LinkedIn profile optimization, by Resume Worded ★Rated 4.9 on Trustpilot · 10M+ job seekers

Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Get found by recruiters.

Optimizing your profile comes down to four changes: a headline built on the keywords recruiters search, an About section that shows results instead of adjectives, a skills list that matches how you want to be found, and experience that reads as evidence. Together they decide where you rank in LinkedIn search, where 95% of recruiters look for candidates.

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Your first LinkedIn profile review is free, with unlimited re-uploads as you improve.
LinkedIn review · profile report
Your profile, section by section
Headline Project Manager at BrightCo Senior Project Manager | Healthcare IT | PMP needs keywords✓ fixed
About Opens with results: 14 hospital systems launched, $2M under budget ✓ strong
Experience Led 6 analysts; delivered 12 releases across 3 regional markets ✓ strong
Skills Project Management, PMP, Healthcare IT: covers the searched terms ✓ strong
Reviewer note Recruiters search job titles and skills. Put "Senior Project Manager" and your specialty in the headline so LinkedIn can match you.
Profile score and top fixes
Profile score ring moving from 66 to 78 as the headline fix is applied 66 78

Benchmarked against strong profiles in your industry. The fixes below are the fastest points to gain.

  • !✓Headline keywords2 searched terms missingHeadline keywordstitle and specialty added
  • ✓About sectionevidence first, adjectives cut
  • ✓Experienceresults with numbers
  • ✓Skillsmatches how recruiters search

One section flagged, one fix suggested. The LinkedIn review reads your whole profile this way.

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The LinkedIn profile optimizer

Optimize your LinkedIn profile for free

LinkedIn optimization is the work of making your profile easy to find and convincing to read. It matters whether you are looking for your next job, winning clients for a business, or building your professional reputation: your profile is what turns a search result into a conversation, and an unoptimized one quietly costs you opportunities you never see.

If you are new to profile optimization, it is hard to know where to start, so the LinkedIn profile optimizer does the diagnosis for you. Upload your profile and it scores it against strong profiles in your industry, then walks through each section: the headline, the About section, your experience, and your skills, telling you step by step what to fix and why it costs you visibility. The suggestions were curated with real hiring managers and recruiters at top companies.

Fixing what it flags increases the number of people who find and view your profile, which is where jobs, leads, and other opportunities begin. The optimizer is free to use, and you can re-upload your profile as many times as you like while you work through the fixes.

A LinkedIn profile with a reviewer's margin notes: a vague headline circled with the note to say what you do, a results line ticked as strong evidence, and a missing skill flagged JORDAN LEE Greater Boston · 500+ connections HEADLINE Experienced professional seeking new opportunities ABOUT I lead healthcare IT rollouts: 14 hospital systems launched, $2M under budget across 3 years. SKILLS Project Management PMP SAY WHAT YOU DO Nobody searches "experienced professional". STRONG EVIDENCE Numbers a recruiter can verify and repeat. Healthcare IT ? ADD THE SEARCHED SKILL Your specialty is missing from your skills list.
How the optimizer reads a profile: circle what nobody searches for, keep the evidence, and add the skills you actually want to be found for.
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The method

How to optimize your LinkedIn profile, step by step

These five steps are the substance of LinkedIn profile optimization, and they work whether or not you ever use a tool. They are also the honest answer to how to improve a LinkedIn profile you already have: you improve the sections that recruiters and LinkedIn's search algorithm weigh the most, in this order.

Step 1

Rewrite your headline around searched keywords

Your headline follows you everywhere: search results, connection requests, every comment you leave. The default, your job title at your company, wastes it. Lead with the title recruiters actually search, then add your specialty and a credential or proof point.

Step 2

Turn the About section into evidence

Only the first lines show before the fold, so open with your strongest result rather than an adjective. Numbers carry the section: teams led, revenue grown, systems shipped. Work your keywords in naturally while describing real work.

Step 3

Make your experience read like results

Recruiters who find you skim your roles the way they skim a resume. Use standard job titles that LinkedIn can match in search, and write bullets that pair a strong verb with a measurable outcome instead of listing duties.

Step 4

Choose your skills deliberately

The skills section is a search index, not a trophy case. List the skills you want to be found for, put the most important ones first, and let endorsements build on those rather than on skills you never want to use again.

Step 5

Get feedback, fix, and re-check

You cannot see your profile the way a recruiter or the algorithm sees it. Run the LinkedIn review for a score and section-by-section feedback, make the edits, then upload again and confirm the score moved.

The headline deserves the most attention because it does the most work. A formula that holds up across industries is the title you want next, a vertical bar, your specialty, another bar, and one proof point: for example, "Senior Project Manager | Healthcare IT | PMP". Every element is a term someone types into LinkedIn search, which is exactly what a company name or a phrase like "seeking opportunities" is not.

A LinkedIn headline before and after optimization: the default title-at-company version is circled as unsearchable, and the rewritten version labels its searched title, specialty, and credential BEFORE Project Manager at BrightCo the company name is not a keyword anyone searches AFTER Senior Project Manager | Healthcare IT | PMP searched title specialty credential
One headline, rewritten: every word in the after version is something a recruiter actually types into LinkedIn search.

The reason this order works is mechanical. When a recruiter runs a search, LinkedIn matches the words in the query against the words in profiles, and where a word sits matters: a term in your headline, your job title, or your skills counts for more than a passing mention buried in a description. Optimizing a profile is largely the work of putting the right terms in the sections that count.

You can also measure whether it worked. LinkedIn shows you how many people viewed your profile and how often you appeared in search results; both climb within weeks when the right keywords land in the right sections. The LinkedIn review gives you the before-and-after in one number: fix what it flags, upload again, and watch the score move.

LinkedIn search

LinkedIn search optimization: ranking higher on LinkedIn

Every day, millions of people rely on LinkedIn's search to fill roles: recruiters sourcing candidates, hiring managers checking references, and potential clients looking for someone who does what you do. If your profile is not optimized for the searches they run, you simply do not appear in the results, and you never find out about the opportunities that went to someone else.

Your goal is to appear as high as possible in the results for every search your future employer or client might make. Rank is not random: it reflects how closely your profile matches the words in the search, which sections those words sit in, and how complete your profile is. Profiles that rank higher get more clicks, more profile views, and more messages, which is why the optimizer's feedback is built around raising your visibility, by up to five times.

LinkedIn search · recruiter view

Same person, better keywords. Rank decides who gets found; the review shows you what your profile is missing for the searches you care about.

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Keywords

The truth behind LinkedIn keywords

Put simply, keywords power LinkedIn's search algorithms. When a recruiter searches a job title such as "Java Developer", LinkedIn scans a database of hundreds of millions of profiles and returns the people whose profiles contain and emphasize that term. Like Google, it is matching words in the query against words in the document, and your profile is the document.

Not every mention counts equally. LinkedIn weights the sections of your profile differently, which is why the same keyword does far more work in your headline, your current job title, or your skills list than it does buried in an old role's description. This is also why two people with identical experience can rank pages apart: one of them put the searched terms where the algorithm looks first.

To find your keywords, read the job descriptions of roles you want and the profiles of people who already hold them; the terms that keep repeating are the ones recruiters search. Then place them honestly in the high-weight sections. The optimizer checks this for you: it identifies the searched terms your profile is missing and shows you exactly which section each one belongs in.

A recruiter search for Java Developer matched against one profile: the term is highlighted where it appears in the headline, the current job title, and the skills list java developer what the recruiter types HEADLINE Java Developer | Fintech APIs CURRENT TITLE Java Developer , Nova Bank SKILLS Java Spring AWS the sections the algorithm looks at first
One search, one profile: the query matches where the term actually appears, and high-weight sections do most of the ranking work.
The free service

A free LinkedIn profile writing service

Hiring a profile writer or a career coach is one way to optimize a LinkedIn profile; this page is the other. The optimizer gives you the same diagnosis a good coach would, in minutes instead of weeks: what each section should say, which lines are working against you, and what to write instead. Resume Worded has run it since 2017, and more than 10 million job seekers have used its tools.

Because the reviews are unlimited and free to start, you can work the way writing actually works: in drafts. Upload your profile, fix the two or three things it flags first, and upload again. Each pass raises your score and, more importantly, your visibility in the searches that matter to you.

When you get to the writing itself, you do not have to start from a blank page. The LinkedIn headline generator and the LinkedIn summary generator give you real sample headlines and summaries to use as inspiration for your own sections.

LinkedIn review · score history
Upload 1 · before any changes58 / 100
Upload 2 · headline and About rewritten74 / 100
Upload 3 · skills and keywords fixed86 / 100

Optimization is iteration. Re-upload after each round of fixes and confirm the score moved.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I optimize my LinkedIn profile?

Work through the sections in order of how much they affect your visibility. Rewrite your headline around the job title and specialty recruiters actually search, open your About section with your strongest measurable result, write experience bullets that pair a verb with an outcome, and list the skills you want to be found for. Then get feedback you cannot give yourself: upload your profile to the LinkedIn review on this page for a score and section-by-section fixes, make the edits, and upload again to confirm the score moved.

What does LinkedIn optimization actually mean?

LinkedIn optimization means making your profile easy to find in LinkedIn search and convincing to read once someone lands on it. The findable half is keywords: putting the terms recruiters search into the sections LinkedIn weights most, such as your headline, your job titles, and your skills. The readable half is evidence: results with numbers instead of adjectives. A profile that does both gets more search appearances, more profile views, and more messages.

Is the LinkedIn profile optimizer free?

Yes. Your first LinkedIn profile review is free, and you can re-upload your profile as many times as you like while you work through the fixes. You do not need to hire a profile writer or a career coach to get started: the optimizer gives you the diagnosis, and the headline generator and summary generator give you sample headlines and summaries to write from.

How do I rank higher in LinkedIn search?

Match your profile to the searches you want to appear in. Rank reflects how closely your profile matches the words in a recruiter's search, which sections those words sit in, and how complete your profile is. The highest-leverage moves are putting the searched job title and your specialty in your headline, using standard titles in your experience, and listing the searched skills in your skills section. The LinkedIn review identifies the searched terms your profile is missing and where each one belongs.

How can I improve my LinkedIn profile if I already have one?

Improving an existing profile is the same work as optimizing one, minus the setup. Audit what you have: count the numbers in your About section and experience bullets, check whether your headline says more than your title and company, and confirm the skills you want to be hired for actually appear in your skills list. Most profiles fail at least one of these. Upload your profile to the optimizer to see which sections are costing you visibility and fix those first.

How do I know if my LinkedIn profile is optimized?

LinkedIn gives you two honest signals: how many people viewed your profile and how often you appeared in search results. If both are flat while you are actively looking, your profile is not surfacing for the searches that matter. For a direct answer, upload your profile for a review: you get a score benchmarked against strong profiles in your industry, and the section-by-section feedback tells you exactly what is holding the score down.

See exactly what to optimize on your profile

Upload your LinkedIn profile and get a score plus step-by-step feedback on your headline, About section, experience, and skills, free.

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