TL;DR: Your LinkedIn About section is a positioning and conversion tool, not a biography. Done right, it tells the algorithm who to show your content to and gives your ideal buyer the clarity they need to reach out. Get this section working and the right leads start finding you.
Your About section is doing two jobs at the same time.
Most people only think about one of them, which is why their profile sits there and acts more like a directory listing. The first job is for your buyer because when the right person lands on your profile, your About should make them think yes, this person gets me, this person is relevant to me.
The second job is for the algorithm. LinkedIn’s 360Brew algorithm reads your profile to work out who you are, what you talk about, and who your content is relevant to.
Why the algorithm reads your About
LinkedIn’s algorithm now looks at topic relevance and profile alignment before it decides who sees your content.
Based on that, the algorithm checks your credibility to talk about the topics in your content. If your profile and content align, you have more credibility with the algorithm. With that in mind, the clearer your About, the more likely your posts land in the feeds of the right people. If your profile makes it clear what you do and who you help, the algorithm rewards you by showing your content to more of the right people.
An example of how this works is a sales executive at an MSP kept posting about IT and technology and getting around 200 views per post.
When the same person posted about sales, the views shot up. Their profile was packed with references to sales and barely mentioned IT. The algorithm trusted them on sales and ignored them on IT. As soon as the focus was fixed, impressions and visibility increased.
Your About section is where this gets fixed. It tells the algorithm what topics you have authority on and signals who your content should be shown to.
What a strong About section does
A good About section does five things, and all of them matter:
- Tells people who you help
- Tells people what problem you solve
- Explains how you solve it
- Builds trust and credibility
- Gives people a reason to contact you
If any of these are missing, you are leaving money on the table.
A simple structure that works
The strongest About sections follow a clear flow. Hook, problem, approach, proof, audience, call to action. That is the whole formula.
- Start with a strong hook: The first two or three lines matter most because LinkedIn cuts the rest off behind a “see more” link. The reader has to choose to expand it. Your opening lines need to earn that click.
- A strong hook does three things. It creates curiosity, states the outcome, and makes the right person feel understood. Keep it short, plain, and direct. If it sounds like a corporate bio, rewrite it.
- Explain the problem you solve: Show you understand the pain, frustration, or goal your buyer has. Describe the situation they are in before they find you. Get this right and the reader thinks this person gets me. The more specific you are about the problem, the more your reader recognises themselves in it.
- Explain your approach: Show how you think and what makes your approach different. This is where your philosophy comes through. Keep it simple. State what you believe and the principles you work by. Avoid frameworks for the sake of frameworks. Your approach gives the reader confidence that you have thought about this properly and have a way of solving their problem.
- Add proof and credibility: Back up your claims with concrete evidence. Use numbers, recognisable client names, years of experience, outcomes you have delivered, books you have written, places you have spoken. Whatever you have that proves you can do what you say. The reader needs evidence before they will reach out.
- Be specific about who you help: Vague audiences kill relevance. The broader your description, the weaker the pull. Name the type of business, the role, or the situation your ideal client is in. The more specific you are, the more the right person feels you are talking directly to them.
- End with a clear call to action: Tell people exactly what to do next. One step, clearly stated. Send a message, follow you, sign up to your newsletter, visit your website. Pick the action you actually want them to take and ask for it.
Most About sections fail because they:
- Talk about the writer too much instead of the reader
- List achievements with no meaning attached
- Read like a CV
- Lean on vague phrases like “passionate leader” or “results-driven”
Use the words your buyer uses
The fastest way to make your About work for both your buyer and the algorithm is to use the exact words your buyer would use.
If you help accountants win more clients, the words accountants and clients should appear in your About. If you help SaaS founders build sales teams, say SaaS founders and sales teams. Plain language wins.
This does two things at once. Your reader feels understood and the algorithm has a clear signal of who your content is for.
A quick test before you publish
Before you hit save, run your About section through these checks:
- Read it out loud and check it sounds like you
- Make sure a stranger can work out what you do, who you help, and how to take a next step in 10 seconds
- Confirm the topics you post about are reflected in your About so the algorithm can connect the two
- Check there is at least one piece of concrete proof
- Make sure the reader has one clear next step
If any of those fail, rewrite that part. Small changes here pay back every time someone visits your profile. The right people see your content, the right people land on your profile, and the right people start sending you messages.