While LinkedIn is certainly not as popular as Facebook, many business professionals are still using it as an effective way to network and find jobs new business opportunities. Like any other social media outlet, your profile is essential to using LinkedIn effectively.

Check out the following three items to see if your profile is as strong as it can be.

Keep it Current:  You may have created your LinkedIn profile four years ago, when you had a job that wasn’t quite as alluring as your current position, Make sure your LinkedIn profile is updated regularly to reflect your current job status, availability, interests, and so on. Make sure your current goals and objectives are clear and that your current personality is coming through. While you previous experience is certainly an important factor for your profile, potential leads or clients want to know who you are now and not who you were years ago.

Get Strategic with Keywords: Make sure that your most appropriate and fitting keyword is somewhere in your headline. Try to designate your keyword to something related to your specialty and clearly identifies what niche or focused market you work in. Another great way to incorporate keywords is to go back to your profile; read through it and find any areas where a keyword can work as a descriptive way of substituting language that might otherwise be vague. You can do this in all areas of your profile, from interests to education. Because basic LinkedIn searches scan for these keywords, this is essential in getting noticed on LinkedIn.

Recommendations: Recommendations are a great way to let others know about you without coming off as an ego-maniac. Well-crafted recommendations from others are vital to being noticed on LinkedIn. While a bio section can obviously come off as being full of gloating and bragging, recommendations show others that you have impressed other people by your work ethic and personality. Recommendations are one of the most important ways for potential clients or leads to learn more about you without being skeptic of any biographical information.

Once your profile is up to par, you’ll start to see how much smoother your LinkedIn interactions can become. The trick is to use it as a business outlet and not a typical social media outlet.