How to Get Found on LinkedIn: Optimizing your Headline

With over 80 million members, LinkedIn is an important social media site to take into consideration when leveraging social media.

See that little area below your name in LinkedIn? Did you just leave it blank? As the best 120 characters of keyword optimization, your LinkedIn headline is one of the most essential components to an optimized LinkedIn profile. Many people leave the “headline” area blank in LinkedIn when they are setting up their profiles and this is a big “no-no”!

So, take a few minutes now, log into your LinkedIn account, and set up or edit your headline so that you show up higher in LinkedIn search results.

How? It’s easy!

1. Log into LinkedIn
2. Select “Profile” in the navigation bar and then “Edit profile” from the drop down menu
3. Now, you’ll see your profile page with “Edit” links next to each section
4. Click “Edit” next to your headline (it’s right below your name)
5. Type in your optimized headline

How do you write an optimized headline? Simply think about what terms people would use to find someone like you on LinkedIn. If you’re in Real Estate, make sure your headline says “Real Estate” somewhere in it. If you are a video editor or life coach, make sure you say that in your headline, not just in your experience or list of skills.

Use keywords in your headline that people understand. Think about when someone asks you what you do and what you would say to make sure they understand. This is NOT the place to use jargon from your industry. For example, don’t just say “coach”—describe how you work with people. Don’t say “photographer”—tell what you focus on: professional headshots, wedding portraits, architecture and so on.

You’d be surprised at how important your LinkedIn profile can be for helping you get leads. This one simple step helps ensure that you’ll get found, and that people will know at a glance what you do.

All Social Media Marketer members have free access to all of our program’s including Zero to LinkedIn.