Using the Web Entries on a LinkedIn Profile to Boost Page Rank

Let’s talk about search results today – and how you can influence your web site’s search rank through the use of your LinkedIn profile.

This is a bit technical and of importance mostly to those that want to get their web site ranked higher, so I’ll understand if you’re not interested – but if you’ve got a web site, read on…-)

Page rank

So – when you search on google (or any other search site), you enter some text and the search engine magically gives you results.

The “most promising” results are there at the top of the list, and if you’re patient and interested, you can keep clicking down further and further…  Most people don’t.

If you’ve setup a page explaining in detail how the acme roadrunner trap works, you’d like for your page to be listed near the top when people search on those three terms, correct?

Well – that’s determined in part by the “rank” given to your page (where higher is better).

Links add to rank

What adds to the rank assigned to any page?

Well – if I could tell you that in this space, I’d be in a different line of business, so let me wave my hands and say “it’s rather complicated” and “go investigate search engine optimization for more details”.

But…

One factor that adds to a page’s rank is incoming links – and the text used to describe those links.

So if you can get lots of people to point to your page from their page – your rank will be better off for it.

The words used in the text that points to the page will influence the ranking.

(And all you SEO experts that find this page can remember that I’m simplifying things here – it’s ok, really;-)

Pointing to web pages from your profile

LinkedIn allows users to setup three (yes, that’s 3 – count ’em – 1, 2, 3;-) links on a profile.

In an earlier note, I mentioned how you could use better text to describe the links (click here to read that one).  The suggestions of “My Website”, “My Company”, and “My Blog” don’t do a heck of a lot for the reader…

But it gets better – I’ve found a reference that these links definitely add to the page rank.

So it’s even more important to describe your page better.

Key words

In my example above, I’d want to say something like “Acme Roadrunner Traps Explained” in the ‘other’ description, and point to my special website.

Then when people search on those words, the site will be closer to the #1 spot. (And remember – closer may be relative – from the 50th result to the 23rd is still closer;-)

Numbers count

Yes – two people doing this has more of an effect than one, and ten more than two…  Just don’t get carried away here – it’s still got to look good to the average user.

Prove it…

So – I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t have something more than a gut hunch. (and yes, one should intuitively expect that this sort of result happens)

I found that the Education Management Corporation did a little study and verified this effect.  It’s described over on eyeflow.com when EDMC talked about the effect during a Pittsburgh SEO meeting.

Note – if you follow another link on the page there they have a short video about using LinkedIn to maximize your online visibility.  In that video the speaker suggests putting “search text” in the field where you name belongs. Consider this carefully – if you do that and LinkedIn catches you at it, they will likely suspend your account. Hence – I suggest you put your name where your name goes…-)

LinkedIn Search Engine Optimization

Hey – that sounds like a topic for an article here – how can you get your profile to the top of others’ search results on LinkedIn?  It ought to be a good discussion.

Stay tuned – and remember – you can get an email with the subject and first section of an article each time I post.  That way you don’t have to remember to come back here every so often to see what’s new.  Check within the “Read The Feed” box in the top right.

To your continued success,

steve
—
Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock