Use This SEO Strategy to Direct More Traffic to Your LinkedIn Profile

Have you ever wondered how to direct more traffic to your LinkedIn profile? If so, you’re smart. Job seekers who ponder potential strategies for getting more viewers to their LinkedIn profile understand good business. After all, leveraging a free social platform to find a job that pays well is pretty brilliant. However, the how of directing traffic to one’s little corner of LinkedIn can be perplexing.

“How Can I Direct Traffic to My LinkedIn Profile?”

A vast number of people use LinkedIn for the sole purpose of finding a job. (If every job seeker knew that 64% of social referrals to a company’s website come from LinkedIn, a greater number would be active on the platform.) What these individuals need is a tool to help them win the fight with unemployment, or employment that is unsatisfactory. The ideal traffic-directing tool would be free and quick to use. Such a tool exists, and it is referred to as SEO.

What Is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

Does merely glimpsing the acronym “SEO” make you automatically assume it’s too complicated to understand? If so, you’ve got it wrong. If you are competent enough to have a LinkedIn profile, you’re competent enough to use SEO techniques to direct traffic to it.

SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, is defined by Moz as a “marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines.” When you complete your LinkedIn profile using SEO techniques, potential employers and recruiters seeking a candidate with your skill set have a good chance of finding you via the Web.

How to Use SEO to Direct More Traffic to Your LinkedIn Profile

Average people (not just techies) can use SEO to get traffic to their LinkedIn profile. Here’s one way to do this: include more keywords in your text.

A keyword is a word that people use in their Web searches. For example, if you are a Youth Program Coordinator, “youth,” “program,” and “coordinator” are all keywords that recruiters seeking a professional like you will use in their online searches. Make it your aim to increase the keyword density of your LinkedIn profile’s text WITHOUT sounding repetitive or unnatural.

If there’s anywhere you’ll want to use keywords strategically, it’s in your professional headline. Laura Smith-Prouix wrote, “Keywords listed in the Headline field will have a greater impact, increasing your ranking among other users for the same terms. Now you know why using the default ‘current-job’ Headline is not a good idea. As an example, consider switching ‘Vice President Sales at ABC Corporation’ (your current position) to ‘VP Sales. Revenue Growth in Cloud-Enabled Technology Solutions. Product Development & Sales Operations Leadership’  (your current position with more keywords added to more fully explain it). This strategy prevents ABC Corporation from becoming a highly relevant search term on this user’s profile while enabling other keywords (Product Development, Sales Operations, Cloud-Enabled Technology, Revenue Growth) to draw more traffic.”

You’ll find additional ideas about utilizing SEO techniques for maximum LinkedIn traffic here.

Katy Elle Blake reported that there are 433 million LinkedIn users, and that 106 million unique users visit LinkedIn each month. You can get some of those unique users to your LinkedIn profile by implementing the SEO techniques we’ve mentioned.

There are millions of potential employers and recruiters who visit LinkedIn each month. Isn’t it encouraging to realize that you only need ONE–the right one–to find you?