What can your LinkedIn Profile do for your Search Engine Visibility?
My boss has recently been interested in the benefits of using LinkedIn – his most recent blogpost being about the advantages for small business people and entrepreneurs using LinkedIn. In addition, I recieved an email from LinkedIn this morning about their newest addition: LinkedIn Applications. So, I figured it’s high time I do a little investigatory work myself…
The first thing I noticed – while Facebook profiles will, more often than not, outrank it; searches for people with LinkedIn profiles will rank incredibly high (usually the first page). My profile, for instance, is the fourth result in a search for my name, the fifth being a SERP for my name in LinkedIn:
So…what does that mean? In all honesty, not all the much. I mean how many people search for my name other than me? The catch: searching for your friends, colleagues, classmates, or even businesses. Say I was searching for the Via Group – an advertising firm right here in Portland. (Admittedly, they just connected with me on LinkedIn. But let’s say for the sake of argument I was searching for them.) Their LinkedIn profile is ranked eighth in a search for “via group”.
Pretty powerful. Another cool thing about LinkedIn? They follow THREE of your links! (Most social media sites will usually give you an area to add links for your business, blog, what have you; but will nofollow them.) For example, my Facebook links are nofollowed (SeoQuake will strikethrough nofollowed links):
Conversely, my LinkedIn profile not only follows my links, but also allows me to choose my own anchor text – even more powerful:
Moral of the story: If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile (whether personal or business), get one! And while you’re at it, follow me -
Nicki Hicks
Find me on LinkedIn
Tags: Anchor Text, Facebook, Link Building, LinkedIn, Social Media