How to Write a LinkedIn Summary in 2025 (And How to Get Noticed)

LinkedIn is an absolute necessity for anyone aspiring to build a network of like-minded people and climb the corporate ladder.

But you thought connecting to people in person was tough? We dare you to try it on LinkedIn.

Think of it like this. You get a DM or a follow request on Instagram. You are not going to reply or accept it right away. You explore that person’s profile to see if they are cool enough to earn your reply. The same mindset carries over to LinkedIn but with even more scrutiny.

Because you are not on LinkedIn to make friends. You are there to make connections that become useful in your professional growth. So you are not willing to waste your time on wrong people. Which is why a quick vetting process becomes important.

But on LinkedIn, you are not showing people how cool you are. Rather, how skilled and professional you are. What you have been through and how it has shaped your professional worldview. And you do that through your LinkedIn summary.

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first impression you make on potential employers, clients, and professional connections. While your experience and skills matter, it's your LinkedIn summary that tells your unique story and sets you apart from millions of other professionals on the platform.

In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn exactly how to write a good LinkedIn summary that resonates with your target audience, incorporates the right keywords for visibility, and converts profile visitors into valuable connections.

What Is a LinkedIn Summary?

A LinkedIn summary is what you write in the "About" section of your profile. It is a 2,600-character space at the top of your profile where you can describe who you are professionally, what you do, and what makes you unique.

Unlike your job descriptions, which list responsibilities and achievements chronologically, your summary is your opportunity to craft a narrative that connects the dots of your career journey.

Think of your LinkedIn summary as your professional elevator pitch in written form. It's where you can showcase your personality, highlight your expertise, share your passions, and explain the value you bring to your industry.

Why Your LinkedIn Summary Matters

Your LinkedIn profile summary serves multiple critical functions in your professional presence.

• Searchability on the Platform: LinkedIn's algorithm uses the keywords in your summary to match you with relevant job opportunities, connection suggestions, and searches by recruiters and potential clients.
• Provides Context: While your work history shows where you've been, your summary explains why those experiences matter and where you're headed. It humanizes your professional brand and helps people understand how you think and what drives you.
• Credibility and Trust: A compelling summary that demonstrates expertise, authenticity, and value can convert casual, skeptical visitors into meaningful professional relationships.
• Control Over Your Narrative: Instead of letting others define you by job titles alone, you can shape how people perceive your professional identity, strengths, and aspirations.

Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile Settings for Maximum Visibility

Before you write your LinkedIn summary, you need to ensure your profile is actually visible to the people you want to reach.

1. Make Your Profile Public

This is a crucial step. LinkedIn is no place to be private and deny access to your profile.

• Navigate to Settings & Privacy,
• Click on"Visibility,"
• Select "Edit your public profile."
• Make sure your public profile is set to visible and includes as much information as possible.

Explore the options and ensure you only enable settings you want.

2. Enable Creator Mode

Creator mode increases your visibility and gives you access to additional features. When enabled, it puts a "Follow" button more prominently on your profile, allows you to highlight topics you post about, and gives you access to LinkedIn Live and newsletters. To enable it, click "Creator mode" on your profile and turn it on.

3. Optimize Your Custom URL

Edit your LinkedIn URL to include your name rather than the default string of numbers. This makes your profile easier to share and appears more professional. A good URL looks like this:

• LinkedIn.com/in/yourname

It is also better for SEO when people search for you on Google.

4. Adjust Visibility Settings Strategically

Under "Visibility of your profile & network," consider making your connections visible if you're in sales or business development, as this builds social proof. However, if you're job searching confidentially, you might want to keep this private.

Enable "Profile viewing options" to appear as your full name when viewing others' profiles. This increases your visibility and can lead to reciprocal profile views and connections.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Write

Writing a LinkedIn profile summary that truly represents you starts with self-reflection. It is similar to how you would go about self-evaluation. Before you type even a single word, take time to answer these essential questions:

• What do I want to be known for professionally?
• Who is my target audience?
• What problems do I solve or value do I bring?
• What makes my approach unique?
• What action do I want readers to take?
• What stories or experiences define my professional journey?
• Which keywords are essential for my industry visibility?

Answering these questions provides clarity and direction, ensuring your summary is purposeful rather than generic. According to Latesha Byrd, CEO of FounderCareer Chasers and LinkedIn’s top creator, figuring out such questions and who you are talking to helps you understand what you want to be known for.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a LinkedIn Profile Summary

Now that you have set up your profile for maximum visibility, it’s time to write the very first and the most important thing anyone is going to read when they visit your profile.

Step 1: Define Your Professional Brand

Your professional brand is the unique combination of skills, experiences, and values that you bring to your field.

• Identifying Competencies: Start by identifying 3-4 areas of expertise that define you professionally. These should align with your career goals and the opportunities you want to attract.
• Self-Reflect: Consider what colleagues, clients, or supervisors consistently recognize you for. Are you the problem-solver, the innovator, the relationship-builder, or the strategic thinker?
• Be Real: Your brand should feel authentic to who you are while being strategically positioned for where you want to go.
• Keep it Simple: Write a simple brand statement: "I am a [role/expertise] who helps [target audience] achieve [specific outcome] through [unique approach or skills]."

This becomes the foundation for your summary.

Step 2: Craft Your Opening Line/Hook

Your hook is crucial. Make the first 300 characters of your summary count. Because this is what people see before LinkedIn cuts it short with the “See more…” button.

It should be interesting as it determines whether someone keeps reading or clicks away. Avoid generic openings like "I am a passionate professional with experience in..." Instead, start with something that immediately captures attention and communicates value.

Strong opening strategies include:

• Starting with a compelling question that resonates with your audience,
• Sharing a surprising statistic or insight from your field,
• Opening with your mission or what drives you professionally,
• Beginning with a brief, powerful statement about the impact you create.

For example: "I help B2B software companies reduce customer churn by 40% through data-driven retention strategies" immediately communicates who you serve and the value you deliver.

Step 3: Tell Your Professional Story

The middle section of your summary should provide context for your career journey.

• How did you get to where you are today?
• What pivotal moments or decisions shaped your path?

This doesn't need to be a chronological recounting of every job. Instead, focus on the narrative thread that connects your experiences. Perhaps you transitioned from one industry to another and can explain why. Maybe you've consistently solved similar problems across different roles. Or you've built progressively deeper expertise in a specific area.

Keep this section conversational and engaging. Use "I" statements and write as if you're talking to someone at a networking event. Share the "why" behind your choices, not just the "what."

Step 4: Highlight Key Achievements

Words are good, but concrete results take a good LinkedIn summary to an outstanding one.

Select 2-4 accomplishments that best illustrate your expertise and value. Whenever possible, quantify results with numbers, percentages, or other metrics. Rather than listing achievements as bullet points (which don't display well in LinkedIn's summary format), weave them naturally into your narrative.

For example: "In my role at Tech Company, I led a cross-functional team that launched three products in 18 months, generating $2M in first-year revenue."

Choose achievements that align with your professional brand and the opportunities you're targeting. If you're pivoting careers, emphasize transferable accomplishments rather than role-specific ones.

Step 5: Add Personal Touch

While maintaining professionalism, adding personality makes you memorable and approachable. There are a few different things you can do here:

• Brief mention of interests that connect to your work
• Your approach or philosophy
• What motivates you beyond the paycheck
• A touch of appropriate humor

For example: "When I'm not optimizing marketing funnels, you'll find me optimizing my sourdough recipe—both require patience, experimentation, and attention to detail."

The personal touch humanizes you and gives people conversation starters. It also helps attract opportunities that align with your values and work style.

Jasmin Alić, leading content creator and LinkedIn Branding guru, said in one of his posts: “People come for your posts. But they stay for you.”

Step 6: End With a Clear CTA

Every good LinkedIn summary should end with a clear call-to-action that tells readers what to do next.

This could be inviting them to connect with you, directing them to message you about specific opportunities, linking to your portfolio or website, encouraging them to follow you for content on specific topics, or offering a resource or consultation.

Make your CTA specific and relevant to your goals.

• If you're job hunting: "I'm currently exploring senior marketing manager roles in SaaS—feel free to reach out if you know of opportunities."
• If you're building a client base: "Looking to transform your customer experience? Let's connect and discuss how I can help."

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Summary for Search

Well done on writing an excellent LinkedIn summary. But the job is not done yet.

Writing it was just the start. You need to take steps to ensure it appears on the search results whenever people enter a keyword in the search bar.

Here's how to ensure your profile appears in relevant searches:

• Identify Keywords: Research summaries for successful professionals to identify 8-10 keywords relevant to your industry, role, and expertise. These should include job titles you're targeting, core skills, and industry-specific terminology.
• Front-Load Priority: Place your most important keywords in the first 2-3 sentences of your summary, as this content carries more weight in search algorithms. However, be organic and avoid keyword stuffing.
• Use Variations: Use variations of keywords throughout your summary. If you're a "project manager," also include "project management," "managing projects," and "led project teams" to capture different search queries.
• Add Location: Include location-based keywords if geography matters for your opportunities. Mention specific cities, regions, or "remote" if you're open to distributed work.
• Reinforce Consistency: Remember that LinkedIn's algorithm also considers your headline, job titles, and skills section. Your summary should reinforce keywords in these other sections for maximum impact.
• Maintain Engagement: Post and engage with people regularly. Profiles that regularly post content, comment on others' posts, and maintain active connections tend to rank higher in search results.

Best Practices and Tips for Writing a Good LinkedIn Summary

We analyzed dozens of top LinkedIn summaries for this guide, and there are some common characteristics among them. Here are the lessons we extracted from them.

• First-Person Voice: Write in first person using "I" and "my" to create a conversational, authentic tone. Third-person summaries can feel impersonal and overly formal unless you're at the executive level, where third-person is industry standard.
• Short Paragraphs: Use short paragraphs and white space. Large blocks of text are intimidating and difficult to read on mobile devices. Break your summary into 4-6 short paragraphs.
• Show Impact: Show, don't just tell. Instead of claiming you're "results-oriented" or "detail-focused," demonstrate these qualities through specific examples and achievements that prove your capabilities.
• Regular Updates: Be consistent. Update your summary regularly as your career evolves. Lindsey Gamble contributed to an article in which he said, “I believe that consistency is key in all aspects of life, but it is especially important when it comes to building a personal brand.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even with good intentions, many professionals make critical errors that weaken their LinkedIn summaries. Watch out for these common pitfalls that can undermine your profile's effectiveness:

• Balance Tone: Being too modest or too boastful. Find the balance between confidence and humility. Your summary should convey expertise without arrogance while still highlighting your genuine accomplishments and value.
• Avoid Clichés: Writing in clichés and buzzwords. Terms like "results-driven," "passionate professional," "team player," and "thinking outside the box" are overused and meaningless without context. Use specific examples instead.
• Value-Focused Content: The biggest mistake you can make is making it all about you without addressing what you offer others. Remember, readers want to know "What's in it for me?" Your summary should answer how you help, solve problems, or create value for others.
• Proofread Carefully: Neglecting to proofread can be bad. Typos and grammatical errors undermine your credibility. Use grammar-checking tools and ask someone to review before publishing to catch mistakes you might miss.
• Original Voice: Do not copy someone else's summary structure too closely. While examples are helpful for inspiration, your summary should reflect your unique voice and experiences to stand out authentically.
• Mobile Optimization: Over 60% of LinkedIn users access the platform via mobile. Ensure your summary is scannable with short paragraphs and a clear structure for easy reading on smaller screens.

How Chatly Can Help You Write Your LinkedIn Summary

Chatly is an advanced AI assistant that can streamline your process and help you create a summary that truly stands out.

1. Leverage AI Chat for Personalized Guidance

Whether you are writing a LinkedIn recommendation or a summary, Chatly's AI chat feature acts as your personal writing coach, helping you brainstorm ideas and refine your messaging.

You can ask questions like "How do I highlight my career transition?" or "What's a strong opening line for a marketing professional?" and receive tailored suggestions that align with your unique situation.

2. Use AI Search Engine for Industry Insights

With Chatly's AI search engine capabilities, you can quickly research industry-specific keywords, analyze successful LinkedIn summaries in your field, and identify trending terminology that will make your profile more discoverable.

This eliminates hours of manual research and ensures your summary includes the most relevant and impactful keywords.

3. Access Multiple AI Models

Unlike basic AI tools, Chatly provides access to different AI models like:

• GPT-5.1
• GPT-5
• Gemini 3 Pro
• Claude Sonnet 4.5
• Claude Opus 4.5
• Grok 4.1 Fast

These are just a few models that allow you to experiment with various writing styles and approaches. You can generate multiple versions of your summary and choose the one that best reflects your voice, or combine elements from different outputs to create your perfect summary.

4. Iterate and Refine Efficiently

Rather than struggling with blank page syndrome, you can use Chatly to generate a first draft based on your inputs, then refine it through iterative conversations with the AI chat. This collaborative approach helps you maintain your authentic voice while benefiting from AI-powered optimization and structure.

Conclusion

Learning how to write a LinkedIn summary that stands out doesn't have to be overwhelming. By following this guide, you now have a clear framework for crafting a LinkedIn profile summary that showcases your unique value, incorporates strategic keywords, and converts profile visitors into meaningful connections.

Remember, your LinkedIn summary isn't set in stone. As your career evolves, your summary should too. Start with these foundations, gather feedback from trusted colleagues, and refine your approach based on the results you see.

Now it's time to put these insights into action. Open your LinkedIn profile, click on the About section, and start crafting a summary that truly represents your professional brand. Your next opportunity might be just one compelling summary away.