Tips to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile For SEO

---

When it comes to a social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn is the first to strike minds.
A platform with over 660 million users, LinkedIn is the go-to platform for job-seekers, professionals, and students.
You can grow, share and build your brand on LinkedIn. Everything you need to produce and nourish your brand is there on the platform.
It is best for professionals and brands who want to gain eye-balls of their target audience. It is better for people who want to leverage content power. In short, it's ideal for people who want to build a community and leverage it.
But, like every other social media channel, there is loads of fluff on LinkedIn as well. The only way to stand out in 2021 is to maintain an SE-optimized LinkedIn profile.
Many marketers and CEOs add their credentials and blurb about their experience thinking that leads will show up in their D.M like magic. Well, there's a lot that goes in to seal a deal.
Because of this, it's essential to understand that LinkedIn works as a search engine. Google crawls through it, and if your LinkedIn profile is well-optimized, you will show up in the search engine.
It's good to understand why you need SEO for your LinkedIn profile? It's high time that marketers start treating their LinkedIn profile more than just a resume.
Search engines fetch optimal LinkedIn profiles and show them up on Google.
Optimization helps you to start from scratch and take your brand to the next level. Here is a simple guide that can help you turn your LinkedIn profile into a lead-generation tool.
Treat your LinkedIn profile as a home, and it should look welcoming and engaging rather than salesy.

13 Ways to Make Your LinkedIn Profile SEO-Friendly

---

To make sure your profile meets the SEO guidelines, address your challenges first. Get clear on your goal, whether it’s landing your first client as a freelancer or winning the best leads for your business.
You can use LinkedIn for multiple purposes, but once you set a clear objective and apply these tips, it can magnify your LinkedIn presence.
Let’s start:

1. Brush-up Your Profile Aesthetics

Ever came across a profile that has excellent aesthetics? The clean and creative banner, the eye-catching headline with an exemplar headshot picture.
That's what you need.
You might think, why does it matter so much?
You must have heard "the first impression is everything." Stats suggest that the first step to optimizing your LinkedIn profile is adding a professional photo. Also, the user who applies this will get 14 times more viewers than an average profile.
To change your LinkedIn profiles, curb appeal. Focus on these points:

• High-quality images, a clear look, and soft lighting will work. No fancy shoots are needed to pick a photo that looks like you.
• Close shot of your face.
• Clean background.
• Suitable attire.
• And don't forget that smile.

By optimizing the look of your profile, you make the first strong impression.

2. Write a Stand-out Copy

It is a no-brainer that writing compelling profile copy can help you lend clients, but how to implement this?
Let's break it down:

Keep your target audience in mind :

The ultimate goal of writing a compelling copy is to get more numbers of virtual handshakes. So, inject a little dash of personality into your LinkedIn profile copy.
If you're a writer, sprinkle some funny or sarcastic side of your profession in your copy.
Example: Excellent copywriter with an innate gift for proofreading or Saving the world or one irritating typo at a time (you sometimes do).
We are talking about things that are a little personal to you but in a professional way.

Invest in your headline :

Your headline is like the gateway for your audience since it appears just below your name so add clear instructions to it.
You get 120 words of space to explain who you are and what you offer clearly.
Now, here include a few keywords related to your niche. It's best to focus on using compact words and have a bit of finessing headline copy.
Example: I am a digital marketer, helping XYZ to convert audiences into leads.

Summary Says it All :

Yes, the description part in your LinkedIn profile is more than just a lineup of your skills. LinkedIn provides you with 100 words of space to present yourself in a more qualified and competent way.
Make sure you don't make this section all about boasting your accomplishments and skills. Your clients need to know why they should work with you over others.
Give them some unique reason, list out your target audience's struggles, and how you can solve them. It should be precise and concise. In the end, have a CTA, your email, contact number, or a one-on-one conversation link to help your prospect.

Complete Your Profile with a Stellar Experience Section

A study suggests only 50.5% of users have complete LinkedIn profiles. It's simple, yet the majority of people overlook this. An experience section is one such section where people get lazy in completing the information.
Tips to follow while adding the experience section.

• You can go all-in and include SEO keywords and a good copy in this section.
• Then, you can move on to explain your X factors with pertinent facts and figures. For example, include several leads, traffic percentage, conversion rates, etc. (use an approx. number) to increase your profile visitor's impact.
• Add your experiences with your top-rated clients. Mention bullet points and write about how you made things easier for them.
• Remove any irrelevant information and buzzwords that can bore your audience.

3. Apply LinkedIn SEO

We know that you've been waiting for this. We want to espouse you in making your LinkedIn profile top-notch. But, if you do the same thing you have been doing earlier, you will obtain the same result.
For instance, it's essential to understand that LinkedIn SEO differs from regular SEO. People search for single keywords on LinkedIn like writer, designer. On the other hand, the search changes into long-form keywords like "good writing agencies" on Google.
You got the difference. And that is why your well-optimized LinkedIn profile has the power to rank on SERPs. In these cases, you can pack it with both short and long-tail keywords. In short, your profile has a high chance of showing up.
So, here are a few steps you can start applying to step up your LinkedIn SEO game:

Find Rich Keywords :

Yes, we mean rich and rankable keywords. If you want to make your profile stand-out, a little grind will pay off.
To get different results, instigate different questions.

• Who would I want to see my profile?
• Is this information enough to attract my target audience?
• Have I added some high-ranking keywords?

Now, make a list of keywords worth ranking and optimize your profile with the combination of these keywords.
We can give you a quick way of doing this. The thing is that there is no such fixed formula to search for rich keywords.
Search for the shortest and broadest keywords on LinkedIn in your industry. Take a look at their search volume and numbers. Then you can also expand the result by adding 1st, 2nd, and 3rd filter search.
This way, you can pull people's profiles and see how they rank for the same keyword. Take a look at their profile and then apply the same to your profile.
Now, analyze your keywords regarding all these factors.

Add SEO keywords to Your Profile :

The plus side of LinkedIn is that it gives you the freedom to present yourself in your way and then add a layer of SEO technicalities. You can go ahead with the keywords that you already have handy. Include it in places like:

• Headline
• Summary
• Experience section
• Recommendations
• Skills section

If you come across any new term any soon, update it in all the sections. LinkedIn doesn't punish like Google to overdo keywords. Still, it's a good idea to go easy on this part.

4. Focus on Earning Backlinks

You can apply all your LinkedIn profile efforts, but you cannot forget the core part.
Backlinks are the core of SEO which gives a boost to your profile.
Start by linking from your profile page to your website or blog. You can also link your profile on a high authority blog to publish your guest posts or any content.
This will support you in ranking higher on Google. Sooner or later, gaining more visibility, eventually landing more visitors on your LinkedIn profile. You will get a high-profile score on such excellent traction.

5. Collect Recommendations And Skills

Social proof is solid proof to claim your audience's trust. People trust other people's opinions. The LinkedIn recommendation and endorsement section is one such place where you can showcase your efforts in real words expressed by others.
Never underestimate the power of recommendations. It's often good to have endorsements on a few key skills and diverse types of recommendations. It is also smart to get endorsed for identical skills as your keywords.

6. Create Optimized Content

Content is fundamental to the LinkedIn platform. None of the brands can survive without posting optimized content on their pages.
As per stats, LinkedIn offers 9 Billion content impressions from different industries and experts. So, it's a brilliant idea to create content that is appealing both humans and search engines.
Here is a list of ideas to kickstart your content journey on LinkedIn:

• Create blog posts on the LinkedIn pulse to rank on Google.
• Post helpful tips to provide value to your audience.
• Listicles are great because it helps in creating skimmable content.
• Posting trending and well-researched content will help you position yourself as a specialist.
• Videos are escalating the reach of many brands and personal profiles. Start creating video content that caters to your audience. Include some behind the scenes to amplify your brand's voice and name. You can also make explainer videos to showcase your best product and new-releases
• This last point can sound a little show-off, but your brand is worth it. Case-studies are a great way of showing why your products or service are worth an investment.

Every content you post on LinkedIn comes in the eye of LinkedIn and its users. So, make sure you include the necessary keywords and optimize every content for relevancy.
As per search engine land, this content is likely to be seen three to four times by as many people as a shared blog post.

7. Become an Adder

Give engagement and receive one. When you are the first to add a fruitful comment on someone else's post, you're also the first to get noticed in the LinkedIn crowd.
It works like "what you give is what you get." To use it effectively, pop-up in your second or third-degree connection within your network and expand your reach.
The best part, when you become a consistent adder on LinkedIn, people notice you and click on your profile to know more about you.

8. Have a Vanity URL for Your LinkedIn Profile

A vanity URL is a custom URL that helps your audience remember a unique web address for search-engine spiders and humans. You do have an option to create custom URLs for your profile to change the string of numbers into your name.
This is more search-friendly and user-related.

9. Make Use of Do-Follow URLs

These URLs are efficient because they pass on the link juice and benefit your profile to get a high page rank. LinkedIn is quite generous because it allows you to use do-follow links as a part of your profile.
The good part, you can use up to three do-follow links that fine-tune with your company website, Twitter account, and other accounts. Use it with a little ease, and it's good not to overdo this tip.

10. Use Strategic Hashtags

Hashtags are great for visibility. Like every other social media channel, LinkedIn also has trending hashtags for content in every niche. Use it to your full advantage. You can also follow the most popular hashtags.
It can make your day by adding valuable connections and watching-out for popular content.

11. Start Doing Smart Networking

Networking is a tricky part of LinkedIn SEO. As of now, it's best to forget about the number of connections and focus on meaningful connections. We all know that LinkedIn shows your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-degree connections and prioritizes it as per search.
Think about this; if you're connected to people who will lead you to your potential clients, then you made some smart connections.
To make smart moves in building connection, note these points:

• Connect with the right kind of person. Accepting every invite, you get is not sensible. If you sell SEO services in America, connecting with every SEO agency guy in Ireland will not benefit your business.
  
  Although, accepting 3 or 4 invites from different regions does sound good. You can learn, share and grow together.
• Say more than just "Hi'. Yes, share some common experiences, ask good questions, talk about their recent projects. You lend your ear first and listen to their story and then add your inputs.
  
  Look, 87% of professionals are open for jobs when you inbox or in-mail them on LinkedIn. This shows you can go beyond Hi and share opportunities or grab one.
• Follow-ups convert to be clients into direct leads. Follow up if you did ask any questions or have a query about a job or questions about their new website. People are busy, so it's good to keep reminding them.
  
  After 2-3 times, you can send a final text and say a peaceful goodbye.

12. Update Your Profile Frequently

Updating your profile is like renovating your house. It's good to add new skills, experiences, and things you are learning on-the-go. It showcases you as a life-long student who is constantly updating himself.
It can help you gain more SEO points if you add new keywords to your new skills. Even updating your LinkedIn articles to repurpose the content can help Google fetch updated information. And in return, give a boost to your LinkedIn profile.

13. Keep an Eye on Your Analytics

Given these points, it's important always to keep an eye on your analytics section. LinkedIn does provide a section where you can check your number of profile views, search appearances, and post views that your LinkedIn profile received.
Also, you can keep track of your conversion rates, website conversions, and the number of leads. This feature applies to both the company and personal profiles.
So, numbers don't lie. Keep experimenting and making changes after observing what's working and what's not.

Conclusion

You can hold up your LinkedIn profile with all of the above SEO tips.
When you unify good SEO tips and your honed skills together, the results take the form of thousands of leads and target audiences.
It's just a matter of adjusting and trying new things out.
Make sure you always complete your full profile and never stop implementing things.
Schedule a free consultation with our SEO experts to optimize your LinkedIn profile now!