LinkedIn Profile Checklist: 90+ Tips for a Complete Profile

Your LinkedIn profile appears on the first page of Google when someone searches your name. Recruiters open it before they call you. Clients check it before they respond to your proposal. And yet millions of profiles have not been updated in years.

This LinkedIn profile checklist gives you 90+ concrete tips to improve every part of your profile, from profile photo to AI visibility. Updated for 2026.

This is not theory. These are the exact steps you take today, including the current character limits, dimensions and settings that LinkedIn itself applies.

1. The 5 most visible profile elements

These five elements are visible everywhere, all the time: in search results, in the feed, in connection requests and on your profile page itself. They determine the first impression. Start here.

1. Name. Use only your official first name and surname. No titles, company names, phone numbers or emoji. LinkedIn removes accounts that ignore this.
2. Profile photo. A professional, recent photo significantly increases the chance that people click through to your profile. No holiday snap, no group photo.
3. Headline. This is the first thing someone reads after your name. You have 220 characters to show what you do and for whom. Do not copy your job title: that already appears elsewhere.
4. Industry. LinkedIn offers 434 industries. Pick the most relevant one for you: this partly determines which search results you appear in.
5. Location. Recruiters and clients filter by region. Fill in your location based on where you want to be found, not necessarily where you live.

2. Profile photo and background image

Your photo is the first visual signal of trust. A profile without a photo gets hardly any views. But a bad photo does the same damage: it draws the wrong conclusions.

6. Frame fill. Your face takes up at least 60% of the frame. Zoom out too far and you become unrecognisable.
7. Background. Choose a calm, plain background or a professional setting. No cluttered home background.
8. Lighting. Make sure light falls on your face from the front. Backlight, hard shadows and flash reflections in glasses are the most common mistakes.
9. Clothing. Wear what you wear on a normal working day. A suit when you always work in casual clothes sends the wrong signal.
10. Recognisability. Use the same photo across all your professional channels. People recognise you faster when they come across you on other platforms.
11. File format and size. JPG or PNG, maximum 8 MB. Minimum dimensions: 400 x 400 pixels. Ideal: 1,000 x 1,000 pixels.
12. Refresh regularly. Replace your photo at least every three to five years, or sooner if your appearance has clearly changed.
13. Add a background image. Most profiles leave this field empty. A wasted opportunity. Use it for personal branding: add an image that shows what you do.
14. Background dimensions. 1,584 x 396 pixels. Note: the left-hand side overlaps with your profile photo. Keep text on the right or centred.
15. Check on mobile. Check how your background looks on a phone. What looks fine on desktop is sometimes cut off on a phone screen.

3. Name and basic details

Small details with a big impact. Many people fill these in once and never look at them again.

16. Name character limit. First name: maximum 20 characters. Surname: maximum 40 characters. Nothing more fits.
17. Former name. You add a previous name via a separate profile field. Useful if people still know you under a different name.
18. Add name pronunciation. LinkedIn lets you add an audio recording of up to 10 seconds. Useful if your name is uncommon or if you work internationally.
19. Customise your personal URL. LinkedIn automatically creates a URL with numbers. Change it to linkedin.com/in/yourname. It looks more professional and performs better in Google.
20. Keep contact details up to date. Check regularly that your contact information is still correct. An old phone number or an email address from an employer you left years ago is a poor business card.

4. Headline

The headline is the most underrated field on LinkedIn. By default, LinkedIn fills in your job title plus your employer. Most people leave it that way. That is exactly the reason to change it.

Your job title already appears in your work experience. Almost nobody knows your employer. The headline is the place for your positioning. In 220 characters.

21. Headline character limit. Maximum 220 characters. Much more than the 110 characters LinkedIn used to allow.
22. Visibility in search results. On mobile, only the first 80 to 120 characters appear. Put the most important part first.
23. Replace the default. The automatic headline reads “Job title | Company name”. Replace it with a headline that sets you apart.
24. Use keywords. Think about the search terms your target audience uses. Those words belong in your headline.
25. Name your audience. Who do you work for? This helps the right people find you, and lets the wrong people pass you by.
26. Add your value. What does working with you deliver? That is more relevant than your job title.
27. Use numbers when they add credibility. “25 years of recruitment experience” or “Certified LinkedIn Recruiter” says more than a vague job title.
28. Avoid buzzwords. “Thought leader”, “passionate about” and “changemaker” trigger eye rolls. Be concrete.
29. The 5-second test. Does a stranger immediately understand what you do and for whom? If not: rewrite.
30. Update regularly. Your headline is not permanent. Adjust it when your role, audience or focus changes.

5. Industry and location

31. Pick an industry. LinkedIn now offers 434 industries. It is a required field, but also a search filter that recruiters and clients use.
32. Choose strategically. Do you work in HR at a bank? Then both “Human Resources” and “Banking” are relevant. Choose based on how you want to be found, not on your employer’s sector.
33. Location: fill in strategically. Enter the location where you want to be found. Planning to move, or working hybrid? Pick the location that gives you the most opportunities.

6. About / Summary

The About section is the most underrated field after the headline. Here you have room for your story, your expertise and your keywords. Most people write a dull repeat of what already sits in their work experience. That is a missed opportunity.

34. Maximum space. 2,600 characters available. Use them.
35. Visibility on desktop. Roughly the first 300 characters appear without clicking. Put your strongest point first.
36. Visibility on mobile. On mobile, only 144 characters appear before the “see more” button. The first two lines decide everything.
37. Start with a hook. Who do you help, with what result? Say it in two sentences. Then people read on.
38. Write in the first person. “I help HR managers” reads far more naturally than “Jacco Valkenburg helps HR managers”. You are not a press release about yourself.
39. Work in keywords. The About section carries heavy weight in LinkedIn’s own search algorithm. Use the words your target audience types when they search for someone with your expertise.
40. Avoid the trilogy. “Results-driven, passionate about my profession, team player.” It appears on every profile. It says nothing about you.
41. Close with a call to action. What do you want the reader to do? Send you a message, visit your website, or contact you via WhatsApp?
42. Rewrite when your focus changes. Your summary is not set in stone. Update it when your audience, services or direction change.

7. Featured section

The Featured section sits directly under your summary and is visual. Most people leave it empty or fill it with random links. Yet this is exactly the place to present social proof and relevant content to someone who has just landed on your profile.

43. Add at least 3 items. LinkedIn shows 3 on desktop. Fewer than that looks half-finished.
44. Upload custom thumbnails. Use 1,200 x 627 pixels per item. The automatic link preview rarely looks good.
45. Add social proof. Client stories, case studies, publications or media appearances give your profile credibility that no headline ever matches.
46. Add a lead magnet. A free download, newsletter or direct calendar link turns profile visits into real contact moments.
47. Put the most relevant item first. LinkedIn shows items in the order you choose. The most relevant content belongs in position 1.
48. Remove outdated material. A presentation from three years ago, or an article about a product you no longer sell: out it goes.

8. Work experience

Most people describe what they did in their work experience. The question readers ask is what they achieved. That difference makes a profile interesting or dull. In this LinkedIn profile checklist you find the concrete points to describe work experience well.

49. Describe results, not responsibilities. “Responsible for the recruitment process” says nothing. “Reduced time-to-hire from 45 to 23 days within six months” says everything.
50. Use measurable numbers. Money, percentages, volumes, timeframes. Concrete numbers make abstract claims credible.
51. Job title character limit. Maximum 100 characters.
52. Job description character limit. Minimum 200, maximum 2,000 characters per role.
53. Add media. Presentations, project pages, articles or videos give your work experience a visual dimension.
54. Use search keywords. Which words do recruiters or clients type when they search for someone with your background? Those words belong in your job descriptions.
55. Treat your current role as a sales letter. It is the first thing someone reads when they want to know what you do now.
56. Add voluntary positions if they are relevant. A board role at an industry body or a non-executive position sometimes says more about your capabilities than a paid role.
57. Rewrite for a new audience. The same work reads very differently depending on how you describe it. Adjust the tone and keywords to the people you want to reach.

9. Education and certifications

58. List your education in full. Including specialisation, field of study and any honours.
59. Add descriptions. Relevant theses, projects or extracurricular activities that say something about your expertise belong here.
60. LinkedIn Alumni as a networking tool. LinkedIn’s Alumni tool helps you track down former fellow students. Useful for sourcing, and for your own network.
61. Add certifications as a separate section. Not as part of your education, but in the dedicated certifications section. They are easier to find there.
62. LinkedIn Learning certificates. Add them when they are relevant to your field. They are visible to your network and to recruiters who filter by certification.

10. Skills

The skills section is a keyword bank that LinkedIn’s search algorithm actively uses. Yet most people leave it half empty, or fill it in without a plan. This part of the LinkedIn profile checklist has a direct effect on how easily you are found.

63. Maximum 100 skills. Until 2025, the limit was 50. Use as many as possible for the best findability.
64. The first 3 are the most visible. They appear as a preview on your profile. Pick them deliberately: these are your most distinctive competencies.
65. Reorder your skills. Drag skills into the order you want. You do this in the edit mode of the skills section.
66. Remove outdated skills. A skill you have not used in ten years does not belong there. It dilutes your profile.
67. Actively ask for endorsements. Colleagues and clients confirm your skills with one click. Send them a short message with the request.
68. LinkedIn skill assessments. For some skills you take a quiz on LinkedIn itself. A badge boosts the credibility of that skill.

11. Recommendations

A recommendation is social proof you do not write yourself. That makes it more credible than anything you claim about yourself. Yet most profiles have none, or just one.

69. Aim for at least 3 visible recommendations. LinkedIn shows the 3 most recent as a preview. Make sure those three are there.
70. Give the recommender context. Do not just ask “would you write me a recommendation?”. Add detail: which collaboration, which result you would like highlighted. That produces a far stronger recommendation.
71. Write recommendations yourself too. The best way to receive recommendations is to give a few first. Most people then feel motivated to write one back.
72. Character limit per recommendation. 3,000 characters. Quality counts more than length.
73. Remove outdated recommendations. A glowing recommendation about a role you held fifteen years ago is not a business card for who you are now.

12. Activity and visibility

Your profile is a starting point. Your activity determines whether people actually come across you. If you never comment or post, you are invisible to everyone outside your direct network.

74. Comment on posts in your network. A valuable comment on a popular post brings your profile to the attention of people outside your network. That is how the LinkedIn algorithm works.
75. Share content that matches your expertise. No motivational quotes. No news without your perspective. Just posts that show what you know and how you think.
76. Switch on “Follow” as the primary action. Go to Settings > Visibility > Make Follow primary. Your reach then grows faster through followers than through connections.
77. Use newsletters and LinkedIn Live. These tools are now available to all users as standard, without a separate setting. Publishing regularly increases your visibility and authority on a specific topic.

13. Settings and privacy

Many people set up their profile once and never think about it again. But your settings determine who you see, who sees you and what LinkedIn does with your data.

79. Set Open to Work carefully. You indicate that you are open to work, visible to everyone or only to recruiters. Think before switching it on: in some situations you signal something you do not intend.
80. Check your privacy settings. What is visible to first-degree connections? What is visible to everyone? Go through your settings once: you may be surprised by what is publicly visible.
81. Set profile views. You choose whether to see who visited your profile, and whether you browse anonymously yourself. The two are linked: browse anonymously and you see less yourself.
82. Make your profile public. LinkedIn profiles index well in Google. If your profile is not publicly accessible, you miss that visibility.
83. Export your profile as a PDF. Your profile settings let you create a clean PDF export. Useful when you need a cv version.
84. Verification badge. In some countries, LinkedIn offers a verification badge linked to an official ID or workplace details. It strengthens the credibility of your profile.
85. Manage your notifications. LinkedIn sends a lot of notifications by default. Choose deliberately which ones you receive, so you manage LinkedIn and not the other way round.

14. Your LinkedIn profile in AI search results

AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews increasingly cite LinkedIn profiles as sources. Your profile is not only visible to people actively searching on LinkedIn, it also gets retrieved when someone asks an AI tool who the best recruiter in a specific niche is. That asks for a slightly different approach.

86. AI cites LinkedIn profiles. AI tools retrieve profile information when you are visible in your area of expertise. Make sure your profile is clear and consistent.
87. Use the same keywords throughout your profile. Headline, summary, work experience and skills: when the same words return, they strengthen your authority on that topic.
88. The About section carries heavy weight. Both in LinkedIn’s own search algorithm and in the AI tools that retrieve profile information, the summary is one of the most heavily weighted text fields.
89. Keep an eye on your SSI score. The Social Selling Index shows how well your profile performs across four dimensions: professional brand, finding the right people, engagement and building relationships. Find yours at linkedin.com/sales/ssi.
90. Check your profile on mobile. More than 60% of LinkedIn users browse via the app. What looks perfect on desktop sometimes becomes cluttered on mobile.

Frequently asked questions about a LinkedIn profile

How many characters does the LinkedIn headline allow?

The LinkedIn headline allows a maximum of 220 characters. On mobile, the first 80 to 120 characters are visible without clicking through. Put your strongest point first and use the keywords you want to be found on.

What are the dimensions of the LinkedIn profile photo?

LinkedIn accepts profile photos from a minimum of 400 x 400 pixels up to a maximum of 20,000 x 20,000 pixels, in JPG or PNG, maximum 8 MB. A size of 1,000 x 1,000 pixels is ideal. The background image is 1,584 x 396 pixels.

How many skills can I add on LinkedIn?

You add up to 100 skills. Until 2025 the limit was 50. The first three skills appear as a preview on your profile. Pick those three deliberately and make sure they show your most distinctive competencies.

How many LinkedIn industries are there?

LinkedIn offers 434 industries to choose from. That is far more than the 147 categories from LinkedIn’s early days. Pick the industry that best matches how you want to be found, not necessarily your employer’s sector.

Should I switch on Open to Work?

That depends on your situation. You set Open to Work for everyone or only for recruiters. If you have a job and search discreetly, choose “Recruiters only”. Also bear in mind that some hiring managers read an Open to Work badge as a sign of urgency, which weakens your negotiating position.

How do I improve my visibility in LinkedIn search results?

Use the same keywords consistently in your headline, summary, work experience and skills. The About section carries heavy weight in LinkedIn’s search algorithm. Keep an eye on your SSI score as a measure of your LinkedIn performance.

How long is the LinkedIn summary allowed to be?

The summary allows a maximum of 2,600 characters. On desktop, roughly the first 300 characters are visible without clicking. On mobile, that drops to just 144 characters. Put your strongest argument in the very first lines.