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
November 5th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
The trick is getting some keywords in the name field. works for me. (psst… it works on other social networking profiles too…)
November 5th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Justin - which ones?? I know you used to be able to sneak your site in your bio on Twitter, but they started nofollowing it a little while ago!
November 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
My LI profile comes up number one in google for my name. Linkedin was included into the About.com Top 10 employment site list…linkedin is still the only social network on the list though…..the newest 3 on the list are-
http://www.linkedin.com (professional networking)
http://www.indeed.com (aggregated listings)
http://www.realmatch.com (matches you to the perfect job)
Complete top 10 job site list here:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/joblistings/tp/jobbanks.htm
November 5th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
David, thanks for the links!
It seems the possibilities for LinkedIn are never-ending!!
November 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am
It may be claimed that being found on search engines when people search your name is far less important than being found when people search your service or profession. However, to my opinion such a claim is only part true. Sure it’s important for service providers to be out there when people search for an accountant, a lawyer, or a consulting service. However, the search usually doesn’t end there since most potential customers will also search the service provider’s name, and you need to be able to represent yourself professionally when they do.
Tip: You can also have “do follow” links by creating a LookupPage or Naymz profile.