Alternative SEO: Revitalize Visibility for Your Business' LinkedIn Profile

Next up in our 'Alternative SEO' series, we'll tackle how to maximize your presence on one of the net's largest professional networks... 

The Site: LinkedIn.com

What it is: a virtual professional networking website, LinkedIn has become a must in today's corporate world.

Thanks to a rapid increase in popularity, it's only becoming more difficult for businesses to get their profiles to be one of those that appear at the top of a page when searched on LinkedIn. As I mentioned in a previous post about increasing a business' search rank on Yelp.com, LinkedIn also has an algorithm that determines the priority of one profile vs. another.

Making the most of LinkedIn

In order to take advantage of the networking goldmine that LinkedIn provides, you need to commit to cultivating a strong ranking via LinkedIn's internal search engine. Here are a few tips to help maximize your LinkedIn exposure.

Tip #1: Complete your profile.

First off, make sure your profile is complete. If you aren't sure, use LinkedIn's built-in tracker —this neat little tool will show what you have completed, as well as alert you to the areas that require more information.

Next thing to know: as with Yelp, a completed company profile will give you an edge on LinkedIn when compared to a business that's yet to fill in all of their information. An added benefit is that by filling out your profile in its entirety, LinkedIn will also have additional information by which they can identify search-related keywords.

Tip #2: Keep keywords relevant.

Think about how you search for people or businesses on LinkedIn. What types of words do you use? Take your answer and keep it in mind when writing your profile to include relevant keywords. Remember, this is how you'll up your chances of allowing a potential client to find you.

Luna example: the chances that someone in need of web design will search for "salt lake city website design firms", when using LinkedIn is generally unlikely. More appropriate? Web design Utah. Software development Utah. Utah graphic design... you get the idea.  

Tip #3: Join LinkedIn Groups

By participating in LinkedIn Groups, you increase your chances of expanding the size of your network. So how do you determine which group you should join? Look at popular keywords within your industry and run a search on LinkedIn using those. Additionally, look at the groups others in your current network are involved with.

Keep in mind that after you become part of a group, you need to be active! Joining is easy, however, if you're inactive, you aren't doing yourself (or your LinkedIn search rank!) any favors.

Tip #4: Expand your network.

Size matters when it comes to your LinkedIn network. More than that, LinkedIn also ops to show results that have a connection with a user, direct relationship or not.

Try connecting with previous coworkers, supervisors, clients with whom you've maintained a positive relationship, even friends in similar industries. Additionally, this can help you in discovering various groups as mentioned above. There's no better way to establish new contacts than by reaching out to those whose professional backgrounds and interests are similar to your own.