Hashtags Matter


Hashtags Matter

As a thought leader on LinkedIn, you can publish articles on LinkedIn as well as posts, not to mention liking, commenting, writing hashtags, or sharing other people’s content. Commenting is always preferred by LinkedIn to likes and shares.

However, when you write and publish an article, LinkedIn notes that you can edit the article, but you cannot edit, remove, or add hashtags you included in the article. So, make sure you have your hashtags confirmed and spelled correctly before you hit the publish button.

Companies can manage trending employee content hashtags if they are logged on as an administrator on the company page.

Hashtags can also be added to create Linkedin Page Communities.

But here is the latest on hashtags. If you happen to follow the #NewLinkedInFeature hashtag on LinkedIn, you would have noticed new posts last week that have people wondering if there is an algorithm change that LinkedIn has not notified us about.

Previously, I mentioned that you should only have three (3) hashtags in your posts and LinkedIn expert, Kevin D. Turner, has noted that these first three hashtags used in your LinkedIn post are now part of the post’s URL. So, there is speculation that this may be picked up by Google for search, indexing, findability, and rankings.

I tried a post with the three hashtags and … sure enough … the three hashtags became part of the URL as you can see below.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lynnewilliams_greatcareersphl-networking-linkedinprofile-activity-6611148065124474880-BBgQ

I tried another post with four hashtags, but only the first three became part of the URL.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lynnewilliams_greatcareersphl-personalbranding-keywords-activity-6611150379591757824-0AXi

The bottom line is that #hashtagsmatter so choose wisely!

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AUTHOR BIO

Lynne M. Williams is the Executive Director of the Great Careers Groups, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides career development and networking connections for 1) job seekers in career transition, including veterans, and 2) employed and self-employed for career management.

Aside from writing keyword-focused content for ATS resumes and LinkedIn™ profiles, Lynne is writing her doctoral dissertation on LinkedIn™ for Job Seekers. She is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love, along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker on career topics.