How to Edit a LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is more than just an online resume, it's the digital hub of your professional brand. A well-crafted profile can attract recruiters, connect you with industry leaders, and open doors to opportunities you never knew existed. This guide will walk you through exactly how to edit each section of your LinkedIn profile to make it stand out, tell your unique professional story, and actively work for you.

First, The Basics: How to Access the Editing Tools

Before you can make your profile shine, you need to know where the editing controls are. Luckily, LinkedIn makes this straightforward.

Simply navigate to your own profile page by clicking your small profile picture (usually in the top right or top left corner) and then selecting "View Profile." Once you're on your profile page, you’ll see pencil icons (✎) next to almost every section - your intro card, your About summary, each job experience, and more. Clicking this icon opens the editing window for that specific module. Now, let’s get into the strategy behind what to put in each of those sections.

Your Digital Handshake: Mastering the Profile Photo and Banner

First impressions count, and on LinkedIn, your profile photo and banner are the very first things people see. Getting them right sets the tone for your entire profile.

The Perfect Profile Photo

Your profile picture isn't the place for a vacation snapshot or an avatar. It's your professional headshot, even if you took it yourself. Think of it as how you’d want to look meeting a future boss or a high-value client for the first time.

• Keep it Current: Use a photo that looks like you right now, not ten years ago. It builds trust when people meet you in person or on a video call.
• Focus on Your Face: Your photo should be cropped from the shoulders up. People connect with faces, so let them see yours clearly.
• Use a Neutral Background: A cluttered or distracting background takes the focus off you. A simple, solid-colored wall or a slightly blurred outdoor setting works best.
• Show Some Personality: Professional doesn't have to mean stern and boring. A genuine, warm smile makes you appear approachable and confident. Let your personality shine through.

The Often-Overlooked Banner Image

The large banner image at the top of your profile is prime real estate that too many people leave on the default blue-gradient setting. This is your chance to add context, branding, and personality.

• For Job Seekers: Create a simple graphic that highlights your core skills or a tagline like "Brand Marketer passionate about storytelling and data." You could also use a high-quality photo of your workspace or a tool central to your profession.
• For Entrepreneurs/Freelancers: This is a perfect spot for your company logo, a branded graphic with your website URL, or an image of you in action (e.g., speaking at a conference, leading a workshop).
• For Corporate Professionals: Use an 'on-brand' image from your company or something that represents your industry. A clean, abstract design or a cityscape can also work well.

Pro Tip: LinkedIn's recommended banner size is 1584 x 396 pixels. Tools like Canva have free templates designed specifically for LinkedIn banners.

Writing a Headline That Gets You Noticed

Your headline, the text directly below your name, is arguably the most important piece of copy on your entire profile. It follows you everywhere on LinkedIn - in search results, in comments you leave, and in connection requests. It's your 220-character elevator pitch.

Don’t just state your job title. Use this space strategically to tell people who you are, what you do, and who you help. Think of it as an SEO opportunity, use keywords that recruiters or potential clients might be searching for.

Try one of these formulas:

• The Value Proposition: [Job Title] | Helping [Your Audience] do [Benefit]
• The Keyword Expert: [Target Role] | [Keyword Skill 1] | [Keyword Skill 2] | [Industry Focus]

Let's compare:

• Before: Marketing Manager
• After: Senior Marketing Manager at SparkGrowth | B2B SaaS Content Strategy & Demand Generation

The second option instantly provides more context, uses valuable keywords, and is far more compelling.

Crafting a Compelling "About" Section

This is where you tell your professional story. Don't just copy and paste the summary from your resume. Your "About" section is your chance to connect with the reader on a human level, explain your 'why,' and guide them on what to do next.

How to Structure Your About Section:

1. The Hook (First 2-3 lines): Start with a strong, concise statement about what you do, who you serve, and the value you bring. Remember, only the first few lines are visible before a user has to click "see more," so make them count.
2. The Middle (The Details): Use short paragraphs or bullet points to expand on your story. Talk about your areas of expertise, proudest accomplishments, and your career journey. Weave in keywords naturally that are relevant to your field. Share your passion and your philosophy on your work.
3. The Call to Action (The Close): End by telling the reader what you want them to do. Should they connect with you? Visit your website? Send you an email? Make it easy for them.
   Example CTA: "Always open to connecting with fellow professionals in the e-commerce space. Feel free to send me a connection request or email me at yourname@email.com."

Write in the first person ("I," "my") to create a personal connection. Don't be afraid to show some personality, people want to work with other people, not just a list of skills.

The "Featured" Section: A Portfolio of Your Best Work

The Featured section allows you to pin visual content right below your "About" section. It’s a multimedia portfolio that provides tangible proof of your skills and accomplishments.

What should you feature?

• Articles you’ve written: Link to blog posts on your company’s site, your personal blog, or articles published on LinkedIn.
• Projects you’ve led: Link to a project landing page or a case study that highlights your contribution.
• Media appearances: Feature videos of you speaking, a podcast you were on, or an article where you were quoted.
• Company success stories: Link to a press release or a company announcement you were part of.

This content immediately validates the claims you made in your About section and shows, rather than just tells, what you're capable of.

Detailing Your Experience (More Than Just a Job List)

Your Experience section should be more than a simple list of past employers and job titles. Each role is an opportunity to showcase your impact.

For each position, go beyond listing your daily responsibilities. Instead, focus on your achievements, and quantify them whenever possible. Use 2-4 bullet points per role to highlight your most significant contributions.

Ask yourself:

• Did I increase revenue? By how much?
• Did I save the company time or money?
• Did I improve a process? What was the result?
• Did I grow an audience or user base? By what percentage?

Turn this:

• Managed the company's social media accounts.

Into this:

• Grew organic social media engagement by 150% in 9 months by developing and executing a new content pillar strategy focused on user-generated content and short-form video.

Make sure to link each position to the correct company page. This adds the company's logo to your profile, lending instant visual credibility.

Filling Out the Rest: Education, Skills, and Recommendations

While often scrolled past, these final sections add important layers of validation and SEO value to your profile. Don’t skip them.

Education

Keep this section straightforward. List your degree, school, and graduation year. If you’re a recent graduate or your extracurriculars are highly relevant to your field (e.g., editor of the newspaper for a journalism major), feel free to add them.

Skills & Endorsements

The Skills section is a powerful tool for LinkedIn’s search algorithm. Recruiters often search for candidates based on specific skills. Add at least 5-10 core skills relevant to your industry. You can even pin your top three skills to the top of the list so they are most visible to visitors. Endorsements from your connections act as social proof, validating your proficiency in those skills.

Recommendations

Recommendations are high-octane social proof. These are personal testimonials from colleagues, managers, or clients who have worked with you. A few well-written recommendations can be more powerful than all the bullet points in the world.

How do you get them? Ask! Reach out personally to a former boss or trusted colleague you had a great working relationship with. When you request a recommendation through LinkedIn, offer a gentle prompt like, "I'd be so grateful if you could write a brief recommendation about your experience working with me on the Project X launch."

Final Polish: Customize Your Profile URL

Lastly, for a simple but highly professional touch, customize your LinkedIn URL. By default, LinkedIn assigns you a URL with a random string of numbers and letters at the end.

Cleaning it up is easy:

1. On your profile page, look for "Edit public profile & URL" in the top right corner.
2. On the next page, under "Edit your custom URL," click the pencil icon.
3. Change your URL to something clean and simple, like linkedin.com/in/yourname or linkedin.com/in/yourname-specialty.

This customized URL looks much more professional on your resume, email signature, and business cards.

Final Thoughts

Treating your LinkedIn profile as a dynamic, evolving hub for your professional brand - rather than a static, one-and-done resume - is the key to unlocking its full potential. By thoughtfully editing each section, you can build a powerful tool that works around the clock to attract the right people and opportunities to you.

Once your profile is polished and ready, sharing valuable content consistently is the best way to leverage it. Maintaining that consistency, however, can be demanding. In our experience, having a tool to streamline the process makes all the difference, which is why we built Postbase. We designed it from the ground up to help you plan your content on a visual calendar, schedule posts reliably across LinkedIn and other platforms, and see what’s working, all from one clean place. It helps you stay top-of-mind without letting social media planning take over your day.