LinkedIn Headline Examples and Tips

LinkedIn has over 1 billion members and is the world’s largest professional online networking website [1]. To truly enhance your online presence, it's important to go beyond just having a profile. It’s essential to ensure you optimize it to increase your odds of making connections, aid in engaging in an effective online job search, and make it easier to join groups. 

Given the immense pool of users, making your profile stand out by focusing on LinkedIn profile optimization is vital. Doing so means ensuring your profile sections are complete, with a professional headshot, your achievements, and relevant keywords within your profile. 

Discover how to focus on strengthening your LinkedIn headline with tips for creating an impactful, fully optimized headline. As you continue reading, you can explore some real-life LinkedIn headline examples for inspiration. The LinkedIn headline is the first thing you see on a profile, and if done right, it can have a significant impact on determining whether others read your profile.

Read more: How to Create a Striking LinkedIn Profile: Guide + Tips

What is a LinkedIn headline?

The LinkedIn headline is the short description beneath your name at the top of your LinkedIn profile. Think of it like the title of an article. The strength of the title plays a big part in whether you decide to read the article. Similarly, your LinkedIn headline helps a recruiter or someone looking to connect in your professional network determine whether your profile is worth considering. 

In addition, recruiters often use keyword searches to find relevant profiles, which makes your headline very valuable if you know how to use it. The headline connects to LinkedIn’s internal search algorithm, so it must contain keywords to help recruiters find you. 

5 tips for creating an impactful LinkedIn headline

The headline is short, at a maximum of 220 characters, and it’s tempting to opt for the default option of simply listing your employer and position, but you will get more value if you get creative. Look at some dynamic tips for creating a LinkedIn headline that may help you rank higher in the search results.

Read more: How to Use LinkedIn: 6 Ways to Take Advantage of the Networking Site

1. Target your audience.

How you write your LinkedIn profile headline will depend on your target. For example, when looking for a new job, you'll need different keywords and a different narrative than when aiming to attract customers or establish yourself as a thought leader. Consider who you want to target and what they want to know about you.

2. Think about what you can offer.

One way to ensure your LinkedIn headline stands out is to consider what you can offer rather than listing what you have done and can do. Consider how your skills will benefit your ideal audience. It is particularly beneficial if you offer a service and are looking for customers or job searching and have a unique selling point (USP). 

3. Be confident. 

Highlight your achievements, your position, and what you can offer. If you have a degree from a top college, include it. If you run your own business, own that and call yourself “director” rather than downplaying it. Think of it as your opportunity to tell the world why you are unique and qualified, so share things that make you proud. 

At the same time, avoid sounding too confident, which can create an off-putting impression. Avoid using words like “amazing” and “best.”

4. Be creative.

You’ll want to be more creative than simply stating your job title and employer to stand out. Think about ways to inject a bit of personality into your headline with only 220 characters. You might include your core values, your USP, or even something personal if it’s relevant.

5. Go for keywords.

Your use of keywords is a critical factor to consider when writing a LinkedIn headline, and it can make a significant difference. LinkedIn’s algorithms pick up on relevant keywords, as do recruiters using screening software. Include keywords that you identify as relating to your role. You can find these by looking through job descriptions and ads for similar positions.

 Google search engines also pick up your profile, another reason to use keywords.

5 LinkedIn headline examples to inspire your own

Browse some profile examples to highlight effective LinkedIn headlines and learn how to optimize your headline to support your goals and enhance your job search. 

1. Be creative and personal.

Devoted to Making a Difference | Head of Wildlife Conservation | Board Member for Protection of NYC Dogs | Defender of Animals

This headline injects some humor, personality, and an element of creativity to make it stand out against those taking a more formal approach. 

2. Optimize with keywords. 

Author | Marketing Specialist | Hubspot Expert | AI Content Creator | Designer

This headline uses keywords divided by the “|” symbol. It is an effective way of listing credentials, incorporating as many keywords as you can clearly.

3. Base it on your achievements.

Founder, Director, Author, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Speaker, Mentor

This headline does a great job of highlighting his achievements. From this headline alone, you know this person is a founder of a company, a director, a mentor, and an author. 

4. Provide value to the reader.

LinkedIn Consultant- Grow your social media following, Influencer- Connect with me to optimize your brand. DM to get started.

This headline tells the reader exactly what the author can do for them rather than leaving any doubt by listing credentials alone. They have strong calls to action, which works well for service-based businesses and influencers.

5. Highlight your goals.

Software engineer student | Aspiring AI Software Engineer | Expected Honor Roll

It isn’t always necessary to include lots of information in your headline. Sometimes, less is more, especially when looking for a job. In this case, it makes sense to highlight what you are looking for so that the relevant keywords are in there, along with anything to back up your skills, such as your degree or former position.

Boost your LinkedIn profile with credentials on Coursera

A headline is the first part of your LinkedIn profile a viewer sees, aside from your photo. Using this opportunity to grab attention and spell out why your profile is worth reading is vital. 

Once you’ve completed your headline, you want to generate interest with a robust profile. Taking online courses and earning professional credentials on Coursera can help strengthen your background. For example, if you’re beginning as a freelancer, you might explore the Building Your Freelancing Career Specialization from CalArts. This five-course series can help you explore how to use tools like LinkedIn to your advantage and so much more. 

You can also gain in-demand skills. For example, you can sharpen your project management abilities with Google’s Project Management Professional Certificate or hone your data analytics skills with the IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate. You’ll find these options and more on Coursera.