Open your profile, click the Edit icon under About, write your summary in the Edit about box and click Save. LinkedIn wants that text to express your mission, motivation and skills, and it suggests limiting it to one or two paragraphs, or bullet points if you'd rather not write paragraphs.
What a LinkedIn summary is, and what it isn't
Your summary lives in the About section of your profile. LinkedIn describes that section as the place to express your mission, motivation and skills to people who view your profile.
It isn't your Headline. The Headline is the text below your name, and it's a separate thing from About, so editing one leaves the other exactly as it was.
Adding or rewriting your About section
On a computer:
- Click the Me icon on your LinkedIn homepage.
- Click View Profile.
- Scroll down to the About section.
- Click the Edit icon.
- Fill out your information in the textbox in the Edit about window.
- Click Save.
On your phone:
- Tap your profile picture.
- Scroll to the About section.
- Tap the Edit icon.
- Fill out the textbox on the Edit about page.
- Tap Save.
What to say in those one or two paragraphs
Mission, motivation and skills make a good skeleton, because they answer the three things a stranger wants to know when they land on your profile: what you're about, why you do it and what you can do for them.
Your mission is what you're trying to do and who it's for. Keep it concrete. 'I help new managers run better one-to-ones' tells a reader far more than 'passionate professional driving results'.
Your motivation is why you do it. This is the line that sounds most like a person, so write it the way you'd say it to someone across a table, and leave out anything you wouldn't say out loud.
Your skills are the part people scan. Pick the ones you'd want a stranger to remember, not everything you've ever done.
If you're staring at a blank box, start with one sentence each and fill in the brackets, then rewrite until it sounds like you:
- I help [type of person] do [outcome].
- I do this because [what got you into it].
- I'm strongest at [two or three skills].
Filled in, for a made-up operations consultant, that might read: 'I help small manufacturers stop losing orders to messy handovers between sales and the shop floor. I got into this after watching good teams burn out fixing problems that shouldn't have existed. I'm strongest at process mapping, training supervisors and getting people who don't usually talk to each other into the same room.'
Notice what that doesn't do. There's no list of job titles, no 'results-driven' and nothing the reader has to decode. Mission, motivation and skills don't need dates or employers, so use this space for the part only you can explain.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Write it in the first person, too. It's your own profile, so 'I help' reads like a person, while 'Sam helps' reads like a press release someone else put together.
On length, LinkedIn's profile advice is to limit the text to one or two paragraphs, and it says you can use bullet points if you're not comfortable writing paragraphs. Bullets suit the skills part particularly well. If you want to go further into how much is too much, there's a separate piece on how long a LinkedIn profile summary should be.
Before you click Save, read it back as someone who's never met you. If a sentence could sit on anyone else's profile without changing a word, rewrite it or take it out.
When editing your About section is the wrong fix
- Your edit doesn't show on your homepage. Don't rewrite it again. Check you're editing the correct language profile first, because you may be changing a different language version.
- The words you want to change sit below your name. That's your Headline, and About won't touch it.
- You want someone else's words on your profile. Your own summary can't do that job, so ask for a LinkedIn recommendation instead.
- You want people to reach your profile directly. That's about your LinkedIn profile URL, not the text in About.
Frequently asked questions
Is the summary the same as About?
Yes. The summary is the text you write in the About section of your profile.
How long should a LinkedIn summary be?
One or two paragraphs, or bullet points if you're not comfortable writing paragraphs.
Can I update it from my phone?
Yes. Tap your profile picture, then the Edit icon in About.
Why aren't my changes appearing?
You may be editing a different language version.
Who sees my About section?
People who view your profile.
Does my Headline change when I edit this?
No. The Headline is the text below your name, and it's separate from this section.
