Last week I stumbled upon a hidden treasure chest, and I could hardly wait to share it with you. LinkedIn hasn't given it a name, so let's just refer to it as the LinkedIn Keyword Treasure Chest.

To access the treasure chest, simply cut and paste this URL into your web browser:

https://linkedin.com/topic/

Then enter the keyword or keywords you're interested in researching--for instance, https://linkedin.com/topic/search_engine_optimization. If you have multiple words, like search engine optimization, be sure to try it with a space between the words and underscores between the words, and also try abbreviations--for example, https://www.linkedin.com/topic/seo. I found that each approach will result in different useful information.
.

What treasure will you find?

If you're interested in search engine optimization--finding a vendor, checking out what your competitors who specialize in SEO are doing, or perhaps looking for a job as an SEO specialist--your treasure hunt will uncover:
.

• Popular articles about SEO that are posted on LinkedIn
• People who have listed SEO as a skill on their profile and the name of the school they attended
• Topics similar to or related to SEO
• Popular SlideShare presentations on SEO
• LinkedIn groups you can join related to SEO
• SEO jobs posted on LinkedIn
• LinkedIn Company pages that have search engine optimization in their name or description

The Keyword Treasure Chest appears to be a work in process at LinkedIn because the format of the page and the information on the page can vary. However, despite these variations, you can discover some extremely valuable information.
.

Observations and action steps

This may seem like a lot of random information, so let me share some ideas about how you can use this information to advance your business and career.

1.  Skills. Ask yourself, Have I listed all applicable skills in my Skills section?

2.  Presentations. Check out what your competitors are sharing with their audiences, and make sure what you're sharing is equally valuable to your market.

3.  Individuals. Check out the profiles of key individuals on the list. Does this give you any ideas about information you should add to your profile? If the person is a competitor, you may want to change your "select what others see when you've viewed their profile" setting to anonymous before stalking him/her. Then the person won't know that you've scoped out his/her profile.

4.  Groups. Check them out and consider joining any groups that are relevant to your business or job search. Remember--birds of a feather flock together.

5.  Jobs. If you're a job seeker, this could be the yellow brick road to your very own Oz.

6.  Companies. If you're a salesperson or a job seeker, check out the Company page and see what's going on. Then click the Follow button so you can be informed of future happenings at the company that may give you an inside track to a potential sale or job opportunity.

7.  Articles. Read them and learn, but also take note of the authors and ask yourself, Am I publishing articles like this about my area of expertise--and, if not, why not?

I definitely need to join you in capitalizing on this LinkedIn Keyword Treasure Chest. I need to go beyond my more obvious keywords--LinkedIn, LinkedIn speaker, LinkedIn consultant, LinkedIn consulting, LinkedIn trainer--and keep thinking of new keywords to try, like social selling, sales training, keynote speaker, etc. I have lots to do! How about you?