It may surprise you, but LinkedIn turned 15 years old in May 2018! To celebrate the world’s largest professional network’s birthday, we had published these 15 Super-Tips for better results and SEO on the site. We thought a ‘rerun’ would be fun to include in our website re-launch. Enjoy!

  1.  Have a headshot! Incredibly, we still see profiles without a photo. Note: This creates instant negativity and suspicion. Upload a photo asap but please… NO selfies!
  2. Upload additional images/videos (‘rich media’) to the Summary, Experience, and Education sections of your profile.
  3. Create a value-packed profile Headline – you don’t have to accept the default ‘current title/company’ headline that LinkedIn will automatically assign. Use powerful keywords and state your value proposition. (Debbie’s headline is optimized and uses the extension – see #4)
  4. Add 100 characters to your Headline by editing your profile via the mobile app – a cool feature that once implemented will display on all devices.
  5. Summary: Does your Summary act as a billboard for your company? That’s not effective – include more info about you! Let Viewers know your ‘why’ – why you’re passionate about your work and, most important, HOW can you help them? Why are you the best at what you do?
  6. Include a CTA (call to action) in your Summary for everyone to see; make it easy for the Viewer to reach out to you – include phone #, email, website.
  7. Keywords, keywords, keywords! Infuse your sentences and title fields throughout your profile with keywords. Appeal to the search engines with professional repetition.
  8. Add Profile Section (upper left margin) Review all options as there are many! Courses, Honors, Awards, Certifications, Organizations, Languages – add impactful details.
  9. Experience/Title – Optimize the Title field by displaying your actual title first, followed by your most impactful keywords affiliated with that position
  10. Skills – Max out the 50 allowed! Don’t short-change your SEO with a lesser number of entries.
  11. Education – No college? No worries! But DO include your high school by entering the name followed by HS. Lots of searches are done by school/academy names. Who knows what happened to that high school chum? Maybe they’re in a business that fits your target search for a new Connection, job, or alliance!
  12. Connections – Be relentless and diligent about consistently building your Network with Connections of value. This is not a ‘numbers game’, you are seeking Connections that may lead you to business or become your business later. Always personalize your invitations!
  13. Search Alerts – Set up targeted Searches and let LinkedIn notify you of new leads… an absolute favorite feature – even on the Basic membership!
  14. Meet that Connection – A favorite strategy: Invite that new local Connection to your next local networking event. Be sure to place the focus on them by introducing them to everyone you know. This is not the time to pitch!
  15. Business Owners – To establish a (free) LinkedIn Company page that can act like a mini-website, you must have an email with your company name in the extension of it (no gmail, AOL, etc.) at least 100 Connections on your professional profile, and a profile strength of ‘All-Star’. Click Work in the black navigation bar and select option to Create Company Page.