How to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is more than just a digital resume, it's the professional brand you present to the world. A well-optimized profile can open doors to new opportunities, connect you with industry leaders, and establish you as a genuine authority in your field. This guide will walk you through, step-by-step, how to turn a passive profile into an active asset that works for you 24/7.

Your Profile's First Impression: The Essentials

When someone lands on your profile, you have just a few seconds to capture their attention. Your photo, banner, and headline are the first things they see, making them the most important real estate on your page. Let's make sure they count.

Optimize Your Profile Picture

Your profile photo is your digital handshake. A missing or unprofessional photo is one of the quickest ways to lose credibility. It signals an incomplete or inactive profile, which can deter potential connections and recruiters.

• Keep it professional, but human. A high-quality headshot where you look friendly and approachable is perfect. You don’t need to spend a fortune, a modern smartphone camera in good lighting can do the trick.
• Clear background. Avoid distracting backgrounds. A muted, solid-colored wall or a slightly blurred-out office environment works great.
• Look at the camera. Direct eye contact builds trust, even through a screen. A warm, genuine smile goes a long way.
• What to avoid: Group photos, distant shots, overly casual selfies, pictures with pets, or anything that obscures your face (like sunglasses).

Use Your Banner as a Billboard

The default blue banner is a wasted opportunity. Think of your banner image as a free billboard promoting who you are and what you do. It provides visual context that your photo and headline can't.

• For entrepreneurs or consultants: Display your company logo, a tagline, your website, or images of you in action (speaking at an event, leading a workshop).
• For job seekers: Use it to visually represent your industry or expertise. A graphic designer might use a clean, abstract design from their portfolio. A software developer could use a stylized code background.
• For employees: Use a company-branded banner to show you're a proud team member or create a custom one with icons that represent your core skills (e.g., project management, data analysis, content creation).

You can create a custom banner for free using tools like Canva, which has pre-sized LinkedIn banner templates.

Craft a Headline That Tells a Story

Your headline is arguably the most valuable text on your profile. By default, LinkedIn populates it with your current job title, but you can do so much better. A great headline moves beyond what you are and explains who you help and how.

Think of it as your personal tagline. It follows your name everywhere on LinkedIn - in search results, newsfeed comments, and connection requests.

A simple formula to follow:

[Your Role/Title] | Helping [Your Target Audience] with [The Problem You Solve] or achieve [The Result You Deliver]

Here are a few examples:

• Bad: Social Media Manager at XYZ Corp
• Good: Social Media Manager | Helping SaaS startups build organic communities and drive demand through video content.

• Bad: Software Engineer
• Good: Senior Software Engineer | Building Scalable FinTech Solutions That People Actually Enjoy Using

• Bad: Marketing Director
• Good: Marketing Director | Driving Growth for E-commerce Brands with Performance-Driven Paid Social and SEO Strategies

These revised headlines are loaded with keywords, which helps you show up in searches. More importantly, they immediately tell your ideal connection why they should care.

Tell Your Story: The About Section

The "About" section is your chance to expand on your headline and truly connect with your reader. Stop thinking of it as a formal third-person bio or a copy-and-paste of your resume's objective statement. Instead, write in the first person and tell a compelling story.

A great About section has three parts:

1. The Hook (First 2-3 lines): These lines are visible before a user has to click "See more." Make them count. Start with a bold statement about your mission or passion, or state the main problem you solve for people.
2. The Value (The Middle): This is where you back it up. Briefly detail your experience, philosophy, and unique selling proposition. Talk about your journey and what you've learned. List a few key accomplishments or areas of expertise using bullet points to make it easy to scan.
3. The Call to Action (The End): Don't leave the reader hanging. Tell them what you want them to do next. Do you want them to connect? Visit your website? Check out your content? Give them clear directions.

Example opening: "For years, I believed that social media success was about viral hits and massive follower counts. I was wrong. It’s about building and nurturing a community, one genuine interaction at a time."

Remember to weave in keywords relevant to your industry and role so that your profile surfaces in relevant searches.

Show, Don't Just Tell: Work Experience & The Featured Section

Now it's time to provide the proof. Your work history and featured content bring your story to life with tangible examples and results.

Turn Job Descriptions into Accomplishments

Under the "Experience" section, avoid simply listing your job responsibilities. Everyone knows what a "Project Manager" does. Instead, focus on your achievements using the "What I did, what the result was" framework. Use bullet points and quantify your results whenever possible.

Instead of this:

• Managed social media campaigns across several platforms.
• Wrote copy for posts and created graphics.
• Tracked and reported on performance metrics.

Try this:

• Led a content strategy overhaul that grew our Instagram following by 300% (from 10k to 40k) in 12 months with zero ad spend.
• Launched a short-form video series that generated over 2 million organic views on LinkedIn and TikTok, contributing to a 15% increase in inbound demo requests.
• Developed a monthly reporting dashboard that provided clear, actionable insights into content performance, leading to a 25% budget reallocation toward top-performing channels.

Numbers grab attention and demonstrate your impact far more effectively than a generic list of duties.

Use the Featured Section as Your Portfolio

The "Featured" section sits right below your "About" section and is one of the most underutilized profile features. It's a visual portfolio where you can pin your best content, case studies, or external links.

Some ideas for what to feature:

• LinkedIn articles or posts you've written that performed well.
• Links to podcasts or webinars you were featured in.
• Client testimonials or case studies.
• Your personal website, a project you're proud of, or your resume.
• A company blog post you authored.

This is your chance to direct visitors to the work you're most proud of. Don't let it go to waste.

Build Credibility: Skills, Endorsements, and Recommendations

Credibility is built not just by what you say about yourself, but by what others say about you.

Manage Your Skills & Endorsements

Scroll down to the "Skills" section and add up to 50 skills relevant to your expertise. Then, pin your top three skills to the top of the list. These should be the skills you most want to be known for. Once configured, your network can easily endorse you for them, giving you a quick visual summary of social proof.

While endorsements from anyone are good, endorsements from people who are themselves skilled in that area carry more weight.

Actively Seek Recommendations

A handful of thoughtful recommendations are worth more than hundreds of endorsements. A recommendation is a written testimonial from a colleague, manager, or client that speaks to your character, work ethic, and expertise. They provide deep, credible proof of your abilities.

Don't be afraid to ask for them! Former managers or happy clients are often willing to help, but you need to make it easy for them. When you request a recommendation through LinkedIn, personalize your message:

"Hi [Name], I really enjoyed working with you on the [Project Name] last year. I’m currently updating my LinkedIn profile and was hoping you might be willing to write a brief recommendation about your experience working with me, especially regarding my skills in [Skill 1] and [Skill 2]. Anything you could share would be greatly appreciated!"

Offering to write one in return is always a kind gesture.

Activate Your Profile: Be an Active Participant

A perfectly polished profile is just the beginning. The real power of LinkedIn comes from active participation. Your profile doesn't live in a vacuum - it's the home base for all your activity on the platform.

Claim Your Custom URL

This is a small but important detail. By default, your LinkedIn profile URL is a long string of random characters. Customize it to be clean and simple, like linkedin.com/in/yourname.

You can edit this in the top right corner of your profile. It looks more professional on resumes, email signatures, and business cards.

Consider Creator Mode

If you plan to create content regularly, turn on Creator Mode. This feature shifts the primary call-to-action on your profile from "Connect" to "Follow," helping you build an audience. It also allows you to list topics you talk about (your hashtags), which frames you as a subject matter expert.

Create and Engage

The single best way to improve your profile's visibility is to consistently post valuable content and engage with others. When you comment thoughtfully on other people’s content or share your own insights, people will click back to your profile. And when they do, your perfectly optimized profile will be waiting for them, ready to make a great impression.

Building a brand happens one insightful post and one genuine comment at a time. It doesn't need to be overwhelming. Aim for consistency, not perfection.

Final Thoughts

Transforming your LinkedIn profile from a simple online resume into a powerful professional branding tool involves paying attention to the details and consistently showcasing your value. By optimizing your headline, telling your story, and backing it up with achievements and social proof, you’re not just updating a page - you're strategically positioning yourself for the opportunities you want.

Building a strong presence on LinkedIn requires consistent content creation, and that’s where our tool, Postbase, comes in. I know firsthand how challenging it can be to keep up with platforms that weren't built for today's visual, video-first world. We created Postbase with a clean visual calendar and rock-solid scheduling for formats like video, so it's easier to plan your posts ahead of time and ensure your content goes live exactly when it’s supposed to, helping you stay active without the stress.