LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million users worldwide. With so many people using LinkedIn, it’s important to optimize your settings to stand out and be discoverable to the right connections.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the key LinkedIn account settings you should configure to maximize your presence and get found by recruiters and business opportunities.
Profile Settings
Your profile is your digital resume on LinkedIn. Make sure it’s complete and optimized to represent your professional brand.
Profile Photo
Use a professional headshot as your profile image. This will be the first thing people see when visiting your profile, so make sure it’s high quality and portrays you in the best light. Some tips:
- Wear professional attire like a suit or dress
- Smile and make eye contact with the camera
- Ensure proper focus and lighting
- Consider using a solid neutral background
You want your photo to inspire confidence in your professional capabilities at a glance.
Headline
Your headline appears right below your name and summarizes who you are professionally in just a few words. This is prime real estate for keywords.
Include your current job title and professional specialty. You can also mention credentials like degrees, certifications, or licenses. Just keep it concise.
For example: “Digital Marketing Director @ Acme Agency | Certified Digital Marketer”
About Section
Use the about section to provide a summary of your professional accomplishments, skills, and goals. Recruiters will refer to this often, so ensure it’s optimized with relevant keywords.
Some tips for writing a compelling about section:
- Focus on professional skills, achievements, and qualifications
- Use keywords applicable to your target roles or industry
- Quantify accomplishments with numbers when possible
- Convey your personal brand and value proposition
- Keep it succinct – around 2-3 paragraphs
Experience
Detail your work experiences here like a resume. Focus on showcasing relevant skills, achievements, and responsibilities for each role.
Some best practices:
- List roles in reverse chronological order
- Include company, job title, employment dates
- Use bullet points to summarize responsibilities and accomplishments
- Use keywords applicable to your target job search
Education
List your degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework here. Include the institutions attended, degree earned, field of study and dates. Highlighting your educational credentials can make you stand out.
Skills
Keyword-rich skills are very discoverable on LinkedIn. Be sure to add at least 5 key skills – these will increase your visibility in searches.
Tips for selecting skills:
- Include technical hard skills for your profession
- Add widely used business skills like “Project Management”
- Include industry-specific skills that recruiters may search for
Background Photo
A professional background photo further personalizes your profile. This could showcase your company office, industry environment or a related image.
Some tips:
- Use high-quality, non-grainy images
- Cohesive color schemes look more appealing
- Avoid cluttered or distracting backgrounds
- Customizable background templates are available
Just keep in mind that minimal, clean backgrounds tend to work best.
Settings
Now let’s explore some key account settings beyond your profile that can optimize your LinkedIn presence.
Verbose Work Experience
Enabling this adds “Working” to current position titles on your profile. This provides more context for visitors.
For example: “Working – Marketing Director at XYZ Company”.
To turn on: Go to Settings & Privacy > Profile Visibility > Check “Show current position & duration”.
Open Profile
Making your profile “open” allows any LinkedIn member to view your full profile without needing to connect. This makes you more discoverable.
To enable: Go to Settings & Privacy > Profile Visibility > Set profile visibility to “Public”.
Show Connection Number
Displaying your connection count conveys your professional network size. Recruiters may view this as social proof.
To enable: Go to Settings & Privacy > Select “Show my connections number”.
Show Skill Assessments
LinkedIn Skill Assessments let you showcase your proficiency in skills on your profile. Turning this on displays any assessments you’ve completed.
To enable: Go to Settings & Privacy > Select “Show my skill assessments”.
Profile Photo Visibility
Make your photo visible to anyone viewing your profile, even non-connections. This gives your profile a more approachable feel.
To change: Go to Settings & Privacy > Profile Photo Visibility > Select “Your network + recruiters”.
Allow Profile Editing
Enable this to allow any LinkedIn member to suggest edits to your profile, like fixing typos or adding missing information. This can help improve your profile quality.
To change: Go to Settings & Privacy > Select “Yes” for Allow Profile Editing. Review any edits before publishing.
Activity Broadcasts
Turning on activity broadcasts shares when you update your profile or celebrate a work anniversary. This can expand your professional visibility.
To enable: Go to Settings & Privacy > Sharing & Visibility > Check “Share profile edits, work anniversaries, etc.”
Keywords for Profile Search Visibility
Targeting keyword searches can help you get discovered by more relevant opportunities and connections.
To add: Go to Settings & Privacy > Discovery > Add keywords describing your professional expertise.
Notifications
Finally, configure your LinkedIn notifications to stay on top of messages, mentions and other updates.
Email Frequency
Set how often you receive email updates from LinkedIn. Daily or weekly tend to be the most popular cadences.
To adjust: Click the Me icon > Settings & Privacy > Communications > Email frequency
Push Notifications
Enable push notifications on your mobile app to get real-time alerts about messages, mentions, reactions and other activity.
To manage: Tap your Profile Photo > Settings > Notifications. Toggle notifications on or off.
Stay Updated When You’re Mentioned
Get notifications anytime someone mentions you in a post or comment to stay engaged.
To enable: Click the Me icon > Settings & Privacy > Communications > Check “Someone mentions you”.
Conclusion
Optimizing your LinkedIn presence is crucial for professional branding and opportunities. Configuring your profile, settings and notifications can help maximize your visibility and connections.
Key takeaways include:
- Use a professional profile photo and headline
- Build an informative, keyword-rich profile
- Display current position, connections and assessments
- Make your profile open and visible
- Turn on relevant notifications
By spending time on the right LinkedIn setup, you can showcase the best version of your professional self and reach new career heights.