Building Your LinkedIn from Zero to Visible

Your headline is the most visible text on LinkedIn (appears in search results, comments, and connection requests). Default: Marketing Manager at Company X. Better: Marketing Manager helping B2B SaaS companies grow through content strategy and SEO. The improved version includes your role, who you help, and how. Include 2-3 keywords that recruiters search for in your field. You have 220 characters. Use them strategically. Profiles with keyword-rich headlines appear 40% more often in recruiter searches than those with just a job title.

Profiles with a professional photo get 14 times more views and 36 times more messages than profiles without one. Your photo should be: well-lit (natural light or ring light), shot from the chest up, with a simple background, and you wearing what you would wear to work. Smile naturally. No selfies, no group photos, no vacation shots. If you do not have a professional photo, ask a friend to take one against a plain wall with good natural light. Phone cameras in portrait mode produce quality results. Crop to a square format with your face filling 60% of the frame.

Your About section (2,600 characters max) should cover: who you are professionally (1-2 sentences), what you do and who you help (2-3 sentences), your key accomplishments or areas of expertise (3-5 bullet points), and what you are looking for (new opportunities, connections, speaking engagements). Write in first person (I, not John is a...). Lead with a hook that makes people want to read more. Include relevant keywords throughout (LinkedIn search indexes your About section). End with a call to action: Reach out if you want to discuss [topic]. I am always happy to connect.

For each role, include 3-5 bullet points describing what you achieved (not what your job description said). Use the formula: [Action verb] + [what you did] + [quantified result]. Examples: Grew organic traffic by 150% in 12 months through content strategy and technical SEO improvements. Reduced customer churn by 18% by redesigning the onboarding experience based on user research. Led a team of 8 engineers to deliver the payments platform 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Each bullet should be 1-2 lines maximum. Prioritize recent roles (detailed) over older ones (brief).

Start with people you know: current and former colleagues, classmates, clients, and industry contacts. Then expand strategically: people in your target role at companies you admire, thought leaders in your industry, recruiters who specialize in your field, and people who engage with content you find valuable. Always include a personalized connection note (200 characters): Hi [name], I noticed we are both in [industry/field]. I would love to connect and follow your work on [topic]. Personalized requests have a 50-70% acceptance rate versus 20-30% for blank requests.

Commenting is the fastest way to become visible on LinkedIn. Thoughtful comments (3-5 sentences that add value, share a perspective, or ask a follow-up question) get seen by the poster's entire network. Generic comments (Great post!) add nothing and are ignored. Aim for 3-5 meaningful comments per day on posts from people in your industry. This takes 10-15 minutes and generates more profile views than any other single activity. People check the profiles of commenters who add interesting perspectives, which drives inbound connection requests and opportunities.

Content that performs well on LinkedIn: lessons learned from your career (I made this mistake early in my career. Here is what I learned.), practical tips in your area of expertise (5 tools I use daily for project management), industry commentary (Here is what this trend means for our industry), and career milestone reflections (What I learned in my first year as a manager). Keep posts to 150-300 words. Use line breaks for readability (LinkedIn penalizes walls of text). Posts with a personal angle (I stories) get 2-3 times more engagement than generic advice. Post between 8-10 AM on Tuesday through Thursday for maximum reach.

LinkedIn articles (long-form blog posts hosted on LinkedIn) get indexed by Google and establish you as a thought leader. Document carousels (PDF slides uploaded as posts) get high engagement because each slide counts as a view. Create a carousel of 8-12 slides covering a topic in your expertise: slide 1 (hook/title), slides 2-10 (one tip per slide with a brief explanation), slide 11 (summary), slide 12 (follow me for more). Canva has free LinkedIn carousel templates. One well-crafted carousel per month can generate thousands of impressions and dozens of profile visits.

In your profile settings, enable Open to Work with visibility set to Recruiters only (not All LinkedIn members, which adds a green banner visible to your current employer). Set your preferences: job titles you are targeting, locations (include Remote if applicable), start date, and job types (full-time, contract, part-time). This signals recruiters that you are actively looking. Profiles with Open to Work enabled receive 40% more InMails from recruiters. Update your preferences whenever your target changes. You can turn this feature on and off without notifying anyone.

Search for jobs using specific keywords and filters: location, experience level, date posted (within the last week gets the freshest listings), and Easy Apply (one-click applications using your LinkedIn profile). Set up job alerts for your target titles and locations to receive daily or weekly email notifications. When you find a relevant posting, check who posted it (often the hiring manager or recruiter) and send them a brief, personalized message: I just applied for the [role] position and wanted to express my strong interest. [One sentence about why you are a great fit]. This direct outreach significantly increases your chances of getting an interview. This guide is informational only, not career advice.