What Your LinkedIn Profile Should Actually Have On It- LinkedIn profile optimisation

I get asked this all the time by business owners, founders, consultants and senior people who know LinkedIn matters, but are not always sure what their profile should actually be doing.

And I think the mistake is that people still treat LinkedIn like an online CV, when in B2B it is often part of the sales process, the referral process and the trust-building process.

If you are connecting with people, sending follow-up messages, emailing prospects, speaking at events, building partnerships or being introduced to potential clients, there is a good chance someone will check your LinkedIn profile before they respond.

That matters even more now because email is harder. Inboxes are tighter, spam filters are stronger, people are more cautious, and you cannot just assume that sending more emails will get you more conversations.

People check the person behind the message, and when they land on your profile, they are usually trying to work out very quickly whether they understand what you do, whether you look credible, whether your business looks real, and whether you are worth replying to.

So your profile does not need to be perfect, but it does need to make that decision easier.

LinkedIn profile optimisation helps business owners build trust, improve visibility and turn profile visits into real B2B opportunities.

Here are the main things I would look at.

1. Your profile photo and banner - LinkedIn profile optimisation

Your profile photo should be clear, current and recognisable. It does not need to be a studio headshot, but it should look like you now, not you from 12 years ago at a wedding with someone cropped out.

Your banner is where more people miss the opportunity. A lot of banners are blank, vague, too busy, or just have a logo sitting there without saying anything useful. But your banner is one of the first things people see, and it should help them understand where they have landed.

It should say who you help, what you help with, or what you want to be known for.

For example, if you run a cybersecurity business, a useful banner might say:

Cybersecurity training and risk reduction for growing businesses.

That is clear. It tells me what the business does and gives me a reason to keep reading.

2. Your headline

Your headline needs to do more than list your job title.

“Founder”, “Managing Director” or “Consultant” might be true, but it does not give the person reading it enough context. Your headline follows you around LinkedIn when you comment, when you appear in search, when someone sees your post, and when someone lands on your profile, so it needs to carry some meaning.

A good headline should give people a quick sense of what you do and who it is relevant to.

For example:

Cybersecurity training and compliance support for SMEs and regulated businesses.

That is much more useful than “Founder at SecureNorth”, because it tells someone why you might matter to them.

This is also where keywords matter. Not in the sense of stuffing your profile with the same phrase again and again, but LinkedIn needs to understand what you do, and so do the people landing on your profile.

A phrase like “helping businesses become more secure” might sound fine, but it does not say whether you provide cyber awareness training, phishing simulation, ISO 27001 support, compliance advice or incident response. Clever straplines are fine, but they should not replace plain English.

3. Your About section

Your About section should not start with your life story.

A lot of people open with something like, “I am a passionate and experienced professional with over 20 years’ experience across multiple sectors,” which may be true, but it does not really help the reader understand whether you are relevant to them.

Start with the world of the person you help. What are they trying to fix, improve, reduce, avoid or understand? Then explain what you do.

For example, a renewables business might open with:

Commercial energy costs, resilience and sustainability are now board-level issues. We help businesses explore battery energy storage and renewable energy solutions that support long-term efficiency, reliability and carbon reduction.

That works because it starts with the buyer’s problem, not the founder’s career history.

Your About section should cover who you help, what problem you help with, what you provide, why someone should trust you, and what they should do next. It does not need to be long, but it does need to be clear.

4. Your links and Featured section

Your profile should not be a dead end. If someone is interested, where should they go next?

That might be your website, a service page, a case study, a booking link, a product page, a guide, a brochure or your company page. Do not just add the homepage because it is the obvious thing to do. Think about what would actually help someone take the next step.

The Featured section is also very useful, but it is often either empty or full of random old posts. I would use it for three or four things: something that shows your thinking, something that shows proof, something that explains what you offer, and something that helps someone move forward.

For a manufacturing business, that might be a capabilities page, a quality accreditation, a project example and a video showing how you manage production quality or lead times.

The Featured section should make it easier for someone to understand whether you can help them.

5. Your Experience section

If you are the founder, MD or director of a company, make sure your current role is linked properly to the company page, so the company logo appears beside your role and people can click through.

It is a small detail, but it matters. A profile looks more complete when the company is linked properly, and it gives people a cleaner route from you to the business.

Do not leave the role description blank either. Use it to explain what the business does in plain English.

For example:

Managing Director of a renewables business delivering battery energy storage and commercial energy solutions for organisations looking to improve resilience, reduce costs and support sustainability goals.

That is much more useful than simply repeating your job title.

6. Recommendations

Recommendations can be powerful, but only when they are specific.

“Great to work with” is nice, but it does not tell a future buyer much. A useful recommendation explains what the problem was, what you helped with, what the process was like, and what changed afterwards.

If you ask someone for a recommendation, give them a few prompts. Ask what problem they had before working with you, what was useful about the process, what changed as a result, and what they would say to someone considering working with you.

You are not writing it for them. You are helping them avoid writing something so vague that it becomes almost meaningless.

7. Your company page

Your personal profile is usually where trust is built, especially in SMEs, because people want to see the person behind the business. But your company page still matters.

It should have a clear logo, a banner that explains what the company does, a plain-English tagline, a useful About section, the correct website link, a call-to-action button if available, and services listed if they are relevant.

It should also include some proof, whether that is case studies, project photos, certifications, client sectors, testimonials, accreditations or useful posts.

The page does not need to be busy every day, but it should not look abandoned.

Your personal profile, company page and website should feel connected. They should use the same kind of language, point to the same services, and make it easy for someone to understand who you help and what you do.

Because if your personal profile says one thing, your company page says another, and your website says something else again, you create doubt.

And in B2B, doubt slows everything down.

Your LinkedIn profile probably will not close the deal on its own, but it can absolutely help someone decide whether you are worth replying to, accepting, referring or meeting.

That is why it is worth fixing the basics before you worry about posting more.

Clare Patterson is founder of Reason Why, helping SME leaders build marketing that actually works.