LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million users worldwide. On LinkedIn, members can request recommendations from people they’ve worked with to showcase their skills, accomplishments, and work ethic. Recommendations on LinkedIn act as endorsements and can improve a user’s profile and credibility.
Many LinkedIn users want to showcase these recommendations on their website or blog to further highlight their professional brand. Embedding LinkedIn recommendations is a great way to do this.
What is a LinkedIn recommendation?
A LinkedIn recommendation is a written statement from a LinkedIn connection that endorses a user’s skills, character, and achievements. Recommendations can be provided by managers, colleagues, clients, business partners, or anyone else the user has worked with.
Recommendations typically include:
– Details on how the user and recommender know each other professionally
– Description of projects worked on together and the user’s specific contributions
– An evaluation of the user’s skills, work ethic, and impact on the project
– An overall endorsement of the user
Quality recommendations on LinkedIn provide tangible evidence of a user’s qualifications and abilities from credible sources. This lends credibility to the user’s profile and brand.
Why embed LinkedIn recommendations?
There are several benefits to embedding LinkedIn recommendations on a website or blog:
– **Showcases endorsements** – Recommendations directly from professional connections showcase the user’s positive reputation and abilities. This can build trust and credibility with site visitors.
– **Provides social proof** – People are more likely to trust recommendations on LinkedIn than self-written content. Embeddings add external validation.
– **Supplements SEO** – Embedded recommendations add high-quality content to pages. This provides additional keywords and links for search engine crawlers to index.
– **Enhances personal brand** – Displaying recommendations makes a strong statement about connections and quality of work. This strengthens personal or company brand identity.
– **Adds multimedia content** – Embeddings incorporate LinkedIn profile pictures and text in a visually engaging, interactive format compared to static text.
– **Easy to maintain** – Embedded recommendations update automatically if the recommendation on LinkedIn is modified. There is no need to manually update content.
How to embed LinkedIn recommendations
Embedding LinkedIn recommendations on another website involves just a few simple steps:
1. Go to your LinkedIn profile and click on the Recommendations section.
2. Click on the three dots next to the recommendation you want to embed.
3. Select “Embed recommendation”.
4. Copy the iframe code that pops up. It will look something like this:
5. Paste the code into your website or blog page HTML where you want the recommendation to display.
And that’s it! The recommendation will now be live and embedded on your site. The iframe code does all the work behind the scenes to pull the recommendation content from LinkedIn and display it.
Here is an example of embedded LinkedIn recommendations on a website:
Customizing embeds
The default iframe code will embed the LinkedIn recommendation with standard width and height dimensions. However, the code can be customized to control the appearance:
– **Resize embed** – Edit the height and width parameters to resize the iframe. For example:
– **Remove scrollbars** – Add scrolling=”no” to hide scrollbars if the content overflows the iframe. Like this:
– **Alter styles** – Use CSS to change visual styles like borders or typography. Add CSS styles directly to the page or inline in a `
This applies a 5px black border around the iframe.
Embedding recommendations best practices
To make the most of embedded LinkedIn recommendations, consider these best practices:
- **Choose relevant recommendations** - Select recommendations that are applicable to your industry and align with the website content.
- **Curate multiple recommendations** - Embed 3-5 recommendations together for added impact. But avoid cluttering the page.
- **Keep embeds updated** - Periodically swap out older recommendations for newer ones to keep content fresh.
- **Add context** - Introduce embeds with a sentence explaining who wrote the recommendation and their relationship.
- **Credit recommenders** - Ask permission before embedding recommendations and credit contributors by name.
- **Optimize placement** - Embed recommendations near top of page content and in natural break points relevant to the text.
- **Make embeds prominent** - Consider visual treatments like large iframe sizes, borders, background colors to make embeds stand out.
- **Monitor performance** - Track analytics data on interactions with embeds as part of optimization.
Alternatives to embedding LinkedIn recommendations
Embedding the full LinkedIn recommendation iframe provides the richest content. However, there are a couple alternatives to consider:
**Screenshot or copy/paste text**
Rather than embedding the live content, you could take a screenshot of the recommendation and add the image to your site. Or simply copy and paste the text into your HTML.
This is quicker and gives you more control over styling. But screenshots won't update if the recommendation is changed. And copied text loses the visual association with LinkedIn.
**Blockquote citation**
Another option is to quote the recommendation text in a blockquote element and cite the author's name. Like this:
"John Doe is an exceptional marketing talent. He spearheaded our rebranding initiative and exceeded every expectation."
- Mary Smith, CEO at ABC Company
This retains key messaging in a more compact format. But again loses the LinkedIn attribution.
Overall, embedding the full recommendation iframe is best to retain all context. The alternatives sacrifice some benefits but can be used if you prefer more content control.
Limitations of LinkedIn recommendation embeds
While embedding LinkedIn recommendations has many advantages, there are some limitations to consider as well:
- **Layout restrictions** - You can't modify embedded content outside of basic iframe styling. Elements like profile pictures and text are fixed.
- **Content changes** - If connections edit or delete recommendations on LinkedIn, embeds will update outside your control.
- **Limited recommendations** - Each user can only display 3 recommendations on their LinkedIn profile by default.
- **HTTPS required** - Website must use HTTPS security for embeds to function properly.
- **Blocked content** - Some corporate firewalls or browsers may block LinkedIn embed content.
- **Privacy restrictions** - European LinkedIn users may not be able to embed recommendations due to GDPR privacy laws.
- **Temporary unavailability** - LinkedIn servers may occasionally be unable to load embed content depending on network conditions.
While not dealbreakers, these limitations warrant consideration. Weigh whether positives outweigh potential downsides for your specific goals.
Troubleshooting recommendation embeds
In most cases, LinkedIn recommendation embeds should work smoothly. But here are some troubleshooting tips if you run into issues:
- **Validate iframe code** - Double check the embed code matches the example and uses proper iframe syntax.
- **Check HTTPS configuration** - Embedding requires HTTPS on your site. Confirm security protocols are set up correctly.
- **Try another recommendation** - Not all recommendations may generate embed codes properly. Try a different one.
- **Clear browser cache** - If embeds suddenly stop working, refresh the browser cache in case of stale data.
- **Use embed debugger** - LinkedIn's embed debugger tests embed functionality and can identify problems.
- **Confirm privacy settings** - European users may need to adjust their LinkedIn privacy settings to allow embeds.
- **Refresh recommended content** - Ask connections to rewrite stale recommendations with up-to-date details.
- **Contact LinkedIn support** - If issues persist, LinkedIn customer support can further investigate.
With some diligent testing and troubleshooting, most embedding issues can be resolved. Reach out for help if problems continue.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to some common questions about embedding LinkedIn recommendations:
**Can I embed a LinkedIn recommendation without an iframe?**
No, an iframe is required to display the live recommendation content from LinkedIn's servers. Screenshots or copied text won't update automatically.
**Do I need permission to embed someone's recommendation?**
Technically you can embed any public recommendation without permission. But it's best practice to ask the recommender first before republishing their content.
**How often do embedded recommendations update?**
Embeds draw the latest data from LinkedIn in real-time. Any changes made to the recommendation on LinkedIn will automatically update the embedded version.
**Can I edit the embedded recommendation?**
No, the text and formatting of an embedded recommendation can't be edited, only the dimensions of the iframe itself. To modify content, you would need to ask the recommender to update their LinkedIn recommendation.
**Is there a limit to how many recommendations I can embed?**
There is no technical limit from LinkedIn on the number of embeds. But avoid over-embedding recommendations that clutter the page. Curate 3-5 quality recommendations as a best practice.
Conclusion
Embedding LinkedIn recommendations can be a highly effective way to showcase endorsements from your professional connections. The interactive embeds add multimedia content and social validation to help strengthen your online personal brand and credibility.
With just a simple iframe code, you can embed recommendations seamlessly on your website or blog. Be sure to follow best practices around customization, optimization, and troubleshooting to maximize the impact. Limitations exist, but overall LinkedIn recommendations provide a unique way to highlight meaningful career achievements.