineer.
You can narrow your search results down by using different filters and I strongly suggest you take a look at different groups. Also, if you use paid accounts a little, you can filter the people who check your profile according to the industry they are in.
13. Make Yourself Contactable
If you want to use LinkedIn to create and use business opportunities, you need to make sure that you make yourself reachable. Fortunately, with LinkedIn, you can give your contact information to people who view your profile, although many users prefer to hide this information and only make their LinkedIn URL available to others.
With LinkedIn, you can provide several websites and different contact methods, direct contact numbers, email addresses, etc., so that people can contact you easily.
14. Accomplishments
Well, one of the things that can show your professionalism is your achievements. Fortunately, LinkedIn has many different sections to show off the “Accomplishments” of its users. Which includes the following:
- Publications
- Patents
- Courses
- Projects
- Honors & Awards
- Test scores
- Languages
- etc.
If you think any of them might help you gain the trust of others, make sure you add them to your profile.
15. Connections
I’ve said it many times before and I’m repeating it again, your connections are your personal treatures on LinkedIn. It is very important to interact with them and encourage them to share, comment, and share your posts because LinkedIn’s algorithms may decide to show their connections what they like or comment on. If these second-degree or third-degree connections also react to your posts, this cycle will continue.
Not to mention that this cycle will bring many people to your profile. Who knows what opportunities will they have for you?
16. Add a Background Photo
Well, we talked a lot about the profile picture, but I must say that the background photo can also be very effective in Optimizing Your Profile with List of Skills on LinkedIn.
I saw many highly skilled professionals who lost a whole lot of opportunities just because they did not appear professional enough at the first glance to their clients, recruiters, investors, etc. That is because their profile picture was not suitable or they used a default or even irrelevant background picture. For example, one of my friends, who was a financial expert, chose a snowy forest for his background photo.
For God’s sake, LinkedIn is not your desktop, act like a professional man! This seemingly unimportant photo can convey many different messages to your audience. So be careful in choosing a relevant image. I suggest using an original photo that you designed yourself. I did this with Canva.com. Try it, I am sure you will love it.
17. Take a Skills Assessment
Take a LinkedIn skill assessment test. When you have one or two of those badges in your profile, many people’s eyes will get attracted to you because you are claiming that you have a skill with some credible documents.
18. Showcase Your Passion for Learning
When you complete a course in LinkedIn Learning, you can display it in your profile and feed. the main purpose is to tell your audience that you are ready to learn more and you are constantly trying to update your knowledge and increase your abilities.
Each of the mentioned items can help you optimize your profile. Of course, there are definitely other items in the profile optimization checklist, but these 19 items are always at the top of this list and must be followed.
Good LinkedIn profile examples
After all the hints I gave you, let’s see a couple of killer LinkedIn profiles:
1. String Nguyen
I have been a member of LinkedIn for years and I have to admit, among all the profiles I reviewed, this one is the apple of my eye. Just take a look at it to see why.
The first thing that catches your eye is definitely the attractive and impressive background image. This background makes this profile unique.
Another important thing about this profile is that we see no Buzzwords in the headline. She’s just saying that I am very good and creative. She used the Emoji KFC constantly to engrave in our minds that she “went from a 🍗 KFC chick to building a multi-Million Brand, chubbiverse.”
Also, you do not just see a formal profile. In many cases, you can laugh at this woman’s sense of humor and at the same time find out different impressive things about her personality.
2. Anthony English
This man is one of the most successful business coaches and lecturers who has a very strong background in information technology as well. This means what he can offer his audience is a multifaceted product. Now, why do I believe his profile is one of the best samples I have ever seen?
Take a look at the headline! How creative is it? he is not talking about himself but talks about a woman named Rachel, who can make many people in the first line continue viewing the entire profile.
According to Neal Schaffer, “This is in to immediately picking your interest. It also tells what the problem he solves for people. Need to know what they are worth professionally, and how to ask for it. ”
The story that Anthony quotes in the summary section can attract anyone and convey the messages that he wants his viewers to get unconsciously.
Sample summary for LinkedIn profile for freshers
The summary is one of the most important parts of anyone’s profile. And in fact, one of the sections that can compel people to stay and check your profile entirely with good content.
If you are new to any job, you need a good profile summary. So, I have included sample summaries for a couple of positions that are very popular on LinkedIn:
1. Profile Summary for freshers: Marketing
I am looking for an entry-level position in the field of social media marketing. I would like to use the knowledge of international business that I have acquired during my MBA in this position. I am an expert in market research and formulating different strategies in marketing and I am fluent in five languages and techniques for persuading customers and prospects.
2. Profile Summary for freshers: Sales
I am looking for a challenging position in sales related to B2B business. I can help any organization to strengthen its customer relationships, guiding customers through the sales funnel and completing their prospecting database. Another of my skills is to present a product or service to clients in a professional manner.
LinkedIn summary examples for professionals
Just as the profile summary is important for freshers, it is equally important for professionals. So let’s see a couple of examples of good summaries here.
LinkedIn Summary
Real Estate Manager:
I am working in the fast-paced field of Real Estate while using my organizational and systematic skills to make Providence Hill Real Estate run as efficiently as possible.
Providence Hill Real Estate has allowed me fully capitalize on my marketing background to produce high-quality video productions, print media, and social media advertisements. While supporting the firm, I am also responsible for managing and maintaining over 30 individual Real Estate agents’ brand identities. This allows me to create curated content with many different styles that help broaden my skill set.
Hotel Manager:
Versatile hospitality executive with 20-plus years of senior leadership experience in luxury hotel operations. Focused on delivering a balanced scorecard. With an established track record of increasing profitability, consistency, and improving quality across all disciplines in the hotel.
Conclusion
It is very important to have a checklist to optimize your LinkedIn profile. In any case, there is a whole section and a whole lot of information, and your profile is very important for success on LinkedIn and achieving any goal you have on this platform.
In this article, I tried to point out the most important parts that you must optimize. But there are other parts that you can optimize to make it more professional.
For example, the certifications section, voluntary experiences section, interests section, or adding different things to your profile such as portfolio, publications, etc. Well, now you have this checklist, start optimizing, the sooner and the better.
FAQ
What tools optimize LinkedIn profile?
Several tools can help optimize your LinkedIn profile. Tools like “LinkedIn’s Profile Strength Meter” guide users on how to improve their profiles directly on the platform. Additionally, services like “Photofeeler” can offer feedback on profile photos, and grammar tools like “Grammarly” ensure that your profile content is clear and error-free. It’s also helpful to use keyword optimization tools to ensure your profile is discoverable by the right audience.
What are your top 3 best practices of a successful LinkedIn profile?
The top three best practices for a successful LinkedIn profile are: 1) A professional profile photo and an engaging cover image to make a strong first impression. 2) A compelling headline and summary that effectively communicates your professional value proposition and showcases your expertise. 3) Detailed work experience and accomplishments, supported by quantifiable results and relevant keywords to improve discoverability.
Which topics are most important for LinkedIn profile optimization?
The most crucial topics for LinkedIn profile optimization include: 1) Keyword optimization, ensuring your headline, summary, and experience sections incorporate relevant industry terms and skills to make your profile discoverable in searches. 2) Completeness, including filling out all sections like education, certifications, and volunteer work. 3) Regular engagement and content sharing, as an active profile tends to attract more views and connections.
How can I improve my LinkedIn profile examples?
Improving your LinkedIn profile involves several steps. For instance, instead of a headline that simply reads “Marketing Manager,” enhance it to “Digital Marketing Manager | SEO & PPC Specialist | Helping Brands Grow Online.” Additionally, in your experience section, instead of just listing duties, provide quantifiable achievements such as “Increased web traffic by 40% in Q1 2022 through targeted SEO strategies.” Always aim for clarity, specificity, and showcase the value you bring.
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