LinkedIn search works differently from Google, and most professionals optimise for neither. Recruiters search by keyword combinations — job title, skill, sometimes location — so a profile needs to be readable by that search logic, not just by a human scrolling through it.
The headline is the most under-used real estate on the platform. 'Marketing professional' tells a recruiter nothing searchable. 'Digital Marketing Specialist | Meta Ads & SEO | Harare' gives the search algorithm three things to match against.
The About section should open with what you do and for whom, not a personality statement — save the personality for the interview. Experience entries should mirror CV best practice: achievements with numbers where possible, not just task lists.
Beyond the obvious fields, the checklist we run includes: a professional photo with a plain background, a custom profile URL, skills ordered by relevance with the top three pinned, recommendations requested from the right people (not just anyone), and consistent activity — even occasional comments on industry posts keep a profile from looking dormant.
None of this replaces the CV. It's a different surface with a different search logic, and treating it as a copy-paste of your CV is the single biggest mistake we see.