Endorsements Will Impact Search
If you’ve logged into LinkedIn in recent weeks you have noticed that endorsements have been added to profiles. Endorsements will soon be weighed in search results according to Inc. Magazine. Higher visibility in search could translate to more business or hiring for those active on the world’s largest professional network with 175 million members.
Endorsements require only a click. Recommendations, which remain, required someone actually taking the time to write a brief review or synopsis on their experience with you.
How Endorsements Work
You can endorse anyone in your network. Anyone in your network can endorse you. You can click on the skill of any individual with endorsements to see who has endorsed them for that skill. For individuals you are not connected to, avatars of those who have endorsed that person appear as long as they are 3rd level connections or closer to you. If they are outside that circle (further than 3rd level connections or group) a generic avatar appears.
How to Increase Endorsements on LinkedIn
Endorsements offer more value than appearing in search. They let those interested in what you do gain insight from others that know you. People love reviews when they shop for products and services, so why not people? Endorsements as mini-reviews. The more you have, the more credible and trusted you are. There are a few ways to increase endorsements:
1. Endorse others. Endorse those you have hired or worked with and social media etiquette is that they will reciprocate by endorsing you. Added benefit is endorsements show up in update timelines, enhancing visibility to others.
2. Ask connections to endorse you. Reach out to those you have worked with and ask them to endorse you.
3. Invite those you interact with on various platforms, such as blogs, social media, at events, etc. to endorse you.
In fact, if you like this post, I welcome your endorsement!
Will Google Calculate Endorsements in Search?
Given Google’s interest in connecting people, places and things in its Knowledge Graph, and zest for identity verification, one could expect Google to weigh indicators like size of network, frequency of posts and number of endorsements in search. Proof and/or verification from Google will tell us in coming weeks and months.
I frequently speak on the relationship between social media and search so I will be very interested in how this evolves.
Has this post changed your perception of endorsements?