Written by: Katrina Lubiano
These Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tricks will boost how often your LinkedIn profile appears in searches relative to your industry amongst the reported 450 million registered users.
90% of recruiters prefer LinkedIn as their search platform for eligible candidates. If you’re on the job hunt or not actively looking but interested in other offers, our list of SEO hacks are a sure-fire to increase your profile’s viewings.
Complete your LinkedIn profile
This might seem obvious, but you’ll be surprised by how many users have incomplete profiles. LinkedIn makes this process quite intuitive and indicates how ‘complete’ your profile is.
A completed LinkedIn profile will rank higher than those that are incomplete meaning you will gain more exposure to potential employers and recruiters. It’s definitely worth it fill everything in and upload a professional image and a banner.
Use keywords and use them everywhere!
Keywords are generally words or phrases that pertain to a specific subject for a search. For example, if I’m a recruiter looking to fill a role in digital marketing, I would search that along with “content marketer,” “SEO expert,” and “inbound marketing.”
Use these keywords everywhere– your headline, summary, job descriptions, and skills!
Name your image files
Before you upload the images for your profile photo and banner, rename the file on your computer using primary keywords. This helps Google sort your image with related searches.
Customise your Linkedin URL
Change the URL for your profile to something people can easily remember like www.linkedin.com/in/yourname. To update your URL, go to your profile and on the left-hand side select “edit your public profile & URL” in the menu bar. Simply change this to your name or get a little creative.
Be selective about your listed skills
While it might seem like a bonus that you can list up to 50 skills on your Linkedin profile, less is more. We recommend choosing up to 10 skills that are specific to your niche and ask your network to endorse three.
People are generally happy to help you with endorsements for your skills. So get social on social media and send out messages along the lines of:
Hey Sean,
I was hoping you could help me buff up my Linkedin profile by endorsing some skills: social media marketing, brand management, and Copywriting. I’ll return the favour for any that you’d like highlighted.
Share content! Especially your own
Sharing content with your network is a great way to spark a conversation and show people what you’ve been working on. Having others like, comment, and share your content helps it spread, increasing your viewers reach and hopefully getting your work in front of people who share the same industry or interests.
