Are you looking to maximize your exposure on social media? Checking your LinkedIn settings might be the first step to boosting your profile on the site.
These two simple LinkedIn profile tips are often underutilized and they make it so much easier for people to find your LinkedIn profile without having to create content or do extra work. You have to know how to use your LinkedIn profile settings to your advantage.
Before we get into my two tried and true LinkedIn profile tips, we have to understand how to optimize your LinkedIn profile content. Doing so will be the key to creating your best LinkedIn “public profile” and increasing your visibility on the platform.
What is my public profile?
According to LinkedIn, your “public profile” is the sections of your profile “that appear when people search for you on search engines.” Search engines in this case includes when LinkedIn members search for you within LinkedIn and when people who are not signed into LinkedIn use search engines like Google to find you. Additionally, your public profile is what people see when they access your profile from other means such as the link in your email signature or on your company website.
How do I get to my public profile?
In order to optimize your LinkedIn profile, we first need to make sure we know how to access it. Log into LinkedIn either on desktop or mobile and do the following:
- Click on the little drop-down where it says “Me” under your profile photo on the top banner of the LinkedIn site (or click on your profile photo if you are on the mobile LinkedIn app).
- Go to “Settings & Privacy” (or “Settings” on the mobile app)
- Click on “Visibility” on the left-hand menu, and finally
- Click on “Edit your public profile” as you can see in the screenshot below.
Now we can start optimizing your information to help boost your brand. If you are still having problems accessing your public profile, here is a great LinkedIn guide that can help you. Below are my two LinkedIn profile tips for creating the best possible public profile.
Here Are The Two Most Important LinkedIn Profile Tips To Consider
LinkedIn Profile Tip #1: Update your profile URL
This is the literal web address to your profile and it often contains search terms that are directly relevant to what you do.
On the default setting. your URL is a collection of random numbers and letters with your name mixed in. This makes it impossible to find you via Google or another search engine. You can add more personal information to the URL that will make your name and your profession easier to find across LinkedIn and the internet in general. Think about what the most important keywords are for your brand. If you are an immigration lawyer looking for more exposure, terms like “immigration lawyer” or “h1b” would be great relevant keywords to include while “relocation” or “mobility” might be better if you are a global mobility professional.
For example, my LinkedIn profile URL ends in “romanzelichenko-electronic-lca-posting-public-access-file/” which has both my name as well as important keywords related to my immigration tech company LaborLess which digitizes and automates, you guessed it, LCA posting and public access files for H-1B employers and immigration law firms!
LinkedIn Profile Tip #2: Check your visibility status
When I say “visibility” on LinkedIn, this is the setting the makes your profile public or private. When your visibility is set to public, this means that all of your information including your profile photo and every single aspect of your LinkedIn profile like your heading, job history, and skills and any other details that you filled out can be viewed by anyone. Make sure that your visibility status is set so that your profile is public, not private.
The reason why having a visible, or public, profile is so important is that it increases your visibility on the internet and makes you and your services far more findable. If someone is viewing your LinkedIn profile from a Google search or from a link from your website , they are probably interested in your or your products or services, or at the very least they are interested in knowing more about your brand. Why not give them all the information you can?
Now that your profile is optimized, you can focus on creating unique content and making connections on LinkedIn. Both of these strategies will go far on LinkedIn and with your professional network! Here’s my guide to using these strategies to build your presence on LinkedIn as a legal or immigration professional.
