Did you know that your LinkedIn profile can come up in a web search?
If you’re smart and use the correct keywords, you could feature at the top of the list when someone is searching online for your product or service. Yes, it really is that simple.
What is SEO?
‘SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.’
Moz.com
You’re probably aware how SEO works with regards to websites and also blog posts too so it may be good news to you to know that your LinkedIn profile works in exactly the same way.
The definition above does make it all sound rather complicated but it’s actually as simple as using the correct keywords in your profile. The process by which the search engines crawl content to find keywords is, I’ll admit, a fairly complicated game involving the search engine’s algorithm. For your purposes though, as long as you have those keywords on your LinkedIn profile, you will increase your chances of the relevant algorithm picking them up and ranking them at the top of peoples’ searches.
What are keywords?
Keywords are the words that are used commonly in your industry. They’re the words which people use when talking about your product or service, the words people use in a ‘Google’ search when looking for what you sell or what you offer.
So, in order to work out which keywords you should use, think about these things.
Ask yourself; what do people type into Google/Bing/Yahoo etc when looking for your offering? What are the ‘buzzwords’ people use when talking about your product or service? These are likely to be just the words that people will be using in those web searches. These are the words you can use in your LinkedIn profile to help you get found online.
How to use keywords in your LinkedIn profile to maximize SEO
Google will show the first 160 characters or so in their search results. So if you put the keywords at the beginning, it will make more sense to the reader, and will improve your chances of being found by the algorithms. (Please note the 160 characters does vary depending on word length, it can be a bit less or a bit more).
How many keywords are needed to make a difference?
The first rule here is – don’t just randomly list as many keywords as you can. This could be detrimental to correct grammar and clarity of purpose!
The most important thing about your headline and your ‘about’ section is that they tell your audience very clearly what it is that you’re offering. Your LinkedIn profile is your shop window so it’s important that it is easy to understand and that it clearly represents who you are.
The best way to incorporate those all-important keywords is to pepper them within sentences, which are easy to read and understand.
In your ‘about’ section, you can also add keywords in lists. Using bullet-pointed lists in your ‘about’ section is good practice as lists are easy to read and can be consumed fairly quickly by your readers. Make sure, however, that the lists make sense to the rest of the copy. If all people see when they come to your profile is a list of random words or achievements, they won’t hang around long.
People visiting your profile want to know what you do, how you do it and how you can help them. Juggling this with incorporating keywords into your profile can be tricky. If you need any help, please do get in touch. I’m happy to offer you a mini-audit on your profile if you like, just DM me and we can set something up – free of course.
Good Luck and keep in touch!
