How do I update my LinkedIn profile?
Open your profile, click the Edit icon next to the section you want to change, edit the fields and click Save. LinkedIn's Edit your profile help page, shown as updated a week before we checked it on 4 Nov 2026, gives these steps:
On a computer
Click the Me icon at the top of your homepage, then your Profile card in the dropdown. Click the Edit icon to the right of the section, make your changes and click Save. Other LinkedIn help pages, updated earlier, say View Profile where this one says Profile card, so look for either.
In the LinkedIn app
Tap your profile photo in the upper-left corner, then your Profile card in the navigation panel. Tap the Edit icon beside the section, then the Edit icon next to the detail you want to change, and tap Save.
In a phone browser
Tap your profile photo, tap the Edit icon beside the section and tap Save in the upper-right corner. Only some sections can be edited this way.
| What you are changing | Where to edit it | Device notes (checked 4 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Name, headline, current position, education, location, industry, contact info, and Open to (jobs, hiring, services) | Edit icon in the introduction section | The app's list on LinkedIn's intro page leaves out background photo and contact info |
| About, Featured, Services, Skills, Projects, Volunteer experience and other sections | The Edit icon on that section; if it isn't on your profile yet, the Add profile section button in the intro (Add section in the app), under Core, Recommended or Additional | Desktop and app |
| Jobs | Experience section: Show all experiences, then Add or Edit. No jobs yet? Add profile section, Core, Add position | The Experience section only appears once you list a position |
One option on the Add experience form affects your intro. LinkedIn's Experience page says that if you select Update my headline when adding a job, you can display your current experience in your intro. If you wrote your own headline, leave it unselected (our advice). The same page says job entries must reflect professional experience with the organisation, such as employment, contract work, official internships, volunteering or board service, and not informal links such as being a customer.
How do I update my LinkedIn profile without notifying everyone?
Switch off Share profile updates before you start. LinkedIn's Share profile updates help page (checked 4 Nov 2026) gives the path:
- Desktop: Me icon, Settings & Privacy, the Visibility tab, then Share profile updates under Visibility of your LinkedIn activity. Switch the toggle Off. On a computer you can also use the toggle in the Share with network section while you edit.
- App: tap your profile photo, then Settings & Privacy, Visibility, Share profile updates, and switch it Off.
- Phone browser: Me icon, Settings near the upper right, Visibility, Share profile updates, Off.
The change saves automatically. What the toggle covers is narrower than older advice suggests. A December 2016 article a LinkedIn member published, still online, lists changing your profile photo, adding skills and adding a website link among the edits that send updates, and tells readers to switch off broadcasts before editing. LinkedIn's current help pages say this:
| Edit | What LinkedIn's help pages say (checked 4 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|
| New job or promotion | Covered by Share profile updates; may take up to two hours to reach your network |
| Education change | Covered; may take up to 24 hours |
| Work anniversary | Covered; sent within that month, and only one is sent if two or more current roles started in the same month |
| Introduction section edits, such as name, headline, photo or location | Your network won't be notified, per the introduction section page. That page also lists current position and education, which the sharing page covers, so switch sharing off first if you want no announcement |
| Everything else | Some edits won't generate notifications even with sharing on; the page doesn't list which |
A notification can be a post in your network's feed, an in-app notification or an email. Two more rules from the same page: anyone who views your profile sees each edit as soon as you save it, sharing on or off, and editing or deleting an update after adding it may affect whether the notification is generated. Enter a new role once, correctly.
A worked example. You add a new role at 10:00 on 4 November 2026 with sharing on. LinkedIn says job updates may take up to two hours, so yours can reach your network any time up to 12:00. Automated profile update posts are available for up to 90 days, then deleted with their comments and reactions, so that post would be gone by 2 February 2027 (26 days left in November, 31 in December, 31 in January, 2 in February). They also don't appear in the Posts tab of your Recent Activity. If you want the news on record, write your own post about it too.
Why can't I update my LinkedIn profile?
LinkedIn's help pages point to the device, the language version of your profile or a setting. Here are the causes they describe, plus one that follows from the Update my headline option (checked 4 Nov 2026):
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No way to edit a section in your phone's browser | LinkedIn says only photo, name, headline, location, summary, experience, education, skills, accomplishments and contact can be edited there | Use the app or a computer |
| Your new headline doesn't show on your homepage | You may be editing a different language profile, says the headline help page | Switch to the profile language you meant to edit |
| Your second-language profile still shows your old job | Secondary language profiles don't update automatically when you change Experience | Edit that profile separately |
| Your headline changed after you added a job | Update my headline was selected | Rewrite it in the intro section |
| There is no Experience section to edit | It only appears once a position is listed | Add profile section, Core, Add position |
| Your verification badge disappeared after a name change | The verifications page says you may have to re-verify, and the name must match your profile | Verify again, using the name now on your profile |
| No URL field on a new project | The Project URL field isn't available for newly added projects | Use Add media, then Add a link |
If it is the photo that won't upload, LinkedIn's upload help page says to check the file type, size and pixel limits first. Our LinkedIn profile picture guide has the limits and the fixes.
What should a founder update after a pivot, raise or new role?
Work top to bottom in one sitting, so nobody lands on a half-finished profile. This is our own checklist, about 25 minutes in total:
Decide on announcements
Sharing on if the new role is news you want your network to see; off for clean-up edits.
Write the role before you open LinkedIn
Title, company, start month and a two-line description, in a note. Then add it once in Experience, choosing on purpose whether to select Notify network and Update my headline.
Rewrite the headline and About
Say who you help and with what, in your buyer's words. Our 30-minute-a-week founder profile system gives the structure. For wording to borrow, see our 40 LinkedIn headline examples for founders. Our LinkedIn character limits table has the length of each field.
Swap what you feature
Pin the post or page that explains the new direction, from Add profile section, Recommended, Featured.
Check contact info and photo
Both sit in the introduction section, so LinkedIn says changing them won't notify your network.
Confirm, then reset
LinkedIn says you can check any notification it generated in the Recent Activity section of your profile. Then set Share profile updates back to your usual choice.
For what to write in each section, see our guide on how to optimise your LinkedIn profile. If you run outreach from your LinkedIn account, by hand or with Siela's Lead Finder, finish these edits before a campaign starts. LinkedIn's headline page says your headline is displayed in search results, so update it before people start looking you up.
Should you hibernate your profile while you rework it?
No. Hibernation hides your profile from everyone, and LinkedIn describes logging back in as the way to end it, so it gives you no private window to edit in. LinkedIn's hibernation help page (checked 4 Nov 2026) says that while you are hibernated:
- Your profile isn't visible to anyone, even connections, and doesn't appear in searches, including in Recruiter.
- Your posts, comments and messages, and the recommendations and endorsements you gave others, stay, but credited to A LinkedIn member, with a generic icon in place of your photo.
- An active Premium subscription is cancelled immediately, and earlier promotional pricing may not be honoured again. If you bought Premium through Apple, you also have to cancel it with Apple.
- You can't log in for 24 hours after hibernating, and your connection and follower counts may look wrong for up to 48 hours after you return.
The page gives the 24-hour minimum and states no maximum. Here is how the three choices compare for a big rework:
| Option | Profile visible while you edit | Network told about job, education and anniversary changes | Side effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edit with sharing on | Yes, each edit as you save it | It may be | An automated post that disappears after up to 90 days |
| Edit with sharing off | Yes, each edit as you save it | No | None |
| Hibernate | No, to anyone | Not applicable | Out of search, Premium cancelled, 24-hour lockout |
What happens if you have two LinkedIn profiles?
LinkedIn doesn't allow it, so merge the two or close one. LinkedIn's duplicate accounts page says creating multiple profiles isn't allowed under its Professional Community Policies and User Agreement. To find the extra one, search your name: the profile with the You icon is the one you are signed in to, and any other with your details is a duplicate.
- If you can sign in to both: have each account's login details and profile URL ready, then contact LinkedIn to merge. Only the connections and email address of the account you close move across. Profile content, edits, endorsements, recommendations, saved articles, group memberships and pending invitations don't.
- Limits: accounts with zero connections or more than 30,000 can't be merged, and you lose all InMail credits. First cancel Premium, open job posts, ad campaigns and events you organise, and close or hand over any group you own.
- If the duplicate has no connections: sign in to it and close it from Settings & Privacy, under Account management. Wait 48 hours, then add its email address to your main account to help stop new duplicates.
LinkedIn purges the data of the account you merge away, so download a copy of it first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit my LinkedIn profile from a phone browser?
Partly. LinkedIn's help page says a mobile browser can only edit the photo, name, headline, location, summary, experience, education, skills, accomplishments and contact sections. For anything else, such as Featured, recommendations or volunteer experience, use the LinkedIn app or a computer. The steps are the same idea everywhere: open your profile, tap the Edit icon beside a section, change it and save.
How do I change my name on LinkedIn?
On a computer, open your profile, click the Edit icon in the top section beside your picture, change First Name or Last Name in the Edit intro window and click Save. In the app, tap your profile picture, tap your name, then the Edit icon. If your profile shows a verification, LinkedIn says a name change may mean verifying again to keep it visible.
How long can I keep my LinkedIn hibernated?
LinkedIn's hibernation page gives only a minimum: you can reactivate 24 hours after hibernating, by logging in, and no upper limit is stated (checked 4 Nov 2026). While hibernated, nobody can see your profile, you drop out of search, including Recruiter, and any active Premium plan is cancelled straight away.
Will my LinkedIn profile in another language update too?
No. LinkedIn says a secondary language profile won't automatically reflect changes to positions in your English profile's Experience section, so update it by hand. If an edited headline doesn't show on your homepage, LinkedIn suggests checking that you edited the right language profile. Keep a list of the languages you use so none falls behind.
Can people see my LinkedIn edits before I've finished?
Yes. LinkedIn says anyone who views your profile sees your edits as soon as you save them, even with sharing turned off. For a large rewrite, draft the new headline, About text and job descriptions in a document first, then paste them in during one short session so visitors don't catch a half-updated profile.
Sources
- LinkedIn Help: Edit your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Edit the Introduction section on your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Add sections to your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Manage your profile Experience section (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Share profile updates (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Edit your headline (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Verifications on your LinkedIn profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Hibernate your LinkedIn account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Merge or close duplicate accounts (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Change how your name appears on your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Loribeth Pierson on LinkedIn (member article): Turn Off Your Activity Broadcast Feed Before You Start To Edit Your Profile (5 Dec 2016; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Photo won't upload to your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)