How to Write a LinkedIn Headline, With Examples From the Strongest Profiles.

The short answer

Write one plain sentence of about 100 characters that says what you do, put a true number in it if you have one, and leave out “I help” and the pipes. That is what the strongest LinkedIn profiles in our 74,119-post study share, and the examples below show the shape.

In NBK Social Research’s study of 74,119 LinkedIn posts (Study 002), we compared the 44 strongest authors by median engagement with all 344 profiles in the set, across 26 profile signals. Four headline differences stood out: length, the phrase “I help”, numbers and pipes.

Founder social on LinkedIn starts with the line under your name, because it is the first thing a reader learns about you. LinkedIn’s own help pages describe the headline as the text below your name in the introduction section of your profile, say it is also shown in search results, and note that it can differ from the title of your current job. Below are the four shapes the strongest profiles share, with three example headlines for each that we wrote to the shape: one for a founder, one for a social lead and one for a freelancer. The people in them are imaginary. No real author’s headline is reproduced.

Read the numbers the right way first

These figures describe what the strongest profiles have, not what made them strong. A profile cannot be tested against itself, so every finding is prevalence.

There is a second caveat on every row. The strongest group’s median follower count is 104,488, against 13,028 for everyone. Big accounts may simply write headlines differently. Treat the shapes below as the habits of people who are winning, not as a formula that guarantees it.

1. Keep it to about 100 characters

The strongest authors run a median headline of 101 characters. Across all profiles the median is 123.

Twenty characters is not much, but it is usually the difference between one clear claim and a claim followed by a list of everything else you have ever done. A shorter headline forces a choice, and the choice is the point.

Examples written to this shape:

• Founder: Founder of a Dubai skincare brand. Building the formulas and the team behind them.
• Social lead: Head of social at a UK grocery chain. Running eight accounts on one weekly rhythm.
• Freelancer: Freelance video editor for food brands. Short-form cuts, delivered in 48 hours.

2. Say what you do, not who you help

Only 11% of the strongest authors use an “I help” headline, against 20% of all profiles. The strongest writers use it about half as often as everyone else.

The problem with “I help” is that it describes a sales pitch rather than a person. A plain statement of the job does the same work and reads as more confident.

Examples written to this shape:

• Founder: Co-founder and CEO of a B2B payroll start-up for Gulf retailers.
• Social lead: Social media manager at a regional bank. Community, content and crisis cover.
• Freelancer: Copywriter for property developers. Brochures, launch campaigns and LinkedIn.

3. Put a number in it when you have one

A number in the headline is a little more common among the strongest authors: 41% against 37% for all profiles.

That is a modest gap, so do not invent a number to fit the pattern. Use one when it is true and specific: years in a field, a team size, a turnaround, a count of something you actually ship.

The full combination of role, company and a proof point is rare in both groups (9% of the strongest, 8% of all), so a number on its own is the habit, not a three-part formula.

Examples written to this shape:

• Founder: Founder of a specialty coffee roaster. 3 cafes, 1 roastery, 0 investors.
• Social lead: Social lead at a football club. Team of 5 covering 4 platforms on match days.
• Freelancer: Motion designer. 9 years animating explainers for fintech and health brands.

4. Drop the pipes

Pipes and other separators are less common among the strongest authors: 59% against 70% for all profiles.

A piped headline is usually a list of job titles stacked side by side, and lists are easy to skim past. A sentence is harder to ignore. Most piped headlines can be rewritten as one sentence with a full stop.

Examples written to this shape:

• Founder: Founder of an Abu Dhabi events company. We run conferences for the energy sector.
• Social lead: Head of social at a travel brand. I run the content calendar and the team behind it.
• Freelancer: Freelance photographer for restaurants. Menus, interiors and launch nights.

What the four shapes add up to

Put together, the habits of the strongest profiles point one way: a single plain sentence of around 100 characters that says what you do, with a number when a true one is available, and no stack of titles.

That is not a trick. It is the same discipline good copy always asks for: one claim, stated clearly, that the reader can remember.

Write yours in four moves

Start from a blank line, not from the headline you have now, because the old one will pull you back towards the list of titles.

1. Write the job in one sentence, as you would say it to a stranger at a conference: the role, the company or the kind of client, and the thing you actually make or run.
2. Read it back and cut anything that is a second job, a past job or an aspiration. One claim per headline.
3. Add one number only if it is true and checkable: years, team size, a turnaround, a count of something you ship. If nothing qualifies, leave it out.
4. Count the characters. Over 120, cut again. Around 100, with a full stop and no pipes, and you have the shape the strongest profiles share.

Then leave it alone for a few months. A headline that changes every few weeks never gets the chance to teach anyone what you stand for.

Common headline mistakes to fix first

The four findings translate into a short checklist for an existing profile:

• It runs well past 120 characters and tries to say everything.
• It leans on “I help” and reads like an ad.
• It stacks three or four titles with pipes between them.
• It carries a number that is vague, inflated or impossible to check.
• It changes every few months, so nobody learns what you stand for.

If the profile behind the headline is also unverified, our piece on whether LinkedIn verification is worth it covers that side of credibility.

Make the headline part of the system

A headline is not a one-off writing task. For a founder or an executive team, it is the first line of a positioning decision that should match the posts, the About section and the company page.

That is why we treat it as part of a profile system rather than a copy tweak. When we run team training and support for leadership teams, the headline is one of the first things we rewrite, because every other piece of content inherits it.

How NBK thinks about LinkedIn headlines

The data is honest about its limits, so we are too. A great headline will not rescue a profile that posts nothing worth reading.

What it will do is make every good post work a little harder, because the reader who stops on your post knows who you are in one glance. That is worth twenty minutes of rewriting.

For a broader view of how a founder’s posting should run, read why personal brands need a LinkedIn content system.

Next step

If your leadership team is posting on LinkedIn but the profiles still say nothing clear, NBK can help build the system behind them.