LinkedIn made significant changes and updates to its site in the first half of 2020—too many to discuss in one article. Therefore, I’ve put the changes in three buckets: those that are applicable to all LinkedIn members, LinkedIn company page changes, and LinkedIn changes for job seekers.

Today I’ll address the changes for all users. Look for the next two articles in coming weeks.

I will skip the changes that aren’t widely distributed yet (like LinkedIn Live and LinkedIn Stories) and the one that’s been annoying the heck out of me—LinkedIn Polls.
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Best 2020 LinkedIn Changes/Updates for All Users

Profile Featured Section. This is by far the best new feature LinkedIn has added this year. This handy dandy, highly viewed carousel of documents or links to other web pages is a great way to display your best stuff.

Get more information here.

Headline expanded to 220 characters. Your headline has always been important for grabbing people’s attention and including your most important keywords to help you come up higher in searches. Now, with 80% more capacity, your opportunity to capitalize on your headline just went through the roof.

Download my free three-page worksheet The Definitive Worksheet to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile Headline for detailed strategies and examples of effective headlines.

Name pronunciation audio button. You can now display an audio button near your name at the top of your profile that will play a 10-second audio recording of how to pronounce your name and maybe a bit of marketing information (wink, wink). I was able to include, “Hello, my name is Wayne Breitbarth, and I can help you leverage LinkedIn for your business and career success. Just let me know how I can help.”

Just click the pencil to the right of your profile photo, and you’ll see the name pronunciation section. Click the edit pencil to the right and start recording your short elevator speech.

Profile location update. LinkedIn’s change to how the filters for location work may require you to update your location selection. Because this change might affect how you come up in a location-based search, I suggest you check this revision out ASAP.

Click the pencil to the right of your profile photo. Then scroll down to the Location box and see if LinkedIn is recommending a location revision for you. Go with their recommendation to optimize this filter.

This may also be a good time to reevaluate the zip code you’ve entered and the resultant LinkedIn location. This may sound like a no brainer, but there is more to it than you think. Here’s a link to an article I wrote to help you make the most of this important setting.

Address these four important LinkedIn changes as soon as possible. It could mean the difference between being found and contacted or being overlooked in favor of a competitor or fellow job seeker.

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