Create a Useful LinkedIn URL

My LinkedIn URL is linkedin.com/in/joshklemons. It’s simple enough to put on my business card or website, or even to just tell to people in conversation. (If only the spelling of my last name wasn’t so darn tricky!)

But if you are like a lot of people on LinkedIn, you haven’t customized your LinkedIn URL. So instead of reading www.linkedin.com/in/[your name], it looks something like this: www.linkedin.com/in/[first name]-[last name]-[random series of numbers and letters].

Good news: Customizing your LinkedIn URL to get rid of the gobbeldygook at the end is VERY easy and will only take a moment.

Start by logging in to LinkedIn. Directly under your name and title, click the link that says “Improve your profile.”

Underneath your topline bio, you will see your current LinkedIn URL:

Hover over the URL and a gear will emerge:

You will then be taken to your “Public Profile” page. (Learn more about your public profile.) In the right column, you will see “your public profile URL.”

Click the pencil and edit your URL. LinkedIn is for professionals, I’d recommend using your real name, first and last. But you can use anything you want so long as it isn’t already in use (sorry to all John Smiths, Mary Jones and anyone else with a popular name!). Well almost anything. Your public URL must contain 5-30 letters or numbers and no use spaces, symbols or special characters.

Hit "Save" and you're done. As easy as promised, right?

If you found this helpful, connect with me on LinkedIn for more great social media advice.