Business owners can no longer ignore the relevancy and potential benefits a LinkedIn profile holds for their businesses. With over 200 million users to date, professionals on LinkedIn are discussing, learning, and sharing on a daily basis. It has evolved from a static database for uploading resumes to a dynamic and engaged social platform with valuable opportunities for business owners.
Unlike Facebook, you don’t need a separate business page or even a premium LinkedIn account to acquire the benefits of the platform. With a Search Engine Optimized profile to increase your visibility, you can leverage your connections to become a Linkedin influencer and reach your prospective customers. Integrate LinkedIn into your business’s marketing plan to grow your business today!
LinkedIn’s SEO Benefits for Small Business
Take advantage of LinkedIn’s high-ranking authority in search engine results to boost your business’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Tackling your SEO on LinkedIn may sound daunting but there are three simple steps you can take that will have immediate benefits for your SEO and increase your business’s visibility.
1. Complete your LinkedIn Profile
Completing your profile the first step to get better search rankings. Many people often leave their profile dormant but an incomplete profile not only makes you appear unprepared and technically challenged, it can also hurt your visibility on search engine results. LinkedIn also rewards users who are active with better search placement on its platform. Be sure to edit your LinkedIn profile privacy settings so that your LinkedIn profile is visible to everyone. Make it easy for LinkedIn users to search for you and connect to you.
LinkedIn Recommendations
Under LinkedIn’s rules, your profile will not be labeled as 100% complete without at least three recommendations, even if you’ve completed your basic profile. Use the “Request Recommendations” feature to ask your connections for recommendations but tailor the default message for the individual you’re contacting.
- The message should be both personal and concise.
- Start off with a compliment such as, “I enjoyed working with you on such and such project” or “I value your opinion on this matter”.
- Include a point of reference to help your contact remember specifics about you. It can be a project you worked together on or an accomplishment.
- Take initiative and write recommendations for your connections first so that they reciprocate the favor.
2. Claim your LinkedIn Vanity URL
Customize your LinkedIn profile with a unique URL. By default, the URL LinkedIn assigns your profile is a random numeric code. Edit your profile so that your LinkedIn profile URL looks like http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname. With your name in the URL, your profile will rank for searches for your name because search engines look for relevant keywords in the URL. One way to rank in searches for your industry- you can edit your URL to include both your name and industry type. For example: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsmithseoexpert
To edit this URL, visit your profile, click on “edit” next to your public profile URL, and then “edit” once again.
3. Industry Keywords in LinkedIn Profile
Optimize your profile for SEO in search engines and in LinkedIn’s internal search results. Not only is it important for your headline, job description, and job title to have relevant keywords for your industry, Google also indexes the summary section of your profile.
- Be sure to use exact phrasing that your potential customers would use when they’re searching for businesses in your industry.
- Use bulleted job descriptions with a wide variety of keywords rather than a paragraph format description
If you need help brainstorming for keywords, look for relevant keywords by typing in a skill or area of expertise in the search bar on the upper right corner. LinkedIn will not only give you a related keywords, but also a list of professionals who have listed the skill or expertise in their profile, a list of related companies, related locations, the relative popularity of the keywords to other similar keywords, and much more.
If you’re looking to get started on LinkedIn or searching for tips to optimize your profile, take a look at our free eBook “LinkedIn for Business, A Step-by-Step Guide to Reach New Customers”. Building a social media profile is a daunting task but our free eBook will walk you through the steps with actionable advice. It will teach you how to optimize your profile to increase your visibility, leverage your connections, and become a LinkedIn influencer to help you reach your prospective customers.
Image Credit: renjith krishnan
8 Comments
I’m glad that completing your profile is the first step on this list. So many people don’t fully finish their profile and leave many important details out. This not only hurts search engine rankings, but also hurts their chance of connecting with future customers as well as partners. Great article Susan!
Thanks Aaron! Often enough, it’s the simplest steps that we overlook. An incomplete profile is such a common mistake on LinkedIn- only 50.5% of users have a completed profile!
nice blog. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank for for the tips. I have applied them to my profile, lets see if the viewers count climb.