LinkedIn is a great social media platform for professionals to network and make connections. It’s also a vital platform for businesses to use to increase brand awareness and communicate with their audience. Many people don’t realize LinkedIn is also a dynamic resource that is indexed and frequently crawled by Google. Because of this, it’s important that you optimize your personal LinkedIn profile, as well as your organization’s LinkedIn page.
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Why You Need SEO for Your LinkedIn Profile
Just like search engine optimization for your website, optimizing your LinkedIn profile and pages can help increase your search visibility. Optimized profiles and pages will appear in search results, creating leads, and leading to conversions. LinkedIn optimization allows you to build connections with like-minded professionals in your industry, as well as attract clients.
7 Ways to Implement LinkedIn SEO
In an effort to rank higher and create connections, follow these seven steps to optimize your LinkedIn profile and company page.
1. Include keywords
Just like SEO for your website, your LinkedIn profile and page should include keywords that your target audience is using in search. Once you’ve done your keyword research, you should be implementing these terms throughout the copy of your LinkedIn page. Keywords should be in the following sections:
- Tagline
- About
- Experience
- Skills
LinkedIn recommends including additional sections in your profile as well. By adding more sections, you can add additional keywords and keyword phrases your target audiences are using when they search for your products and services. Consider leveraging the Accomplishments or Featured sections if you haven’t already.
2. Customize your LinkedIn Profile URL
LinkedIn allows you to create a custom URL for your LinkedIn profile. A LinkedIn profile or business page with a customized URL will rank higher in organic search results when users are searching for your name or organization. LinkedIn walks you through how to customize the URL for your personal profile or your company page.
3. Name your profile picture and banner image
Thinking about uploading a new headshot or background photo to your LinkedIn page? Before you upload, rename the image to include your name or relevant keywords. Google will index these images so your face or company logo will appear in image search results.
4. Create backlinks
Backlinks are the core of SEO and Google’s algorithm for page rank. Create backlinks from your LinkedIn profile by linking it in your blog posts or on your website. Link your profile in the author section of your blog or link your company page within the copy of your website.
5. Publish optimized content
LinkedIn articles and native videos are pushed to more users’ eyes by LinkedIn’s algorithm. According to Search Engine Land, this content is likely to be seen by three to four times as many people as a shared article or blog post. Because of this, this content should include keywords and be optimized for SEO. Don’t forget to include a call-to-action within the LinkedIn article or in the video post to drive traffic to your website.
6. Update frequently
One of the most important parts of LinkedIn SEO is being consistent with posting updates. In order for Google to have new information to crawl, you have to add more content often. LinkedIn is a great platform to share your content marketing materials like blogs, case studies, guides, and ebooks. LinkedIn articles can be utilized to repurpose blog content, but beware of posting duplicate content.
7. Check analytics
To ensure your optimization efforts are working, be sure to check the data. LinkedIn provides analytic reports for both personal profiles and company pages. These analytics show the number of profile views, search appearances, and post views that your LinkedIn profile received. LinkedIn tracks the number of new followers, post impressions, and unique visitors. Don’t forget to track conversions as well. Check Google Analytics to determine how many of your leads are coming to your website from your LinkedIn profile or page.
When you approach optimizing your LinkedIn pages using these seven steps, Google will index your page in ways that will benefit you and your company. Use relevant keywords and phrases, publish original content, and analyze the data. For more help with SEO on your social media, website, or blog, download our free SEO checklist.
This article originally appeared in SMA Marketing.
This article was written by Olivia Tagye from Business2Community and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
