Your LinkedIn profile is working right now. Whether you posted today or not, people are finding you through search, through your comments on other people's posts, through mutual connections. The question is: what do they see when they arrive?

For most people, the answer is a profile that was last updated in 2021, a headline that says their job title, an about section that reads like a resume and a featured section that's empty.

That's like handing someone a business card with half the text rubbed off. Except worse, because a business card doesn't have a "People Also Viewed" sidebar showing five other people who do the same thing as you but look way more impressive.

Here's the thing: complete profiles get 30% more views. Personal profiles get 2.75x more impressions than company pages. And posting just once a week increases profile views by up to 4x. These are easy, compounding gains that most people leave on the table because updating a LinkedIn profile feels like a chore. It is a chore. It's also a chore that pays for itself for months after you do it.

Your profile is your always-on landing page. It's working for you (or against you) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even when you're asleep, on vacation or pretending to pay attention in a meeting. The ROI of one hour spent optimizing it is absurdly high compared to almost anything else you could do for your professional visibility.

This is the full checklist. Go section by section, audit what you have, fix what needs fixing.

1. Profile Photo

This is the first thing people register. Before they read your headline, before they check your company, they see your face. Humans are face-recognition machines. We process faces faster than text. Your photo creates an impression before a single word of your profile loads.

The rules:

Professional but approachable. Suit and tie is optional. Looking like you actually smiled at some point is not. You want to look like someone people would want to grab coffee with, not someone who's about to deliver a performance review.
Face should take up about 60% of the frame. Cropped from mid-chest up works best. If people need a magnifying glass to identify you, the photo is zoomed out too far.
Clean background. Solid colors, blurred office, simple outdoor setting. Not a selfie at a wedding. Not a cropped group photo where someone's mysterious hand is still on your shoulder.
Recent. If your photo is more than 3 years old, it's time for a new one. If people would not recognize you from your LinkedIn photo at a conference, it's definitely time.
High resolution. A blurry photo signals that you don't pay attention to details. Unfair? Sure. True? Absolutely.

The test: If someone met you at a conference after seeing your LinkedIn photo, would they recognize you? If not, the photo isn't doing its job.

You don't need a professional photographer. A friend with a recent iPhone, good natural light and a plain wall gets you 90% of the way there. Go outside during golden hour (the hour before sunset), stand in a shaded area facing the light, have someone take 20 photos from chest up. One of those 20 will be good enough. The whole process takes 10 minutes.

Pro tip: Avoid logos, text overlays or branded graphics on your profile photo. Some people add their company logo or a "hiring" banner as a ring around their photo. It looks cluttered. Your face is the brand. Let it be the focus. The only exception: if you're running a major campaign and the branded ring is temporary. Even then, it probably doesn't help as much as you think.

2. Banner Image

Most people either use the default blue LinkedIn banner or upload a photo from their last vacation. Both are missed opportunities. The default banner says "I don't care about this profile." The vacation photo says "I care about this profile, but I don't know what I'm doing."

Your banner is a billboard. It's the largest visual element on your profile. It's the first thing anyone sees when they visit your page. Use it.

What to put on your banner:

Your value proposition in one line ("Helping B2B companies build predictable pipeline")
Your company name/logo if it has strong recognition
A key stat or result ("500+ companies scaled")
Your website URL or a CTA
A combination of the above. The best banners include a clear statement of who you help and what result you create.

What not to put on your banner:

A generic stock photo of a cityscape (you're not a tourism board)
A mountain range with an inspirational quote (you're not a motivational poster)
Nothing (the default, which basically screams "I haven't thought about this")
An extremely busy design with 6 different fonts and 12 colors (less is more)

Design tools like Canva have LinkedIn banner templates. It takes 15 minutes to create something that looks polished. The dimensions you need: 1584 x 396 pixels.

Pro tip: Your banner is prime real estate that most people waste. Here's a power move: include a CTA in your banner. "Download my free [resource] at [URL]" or "DM me 'growth' to chat." Someone visiting your profile is already interested. The banner can nudge them toward action before they even read your headline. That's a conversion layer most people don't have.

3. Headline

Your headline is the single most important text on your LinkedIn profile. It appears everywhere: in search results, when you comment on posts, in connection requests, in "People Also Viewed" sidebars. It's the text that follows your name around LinkedIn like a tagline.

Most people waste it on a job title. "Marketing Director at Company X" tells people what you do, not why they should care. It answers a question nobody asked ("What's your title?") instead of the question everyone has ("Why should I pay attention to you?").

Think about it: when you see a comment on a post, you see the person's name, their photo and their headline. That headline is doing persuasion work on every comment you leave, every post you make, every search result you appear in. It's the hardest-working 220 characters in your professional life. Treat it that way.

The headline formula:

[Who you help] + [Outcome you create] + [Credibility signal]

Examples:

Bad: "CEO at TechStartup Inc."
Good: "Helping B2B SaaS companies double their pipeline | Ex-HubSpot | 500+ clients served"

Bad: "Founder & Entrepreneur"
Good: "Building tools that help sales teams close 3x more deals | $5M ARR"

Bad: "Marketing Professional"
Good: "I turn LinkedIn content into inbound leads for B2B founders | 2M+ impressions/month"

Why this formula works:

"Who you help" lets your target audience self-identify ("that's me")
"Outcome you create" gives them a reason to click ("I want that")
"Credibility signal" builds instant trust ("they can actually deliver")

You have 220 characters. Use them. Don't waste space on motivational quotes or vague descriptors like "passionate about innovation." Nobody has ever hired someone because they were passionate about innovation. They hire people who can deliver specific outcomes.

Pro tip: Test your headline by showing it to someone who doesn't know you. Ask them: "What do I do, who do I do it for, and would you want to know more?" If they can answer all three clearly, your headline is working. If they say "you're... some kind of CEO?" you need to rewrite it.

4. About Section

This is your pitch. Most people write it in third person ("David is an experienced professional...") and it reads like a Wikipedia page nobody asked for. Third person on LinkedIn is like referring to yourself in the third person at a dinner party. It's technically allowed. Nobody likes it.

Write it in first person. Make it conversational. Structure it like this:

Paragraph 1: The Hook (What Problem You Solve)

Start with your reader's pain, not your resume. The first line of your about section is the only line visible before "see more." That makes it a hook, just like a LinkedIn post. If the first line is "Experienced marketing professional with 15 years of industry experience," nobody is clicking to read more.

"If you're a B2B founder posting on LinkedIn but not getting inbound leads, I can help. Most founders create content that builds awareness but has no conversion mechanism. I fix that."

This works because the reader either self-identifies ("I post on LinkedIn but don't get leads") or they don't (in which case they weren't your target anyway). It's a filter, not a broadcast.

Paragraph 2: Your Story (Brief)

Why should they trust you? Keep it to 3-4 sentences. This is the credibility paragraph. Not your life story. Not every job you've ever had. Just enough to establish that you know what you're talking about.

"Over the past 8 years, I've helped 500+ companies build content systems that generate pipeline. Before that, I spent 5 years at HubSpot where I managed a team that grew our LinkedIn presence from 50K to 500K followers."

Notice the specifics: 8 years, 500+ companies, HubSpot, 50K to 500K. Every specific detail increases believability. Vague claims ("extensive experience across multiple domains") decrease it.

Specific results. Not adjectives. Not "excellent," not "industry-leading," not "transformative." Numbers.

"Clients I've worked with have seen: 3x increase in inbound leads within 6 months. 40% reduction in cost per acquisition. Average deal size increase of $25K through better positioning."

Three bullet points of hard results is worth more than three paragraphs of prose about your expertise. Let the numbers do the persuading.

Paragraph 4: CTA

Tell them what to do next. One clear action. Not three options. Not "visit my website or send me an email or DM me or book a call." One thing.

"DM me 'pipeline' if you want to talk about your content strategy. Or just follow me for weekly posts on LinkedIn growth and B2B lead generation."

OK, that's two things. But the primary CTA (DM me) is clear, and the secondary CTA (follow me) is low-commitment. The keyword "pipeline" is clever: it gives people a script for their first DM, which lowers the barrier to reaching out. Most people don't DM strangers because they don't know what to say. Give them the words.

The mistake to avoid: Don't list every job you've ever had. That's what the Experience section is for. Your about section should make someone think "I want to work with this person" in 30 seconds of reading. If it takes longer than 30 seconds to get to the point, you've lost most of your readers.

Pro tip: Read your about section out loud. If it sounds like a resume, rewrite it. If it sounds like you're talking to a potential client at a conference, you're on the right track. The about section is a conversation, not a document.

5. Featured Section

Think of this as your storefront window. It's the first thing people see after your about section. It's where you put your best proof. It's also, tragically, the section that most people either ignore entirely or fill with random stuff from 2020.

Pin exactly three things:

Your best-performing post. The one with the most engagement. This shows new visitors that your content is worth following. Social proof in action. When someone sees a post with 500 likes in your featured section, they think "this person creates content people value." That's a powerful first impression.
A lead magnet or resource. A link to a playbook, template, free tool or guide. Something valuable enough that visitors will click and potentially become leads. This turns profile visitors into subscribers. Even if they don't buy today, you've captured their interest for later.
A case study or external mention. A client testimonial, a podcast appearance, a press feature, an article you wrote. Third-party validation. Someone else saying you're good is ten times more persuasive than you saying you're good.

Most people's featured section: Empty.

That's like having a shop with boarded-up windows. People might still walk in, but you're not making it easy. Fix it today. It takes 10 minutes.

Pro tip: Rotate your featured content quarterly. Your best post from six months ago might not be your best representation today. Your lead magnet might have a newer version. Keep the featured section fresh, and it'll keep working for you. Set a recurring calendar reminder: "Update LinkedIn Featured Section." Future you will thank present you.

6. Experience Section

This isn't a resume. It's a results portfolio. And there's a big difference between those two things. A resume says what you were responsible for. A results portfolio says what happened because of you.

The shift: Go from job-description-focused to results-focused.

Bad:
"Marketing Director, Company X (2019-2023)

Managed a team of 12 marketing professionals
Responsible for digital marketing strategy
Oversaw social media and content marketing channels"

This tells me nothing about whether you were any good at your job. "Responsible for digital marketing strategy" could mean you brilliantly executed a strategy that doubled revenue, or it could mean you existed in a room where marketing happened. The description is equally true for both scenarios.

Good:
"Marketing Director, Company X (2019-2023)

Grew organic pipeline from $0 to $4M annually through content and LinkedIn strategy
Built and led a 12-person team that generated 350+ qualified leads per month
Launched a content program that reached 2M+ impressions monthly, reducing CAC by 35%"

Every bullet point should answer: "So what? What was the result?"

Numbers are your friend. Revenue generated, percentage improvements, team size, deals closed, growth metrics. If you can quantify it, quantify it. If you can't quantify it precisely, estimate conservatively and be transparent about it. "Approximately 3x increase in organic traffic" is still better than "improved organic traffic."

Pro tip: Write each experience entry from the perspective of a potential client, not a potential employer. A client doesn't care that you "managed cross-functional stakeholder relationships." A client cares that you "grew revenue from $2M to $8M in 18 months." Write for the person you want to attract, not the HR system you left behind.

7. Skills Section

LinkedIn lets you list up to 50 skills. Most people add random ones and never think about it again. The skills section is like a closet: if you never organize it, it fills up with stuff from five career phases ago that no longer represents who you are.

Your top 3 skills should align exactly with what you want to be known for. These appear most prominently on your profile and influence search results.

If you want to be known as a LinkedIn content strategist, your top 3 should be things like: Content Strategy, LinkedIn Marketing, B2B Lead Generation. Not: Microsoft Excel, Team Management, Public Speaking.

Reorder your skills so the most relevant ones are first. Remove anything that doesn't align with your current positioning. Ask colleagues and clients to endorse your top skills specifically. When you request an endorsement, be specific: "Could you endorse me for Content Strategy?" works better than a generic endorsement request.

Pro tip: Your skills section also functions as keywords for LinkedIn's search algorithm. If you want to appear when someone searches "B2B demand generation," that phrase should be in your skills. Think of your skills section as SEO tags, not just a list of capabilities.

8. Recommendations

Endorsements are noise. Recommendations are signal. Anyone can click a button to endorse you for "Strategic Planning." A recommendation requires someone to actually write something. That effort is what makes it credible.

How to get useful recommendations:

Don't send the generic LinkedIn request. Instead, message the person directly and ask for something specific:

"Hey [name], would you be willing to write a brief LinkedIn recommendation? Specifically, it would be great if you could mention the results we got on [Project X], like the [specific metric] improvement. Happy to write one for you too."

This approach works because:

You get a recommendation that actually says something useful (not "great to work with, highly recommend" which tells visitors nothing)
The specific details build credibility with profile visitors who are evaluating whether to hire you
Generic "great to work with" recommendations add nothing. Literally nothing. They're the participation trophies of professional validation.

When you coach the person on what to mention, you're not being manipulative. You're being helpful. Most people want to write a good recommendation but don't know what to focus on. You're giving them a starting point.

Aim for 5-10 recommendations from clients, colleagues and partners. Quality over quantity. Three detailed recommendations with specific results are worth more than fifteen vague ones.

Pro tip: The best time to ask for a recommendation is right after you've delivered a great result for someone. The experience is fresh, the enthusiasm is genuine and the specifics are top of mind. Don't wait six months after the project ends. Ask while the impact is still being felt.

9. Creator Mode

LinkedIn's creator mode changes your profile in a few meaningful ways:

Your "Connect" button becomes a "Follow" button (grows followers faster, but means fewer direct connections)
You can add hashtag topics to your profile (signals your content areas to both visitors and the algorithm)
Your activity and content appear more prominently on your profile (your posts show up higher, above the about section)

Should you turn it on? Yes, if you're committed to posting regularly. Creator mode signals to LinkedIn's algorithm that you're a content creator, which can improve distribution. The "Follow" button also means people can follow you without you accepting a connection request, which means faster audience growth.

When to skip it: If you're not posting at least once a week, creator mode actually works against you because it highlights your activity section (which will be empty). It's like putting a spotlight on an empty stage. If you're not performing, the spotlight just makes the emptiness more obvious.

The topic tags: Choose 5 topics that align with your content. These appear as hashtags on your profile and help LinkedIn categorize your content. Pick topics you actually post about, not aspirational topics you plan to post about someday. If you write about B2B marketing, content strategy and LinkedIn growth, use those. Not "artificial intelligence" because it sounds impressive.

Pro tip: Creator mode is a commitment, not a toggle. Turning it on and off repeatedly looks inconsistent and confuses the algorithm. If you're going to commit to posting regularly (at least once a week), turn it on and leave it on. If you're not sure you'll post consistently, leave it off until you are.

10. LinkedIn SEO

Here's something most people don't realize: LinkedIn profiles rank in Google search results. When someone Googles your name, your LinkedIn profile is likely in the top 3 results. For many professionals, their LinkedIn profile is the first thing potential clients, partners or employers see when they search for them.

This means LinkedIn SEO matters for more than just LinkedIn's internal search. It matters for your entire online presence.

Where to place keywords:

Headline: Your primary keywords should be here. "B2B Lead Generation" or "SaaS Growth Strategy" or whatever you want to rank for. This is the highest-impact placement because the headline appears in so many contexts.
About section: Use your target keywords naturally within the first two paragraphs. Don't stuff keywords awkwardly. Write naturally, but make sure the terms your ideal client would search for actually appear in your text.
Experience: Include industry-specific terms in your role descriptions. "B2B content marketing" appears differently in search than "marketing" alone.
Skills: These are essentially keyword tags. Every skill you add is a potential search match.

How to find your keywords: What would your ideal client search for when looking for someone like you? "B2B marketing consultant," "LinkedIn lead generation," "SaaS growth advisor." Use those exact phrases in your profile.

Here's a simple exercise: go to LinkedIn's search bar and start typing what you want to be found for. See what autocomplete suggests. Those suggestions are based on what people actually search. Use those phrases.

Pro tip: Google "your name" + "LinkedIn." Look at the snippet Google shows from your profile. That snippet is pulled from your headline and the beginning of your about section. If it doesn't accurately represent what you do and who you help, update those sections. Most people have never Googled themselves on LinkedIn. The results might surprise you.

11. Custom URL

By default, LinkedIn gives you a URL like linkedin.com/in/firstname-lastname-7a3b2c1d. That string of random characters looks unprofessional and is impossible to remember. It's like having a phone number with 15 digits.

Claim your custom URL: linkedin.com/in/firstname-lastname.

Go to your profile > Edit public profile & URL > Edit your custom URL.

If your exact name is taken, try variations: /in/firstname-lastname-marketing or /in/firstnamelastname.

This takes 30 seconds and makes your profile look polished on business cards, email signatures, slide decks and anywhere else you share it. It's the lowest-effort, highest-ROI optimization on this entire list.

Pro tip: Once you have your custom URL, put it everywhere: your email signature, your Twitter/X bio, your website, your business cards, your slide deck's final page. Every touchpoint where someone might want to look you up should include the URL. Make it as easy as possible for interested people to find your profile.

12. Activity Section: Your Posts ARE Your Profile

Here's the part people forget: when someone visits your profile, they scroll down and see your recent activity. Your posts, your comments, your shares. This section isn't just a log of what you've been doing. It's part of the impression you make.

If your last post was three months ago, that's a red flag. It signals inactivity, even if you're crushing it in other areas. A visitor thinks "this person isn't really active on LinkedIn," and their trust in your profile drops. It's unfair, but it's how the psychology works.

If your recent posts are all company reshares with no original thought, that's a different red flag. It signals that you have nothing original to say. Company reshares without personal commentary are the LinkedIn equivalent of forwarding chain emails. Nobody is impressed.

If your recent activity is mostly comments that say "great post!" or "+1" or "so true!", that's yet another red flag. It suggests you're going through the motions without actually contributing. Thoughtful comments on other people's posts are almost as valuable as your own posts when it comes to profile impressions. When someone visits your profile and sees that your recent comments are substantive and insightful, it reinforces the expertise you claim in your headline.

Your activity section is part of your profile optimization. Posting quality content regularly isn't just a growth strategy. It's a profile strategy. Image posts get 87% higher engagement than text-only. They also make your activity feed more visually interesting when someone scrolls through it. A mix of text, images and the occasional carousel makes your activity section look like a curated content hub rather than a random dump.

Pro tip: Before an important meeting or pitch, post something strong. Sounds calculating? It is. But the person you're meeting will probably check your LinkedIn profile beforehand. Having a high-quality, recent post at the top of your activity section creates an immediate positive impression. It's like cleaning your house before guests arrive. You should be doing it anyway, but the timing matters.

The LinkedIn Profile Audit: Score Yourself

Go through this checklist and score yourself honestly. 1 point for each item you've completed:

Section	Item	Points
Photo	Professional, recent, high-resolution, 60% face	/1
Banner	Custom banner with value proposition	/1
Headline	Uses the [Who + Outcome + Credibility] formula	/1
About	Written in first person with hook, story, proof, CTA	/1
Featured	3 items pinned (best post, lead magnet, case study)	/1
Experience	Results-focused with specific numbers	/1
Skills	Top 3 aligned with positioning	/1
Recommendations	5+ specific, results-oriented recommendations	/1
Creator Mode	Turned on (if posting weekly+)	/1
SEO	Keywords in headline, about and experience	/1
Custom URL	Claimed and clean	/1
Activity	Posted within the last 7 days	/1

Scoring:

10-12: Your profile is doing serious work for you. Fine-tune the details and focus on consistency.
7-9: Solid foundation with clear gaps. Fix the missing items this week. You're leaving easy wins on the table.
4-6: Your profile is leaving significant opportunities on the table. Block 2 hours and go through this guide section by section.
0-3: Your profile is actively working against you. Every day you leave it as-is is a day potential clients visit and leave unimpressed. Start with headline, about and photo. Everything else can wait.

Pro tip: Score yourself today, then set a reminder to score yourself again in 30 days. The checklist is also useful for accountability. Share it with a friend or colleague and challenge each other to hit 10+ within a week. Competition makes boring tasks more tolerable.

The 60-Minute Profile Overhaul

If your score is below 7, here's the fastest path to a complete profile:

Minutes 1-10: Write your headline using the formula. This is the highest-impact change. The headline appears in more places than any other element of your profile. Getting it right changes how you show up across the entire platform.

Minutes 11-25: Rewrite your about section. Four paragraphs: hook, story, proof, CTA. Don't try to be clever. Be clear. Clear converts. Clever confuses.

Minutes 26-35: Update your banner. Open Canva, use a LinkedIn banner template, add your value proposition. If you're not a designer, pick a simple template and just change the text. A clean template with your value prop beats a custom design that's cluttered.

Minutes 36-45: Pin 3 items in your featured section. Best post, a resource, a testimonial. If you don't have a lead magnet yet, pin your top 3 posts. If you don't have a testimonial, ask for one today and pin it when it arrives.

Minutes 46-55: Rewrite your current role in the experience section with results, not responsibilities. Even if you only rewrite your most recent role, that's the one people see first.

Minutes 56-60: Claim your custom URL, reorder your skills, turn on creator mode if you're posting regularly.

One hour. That's all it takes to go from a profile that's passively existing to one that's actively working for you every day. One hour now, compounding returns for months.

Your profile is seen by every person who engages with your content, visits your page or finds you through search. Making it work for you is the highest-leverage hour you can spend on LinkedIn. It's not glamorous work. It's not creative work. But it's the kind of foundational work that makes everything else you do on the platform more effective.

If you want to see what's actually working for top creators' profiles and content right now, ViralBrain gives you real data on the content patterns driving engagement in your niche.

Data sourced from ViralBrain's database of 10,222 LinkedIn posts across 494 creators.