While the Skills & Endorsements section on your LinkedIn profile has always helped your SEO, it just got a lot more valuable to you.

New Search Filter for LinkedIn Recruiter

Earlier this year, LinkedIn said it would add a Skills filter to its Recruiter product. The filter lets users search for LinkedIn members by the skills they have listed in the Skills & Endorsements sections of their profiles.

The filter looks like this:

I’ve now seen two reports from users that the filter is live, one from Irina Shamaeva here and another from Randy Bailey here.

More Member Value

If you have built out this section of your profile and you have endorsements, this new filter will make you more visible to thousands of recruiters. Good job!

Your Skills & Endorsements Strategy

1. Look at your listed skills to be sure they include terms that recruiters would use to find someone like you.
2. Use LinkedIn’s standard terminology when you can. For instance, I could use “resume writer” or “resume writing.” I chose “resume writing” because LinkedIn suggested it.
3. Activate your ability to be endorsed and to endorse. At the bottom of your Skills & Endorsements section, click “Add skill.”That will take you to this screen where you can follow the red arrows:

   

Do Endorsements Matter for SEO?

We don’t know how much the number of endorsements you have matters for your SEO, but it’s a safe bet it’s in LinkedIn’s algorithm. As a recruiter, if I’m using the Skills filter, I would want to see people who have the most endorsements for a skill given some priority in my search results.

Isn’t It Nice?

I’m glad to see LinkedIn start to deliver more value from Skills & Endorsements. The Skills filter is an element of the company’s Economic Graph strategy and an incremental step forward in utility for everyone. I’m always happy when a little friction gets taken out of the job market!

I write executive resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Save time. Get hired. Email me at donnasvei@gmail.com or call me at (208) 721-0131.