LinkedIn profile score: one number, and the 16 checks behind it
A score out of 100 for how complete your profile is, computed in code so the same profile always scores the same. Every check that goes into it is listed on this page.
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- We find your public profile, and you confirm it is the right one.
- You create a free account and choose a goal.
- You get your Free LinkedIn Profile Audit, one per account, as a PDF: where your profile stands for that goal, what is working, what is holding it back, and what to change first. It includes both scores.
What is a LinkedIn profile score?
A LinkedIn profile score is a single figure that summarises how much of your profile is in place. LinkedIn shows its own completeness indicator, privately, as the profile level meter.
That limit matters. A profile can be fully filled in with a headline that says nothing and an About that could belong to anyone. Completeness is necessary, and it is cheap; the score exists to make sure you are not losing points to an empty Featured section or a missing certification before you spend time on the writing.
LinkedCheck's score is built to be checkable. It is calculated in code from 16 named checks, never asked of a language model, so it cannot drift between runs. The report shows the points each section earned out of the points it could, and every check is listed below.
Example · same profile, two scores
Completeness
74 /100
Filled in. Same before and after.
Effectiveness for this goal
56 /100
Rose to 84 after twelve changes.
The fictional profile in the sample report was already largely complete. It just was not saying the right thing, which is what the second number is for.
LinkedIn score, SSI and the profile level meter
Not every LinkedIn score is a profile score
Search for a LinkedIn score and you will find at least three different things. None of them is the number on this page.
LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI)
LinkedIn’s measure, for selling
LinkedIn’s own measure, from 0 to 100, of how well a salesperson uses LinkedIn to sell. LinkedIn describes it as how well you establish a professional brand, find the right people, engage with insights and build relationships. You can see yours, signed in, at linkedin.com/sales/ssi.
LinkedCheck does not calculate, estimate or approximate SSI. Its completeness score is about what your profile contains, not how you sell, and a high one tells you nothing about your SSI.
LinkedIn’s profile level meter
LinkedIn’s completeness indicator
Shown only to you, under Suggested for you on your profile. It moves from Beginner to Intermediate at four completed sections and to All-star at seven: profile photo, location, industry, education, position, skills and summary. It gives a level, not a number.
LinkedCheck’s completeness score is the closest thing to it and is not the same: 16 checks with points, out of 100.
Test scores
A section on your profile, not a score of it
Test scores is one of the additional sections LinkedIn lets you add, for a result from an exam or test you took.
It is not one of the checks behind LinkedCheck’s score.
LinkedCheck’s two scores, completeness and readiness for your goal, are calculated by LinkedCheck from your public profile and appear only in its own reports.
What is a good LinkedIn profile score?
Four bands, and what to do in each
0 to 44
Thin
Whole sections are empty or near-empty, often About, Featured or Recommendations.
Do next: Fill the empty sections first, even roughly. Points here are the cheapest on the whole profile.
45 to 69
Gaps
The major sections are present. Points are leaking from roles without descriptions or numbers, a short About, or a thin Featured section.
Do next: Work the breakdown from the lowest section up.
70 to 89
Mostly complete
Almost everything is in place. What is left is usually a certification, a third recommendation or more Featured items.
Do next: Close the small items, then move on to the wording.
90 to 100
Complete
Nothing the score checks is missing. Further work is on what the profile says, not on what it has.
Do next: Switch to the effectiveness score and the rewrites. Completeness is done.
The band appears on the report beside the completeness number.
How the score is calculated
16 checks, nine sections, one fixed weight each
Each check is pass or fail and carries a fixed number of points, 81 in all. Your score is the points you earned out of the points that apply, scaled to 100. A check we cannot see, like a banner that did not load, is left out rather than failed.
The weights are the same for every goal. The goal changes the second number, effectiveness, and the advice.
Reading a score breakdown
Where the points went missing on a 74
A total on its own does not tell you what to do. The breakdown does. Here every section’s points sit next to a one-line reason, so you can see that the two emptiest sections on this profile, Skills and Education, are also quick to fix.
That is the point of scoring completeness separately: it finds the points that cost minutes, so the harder work of rewriting starts from a full profile.
Present and uses its space
Written, but under 600 characters
Current role, dates, descriptions and a number
One item, not three
Fewer than twenty listed
No certification listed
One received, not three
Custom URL and banner set
No post over six hashtags
How to improve your LinkedIn profile score
Six fixes, with the points each one is worth
- 01
Set a custom profile URL
One field in your profile settings. It also makes your link cleaner to share.
- 02
Ask for a recommendation
One message to someone you have worked closely with, naming the piece of work you would like them to describe.
- 03
Bring your skills up to twenty
Add the disciplines and tools you actually use, then remove duplicates.
- 04
Feature three items
A post, an article or a document that shows the work. Give each a title that says why it matters.
- 05
Put a number in a role description
One result, with the number in it. It is the heaviest single check on the profile.
- 06
Write an About of at least 600 characters
Enough room to state what you do, for whom, and the facts that prove it.
Times are rough estimates.
What the score does not tell you
Worth knowing before you work on the number.
- NotWhether your profile is persuasive. A Complete profile can still need every sentence rewritten.
- NotYour rank in LinkedIn search or how many views you get. Nobody outside LinkedIn has that.
- NotA comparison to other people. It is your profile against the checks, not against a population.
- IsReproducible. The same public profile gets the same score, every time.
Profile score FAQ
Questions about the number
What is a good LinkedIn profile score?
On LinkedCheck, 90 and above is Complete, 70 to 89 is Mostly complete, 45 to 69 is Gaps, below 45 is Thin. The band is printed beside the number on the report. A score measures whether things are filled in, so even a Complete profile can need its wording changed.
How is the LinkedIn profile score calculated?
From 16 pass-or-fail checks across nine sections: headline, about, experience, featured, skills, education, recommendations, profile basics, posts. Each check carries a fixed number of points, and your score is the points you earned out of the points that apply, scaled to 100. The total is computed in code, not estimated by a model, so it is identical on every run.
Is this the same as LinkedIn’s profile level meter?
No, though both look at completeness. LinkedIn’s meter is visible only to you and gives a level from Beginner to All-star over seven sections. LinkedCheck’s score is out of 100, from 16 checks across nine sections, each with its points listed on this page.
Does a high score mean my profile is good?
No. It means nothing is missing. The report shows a second score, effectiveness, for whether the profile says the right thing to the right reader. In the sample report, completeness stayed at 74 while effectiveness rose from 56 to 84.
Does the goal I choose change my score?
Not this one. Completeness uses the same weights for every goal, because whether a field is filled in is the same fact whoever reads it. The goal changes the effectiveness score and the advice.
Do you need to log in to my LinkedIn to score it?
No. The score is computed from the public version of your profile, read from the link you paste. Nothing is posted and nothing is changed.
Can I get a score from a PDF export of my profile?
No. LinkedCheck currently reads your public profile from its LinkedIn link. A PDF export is not supported.
The score comes with the report. The first check is free.
Compare reportsFree LinkedIn Profile Audit
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Both scores with the band, where your profile stands for your goal, and what to change first.
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Both scores plus content and audience analysis of your posts.
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The points for each section, a review of each part of your profile, and wording where a change is justified.
Get Profile Intelligence
Find out where your points are going, then earn them back.
Start with the Free LinkedIn Profile Audit, which needs a free account and shows both scores. The points for each section are in Profile Intelligence.
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