How to Search Engine Optimise Your LinkedIn Profile (8 Tips)
Optimise your profile on LinkedIn to help recruiters, future employers, customers and partners find you. Don’t be your industry’s best-kept secret. Rank top of your field.
Optimise your LinkedIn profile to build your personal brand. Sometimes your standout skills and stellar work history are also your industry’s best-kept secret.
Not every potential manager, team member, customer or recruiter knows your name or work. For example, I’ve had interviews with recruiters new to Australia altogether. This is where using SEO (search engine optimisation) to elevate your LinkedIn profile can be your personal brand ally in the marketplace. Get discovered for new opportunities by people you don’t even know yet. Let your LinkedIn SEO do the hard work of networking for you.
You’ve likely heard a story of a friend or co-worker being found by future employers (and complete strangers) via LinkedIn. Ever wondered how this happens? It’s likely LinkedIn SEO played a key role.
Knowing how to optimise your LinkedIn profile can be very simple. And yet, it seems so common to overlook the power of SEO for your LinkedIn profile.
In this blog, I’m sharing my top tips on how to optimise your LinkedIn profile. The goal is LinkedIn SEO made simple.
Before we get into how to specifically optimise your profile on LinkedIn, let’s start with what search engine optimisation is.
Search engine optimisation is how you orientate your online content to rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP). Take Google for example:
You type your query into Google
You are shown the search engine results page
The results page you see is likely the result of strategic SEO efforts
So, let’s apply search engine optimisation to LinkedIn. If a potential recruiter, manager, partner or client were to type a field of expertise into LinkedIn, certain profiles would show on the search engine results page. So, the question is, how does your personal brand rank in your field?
If your personal brand is going unseen or doesn’t rank well, take steps to optimise your profile on LinkedIn. Here are my top tips for using SEO for your LinkedIn profile:
Tip #1: Determine your LinkedIn SEO keywords
To optimise your LinkedIn profile, begin with your target keywords. These are the words you believe people will be typing into a search engine to generate a particular search engine results page. Relevant to your experience, determine what your LinkedIn SEO target keywords will be. Keep your personal brand goals and vision in mind when you do this. Use multiple words to be highly relevant and not too vague. For example, I could use ‘personal brand coach’ as one of mine as opposed to just ‘marketing’.
Tip #2: Customise your LinkedIn URL for SEO
Next, to SEO your LinkedIn profile, create a custom URL.
When you first set up a LinkedIn account, a URL is auto-generated for you. While functional, your unique URL doesn’t help optimise your LinkedIn profile with any attributes unique to you or your field.
To use your URL to optimise your LinkedIn profile, select a URL that includes (if available) your name and perhaps also something related to your field of expertise. I personally opt for just my full name.
Outside of optimising your LinkedIn profile, as an added benefit, your custom URL will also make it easier to communicate your profile page in written and verbal form. This gives you more opportunities to point to your LinkedIn profile as you grow your personal brand.
For how to create a custom URL on LinkedIn visit this article by LinkedIn.
Tip #3: SEO your LinkedIn headline
Next, optimise your profile on LinkedIn using your headline. This can often be an under-utilised asset. Don’t simply select your exact current title, without considering its boarder potential. Instead, select a headline relating to the field of expertise you most want to be aligned with. This might be your personal brand niche.
No matter how much you love your current job, using only your current role is short-sighted. By communicating the value you add to an industry, you add value not only to your own personal brand, but back to your employer or business as well. So, keep optimising your LinkedIn profile in mind when deciding on your headline.
When it comes to SEO, also remember that even the order of your words matters.
While many take the creative approach to their headlines, I recommend clarity over cleverness. Of course, a clear yet captivating headline is a win-win.
Tip #4: SEO your LinkedIn About Me
Your About Me is precious real estate for optimising your LinkedIn profile. It’s also an essential element of your personal brand story. I have previously shared more in my blog on 6 Essential Elements for Your Personal Brand About Me.
To optimise your LinkedIn profile using SEO, return to your personal LinkedIn SEO keywords. Decide how you will use them throughout your profile. Don’t ‘overstuff’ your profile with your keywords as it will sound unnatural and contrived.
Keyword density refers to the number of times keywords appear compared to the total word count of that content. As a general rule of thumb, many suggest using a 1-2% density. This means, when optimising your LInkedIn profile aim for at least 1-2 keywords per 100 words.
Tip #5: Write your work history with LinkedIn SEO in mind
Using your LinkedIn SEO target keywords again, aim to optimise your LinkedIn profile through your work history. Carefully evaluate and update each description to align with your keywords. When doing this keep in mind what you’ve seen recruiters use in job descriptions you’d like to align with.
Tip #6: Add your skills with LinkedIn SEO in mind
Instead of trying to be everything to everyone touting every skill you’ve ever had, add your skills strategically using your LinkedIn SEO keywords. This simple step will help optimise your LinkedIn profile.
Tip #7: Optimise for your location
An often overlooked opportunity is optimising your LinkedIn profile for your location. Consider this when crafting your About Me, work history details and if relevant your education details (which, where possible should also be optimised for SEO).
Tip #8: Create content consistently
Now that you’ve updated your profile, use your LinkedIn posts to build your LinkedIn SEO. Write your content and captions thoughtfully with your LinkedIn SEO keywords in mind. Doing this to a consistent schedule overtime will add to your LinkedIn authority. Don’t forget you can also use LinkedIn’s ‘articles’ feature. This will further add to your LinkedIn SEO by using your target keywords throughout your content.
As you now know, optimising your LinkedIn profile is a simple, yet intentional, task. So, once you’ve spent your time doing it, don’t just set and forget. Make a point to revisit your profile after set time periods. Perhaps every quarter, six months or at the very least yearly. Update your profile with any new information and update your profile photos to ensure it remains fresh, active and most importantly is working for your personal brand.
