FREE TOOL
LinkedIn Profile Optimizer
Paste your headline, About section and skills, name the roles you want, and see what a recruiter search would and would not find.
How the score works
Each check earns full or partial credit. Important checks, like having your target title in the headline, make up 70% of the score. Recommended ones, like a number in your About section, make up the other 30%.
The target terms come from the job titles you enter, minus words like senior or lead, plus any repeated keywords from a posting you paste. The check is a plain text match, so it tells you what a keyword search can find, not how LinkedIn ranks you.
A score of 80 or more is Strong, 60 to 79 is Close, and below 60 needs work. The photo, custom URL and experience checks only run in the Chrome extension, because they need the profile page itself.
LinkedIn profile questions
What does the LinkedIn profile score measure?
It runs up to 16 checks, depending on what you enter: whether the headline, About section and skills exist, how long they are against LinkedIn's limits (220 characters for the headline, 2,600 for About, 50 skills), whether your target job title appears in the headline, whether the first 300 characters of About mention the role, whether you use at least one number, and whether your skills and top three pinned skills match the role. Checks marked important count for 70% of the score and recommended ones for 30%.
Does this read my LinkedIn profile or log in for me?
No. You paste your own text into the boxes and the score is worked out in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server or saved. The ShouldApply Chrome extension has a Profile tab that can read your own profile page when you press a button, but this page never touches LinkedIn.
How are the target keywords chosen?
From the job titles you type. Seniority words like senior or lead are dropped, then the title and each remaining word become search terms. If you paste a job posting, words and two-word phrases that repeat in it, such as a tool or method, are added. Common filler like experience or team is ignored. There is no hidden list of approved keywords, so check each suggestion against what you have actually done.
Will a higher score get me more recruiter views?
Not on its own, and nobody outside LinkedIn can say how its ranking works. The score tells you how complete and well aimed your text is for the roles you named. Recruiters search by title and skill, so a profile that states your target title and the skills the role asks for gives their search something to match.
Why does my headline get marked down for saying open to work?
A status phrase takes up space that a title could use. The Open to Work setting on LinkedIn already tells recruiters you are available, so the headline is better spent on the role you want and a specialty or result. If the phrase is useful to you, keep it after your title.
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- Job Title TranslatorFind the titles employers actually use for the work you do.
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Pairs well with
- ATS Resume ScannerA 0-100 ATS score for your resume with specific fixes.
- JD Keyword ExtractorPull every skill and seniority signal out of a posting.
- Job Search TimelineHow long your search is likely to run, from role and hours.
Know if the job is a fit before you commit.
Get your free fit score