Most individuals having LinkedIn profiles aren’t completely aware of how to use these profiles to their optimum level. Why is this important? Well whether you are a job seeker or a recruiter it applies to you. Simply because having complete knowledge of how to use these profiles with its features will definitely assist you in any case.

Why LinkedIn?

Aside from being the largest professional social network online today with over 100 million professional users, it is also one of the popular sites used by most recruiters to source potential candidates. So if you are a professional or a business owner, you can’t afford to miss out on the opportunity to build relationships with potential customers, clients, partners and peers on LinkedIn. Knowing how to use such profiles will help you to be efficient in your work and obtain desired results.

Complete your Profile

In order to get noticed it is essential that your profile is completed. A completed profile is ranked higher as compared to incomplete ones. When creating a headline make sure it is a compelling one. Ensure that the profile summary has brief but descriptive keywords since you have a limit of 120 characters. Make certain that you fill up all the headings and let LinkedIn prompt you about you or the company’s profile, so you know what the strength of the profile is.

Watch the Keywords

Even though you would like to use words that you and your company can be associated to, it is not very effective if they aren’t SEO friendly. Make sure that your headline has SEO friendly keywords as this will help your profile to come up whenever those keywords are searched. Make certain that the words used to describe yourself or your skills have the commonly searched keywords. Ensure that you begin with ‘My name is…’ because your name is also a keyword and will improve your visibility too.

Build Connections

LinkedIn when ranking a profile even takes in to account the number of connections you have. To improve your visibility you will need to expand the contacts that you have. In order to expand your contacts you need to make sure that you send invitations to class mates, previous colleagues, friends and clients you may have and accept friend requests you receive form unknown people preferably the ones from your industry choice.

Join Groups and Be Active

If you are looking to build your connections joining groups would be a good idea. When selecting groups to join see the groups that people from your industry are part of. Pick groups that are related to the industry choice as this will help you to gain insights into the development of your industry and make more connections. The more groups you are a part of, the better because this will add to your connections. Make sure to participate in the discussions so people notice you.

Have an Updated Profile

Apart from having a completed profile you also need to have updated information along with good content. So ensure that your profile is updated regularly and the content is fresh. This will improve the appearance and improve your LinkedIn ranking.

These aspects if focused on will boost your LinkedIn visibility and even improve your ranking. With an up to date profile the chances of you being noticed is higher and the possibility of job offers will also increase. If you are qualified for the desired job post and meet all the criteria you just might get selected. So don’t wait and ensure that your profile covers all the aspects covered to get noticed.