LinkedIn Profile best practices

12 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2025

Woman laughing at her laptop while lounging in a bed

Professionals – particularly salespeople – invest a lot of time and resource in building brands. We’re trained at it – and we’re good at it. But how often do we apply those skills to building our own personal brands? For many of us, it’s nothing like as often as we should. I know that there’s more that I could be doing to build my own profile on LinkedIn – and I know that I’m not alone.

We don’t get around to it because we’re busy, and because it can sometimes feel selfish or egotistical to invest time in marketing ourselves. However, when we neglect personal branding, we don’t just sell ourselves short – we also miss a big opportunity, from a sales perspective. The impact of employees who share content is huge. And the most effective employee sharers are those who’ve built their personal brand on LinkedIn.

The LinkedIn profile page is the foundation for your personal branding. And we regularly add features to increase its capabilities as a personal marketing platform and give you new ways to signal your skills and motivations. If you haven’t checked your profile page recently, you might well find new ways to build your personal brand.

Here are 12 profile features you should check and update for 2025. Some of them are very quick wins, some of them may take a little bit of time – but all of them are very worthwhile. They will help to give you the LinkedIn profile and personal brand that you deserve.

1. Choose the right profile picture for LinkedIn

Your profile picture is your calling card on LinkedIn – it’s how people are introduced to you and (visual beings that we are) it governs their impressions from the start. There are some great posts explaining how to pick the right profile picture on LinkedIn – but here are some quick tips to start with: make sure the picture is recent and looks like you, make sure your face takes up around 60% of it (long-distance shots don’t stand out), wear what you would like to wear to work, and smile with your eyes!

2. Make your headline more than just a job title

There’s no rule that says the description at the top of your profile page has to be just a job title. Use the headline field to say a bit more about how you see your role, why you do what you do, and what makes you tick. If you’ve got sales reps at your company who are on the ball with social selling, then take a quick look at their profile page headlines for inspiration. They will almost certainly have more than their job titles in there.

3. Record and display your name pronunciation

Tired of having your name mispronounced? You can help solve that by recording and displaying your name pronunciation on your LinkedIn profile. With it, people can listen to how you pronounce your name, so they can say it correctly. Learn more about adding this feature here.

4. Turn your About section into your story

The first thing to say about your LinkedIn About section is – make sure you have one! It’s amazing how many people still leave this field blank when creating their LinkedIn profile. Your About section is your chance to tell your own story – so don’t just use it to list your skills or the job titles you’ve had. Try to bring to life why those skills matter – and the difference they can make to the people you work with. Don’t be afraid to invest some time, try a few drafts, and run your summary past people you know. Premium subscribers can also use AI to edit and enhance their About section.

5. Grow your network

Get into the habit of following up meetings and conversations with LinkedIn connection requests – it’s a great way of keeping your network vibrant and up to date. When kicking off a conversation, think through how you want to present yourself, what you want to share, and what you hope to achieve from the conversation. Have a few questions ready that you can ask someone to help uncover common ground you share. Reviewing someone’s LinkedIn Profile before reaching out helps you identify shared interests, allowing you to craft a thoughtful and personalized message. This approach not only helps you stand out but also shows you genuinely care about building a relationship

6. List your relevant skills

It’s one of the quickest of quick wins on LinkedIn – scroll through the list of skills and identify those that are relevant to you. Doing so helps to substantiate the description in your Headline and About section, and provides a platform for others to endorse you. However, the key here is staying relevant and also including details of your experience alongside your skills. A long list of skills that aren’t really core to who you are and what you do can start to feel unwieldy. Take time for a spring clean of your skills list every now and then. You are nearly 3x more likely to receive connection requests if you have five or more skills listed on your Profile.

7. Request recommendations

Recommendations are personal testimonials written to illustrate the experience of working with you. There’s a handy drop-down menu in the Recommendations section of your profile that makes it easy to reach out to specific contacts and request recommendations. Take the time to think about who you would most value a recommendation from – and personalize your request. It’s worth the extra effort.

8. Showcase your credentials

Licenses & certifications are a great way to showcase your knowledge and professional achievements on your LinkedIn profile. Here’s how you do it – click on the “Add profile section” button under your name on your Profile, scroll down to the Recommended section, and click “add licenses & certifications.”

For example, when you complete a course on LinkedIn Learning, you’ll have the opportunity to add a course certificate to your LinkedIn profile. You do this from within the Learning History section of your LinkedIn Learning account – where you can also send updates about your learning to your network if you choose.

9. Share any projects, patents, and publications

Within the “Add profile section” button, you also have the option to add details on any projects, patents, or publications you’ve worked on or earned. This can add an extra dimension to your profile and helps people understand what makes you tick. It not only differentiates you, but demonstrates passion and commitment as well.

10. Share relevant content from your LinkedIn feed

It’s one thing to have a network of connections on LinkedIn – it’s far better to have an active role in that network, appearing in your connections’ LinkedIn feeds in a way that adds value for them. Sharing relevant content with your network is one of the most accessible ways of doing this. You can make a start by keeping a close eye on your LinkedIn feed, and sharing content or commenting on content that you have a perspective on.

11. Follow relevant influencers in your industry

Following relevant influencers on LinkedIn helps to put a range of interesting content in your feed, which you can then share with others when you think it adds value. It also helps to give context to your LinkedIn profile, demonstrating your passion for what you do.

12. Spotlight the services you offer

Consultants, freelancers, those working for smaller businesses, and others can showcase the services they offer via a LinkedIn Service Page. LinkedIn Service Pages are dedicated landing pages that showcase your services and businesses at no cost and operate on a request and proposal model. Learn more about Service Pages and how to set them up here.

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