LinkedIn SEO Tips for Optimizing Your Profile

LinkedIn SEO

LinkedIn is one of the top 5 sites that Google indexes regularly (the others being YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter), which makes it critical that you apply SEO to your profile if you want better search visibility.

Why? Two things: one, you want to get links from LinkedIn to your website to rank higher, and two, you want to get your profile ranking higher on LinkedIn.

How You Can Benefit from LinkedIn SEO

More Leads

It might seem obvious, but the easier it is to find your profile, the more people will find your profile. From LinkedIn users, and external searches.

The more people who find your profile, the more connections you’ll make and the more leads you’ll get.

Building your on-page SEO is an easy way to drive traffic and build recognition with clients who might never have found you otherwise.

Better Brand Messaging

Using specific keywords that your clients are searching for helps build trust and give clarity about your offers.

A lot of LinkedIn profiles use a mixture of industry buzzwords, but it’s unclear who they serve or what they do.

By using the right keywords, you’ll immediately connect with your ideal audience and speak their language.

Ways to Implement LinkedIn SEO

Include keywords

Just like SEO for your website, your LinkedIn profile and page should include keywords that your target audience is using in search. Once you’ve done your keyword research, you should be implementing these terms throughout the copy of your LinkedIn marketing page. Keywords should be in the following sections:

• Tagline
• About
• Experience
• Skills

Customize your LinkedIn Profile URL

LinkedIn allows you to create a custom URL for your LinkedIn profile. A LinkedIn profile or business page with a customized URL will rank higher in organic search results when users are searching for your name or organization. LinkedIn walks you through how to customize the URL for your personal profile or your company page.

Name your profile picture and banner image

Thinking about uploading a new headshot or background photo to your LinkedIn marketing page? Before you upload, rename the image to include your name or relevant keywords. Google will index these images so your face or company logo will appear in image search results.

Create backlinks

Backlinks are the core of SEO and Google’s algorithm for page rank. Create backlinks from your LinkedIn profile by linking it in your blog posts or on your website. Link your profile in the author section of your blog or link your company page within the copy of your website.

Publish optimized content

LinkedIn articles and native videos are pushed to more users’ eyes by LinkedIn’s algorithm. According to Search Engine Land, this content is likely to be seen by three to four times as many people as a shared article or blog post. Because of this, this content should include keywords and be optimized for SEO. Don’t forget to include a call-to-action within the LinkedIn article or in the video post to drive traffic to your digital website.

Check analytics

To ensure your optimization efforts are working, be sure to check the data. LinkedIn provides analytic reports for both personal profiles and company pages. These analytics show the number of profile views, search appearances, and post views that your LinkedIn profile received. LinkedIn tracks the number of new followers, post impressions, and unique visitors. Don’t forget to track conversions as well. Check Google Analytics to determine how many of your leads are coming to your website from your LinkedIn profile or digital page.