Week after week I share with you tips and helps to improve your productivity on LinkedIn, but lots of people I meet say they can't keep up. There are several who tell me they are saving the emails for their next vacation, and then they are going to sit down and work through them all.  working on vacation

You don't know how that bums me out. You are going to blow your next vacation on the beach, in the mountains, or sitting on your dock up north reading my LinkedIn emails?

To save you some time on your next vacation, I hope you can find thirty minutes or so this week to consider my #1 LinkedIn tip for improving your findability when people are looking for your products and services.

So get out your computer, a pad of paper, and a pencil, and let me share with you:

Five Easy Steps to SEO (Search Engine Optimize) Your LinkedIn Profile

           1.  Think of the word or words that are the most important descriptor of your business or your person. For me it would be "office furniture" and "LinkedIn Trainer." 

 

As much as I would like to glamorize what we do--and we do have lots of other products and services--this is what I would pick if only allowed one term for our company and one for myself individually.

 

           2.  Go to Advanced Search and put that word or words in the keyword box and then regionalize the search (if applicable) for your territory or where you normally do business.

 

           3.  See where you show up in the search results.  Write down the position (e.g., second page, third slot, etc.).

 

           4.  Go to your profile and add that word or words a few more times throughout your profile. Now, I am not asking you to make your profile unreadable, but think about putting it in your Headline, Summary, Specialties, Position Title (job titles), Skills, Recommendations and in the detailed description of your current job or past jobs, if applicable. 

 

Based on research I have done and information I have read from some of the smartest folks who help people with LinkedIn, adding those words to your Headline and Position Titles will help you make the largest move up in the search rankings and help you tell your story more completely.

 

           5.  Repeat step #3 and see if you have moved up. If you are not high enough on the search, repeat step 4.

 

You have just performed SEO for your LinkedIn profile for those specific words. You may want to consider doing this for other important keywords as well. I am sure that any upward movement you have made in the search rankings will cause you to be reached out to more often in the future.