They know you before the call
9:16 · 1:34
It's about how raw you can be.
People check your LinkedIn before they reply to you. So does ChatGPT.
Hire a LinkedIn personal branding expert who fixes the whole profile, not just the headline.
Investors, hiring managers and clients open your LinkedIn before they answer your email. I rebuild every section so it holds up to that look. If you want more than one look, I turn it into a personal brand that Google and AI tools pick up too.
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi: a 3x entrepreneur and best-selling author, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, HuffPost and Entrepreneur.
One-time LinkedIn optimization is filling all those empty voids.
Featured in
- 3x entrepreneur
- Best-selling author, 21 books
- Featured in The New York Times and Forbes
- 12+ years, 1,200+ clients
The profile X-ray
Ten sections decide what people think of you on LinkedIn.
Most people fill in two of them: the headline and the About. LinkedIn gives you a banner, a services section, a featured shelf, recommendations, a newsletter, carousels and articles as well. Tap a section to see what I usually find there and what I put there instead, then tick the ones yours already gets right.
A sample profile. Tap any section.
Headline
- What I usually find
- A job title and a company name.
- What I put there
- What you do, who you do it for, and one piece of proof, in the words a client would actually search.
- Why it matters
- It follows you into every comment, every search result and every connection request.
About
- What I usually find
- Empty, or a third-person bio copied from a conference programme.
- What I put there
- First person. The problem you solve in the opening lines, then the proof, then how to reach you.
- Why it matters
- LinkedIn shows only the opening lines before “see more”, so those lines do the selling.
Banner
- What I usually find
- The default background, or a stock photo of a city skyline.
- What I put there
- One clear line on what you do and who for, placed so your photo does not cover it.
- Why it matters
- It is the widest space on the profile and the first thing anyone sees.
Photo
- What I usually find
- A cropped wedding picture, or one from five years ago.
- What I put there
- A recent, well-lit photo with your face filling most of the circle, the same one you use everywhere else.
- Why it matters
- The same face on LinkedIn, your website and your press pages tells people it is the same person.
Featured
- What I usually find
- Nothing pinned, or one old post.
- What I put there
- Your best proof, pinned: a press feature, a case study, your website, a talk.
- Why it matters
- It is the shop window near the top of your profile, and most people leave it empty.
Services
- What I usually find
- Switched off.
- What I put there
- Your real services listed, so a visitor can ask about them from the profile itself.
- Why it matters
- It turns a visit into an enquiry without anyone needing to find your email.
Experience
- What I usually find
- Titles and dates, and no outcomes.
- What I put there
- One line per role on what changed because you were there.
- Why it matters
- It is where an investor or a hiring manager checks that your story adds up.
Recommendations
- What I usually find
- None, or three from ten years ago.
- What I put there
- Fresh recommendations from clients and colleagues that name a specific result.
- Why it matters
- It is the only part of the profile written by someone else, which is why people believe it.
Posts, carousels and articles
- What I usually find
- Reposts and congratulations comments.
- What I put there
- Your own thinking, in the formats LinkedIn gives you, written from real work.
- Why it matters
- Recent activity is how someone checks that you are still active and still sharp.
Newsletter
- What I usually find
- Never started.
- What I put there
- A regular letter written from what you have actually done, never an AI list of five lessons.
- Why it matters
- I think it is the most underrated feature on LinkedIn. It works like Medium, Substack and Beehiiv in one.
0 / 10
Tick every section that already works.
Where I would startHeadline: What you do, who you do it for, and one piece of proof, in the words a client would actually search.
Opens your own email with the score and the gaps written in. Nothing is saved on this page.
Two jobs, one name
One-time LinkedIn optimization, or ongoing personal branding?
Plenty of people never want a posting habit. Some run an offline business, some are raising a round and need the profile right for one investor, and some are changing jobs. Others want to be known for something. Those are different jobs, so here they are side by side, with doing it yourself as the third option.
| One-time optimization | Ongoing personal branding | Doing it yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best when | You are raising money, hiring or changing jobs, and the profile has to hold up the day it is checked | Your name is how you win work, and you want to be known for one thing | You have the time, and someone honest to read your drafts |
| What changes | Every section rebuilt: headline, About, banner, Featured, services, experience and recommendations | The rebuild, then a steady rhythm of posts and a newsletter, plus mentions beyond LinkedIn | Whatever you get to, at your own pace |
| Posting needed | None | Yes, and the first drafts come out of our conversations | Yes, all of it |
| Your time | A conversation, then you approve every line | A regular conversation, then you approve every piece | All of it |
| Reaches Google and AI answers | A little, through the profile itself | Yes. Your website, search results and AI answers are part of the job | Only if you build those too |
| Verdict | Fixes the first impression | Builds the name | Works if you keep going |
If someone prices your LinkedIn by the number of posts a month, you are buying the cheapest part of the job.
Why LinkedIn, and why not only LinkedIn
The people who pay you are on LinkedIn, and so is AI search.
LinkedIn is where decision makers check you. It is also one of the websites AI search quotes most, so a profile and a newsletter written properly now show up in answers you never see. It is still one website, which is why I never let a client stop there.
LinkedIn also says 4 out of 5 of its members drive business decisions at their company. These are the people who open your profile before they reply.
Source: LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, audience figures on its ad targeting page, checked September 2026. Total membership is 1.3 billion+ per LinkedIn.
LinkedIn came out as the second most-cited website overall, ahead of Wikipedia and YouTube. What you publish there is now read by AI search, not only by people.
Source: Semrush, March 2026, 89,000 LinkedIn links found across 325,000 AI search prompts.
A LinkedIn-only brand stays a LinkedIn brand. When someone Googles you or asks ChatGPT about you, the answer is built from your website, your press and your mentions, with LinkedIn as one source among them. So every LinkedIn job I take on points back to a site you own.
Free first: my guide to personal branding on LinkedIn covers the basics if you would rather start on your own.
Recorded, not ghostwritten
Five short recordings on LinkedIn, newsletters and getting mentioned.
Each one plays right here, and each one is something I would tell you on our first call.
The newsletter nobody uses
9:16 · 1:20
LinkedIn newsletter is one of those features where they have clubbed Medium plus Substack plus Beehiiv.
How I earn mentions
9:16 · 2:14
You have to go on and on and on with the editors.
Are people talking about you?
9:16 · 2:14
It always comes down to one thing. Are people talking about you?
More AI, more value in being human
9:16 · 1:51
If everyone is rich, then nobody is rich.
What hiring me looks like
From the first look to a profile that holds up.
| Step | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| First look | I read your profile the way an investor or a client would, and check what Google and ChatGPT say about you. | Me |
| Positioning | Together we pick the single idea you want attached to your name. Every section of the profile points at it. | You and me |
| The rebuild | Every section rewritten in your words, from a real conversation. AI helps with editing, never with the first draft. | Me, with AI editing |
| If you stop here | You leave with a profile that holds up to the one look that matters. | Done |
| If you keep going | Posts and a newsletter from our conversations, and mentions on sites beyond LinkedIn. | You and me |
The words stay yours. AI helps me edit and check, and it never writes your first draft, because a profile that sounds like everyone else's is the one people scroll past.
Who you would be working with
I have fixed a lot of profiles. My own came first.
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi: a 3x entrepreneur and best-selling author, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, HuffPost and Entrepreneur.
Content and SEO came first, from 2014. Then I built and sold companies, and personal branding came after that. More than 1,200 clients later, the profile work on this page is what I still do for them, and the recordings are the arguments I make on a first call.
12+years in content, SEO and branding, since 2014
1,200+clients
21books, best-selling author
3xentrepreneur
- Named by Forbes among the top global personal branding experts, 2025.
- Published twice in The New York Times.
- Verified Google Knowledge Panel for my own name.
Off camera
Not a studio portrait. This is my actual week.
Between calls, between meetings, and the conversations that run past midnight. The same person who reads your profile.
Proof before promises
Check the clients, the reviews and the press first.
Everything below is public. Read who I have worked with and what they said, then decide whether to write to me.
ClientsThe people I have built forWho they are, what we built, and where you can check it yourself.TestimonialsWhat clients say about working with meLinkedIn recommendations and reviews, 2014 to 2026, in their own words.Featured inEvery place I have been featuredThe New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, HuffPost, interviews and more.Media proofThe press, quote by quoteEvery article I wrote or was quoted in, with the quote printed and the source linked.Knowledge PanelsKnowledge Panels live on Google todayClient panels you can open and check in one click.BooksThe booksBranding playbooks, writing craft, fiction and more, from 2015 to now.
Questions
What people ask before they hire a LinkedIn expert.
What does a LinkedIn personal branding expert do?
Two different jobs go by this name. One is a one-time optimization: rebuilding every section of your profile so it holds up when an investor, a hiring manager or a client checks it. The other is ongoing personal branding: making LinkedIn one part of a name people know, with posts, a newsletter and mentions beyond LinkedIn. Ask which of the two you are buying before you sign.
How much does a LinkedIn personal branding expert cost?
It depends on which of the two jobs you need, so I quote after reading your profile. A one-time rebuild is a smaller piece of work than ongoing personal branding, which also covers your website, your press and what AI tools say about you. Be careful with anyone who prices LinkedIn by the number of posts, because posts are the cheapest part of the job now.
Is a LinkedIn profile makeover the same as hiring a personal branding consultant?
No. A profile makeover changes the words on the page. A personal branding consultant first decides what you should be known for, then makes your profile, your website and your mentions agree on it. If you only need the words fixed, a makeover is enough.
Do I have to post every day to build a personal brand on LinkedIn?
No. A lot of people come to me wanting a profile that works without a posting habit, because they run an offline business or simply do not want to be on the feed. For them a one-time optimization is the right job. If you do want to be known for something, one real piece a week beats daily filler.
How long does LinkedIn personal branding take to show results?
The profile changes the day it is rebuilt, so the next person who checks you sees the new version. Being known for something takes longer. Search results usually settle in six to nine months, and mentions keep adding up after that.
Does my LinkedIn affect what ChatGPT says about me?
It can. In a Semrush study of 325,000 AI search prompts, published in March 2026, ChatGPT Search cited LinkedIn in 14.3% of its answers and Google AI Mode in 13.5%. Your public posts, articles and newsletter are pages those tools can read, so what you publish there can shape the answer.
Should I hire a LinkedIn expert or do it myself?
Do it yourself if you have the time and someone honest to read your drafts. Hire when your time is worth more than the learning curve, or when LinkedIn has to connect to your website, your press and your search results, because that is where most people get stuck.
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