Determining your LinkedIn public profile username can be important for a few reasons. Your profile URL is used when sharing your LinkedIn profile with others, and it’s part of your professional digital identity. Knowing your exact public profile username allows you to have better control over your personal brand on LinkedIn.
Why is my LinkedIn profile URL important?
Your LinkedIn public profile URL is the web address that points to your profile on LinkedIn. It’s what someone would type into their browser to access your profile directly. Your profile URL usually takes the form of www.linkedin.com/in/yourusername.
For example, someone’s profile URL might be www.linkedin.com/in/johnsmith.
Some key reasons why your LinkedIn profile URL matters:
- It makes your profile easily shareable – You can include your LinkedIn URL in your email signature, on business cards, and anywhere else you want to publicize your LinkedIn presence.
- It establishes your personal brand – The username in your profile URL becomes part of your professional identity on LinkedIn.
- It affects your searchability – Your username and profile URL can impact how easily people can find you through LinkedIn search.
- It’s used by other sites – Some services integrate with LinkedIn using your profile URL to connect your accounts.
So in summary, your LinkedIn profile URL is important as part of building your professional digital footprint and personal brand on the platform.
How to find your LinkedIn public profile URL
There are a few simple ways to find and verify your LinkedIn public profile URL if you don’t already know it:
Method 1: Look at your profile’s web address
The easiest way is to simply look at the URL in your browser’s address bar while viewing your profile. This shows your actual public profile URL that others would use to access your profile.
Method 2: Go to your public profile settings
You can also find your profile URL in your account settings:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile page
- Click on the “Me” icon in the top navigation bar
- Select “View profile” from the dropdown menu
- On your profile page, click on the “Edit public profile & URL” pencil icon button
- This will show your public profile URL – it will be in the format www.linkedin.com/in/yourusername
Method 3: Look at your sharing settings
Another way to find your public profile URL:
- Go to your profile page and click the “More” icon in the top navigation bar
- Select “Settings & Privacy” from the menu
- Go to “Sharing profile and visibility”
- Under “Profile viewing options”, click on “Share profile URL”
- This will display and let you copy your full public profile URL
How to choose or change your LinkedIn profile URL
If you’re new to LinkedIn or want to change your profile URL, you can set a custom public profile URL on LinkedIn.
New LinkedIn members
When you first join LinkedIn, you’ll have the chance to choose your public profile URL as part of the signup process. This lets you pick a custom username for your URL rather than using an assigned sequence of numbers and letters.
Existing LinkedIn members
If you already have a LinkedIn profile, you can change your public profile URL by following these steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile page and click “Edit public profile & URL”
- Click “Edit” next to the URL section
- Type in the new custom username you want for your URL
- Check availability and save the new URL
Keep in mind the username needs to be unique and will show as unavailable if it’s already taken by another member. You may need to append numbers or other characters to find an available variant.
Tips for your LinkedIn profile URL
Here are some tips when choosing or changing your LinkedIn profile URL username:
- Use your real name or a version of it if possible – This helps with personal branding and being found by connections.
- Keep it professional – Avoid using nicknames or other informal names not appropriate for business.
- Make it simple and memorable – Optimize for someone being able to easily recall and type your URL.
- Use consistent branding – Have your URL align with your name as used on your resume, portfolio, etc.
- Consider search optimization – Incorporate relevant keywords people may search for.
- Check availability – Try different versions if your first or last name is already taken.
- Avoid changing it later – Your profile URL will act as the stable link to your profile over time.
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn profile URL is an important part of your professional presence and personal brand on LinkedIn. Take some time to find it, set it if new to LinkedIn, and optimize it to be clean, memorable, and on-brand. This will make your profile easy to share and find moving forward as you use LinkedIn to build your professional network and opportunities.