LinkedIn celebrated its 100 million member milestone this past week. The popular, business social network's Google authority, also provides a significant personal branding benefit: Page-One Results in Organic Search.
Achieving Page-One Google Search Results for Your Name
Page-one organic search results are important because roughly 95% of searchers stop reviewing their search results after page one. Therefore, if you want a potential employer, an executive recruiter, a former colleague, or a new blog subscriber to find you, page-one Google search results are HUGE.
LinkedIn Profiles / LinkedIn Labs Public Resumes Own High Google Authority
This example shows the page-one, Google organic search results for my name. Notice how 30% of the results come from LinkedIn domains (e.g., 3 of 10 search results):
A 4-Point Checklist To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
1. Complete Your LinkedIn Profile 100%. The more details and keywords describing your current / past employment history, the higher your chances of Google finding you (and placing you on page-one)
2. Customize your LinkedIn Profile URL With Your Name. Here's how my customized LinkedIn Profile URL appears: www.linkedin.com/in/tonyfaustino.
2a) Under Edit My Public Profile menu, enable the Public Profile option:
2b) Under the Your Public Profile URL menu, select Customize Your Public Profile URL:
3. Create a Shareable, Public Resume with LinkedIn Labs Resume Builder. You can efficiently create multiple resume formats using all the data in your LinkedIn Profile. That's why filling out your LinkedIn Profile 100% is so important (see #1).
Here's the public resume I created with LinkedIn Labs Resume Builder: http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/979ya9sl
4. Optimize your LinkedIn Profile With These Additional Resources
* How-To Video: Making a LinkedIn Public Profile Easier to Find for Google or Executive Recruiters (from this blog)
* How to Optimize a LinkedIn Profile in 3 Minutes by Mike Volpe, VP inbound Marketing at HubSpot
Conclusion
The Long Tail Awaits You. The long-tail of search always gives a potential employer, an executive recruiter, a former colleague, or a new blog subscriber the opportunity to find you. But, you want to land on Google's first page when one of these stakeholders conducts an online search.
Google Grants LinkedIn High Organic Search Authority. Therefore, leverage that search authority to your advantage as you continue building your personal brand and online reputation.