description text to generate this word cloud. Clearly customer, success, manager, and team are important keywords for this position.
Hopefully your word cloud provided you a good strong list of keywords. If not, I have another keyword tool, and this one is found right in LinkedIn.
FIGURE 2-5: Add text to WordArt.com to create a word cloud.
FIGURE 2-6: Here's what a word cloud looks like.
Using LinkedIn’s job postings
LinkedIn is not just a social network, and it’s not just a search engine; LinkedIn is also a job portal. A veritable warehouse of job listings, you can search LinkedIn for open positions worldwide (see Figure 2-7). And LinkedIn provides more than just a job description — it also provides a section called How You Match. This section highlights the skills pertinent to the position and lets you know if your skills are a match. If you are a premium LinkedIn user, you also get access to a section that shares competitive intelligence about other applicants. You can see where you rank based upon your LinkedIn profile, and you can see the top skills of those who have already applied.
FIGURE 2-7: LinkedIn’s job postings provide skill suggestions.
To access LinkedIn’s job postings, follow these steps:
1 Click Jobs on LinkedIn’s toolbar.The LinkedIn Jobs page appears.
2 In the Search Jobs text box, enter the position you are interested in and click the Search button.A new page displays with a listing of open positions. You can also designate a location to search.
3 Click the job listing you find most compelling.More information on that position appears on the right side of the screen. Scroll through to find more information.
Using Good Ole Google
I have one more tool in my arsenal of keyword tools to help you determine your keywords: Google. Go to Google (www.google.com) and search job descriptions for the position you are interested in obtaining. For example, “Customer Success Manager job description.”
You may find job descriptions from Indeed.com, Glassdoor, CareerBuilder, or Monster. Don’t worry if some of the results are for old postings that are no longer open or for positions located outside your target area. The point of this exercise is to find four or five job descriptions to determine the different ways this position is defined. Print out the descriptions and with a pen or pencil, underline the keywords that are specific to the position (see Figure 2-8).
FIGURE 2-8: Underline keywords in job descriptions.
Repeat this exercise at least five times, using five different job descriptions. You want to make sure you know exactly how different companies are defining the role you are targeting so you can define yourself in the same way and be seen as the perfect candidate!
FIGURE 2-9: Remember to write down your keywords!
Ranking Higher with Profile SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the process of making certain strategic changes to a profile to boost its search ranking. By putting in a little effort, you can improve your profile’s ranking so it appears more often and higher in search. Certain areas within your profile are highly sensitive to the addition of keywords. When you add keywords to these areas, the LinkedIn search algorithm treats these keywords with more weight and your profile ranks higher on the search results page. These highly sensitive SEO fields are:
Headline
About section
Skills & Endorsements section
Job titles (especially current)
Job descriptions
Make sure these five areas are rich in your chosen keywords. Don’t just list keywords in the summary and job description fields. Use your keywords intentionally yet naturally in your narrative. Write for your reader first and the search engine second.
The more times a keyword is repeated throughout your profile, the higher you may rank for that keyword in LinkedIn search results. Although repeating keywords is a good thing, it’s easy to become obnoxious, so be careful not to overdo it!
Figure 2-10 demonstrates the difference between strategic keyword usage and obnoxious keyword stuffing.
FIGURE 2-10: Don’t overstuff your profile with keywords; use them strategically.
Building Off Profile SEO
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