Here's How You Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile to Strengthen Your Personal Brand

By Amy George

Here's a question I get asked a lot: Do you do SEO on clients' LinkedIn profiles? The answer: Yes.

There are steps I take to increase the chances that profiles I work on turn up in Internet searches and LinkedIn searches, too. And you can use these strategies to optimize your own professional profile.  

1. Sprinkle keywords throughout your profile.

Think about the terms people would use to search for someone with your expertise. These are your keywords, and you should sprinkle them throughout your profile, starting with your headline.

With your headline think of the words that prospective clients and recruiters would use to find someone like you. Think job function, specialty and career tenure. For example, Marketing Director and Senior Communications Strategist conveys long established marketing and communications expertise. Marketing Director and Senior Financial Communications strategist adds another layer, specific industry experience. 

Make sure current and past titles and job descriptions -- those in the Experience section -- are likewise optimized.

In the About section, which is the bio section, I recommend using keywords but only to the degree that they don't interfere with telling a story. This section is less about stringing together industry words and more about telling a story that makes you stand out. Think of it as your "why" -- why you do what you do and how you got here -- versus a listing of accomplishments, which is what the Experience section is for.

3. Use hashtags in your posts.

When you post to LinkedIn, use hashtags that correspond to your keywords. For example, when I share stories that I've read or written about LinkedIn or public relations, I include hashtags like #linkedin #linkedmakeover #publicrelations #PR.

I recently asked a LinkedIn makeover client who lives in New York how she found me. It was simple. She was searching on LinkedIn. This happens a lot. It works.

See all the steps and the complete Inc. article