And by default, LinkedIn will create one, simply listing your current job title. You will appear in more LinkedIn searches by using strategic keywords in your headline, listing the appropriate job titles considering your current and future roles. You could also include your industry, such as fintech or healthcare.

You can also create posts, share links to helpful information, and write content directly on LinkedIn. Potential employers love to see recommendations included on LinkedIn profiles. Reach out to relevant colleagues, peers, and clients who can speak to your abilities.

Experience

If that’s not an option, get a friend or relative to snap some photos for you, either with a DSLR camera or a newer mobile phone. My wife shot my current LinkedIn profile photo with her iPhone while we were on a date. It doesn’t need to be fancy or cost money — it just needs to be high-quality. The easiest way to find out what keywords to include is to Derribar Ventures use a keyword scanner. This is a powerful tool that will give you a list of the kinds of keywords that a prospective employer expects to see.

The best way to raise your visibility among your peers and have a knockout profile is by creating a cohesive, compelling personal brand for yourself on LinkedIn. For professional profile enhancement, don’t use emojis, hashtags, or empty phrases. Profiles with a photo get 21 times more views and 36 times more messages. Creating a successful LinkedIn profile that connects with potential employers isn’t tricky, but there are several components to consider. If you are short on time and need help crafting a great LinkedIn profile, we recommend working with TopResume for a LinkedIn profile makeover.

Here’s exactly how to increase your LinkedIn followers in 2026 — the strategy, the formats, and the posting frequency that actually work. Remember, the key to success on LinkedIn lies in consistent, meaningful engagement. It took me over five years to earn 50,000+ followers. Thought leadership is about becoming an authority in your field, someone others look to for insights, expertise, and guidance. Remember, job seeking on LinkedIn is about more than just applying for jobs or trying to pitch your products and services. A small yet essential aspect of profile optimization is customizing your LinkedIn URL.

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With a solid profile, it is easier to capture attention and connect with colleagues, business partners, and potential employers. Another big difference between the experience section and your resume is the ability to integrate multimedia. For each position, you can include your work on SlideShare, blog posts, and other media. Of course, be extra thoughtful of what media you share and how it connects to your brand. Pictures will be the most eye-catching part of your profile, so make sure you’re featuring on-message content.

LinkedIn also gives you a Social Selling Index score that rates how well you establish your brand, find the right people, engage, and build relationships. LinkedIn is a database of people, not companies, and people connect with people. If your profile name is a business, you have given a stranger no human reason to connect with you. After your photo and headline, the About section is where someone decides whether you are worth their time. You get up to 2,600 characters to explain how you deliver on the promise your headline made.

LinkedIn is a powerful online tool, whether you are looking for a job or networking with other professionals. Using LinkedIn the right way could lead to huge career opportunities and valuable long-term connections. It all starts with creating a great LinkedIn profile. It’s one of the quickest of quick wins on LinkedIn – scroll through the list of skills and identify those that are relevant to you. Doing so helps to substantiate the description in your Headline and About section, and provides a platform for others to endorse you. However, the key here is staying relevant and also including details of your experience alongside your skills.

They treat it as an ongoing asset, updated and engaged with, and it pays them back accordingly. Start with the three that matter most, your photo, headline, and About section, then work down the rest. For the full playbook this profile feeds into, my LinkedIn marketing strategy guide pulls it together. And if you would like help building a LinkedIn presence as part of a coordinated marketing strategy, A strong profile is the starting point. My book Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth shows you how to turn it into a LinkedIn presence that brings in real business.

More than 100 job applications are submitted every second on the platform. Over 75% of job seekers say LinkedIn helped them with their career decisions. Employers are also more likely to contact people who keep their profiles up to date.

Tip #10: Leverage Copywriting Principles To Write A Crazy Effective Work Experience Section

When I was completely overhauling my profile, I found that it was easiest to start at the top and work my way down. Now you can turn your LinkedIn profile into a job generating machine without tipping off anyone at your current company. There are a lot of career “gurus” on the internet slinging LinkedIn profile tips with absolutely no qualifications or evidence to back them up. For the past several years, her professional writing has focused on education-related topics.

According to LinkedIn, profiles with headshots are 14 times more likely to be viewed than those without a profile picture. Your headshot should be clear, professional and only include you. Then (and here’s the fun part), figure out how to roll it all up in one sentence—a pithy, one-line, statement that sums up your personal brand. 🔹 Showcase Your Skills and Achievements 🌟 Unlike a traditional resume, LinkedIn allows you to go beyond listing your job history. You can highlight your accomplishments, certifications, and recommendations, giving a more dynamic and comprehensive view of your professional journey.

If you have a paid LinkedIn account, your Who’s Viewed Your Profile data shows the industries of your visitors, which gives you real feedback for experimenting with this field. Most people leave this section empty, and that is a missed opportunity. Someone who lands on your profile and sees three strong featured pieces forms a very different impression than someone who sees nothing. Refresh it every few months so what is on display reflects the work you want attention on now.

Plus, a good headline can help you edge out the competition for that often-critical profile view. It’s difficult to talk about the best LinkedIn profile examples without talking about what makes them great. After all, some profiles are more effective than others.

Ask colleagues or clients you’ve worked closely with. Engaging in LinkedIn groups boosts your network visibility, shows industry awareness, and exposes your profile to a wider audience. Reach out to colleagues and connections, and ask for endorsements. Endorse others too—it increases chances of reciprocity. A good goal is to have a minimum of one recommendation for every role you list. Here’s a list of the most overused words on LinkedIn—and more information on strategies to craft a profile without them.

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• If you haven’t checked your profile page recently, you might well find new ways to build your personal brand.
• The above banner does a great job of showcasing personality while standing out in a sea of generic profiles.
• I also included a “testimonial” from one of my clients.
• To select the right keywords for your profile, you should conduct a search of job descriptions attached to open positions in your field that are of interest to you.

With two children in college and one in preschool, she has a personal interest in the entire educational spectrum. When she’s not writing, she’s hanging out in the garden or whipping up a new recipe for her family to enjoy. You’ll have noticed that there are also other fields that you can complete as part of your profile, such as languages, publications, education, organizations and more. Fill in as many as you can that are relevant to your career and next steps. The more complete your profile is, the more likely you are to be awarded “all-star” status. Whatever your professional interests are, from marketing to accounting, there are going to be groups talking about it.

LinkedIn serves about a billion users with a myriad of passions, meaning there’s something there for just about everyone. One of the most important parts of your LinkedIn profile is your skill list. So if you have articles, whitepapers, case studies, designs, and other similar content, show them off so that your audience sees exactly what you can do. To show you an example of that, I’m sharing a snapshot of my own LinkedIn profile. One LinkedIn user who does this well is Erin Balsa, content marketing consultant at Haus of Bold.

When users land on your profile, they want to know who you’ve worked with, how long, your results, and so on. This section is even more important if you want to make your next career move. As in the example below, if you work for a company that has a background photo for employee use, you can use that like Semrush’s Margarita Loktionova did. Keep in mind that you can adjust your profile photo to fit LinkedIn image guidelines by using Canva templates or similar photo editors.