How to Search Engine Optimize your LinkedIn Profile

Linkedin is a combination of a social networking and marketing tool for individuals and organizations alike. In fact, it is one of the best and most powerful tool for the individual which is why it is vital to get it right on LinkedIn. Here are tips on how to search engine optimize (SEO) your Linkedin profile.

Open Sesame
The purpose of this blog is not to teach you to create a profile – you will have to learn that elsewhere. The purpose is to teach you how to market your profile. So, assuming you know how to create your profile, the next thing you need to do is click on your privacy settings and set it to ‘public’. Unless you set your profile to public, the search engines will not find your profile and if they don’t then neither will prospective customers or employers or any of your target audience.

Customize your LinkedIn URL
By default, LinkedIn assigns each profile a generic url. This url is not search engine optimized. You should customize your assigned url and make it market-friendly. Here are a few tips to Search Engine Optimizing your LinkedIn url.

If you are looking for job: [Name] – [Designation]. So this might look something like James Ricardo – Robotics Programmer or K Allen – Radiographer or Ambuja Cement – Cement Manufacturers India. When you look at these examples, you can see how it will help prospective customers or employers or employees locate you.

Content is King
When you search engine optimize your Linkedin profile, you need to understand that Search engines thrive on content. The more the content, the more the search engines can figure where to place your profile, i.e. the page ranking. It is therefore a good idea to always fill in the details. Be descriptive without the fluff (after all your profile will be read by humans too). If you have blogged with some degree of success, or have a website, you should include a url to your blogs or website as well. Cross promotion always helps provided of course, the blog is authored in your own name and the website promotes you or your organization. Unless you’ve kept them official, avoid linking to your Facebook, Twitter or other social networking profiles.

You cannot search engine optimize your Linkedin profile without keywords. In the examples mentioned above, the keywords for James Ricardo would be the current designation and designation sought, the various post-grad qualifications, year of experience and so on. The keywords are words that will be used by prospective employers to search for prospective recruits. Although I’ve said that your name should be a part of your LinkedIn url, prospective employers will not be searching for prospective new recruits by name so your name is not a keyword. Its use in the Linkedin url is to make it easier for prospective employers to identify individual urls.

Finally, remember that keywords become keywords only when they are used three or four times in your profile content.

Read More

HOW CAN YOU SECURE YOUR PERSONAL DATA ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

With all the uproar over Facebook Incorporation. for mishandling user data when Cambridge Analytica, an information firm with connections to US president Jesse Trump’s 2016 presidential selection campaign and improperly being able to access data of tens of millions of Facebook users raise doubts and controversy over how well the world’s most significant social support systems protect its trove of customer data.

You may think you’re being careful with your web data. You may feel hopeful for taking all the advised precautions by carefully setting up your privacy settings on Facebook, go by a pseudonym on Twitter, and only hook up with people you’ve actually met in person on LinkedIn. On the other hand are you sure that your computer data are safe from stalkers, hackers and identity robbers?

You understand, even an each day Internet user armed with some basic Google search skills can piece in concert information about who you are. Here are a few questions to examine your web security.

  1. Have you ever used the same username or pseudonym at more than one website?
  2. How many online accounts and profiles have you abandoned are still online, giving out information about you?
  3. Did you ever delete that old MySpace profile?
  4. Do you have any email accounts that are not in use?

Using only a few basic online search techniques, any interested party can put together a lot of revealing information about you and the details of your life.

What are the several methods a hacker can utilise your data?

  • It can be used to file false worker’s compensation claims
  • Steal your Social Security benefits
  • Get fake passports
  • Put their medical bills in your name
  • Give your information for their speeding, tickets or crimes
  • Steal money from your bank accounts.
  • Get the details of your shopping accounts or even have banking information
  • Gain access to the corporate networks if your social media is linked to your work email
  • It can be used to register on another site
  • Sometimes to harass you

These types of thefts can be much harder to spot than you’d imagine.

How can you protect yourself while still taking good thing about the great things about social media and modern technology?

The several social mass media platforms have security features that you should take advantage of.

Here are some tips for keeping your accounts secure:

  • Close the social media accounts that you no longer use. Hackers can leverage these and access other accounts linked to it, like your email.
  • Check what apps are connected to your social media. Do you use Facebook or Google to sign in for any other applications? Assess if this type of access is necessary.
  • Practice good password habits. Use different passwords for your social media accounts, and also make sure each password is complex and unusual.
  • Enabling 2FA or “Two Factor Authentication” for all your accounts can prevent unauthorised parties from accessing your accounts.
  • Keep your mobile apps updated. Make sure you have the latest version of the platform you’re using to protect you from the newest security threats.
  • Use a unique email only for your social media accounts if possible so that hackers won’t have access to any of your valuable information.
  • Make sure you know the people you add to social media.
  • You should never, ever post details like your Social Security and driver’s license numbers and your specific location.
  • Make it a practice to log out if you’re using a public computer, but log out of private devices from time to time as well.
  • When selecting passwords use a combination of words, numbers, upper- and lowercase letters, and special characters that are easy for you to remember, but tough for other people to guess.
  • Skip common password elements like birthdates, anniversaries, and the names of your children or pets.
  • Keep passwords private by memorising them and never write them on the device itself.
  • Try to understand and become a master of all your social media accounts privacy settings.
  • Always enable the passcode lock on your phone, and set it to time out at no more than a few minutes if your phone accidentally ends up in the hands of a stranger, giving access to your social accounts and more.

Hope these tips help you to not to compromise with a hacker in any way. If you can follow these tips and more effective security solutions, then it can help you enjoy your digital life safely.

securely.

Read More