How to Write a LinkedIn About Section That Gets You Found

Most LinkedIn About sections are either empty, a copy of the resume objective, or an essay about the writer's passion for their field. None of those work very well.

Here's what works — and why.

What the About section is actually for

There are two audiences for your LinkedIn About section: people and algorithms.

People land on your profile after finding you through search, a mutual connection, or your activity on the platform. They open the About section to understand quickly who you are and whether you're relevant to what they're looking for.

The LinkedIn algorithm decides whether you appear in recruiter search results based on keyword matching. Profiles with rich, relevant text in the About section rank higher for relevant searches than profiles with sparse or empty sections.

A well-written About section does both things at once: it reads naturally to a human and includes the keywords a recruiter would search.

What to include

An opening that doesn't start with "I am a": The first line is visible without expanding the section. If it's a job title or a generic intro, most readers won't click "see more." Lead with a specific statement about what you do or what differentiates you. "I help B2B SaaS companies rebuild their onboarding flows from scratch, starting with churned customer interviews" is more compelling than "I am a UX designer with 8 years of experience."

What you actually do, in plain language: One short paragraph that explains your work clearly enough that someone outside your field would understand it. Avoid jargon that only makes sense inside your industry.

Who you work with or for: Specific is better. "Enterprise HR teams" is more useful than "businesses." Specificity helps the right people identify you as relevant — and helps the wrong ones self-select out, which saves everyone time.

Two or three things you're known for: Not a list of skills that belong in the Skills section — things you've done or built or led that demonstrate those skills. Results where possible.

A clear closing: What you're open to, what you'd like people to reach out about, or how to contact you. Make the next step obvious.

Keywords without keyword stuffing

The right way to include keywords is to write naturally about your work and make sure the important terms appear at least once. If you're a data engineer, the words "data engineering," "data pipeline," and relevant tools (Spark, Airflow, dbt) should appear in the text because they describe what you do, not because you inserted them strategically.

The algorithm treats keyword density as a signal, but so does readability — a section that reads like a keyword list to a human reader suggests low effort.

Length

LinkedIn About sections can be up to 2,600 characters. That doesn't mean they should be. Three to four short paragraphs is usually right: enough to say something substantive, short enough that a recruiter scanning a dozen profiles will actually read it.

If you have more to say, the experience entries are a better place for it.

The headline connection

Your LinkedIn headline and About section should reinforce each other. If your headline says "Product Manager | B2B SaaS | Focused on retention metrics," your About section should expand on exactly that. Disconnected headline and About section signals that the profile was assembled at different times without a coherent strategy.

The LinkedIn Summary Generator takes your background and builds a complete About section plus headline variations — optimized for readability and search discovery.