LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 740 million members worldwide. As a LinkedIn member, you have a profile that showcases your work experience, education, skills, accomplishments, interests, and more. Your LinkedIn profile allows you to connect with other professionals, find job opportunities, join industry groups, and build your professional brand.
One important thing to understand about your LinkedIn profile is that certain sections are visible to the public, while other sections are only visible to your direct connections. Knowing what the public can see on your profile is critical for managing your professional image and controlling the information you share publicly.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through how to view your LinkedIn profile from a public perspective. We will also provide tips on customizing your public profile settings to showcase your best professional self.
Checking Your Public Profile on LinkedIn
LinkedIn makes it simple to toggle between your own view of your profile and the public view. Here are the steps to see exactly how your profile appears to people who are not connected to you on LinkedIn:
On the Desktop Site
1. Go to www.linkedin.com and log into your account.
2. Move your cursor over your profile photo in the top right corner of your homepage.
3. Select “View profile” from the dropdown menu. This will bring you to your profile page.
4. On your profile page, click the “More” dropdown menu near the top right.
5. Select “View As” from the dropdown options.
6. Choose “Public” to switch your profile to the public view.
You should now see your profile exactly as a non-connected user would see it. The sections that are visible to the public will be highlighted in blue.
On the Mobile App
1. Open the LinkedIn app on your mobile device.
2. Tap on your profile photo in the top left corner.
3. On your profile page, tap the “Me” tab at the bottom.
4. Tap the gear icon in the top right corner to access settings.
5. Under privacy settings, toggle “Preview profile as” on.
6. Select “Public” to switch your profile to the public view.
Again, this will show you what the public sees when they look at your profile. The blue highlights indicate which sections are publicly visible.
Customizing Your Public Profile
Now that you know how to check your public profile, you can customize the sections that are visible to people who are not directly connected to you. Here are some tips for tailoring your public profile:
Profile Photo
Your profile photo is the first thing people will notice on your public profile. Make sure you have a high-quality, professional looking headshot that gives a good impression. Avoid casual selfies or group photos. You want the focus to be entirely on presenting your best professional self through your profile photo.
Background Photo
LinkedIn allows you to showcase a background photo behind your profile headshot. This is another visual element people will see when viewing your public profile. Choose a background image that reinforces your professional brand. Make sure the image is high quality and portrays you in a positive light.
Headline
Your headline sits right below your name on your profile. This is prime real estate for summarizing your expertise and communicating what you have to offer. Keep it short, descriptive, and keyword optimized. For example: “Digital Marketing Specialist | Social Media Strategy | Search Engine Optimization”
Summary
Your summary statement is one of the key sections visible to the public. Use it to provide an overview of your professional experiences, skills, accomplishments, and goals. Focus on achievements that would impress potential employers or clients browsing your profile. Use bullets, facts, and data to make it scannable.
Work Experience
Showcase your most relevant work history here, even if you have your full history visible to only your connections. Emphasize responsibilities, achievements, and skills gained that would be valuable to your target audience. Use bullet points to highlight key information.
Accomplishments
Pull out major accomplishments, awards, certifications, publications, and other merits into this section. Seeing hard evidence of your achievements can give your profile a big boost in the eyes of the public.
Skills & Endorsements
Ensure the skills listed on your profile align with the professional image you want to project publicly. It helps to populate this section fully by adding both hard and soft skills. The more endorsements you can accumulate from connections, the better.
Education
Having your education credentials visible provides credibility. List colleges, degrees, and graduation years. You can also include academic accomplishments like honors, relevant coursework, study abroad experiences, and involvement in societies.
volunteering Experience & Causes
Volunteering shows you contribute your time and expertise to causes you care about. Including volunteering on your public profile can give positive impressions about your principles and work ethic.
Licenses & Certifications
Valid licenses, professional certificates, specialized training credentials that are relevant to your target audience will enhance how the public perceives your professional status and competence.
Courses
Online and offline courses demonstrate an investment in continually developing your skills and knowledge. Showcasing pertinent courses can convince public viewers you are actively staying current in your field.
Projects
Did you lead a major project or initiative in a previous job? Use the projects section to explain in detail with stats and results. This provides proof points and shows depth beyond job titles and descriptions alone.
Recommendations
Ask managers, colleagues, clients to write recommendations that back up the professional expertise you want to get across through your profile. The more tailored and enthusiastic the recommendation, the better.
Media
Have you been interviewed, quoted, or featured in a news article, podcast, video, or other media outlet? Add links to demonstrate your industry thought leadership.
Language
Listing languages you speak, especially those relevant to your target field or geographic location, allows the public viewing your profile to assess this key skill area.
Personal Details
Leave out personal details like your birthday, relationship status, interests, contact info, etc. This information is better kept private and only shared with your direct connections.
Publicize Your Profile URL
Once you polish your public profile, publish your customized LinkedIn profile URL on your business cards, website, email signature, and anywhere else that makes sense to drive traffic to your profile.
Best Practices for a Strong Public Profile
Here are some top best practices to keep in mind as you curate your public LinkedIn profile:
- Choose a professional profile photo and background image
- Keep your headline short, descriptive and keyword-rich
- Write a compelling, achievement-focused summary
- Showcase your most relevant experience and skills
- Explain major accomplishments, certifications and credentials
- Collect endorsements and recommendations
- Demonstrate continuous learning through courses
- Link to projects and media coverage
- List key languages you speak
- Omit personal details irrelevant to your professional goals
- Publicize your profile URL
Following these best practices will ensure your LinkedIn public profile portrays your professional self in the best possible light, attracting the right opportunities and contacts.
Common LinkedIn Profile Settings
In addition to curating your public profile sections, it is also important to check your general profile visibility settings. Here are some key settings to review:
Profile photo visibility
You can determine who can see your profile photo. Options include public, connections only, connections outside your network, or private. Most people leave this public to allow your photo to be visible along with your public profile.
Profile viewing options
Configure settings for who can find and view your full profile. Typical settings are to allow anyone to find you and view your public profile. Restrict visibility of your full profile to only people within your network or recruiters you’re open to being contacted by.
Sharing profile edits
You can broadcast profile updates out to your connections through notifications. Or disable this if you would rather edit your profile privately without notifying your network.
Activity broadcasts
Control whether your connections are automatically notified when you like or comment on content published on LinkedIn. Keeping broadcasts enabled helps build engagement.
Showing current position
You can showcase your current position prominently on your profile. Toggle this off if you prefer not to advertise your present role and company.
Profile research visibility
Determine if you want connections to see when you look at their profiles. The default is typically to allow this, but you can disable it for complete privacy.
Open Candidates visibility
Opt into Open Candidates to signal recruiters that you’re interested in new job opportunities. This makes your profile more discoverable. Or keep this off if you prefer your job search to be private.
Reviewing these general visibility and engagement settings ensures your profile aligns with your preferences around privacy and career goals.
Getting Feedback on Your LinkedIn Profile
It can be invaluable to get unbiased outside perspectives on how your LinkedIn profile comes across to assess where you can make improvements. Here are some ways to get constructive feedback:
Ask Connections to Review Your Profile
Message several of your LinkedIn connections whose judgment you trust. Ask if they would be willing to look over your profile and provide candid input on sections to improve. The feedback from your professional peers can give you blindspots you never noticed.
Connect with a LinkedIn Profile Expert
There are profile consultants who specialize in optimizing LinkedIn profiles to help people brand and market themselves effectively. Investing in an expert review could take your profile to the next level.
Use LinkedIn Profile Review Services
Some professional development sites like Cultivated Culture offer a LinkedIn profile review service where experts analyze your profile and provide actionable feedback for a fee. This can be cost effective way to get an objective critique.
Compare with Competitors and Role Models
Research and benchmark against the LinkedIn profiles of people you admire, competitors in your field, and professionals in your target roles. What are they doing well that you can emulate? Identify any gaps where your profile falls short in sections, quality or messaging.
Check Using Different Personas
View your profile through the lens of different personas – a potential employer, a prospective client, a recruiter, a partner, etc. Assess how well your profile convinces and engages each persona. Look for any missing info needed to appeal to these audiences.
Securing outside opinions and perspectives on your profile is one of the most effective ways to level up your LinkedIn presence. Be open to feedback so you can refine your profile to maximize the value it provides.
Common LinkedIn Profile Mistakes to Avoid
While optimizing your LinkedIn profile, be vigilant to steer clear of these common mistakes people make:
Using an unprofessional photo
Having a sloppy, inappropriate or outdated profile photo can give the wrong impression fast. Always pick a quality professional headshot.
Leaving sections incomplete
Empty sections look bad. Completely fill out your profile, even if briefly, to avoid looking unfocused or lazy.
Not customizing the profile URL
Your public profile URL should be customized for branding yourself professionally. The default URL with a jumble of numbers looks sloppy.
Using industry jargon and acronyms
Write for a general professional audience using clear, everyday language. Avoid niche terms or acronyms people outside your field won’t grasp.
Going overboard listing skills
Only highlight skills relevant to your goals. An exaggerated or unfocused skills list can raise red flags on your credibility.
Using cliches and fluffy buzzwords
Skip bland descriptors like “passionate”, “innovative” and “results-driven.” Back up your profile with facts and specifics.
Sharing personal details
Birthdays, relationship status, interests, contact info, and other personal details should typically be omitted or limited to connections only.
Exaggerating or misrepresenting
Never lie or stretch the truth on your profile. You will get caught in interviews or on the job. Always be honest.
Overusing stock photos/graphics
A few visuals are fine, but avoid generic stock imagery that distracts from customizing your profile authentically.
Not proofreading
Typos and grammatical errors come across as sloppy. Double check your profile for any mistakes before finalizing it.
Being mindful to avoid these common profile pitfalls will help ensure your profile makes the right impression on the public as well as your own connections.
Tips to Optimize Your Profile for Public Search
To maximize your discoverability on LinkedIn, incorporate these search engine optimization (SEO) tips:
Add alternate spellings of your name
Cover nicknames, abbreviated versions or spelling variations someone may use when searching for your profile. This helps people find you more easily.
Include industry keywords
Work relevant keywords into your headline, summary, experience descriptions, skills and other profile fields. This boosts ranking in searches related to your profession.
Back up experience with data
Quantify your role impact with real metrics – dollar amounts, percentages, process improvements etc. Concrete data reinforces your expertise.
Customize your profile URL
Incorporate strong keywords in your customized public profile link to give it more search relevance.
List locations of past jobs
Adding cities and regions you have worked helps localization so you show up for job searches in those areas.
Publish long-form posts
Write long posts to fully showcase expertise. Include keywords in the post title, summary and content. Link these posts to your profile.
Add media samples
Include presentations, videos, articles and other media published under your name to demonstrate thought leadership.
Following SEO best practices tailors your profile to be found more readily by your target audiences and hiring managers or clients searching LinkedIn.
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn profile has high visibility – it serves as your professional social media hub and online resume. Carefully controlling what the public sees by viewing your profile from their perspective is crucial for managing your brand image. Optimize your profile by showcasing your top skills, achievements, credentials and strengths in the sections visible to non-connections. Avoid common mistakes like unprofessional photos or exaggeration. Implement search engine optimization tips to boost your profile’s keywords and rankings. Keep shaping your profile to advance your career goals by highlighting the value you can bring to employers, partners and customers. The time invested in thoughtful LinkedIn profile curation can pay dividends for years to come through expanded opportunities and connections.