LinkedIn profile optimization · done once
Raising money, changing jobs, or about to pitch one big account? Your LinkedIn gets one careful look. I rebuild every section once, in your words, so it holds up to that look. No posting habit required.
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi: a 3x entrepreneur and best-selling author, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, HuffPost and Entrepreneur.
Featured in
Where this fits
Google should have one centre point where it can see all the information, and nothing other than a personal website can do this.The Knowledge Panel · 10:24
Person Engine Optimization, or PEO, is making sure all three tell the same true story about you. Optimization fixes the first one, fast. What PEO is · How I explain it on my homepage
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An investor and a recruiter read the same profile for different things, so the order matters. Pick why you are fixing your LinkedIn now, and you get the six sections I would rebuild first, with the room LinkedIn gives each one and what goes in it. Tick them off as you go.
What you do, who for, and one proof point. The first six or seven words carry it in the feed.
First person. The problem you solve in the opening lines, then proof, then how to reach you.
What changed because you were there, in one or two lines per role.
Your website, a press feature or case study, and a client testimonial.
Two or three recent ones that each name a specific result.
One line on what you do, and press logos if you have them, on the right two-thirds.
0 of 6 done for raising money.
Contact me with my planOpens your own email with your moment and what is left to do. Nothing is saved on this page.
Section by section
A one-time LinkedIn optimization fills every one of them, not only the headline and the About. Here is the room each section gives you and what I put there.
The About section has more room than the rest of the top of your profile put together. Most people leave it half empty.
Source: LinkedIn's own edit boxes. The About and Services limits are on screen in my April 2025 profile recordings; the headline box stops at 220.
of the 2,600 characters in my own About section are used. I would like the last 36 too.
Source: my own LinkedIn profile, as I show it on camera in April 2025.
| Section | The room LinkedIn gives you | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | 220 characters | What you do, who for, and one proof point. The first six or seven words carry it in the feed. |
| About | 2,600 characters | First person. The problem you solve in the opening lines, then proof, then how to reach you. |
| Banner | 1584 x 396 pixels | One line on what you do, and press logos if you have them, on the right two-thirds. |
| Featured | Posts, links and media you pin | Your website, a press feature or case study, and a client testimonial. |
| Services | 10 skill tags, 500 characters | Switched on, with tags that match your top skills and reviews from past clients. |
| Experience | A description under each role | What changed because you were there, in one or two lines per role. |
| Top skills | 5 skills | The phrase you want to be known for, and the four closest to it. |
| Recommendations | Written by other people | Two or three recent ones that each name a specific result. |
| Public link and photo | linkedin.com/in/ plus a name you choose | Your name in the link, and the same recent photo you use everywhere else. |
| Activity and newsletter | Posts, articles and a newsletter | One piece of your own a month keeps the profile alive. More if you want to be known for it. |
Featured is the shelf nobody stocks.
It sits near the top of your profile, well above recommendations, which most visitors never scroll down to. Pin your website, one press piece or case study, and a testimonial. That is three of your best proofs in the first screen.
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Your profile photo sits over the left side of your banner, so anything you put there gets covered. I keep the left third of every banner clear and put every word on the right two-thirds. Type your line and see where it lands.
✕Part of your line sits in the left third, where your profile photo goes.
A guide, not a pixel-perfect copy: where the photo lands moves a little between screens, which is why I keep the whole left third clear.
Who reads it
The planner above runs on this table. It is my own order, from rebuilding profiles for each of these moments, and it is why I ask what the profile is for before I write a word.
| The moment | Who reads it | What they check | The first three sections I rebuild |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raising money | An investor, often the night before your meeting | They want your story to add up, and they want other people vouching for you. | Headline, About, Experience |
| Changing jobs | A recruiter or a hiring manager | They search by title and skills, then read your experience to check the story. | Headline, Experience, Top skills |
| Winning clients | A buyer checking that you are real | They want proof, and an easy way to ask about your services. | Services, Featured, Headline |
| Speaking and press | An editor or an event host | They want to see that you can talk, write and hold a room. | Featured, About, Banner |
| Hiring a team | A candidate deciding whether to join you | They are deciding whether they want to work for you. | About, Activity and newsletter, Headline |
Beyond the profile
The person checking you is one reader. The AI tool they ask about you is the other. A profile written in plain, specific words works for both, and a newsletter gives both something new to read.
Studies count this differently and the numbers move month to month. The point holds: AI search reads LinkedIn, so a well-written profile can end up in answers you never see.
Source: Profound, June 2025, 680 million AI citations from August 2024 to June 2025.
LinkedIn newsletter is one of those features where they have clubbed Medium plus Substack plus Beehiiv.
Most founders and CEOs skip LinkedIn newsletters. It works like Medium, Substack and Beehiiv rolled into one, as long as you write from what you have actually done and not an AI-written list of five lessons.
9:16 · 1:20
If everyone is rich, then nobody is rich.
AI is inside every tool now, and that is exactly why a recognisable human becomes rare. When everyone writes with the same tool, the person people know by name stands apart.
9:16 · 1:51
If one rebuild is not enough and you want to be known for something, that is LinkedIn personal branding, the ongoing version of this work.
Who would rebuild it
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi: a 3x entrepreneur and best-selling author, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, HuffPost and Entrepreneur.
I started in content and SEO in 2014, built and sold companies, and came to personal branding after that. More than 1,200 clients later, a one-time LinkedIn rebuild is still the job people ask me for most when they are about to be looked up by someone who matters.
Off camera
The same photos as on my homepage. No studio, no stock, and no account manager between you and me.
Check me first
Clients, reviews and press, all public. Read them, then write to me if it holds up.
Questions
It is rewriting and filling every section of your LinkedIn profile so it holds up when someone checks you: the headline, About, banner, Featured, Services, experience, top skills, recommendations and your public link. Done once, it works without a posting habit. Done properly, it also gives LinkedIn search, Google and AI tools the right words to match you with.
With me it starts with a first read of your profile and of what Google and ChatGPT say about you. Then one conversation to get your story in your own words, and every section rewritten and filled. You approve every line before it goes live. If you want posts or a newsletter after that, it is a different job, and I will tell you so.
Yes, and that is exactly who it is for. Plenty of people run an offline business, are raising one round, or are changing one job. They need the profile right for the one look that matters, not a content calendar.
The writing depends on how much is missing, so I give you a date after the first read. The change itself is immediate: the next person who opens your profile sees the new version. Google and AI answers move slower, usually over months, because they follow the rest of the web.
Yes. Use the planner and the banner check on this page, then fill the sections in the order the planner gives you. For a second opinion, the free audit on bhaviksarkhedi.com scores your headline and About out of 100.
Not the first draft. AI helps me research and edit, and it is good at both. The first draft comes from a conversation with you, because a hundred people asking the same tool get the same profile.
Person Engine Optimization means the people who look you up find the same true story everywhere: on Google, in AI answers and on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the part you control most and can finish fastest, which is why I usually start there, and never stop there.
Keep reading
One careful look is coming. Be ready for it.
Send me your LinkedIn and tell me what it is for. I will tell you what I would rebuild first.
Contact me