How to Tidy Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Open your LinkedIn profile and read the first two lines of your About out loud. Go on, read em’ out loud.

If they sound like they could belong to anyone in your industry: "a passionate, results-driven professional leveraging cross-functional synergies to drive impact" – you've just found the problem. 

Steal my 22 tips, split into a ten-minute tidy you can do right now and a deeper edit for when you've got a coffee and some nerve. ⬇️

How do you tidy up your LinkedIn profile?

The short version: Turn off profile-change broadcasting first so you don't spam your network. Then work top-down, because the top of your profile is the first thing people see. Rewrite your headline and the opening of your About to sound like you rather than a template, cut your skills list down to the few that matter, add your best work to Featured, gather a couple of specific recommendations, and delete anything stale – old statuses, dead links, contradictions. Tidying is removing, not adding.

A ten-minute LinkedIn profile tidy

1. Flip off the broadcast switch before you change anything

LinkedIn can fire a notification (and a post in your network's feed) every time you change a job title, an education entry or a work anniversary. 

Edit ten things in a sitting with that setting on, and you'll pepper every connection with "so-and-so updated their profile" pings.

Before you start, go to Settings & Privacy → Visibility and switch Share job changes, education changes, and work anniversaries from profile to Off. Do your editing in private. Flip it back on only for the one update you genuinely want announced.

⚠️ Even with sharing off, "anyone that views your profile will see your edits as soon as you save them." The switch doesn't hide your changes, it just stops the confetti cannon.

2. Retire the ghosts

Every profile is slightly a museum of a past self. The green #OpenToWork frame from a job you left last year. An "actively seeking new opportunities" line in an About you wrote in a completely different role. 

If you're not job-hunting, turn the status off. If you are but would rather be discreet, LinkedIn lets you choose who sees it: all members (this is what adds the green photo frame), recruiters only, or just you. Pick deliberately instead of leaving a two-year-old banner running.

3. Claim your free verification badge

A tidy step that adds one small thing while subtracting a lot of doubt. Verification puts a badge next to your name confirming your identity, workplace or education, and according to LinkedIn's data, "verified members naturally see 60% more profile views and 50% more engagement on average."

It's free, it's optional, and it takes a few minutes. There's no good reason to skip it.

4. Clean up your URL

Your public profile URL is the link you paste into email signatures, proposals and your website, so linkedin.com/in/amelie-p-8823a91b7f looks like you never finished setting up. You can customise it to a clean handle of 3–100 characters, first come, first served. Make it a variation of your name.

One thing to know before you get trigger-happy: LinkedIn only lets you change your custom URL up to five times in six months, so pick one you'll keep.

5. Sort the banner nobody uses

The strip behind your photo is a commonly wasted piece of real estate. It sits at the very top of the page, and it's yours to say something with.

Don't decorate it, use it. Add a line that names who you help and what changes for them. The recommended size is 1584 × 396 pixels; design to that and it won't crop awkwardly on mobile. Think billboard, not wallpaper.

6. Check what strangers (and Google) see

You have two profiles: the full one your connections see, and a stripped-back public one. LinkedIn's public profile is "a simplified version of your LinkedIn profile", and it's what shows up when someone Googles you before they've ever logged in. You get to choose which sections are eligible to appear there.

Open your public profile settings and look at the reduced version a stranger meets. Make sure the essentials survive the cut: a headline that explains you, an About that isn't hidden, a way to get in touch. 

⚠️ LinkedIn says changes can take weeks or months for search engines to refresh, so fix it once and let it settle.

A deeper LinkedIn profile edit

Editing your own profile means stating, in writing and in public, what you're worth, and that discomfort is why so many profiles retreat into safe, forgettable language. 

This deeper tidy is having the nerve to sound like one specific person. ⬇️

7. Fix the top first, it's literally what people see

People don't read a profile top to bottom. They scan the top and decide whether the rest earns their attention.

So tidy in order of attention, not order of page: photo, headline, top line, then everything below. If the top three things don't land, nothing further down gets read.

8. De-generic your headline

Your headline is the highest-leverage line on your whole profile, and most people let it default to "Copywriter at [Company]." Waste. 

Your headline "can be separate from the title of your current position" and can be used to promote an area of expertise.

So treat it as your one-line positioning, closer to a strapline than a job title. Who you help, and what changes because you did. If you want to think about this properly rather than reactively, it's a small piece of verbal brand strategy: the deliberate choice of the words that carry your positioning.

Part of positioning is deciding who you're not for. The bravest headline gently repels the wrong people so the right ones feel it was written for them, because a line that tries to appeal to everyone lands with no one. Then run the test:

❌ Could this headline sit, unchanged, on someone else's profile? Then it isn't yours yet.

✅ Does it say something only you could truthfully claim? Then keep it.

9. Rewrite the first two lines of your About as a hook, not a warm-up

Your About collapses after a couple of lines behind a "…see more." Those first lines are the audition; the rest only gets read if they earn it. So don't spend them clearing your throat.

❌ "I am a passionate professional with over eight years of experience delivering value across…"

✅ A specific, human opening, something you'd say if you introduced yourself at an event.

The principle is exactly the same one that makes a blog post hook work: give the reader a reason to keep going in the first breath. Write it in first person. If your About reads like a press release about you – "Amelie is a results-driven strategist who…" – it's wearing a costume. Bin it and write like you talk.

And remember what an About actually is: a promise you'll have to keep on the first call. Don't oversell here and open a gap the conversation then has to survive. Write the version of yourself you can deliver, not the one that photographs well.

10. Turn your Experience into achievements

Experience sections tend to be a job description copied straight off the contract: "responsible for managing…". 

But nobody is moved by a responsibility. Rewrite each role as a short list of things that changed because you were there: outcomes, not tasks. Put an honest number on it where you can; where you can't, a specific before-and-after still beats a duty.

And here's the tidy part: a good Experience section is shorter than a messy one, not longer. Consolidate or cut the ancient roles that no longer serve your story, fix the inconsistent dates and duplicate entries, and let the recent, relevant work breathe.

11. Cut your skills down, don't build them up

Counterintuitive, but true. You can add up to 100 skills, and almost nobody should. A wall of 40-odd skills dilutes the three that matter and reads as insecurity.

LinkedIn uses your skills to "match you with the right opportunities". Choose the handful you actually want to be found for, put those front and centre, and delete the rest. 

12. Put your best work on the shelf (Featured)

The Featured section is meant to "showcase the best samples of your work, as evidence of your skills and experience".

Pin two or three things: a case study, a standout post, a piece of writing that sounds like you, a link to your site. Evidence beats adjectives every time. Anyone can claim they're good; a Featured shelf shows it.

13. Get a few specific recommendations, and tell people what to say

A recommendation is "a commendation written by a LinkedIn member to recognise your work", and you can request them from 1st-degree connections you've worked with. Two moves make them count.

First, ask specific people for specific things. A vague "great to work with" helps no one, so gently steer them toward the one project or quality you want on the record. If what comes back is generic, LinkedIn even lets you ask for a revision.

Second, write a few for other people. They appear on your profile too, and they reveal your taste and who's in your orbit. Quality beats volume here: a couple of pointed, clearly-unsolicited recommendations outweigh a wall of reciprocal "I'll rec you if you rec me" trades.

14. Mind your digital body language

You can perfect the static profile and still be undone by your last ten comments. Everything you like, react to and reply to trails behind your name as a kind of digital body language, and it's part of your profile whether you curate it or not.

You can't edit the past feed, but you can be deliberate from here: engage where you'd want to be seen, and let the rest go. A profile attached to someone who shows up thoughtfully reads as alive. A flawless, silent one reads as abandoned.

15. Make the whole thing agree with itself

Recruiters and clients don't read for content, they scan for contradiction. Headline says one thing, About says another, your most recent role is stuck three jobs back. Each section might be fine on its own while the profile as a whole tells three different stories.

The most impactful tidy isn't polishing sections in isolation; it's making them cohere. Read the profile top to bottom as though you were a stranger meeting you for the first time, and cut anything that fights the rest. 

16. If you're freelance, turn on Services, and decide whether you're "I" or "we"

Independents get a feature employees don't need. You can offer your services directly on your profile, in LinkedIn's words, to "find more clients for your business." 

Adding it is free: go to Add profile section → Services, list what you do, set a work location, and optionally show a starting rate or "Contact for pricing." It adds a Services section clients can find, and depending on your plan, a Request services button near the top of your profile.

While you're in there, settle one thing your profile is probably fudging. Are you an "I" or a "we"? Solo operators constantly drift between "I write copy" and "we deliver campaigns," and that ambiguity quietly costs trust. Pick the truth and make it unmistakable, same answer in your headline, your About and your Services.

The copywriting layer: how to write the words themselves

17. Ban the buzzwords

Some words have been said so many times on LinkedIn that they've stopped meaning anything: passionate, results-driven, dynamic, innovative, seasoned, detail-oriented, proven track record, thought leader, spearheaded, leverage, synergy – and the truly unforgivable guru / ninja / rockstar.

The rule: if a word is doing zero work except making you sound vaguely impressive, cut it. 

Then replace it with something so specific only you could have written it. "Results-driven copywriter" tells me nothing; "I've rewritten homepages for fintech teams who were getting traffic but no signups" tells me everything.

18. Lead with "you," not "I"

Count how many sentences in your About start with "I". Now halve them. Your reader cares less about your career chronology than about what changes for them, so open on their problem or their outcome, not your CV.

❌ "I have ten years' experience across B2B SaaS and fintech."

✅ "If your SaaS homepage gets traffic but no signups, that's usually a positioning problem, and it’s exactly what I can fix."

Same facts. One of them is about you; the other is about the person reading.

19. Swap adjectives for evidence

Adjectives are you telling people you're good. Evidence is showing them, and it's always more persuasive. 

❌ "Experienced copywriter" is an adjective; ✅ "eight years writing for fintech and HR-tech teams" is evidence. 

Wherever you've reached for a flattering adjective, swap it for the specific fact sitting underneath it. 

20. Cut the hedges and the throat-clearing

Qualifiers leak confidence. 

"I like to think I'm fairly good at…", "I'm passionate about helping to…", "I specialise in a range of…" – the hedge words (fairly, quite, help to, a range of, various, somewhat) make you sound unsure of your own value. 

Strike them, and the same sentence stands up straighter. A surprising amount of confident copy is just the timid version with the qualifiers deleted.

21. Write for the skim: front-load, one idea per line

People skim profiles; they don't study them. And on a phone, your About is a small window with a "…see more" lid. So write for the scan: put the most important word or idea first in each line, keep to one idea per sentence, and break the text into short paragraphs with real white space between them. A wall of text is where good writing goes to die.

Vary your sentence length while you're at it. A short one after a long one lands harder. Like that.

22. Finish with an ask

Your About is copy, and copy needs a call to action. 

Tell the reader exactly what to do next: "Here's how to work with me," "Book a call," "My recent work is in Featured." 

You don't have to be pushy, one clear next step is plenty. If someone's read all the way to the bottom, don't waste the moment by leaving them nowhere to go.

Steal this: templates that do the heavy lifting

A five-part About structure:

• Hook – a specific first line that earns the "…see more."

• What you do, and exactly who for – no hedging on the "who."

• Proof – numbers, names, outcomes.

• A line of personality – so you read as a human, not a service listing.

• One clear call to action – the single next step.

Two headline patterns that hold up:

• [What you do] for [who] → [the outcome] – e.g. "Copywriting for B2B SaaS that turns 'what does this even do?' into signups."

• [Role] + [specialism] + [proof point] – e.g. "Verbal brand strategist · SaaS & fintech · 8 years, mostly UK."

Not sure your words are pulling their weight anywhere, not just on LinkedIn? The brand voice worksheet is a good place to start.

One rule to remember

Read every line out loud. If it sounds nothing like how you'd introduce yourself to a real human (if it's the kind of sentence that only exists on LinkedIn) rewrite it or cut it. 

That test does more for a profile than any amount of optimisation, because it drags you back toward sounding like yourself.

Tidying up your LinkedIn profile isn't really about tidiness. It's about having the confidence to be specific in a place that quietly rewards everyone for being vague. Delete the beige. What's left is you, and that's the only version worth being found for.

If you want your profile (or your whole verbal brand) to sound like you instead of everyone, that's my job. Talk to me.

FAQ

Will editing my profile notify my whole network?

Only if you leave the sharing setting switched on. In Settings & Privacy → Visibility, turn off Share job changes, education changes, and work anniversaries from profile before an editing session and no announcements go out – though anyone who visits your profile will still see the edits once you save.

What should I write in my LinkedIn About section?

Open with a hook that earns the "…see more," then say what you do and exactly who for, add proof (numbers, names, outcomes), a line of personality, and one clear call to action. Write it in first person, in the language your clients use, not industry jargon.

What words should I avoid on my LinkedIn profile?

Empty buzzwords that everyone uses and nobody reads: passionate, results-driven, dynamic, innovative, thought leader, proven track record, leverage, synergy, and guru / ninja / rockstar. Each is a claim with no evidence. Replace every one with a specific fact only you could truthfully write.

Is LinkedIn verification free?

Yes. Verification is free and optional, and you can verify your identity, workplace or educational institution. LinkedIn reports that verified members see 60% more profile views and 50% more engagement on average.

How many skills should I put on my LinkedIn profile?

You can add up to 100, but a tidy profile does the opposite: pick the handful you genuinely want to be found for, feature those, and delete the rest. A shorter, sharper list reads as confidence.

What size should my LinkedIn banner be?

LinkedIn's recommended background photo size is 1584 × 396 pixels. Design to those dimensions so nothing important gets cropped, especially on mobile.

How often can I change my custom LinkedIn URL?

Up to five times within six months. After the fifth change you'll have to wait another six months, so choose one you'll keep.

How do I stop showing that I'm #OpenToWork?

Manage it in the Open to Work settings. Choose "recruiters only" to stay discreet, or turn it off entirely; "all members" is the option that adds the visible green frame to your photo.

How do I get good LinkedIn recommendations?

Request them from 1st-degree connections you've worked with and ask specific people for specific things rather than a generic testimonial. If a recommendation comes back too vague, you can ask the writer for a revision.

What shows on my public LinkedIn profile and on Google?

A simplified version of your profile, not every section. You control which sections are eligible to appear publicly in your public profile settings, and that public version is what search engines like Google can index.

Can freelancers offer services on LinkedIn?

Yes. You can add a Services section to your personal profile for free via Add profile section → Services, list what you do, and optionally show a starting rate or choose "Contact for pricing." Some lead and media features require a paid subscription.