LinkedIn About Section: How to Write and Format Your Summary

The LinkedIn About section (formerly called Summary) gives you 2,600 characters to tell your professional story. It is one of the few places on LinkedIn where you can write freely — no character-per-field limits, no forced structure. That freedom is both an opportunity and a challenge.

Only the first ~300 characters are visible before the “see more” fold on your profile. That opening paragraph determines whether a visitor reads the rest.

Structure: The Three-Part Framework

Most effective About sections follow a simple structure:

• 1.Hook (first 2-3 sentences). Who you help and what problem you solve. This is above the fold — make it count. Write in first person (“I help...”), not third person (“Sarah is a...”).
• 2.Body (credentials and proof). What you have done, what you know, what makes you credible. Use bullet points for key accomplishments or areas of expertise. This is where specifics matter — numbers, company names, outcomes.
• 3.Close (call to action). What you want the reader to do next. Connect? Email you? Visit your site? Download something? Be specific.

Formatting Your About Section

A wall of text in the About section gets skimmed or skipped. Formatting makes it readable:

• →Line breaks between paragraphs. Press Enter once between each paragraph. Short paragraphs (2-3 sentences) are easier to read than long blocks. See our line breaks guide for details on preserving spacing.
• →Bold for section headers. Use Unicode bold text for labels like “What I Do” or “Areas of Expertise”. This creates visual anchors that help readers scan.
• →Bullet points for lists. Skills, achievements, and services read better as bullet points than comma-separated lists.
• →Dividers between sections. A line of special characters (▪ ▪ ▪ or ━━━) creates clean visual breaks.

Use the LinkedIn Formatter to apply bold headers and copy the formatted text directly into your About section.

About Section by Professional Goal

Job Seekers

Lead with the role you want, not the role you have. Include target job titles (recruiters search for these), key skills, and a clear “open to opportunities” signal.

Founders and Business Owners

Start with the problem your company solves, not your title. Profile visitors want to know what your business does before they care about your role in it.

Consultants and Freelancers

The About section is your sales page. Describe the transformation you deliver, include social proof (client names, results), and end with a clear way to get in touch.

Content Creators

Signal what you write about, how often, and what readers get from following you. Include your content track record if you have one (follower count, newsletter subscribers, podcast downloads).

Keywords and LinkedIn Search

Your About section is searchable. When a recruiter searches “content marketing manager SaaS,” LinkedIn scans About sections for matching terms. This means your About section should naturally include the job titles, skills, and industry terms that describe your work — not as keyword stuffing, but as part of clearly describing what you do.

If you are job seeking, include the exact titles you are targeting. If you are a consultant, include the services you offer in the language your clients would use to search for them.

Words to Avoid

Certain words appear in so many LinkedIn profiles that they have lost all meaning. Using them makes your About section blend in rather than stand out:

• ✗“Results-driven” — show results with numbers instead of claiming to be driven by them
• ✗“Passionate” — describe what you actually do, not how you feel about it
• ✗“Strategic thinker” — prove it with an example of a strategy that worked
• ✗“Team player” — everyone says this; describe a specific collaboration instead
• ✗“Motivated self-starter” — if you started something, say what it was

A quick test: read your About section aloud. If it sounds like it could belong to anyone in your field, it needs more specifics.

Common Mistakes

• ✗Writing in third person. “Sarah is a results-driven marketing professional...” feels like a press release. First person (“I help...”) feels like a conversation.
• ✗Listing every skill and tool. A list of 30 technologies tells no story. Pick 5-7 that define your expertise and put the rest in your Skills section.
• ✗No call to action. If you do not tell visitors what to do next, they leave. “Connect with me” / “Email me at...” / “Check out [project]” are all valid closes.
• ✗Leaving it blank. An empty About section signals that you do not take LinkedIn seriously. Even 3-4 sentences is better than nothing.

For a complete overview of all LinkedIn formatting techniques, see the LinkedIn formatting guide.