A LinkedIn headline is limited to 220 characters. The About section is limited to 2,600 characters.
- The headline: 220 characters. Only the opening stretch — commonly measured at roughly 60–80 characters — shows in search results and on the mobile profile card.
- The About section: 2,600 characters. Roughly the first 265–300 show on desktop before “See more,” and fewer on mobile.
- The experience description: 2,000 characters per role. The post composer allows 3,000 and a connection note allows 300.
- The field limits are stable; the truncation points are not. How much shows before “see more” is display behaviour, measured rather than fixed, which is why published numbers disagree.
What changes — and what most pages get wrong — is how much of each field is visiblebefore LinkedIn truncates it. On the headline, search results and the mobile profile card show only the opening stretch, commonly measured at roughly the first sixty to eighty characters. In the About section, roughly the first 265–300 characters show on desktop before the “see more” link, and less on mobile. Those are display behaviours, not limits, and they vary by device and app version. The practical consequence is the same either way: the opening of each field is the part that gets read.
LinkedIn character limits (full reference)
| Field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | 220 | Only the opening ~60–80 characters show in search results and mobile cards |
| About / summary | 2,600 | ~265–300 characters show before “See more” on desktop; less on mobile |
| Experience description (per role) | 2,000 | — |
| Job title | 100 | — |
| Post | 3,000 | Short posts are not penalised |
| Connection note | 300 | — |
| Company name | 100 | — |
What is a LinkedIn headline?
A LinkedIn headline is the single line of text directly under your name on your LinkedIn profile. It is limited to 220 characters. It is the field that appears in more places than any other — your profile, search results, your comments, your connection requests and your messages — and the only one shown next to your name everywhere. By default LinkedIn fills it with your current job title at your current employer, which is why so many profiles are invisible to the searches they'd want to appear in. It is a targeting field — it says what you want to be found for, not only what you currently do.
What is the LinkedIn About section?
The About section — also called the summary — is the free-text area between your headline and your experience. It is limited to 2,600 characters, of which roughly the first 265–300 show before the reader has to click “See more.” It is the only place on the profile where you write in your own voice, without dates or titles, so it's where you explain context, direction, and what you're looking for. Because so little of it is visible at once, the opening lines carry most of its weight.
Why the numbers on other pages disagree
Two long-retired figures still circulate: a 120-character headline limit, which dates from an older version of the field, and a “see more” cutoff of exactly 200 characters, which was measured on an older desktop layout. Current field limits are 220 and 2,600. Exact truncation points are display behaviour and are measured, not fixed — that's why a page that gives you one number for the cutoff is usually describing one device.
How do you change your LinkedIn headline?
Your headline is edited from the introduction card at the top of your own profile — the pencil control on desktop, the edit icon in the app. The field accepts up to 220 characters and saves as you go, and it is the same field whether you edit it on the web or on your phone. Any wording you have already used that is now out of date — “seeking”, a former employer, a role you have left — is worth clearing in the same edit.
What's the difference between a LinkedIn headline and a job title?
The headline is one separate field of up to 220 characters that you write and control; the job title is a field inside each Experience entry, and your current one is what LinkedIn fills into the headline by default. That default is why so many profiles read “Job Title at Company” — it is not a decision anybody made. The headline shows wherever your name appears (profile, search results, comments, connection requests, messages); the job title shows inside your experience list, with its dates. You can change the headline without touching your employment history, and you should: the two do different jobs.
How long should a LinkedIn headline be?
Long enough to carry the role, the specialism and one proof — and no longer, because only the opening stretch of the line is read. The field allows 220 characters; search results and the mobile card show only the opening, commonly measured at roughly 60–80. Practically that means the first few words do the work and everything after them is a bonus for the people who click through. A 90-character headline with a role, a specialism and a number is doing more than a 220-character one with eight technologies in it.
Does a longer headline rank better?
No. Length is not a ranking signal, and past a point it works against you. What matters is that the terms your target roles are searched by appear in the visible opening, and that the line reads like a sentence a person wrote. A 220-character headline with eight technologies in it reads as noise; a 90-character headline with a role, a specialism, and one proof is doing the job.
What is recruiter search on LinkedIn?
Recruiter search is the tool recruiters use to find candidates by typing the terms a role is described with — a job title, a skill, a tool, a location. Results are ranked, not random, and profiles whose headline, titles, About, and skills contain the searched terms appear; profiles that describe the same experience in different words do not. That's why the literal term matters more than the synonym.
What is keyword match on LinkedIn?
Keyword match means the searched term appears in your profile in the form it was searched. LinkedIn matches phrases: a search for “product analyst” favours profiles containing “product analyst” over profiles containing “product” and “analyst” separately. Practically, this means your headline and job titles should use the standard name for the work — the term a recruiter would type — rather than an internal or invented title.
What is keyword stuffing on LinkedIn?
Keyword stuffing is loading a profile field with terms to game search — a headline of six technologies and no sentence, or the same keyword repeated five times in an About section. It costs you twice: the line reads as noise to the humans who click, and the profile stops resembling a person describing their work. Three to five genuine terms plus one concrete outcome outperforms a list.
How to check yours in about ten seconds
Paste your current headline, or a few lines of your About, into the box at the top of this page or on any of our role pages. You'll get a real 0–100 visibility score and a rewritten headline in full — free, no login, no card, no email. It scores the text you paste: which target-role terms are present, how early the role term appears, how concrete the line is, and whether it carries evidence of scope or impact.
See where your own headline stands. Paste it and get your free 0–100 score and a rewritten headline — no login, no card, no email. Jump to the score box →
How the free score works on this page
On this page the score reads your pasted text for what the numbers above mean in practice: whether the terms your target role is searched by appear in the opening stretch of your headline, and whether the line carries real evidence of scope or impact.
Paste the headline you run today — plus a couple of sentences from your About if you have them — into the box at the top of this page. The free score is computed from your own words: whether your target role appears early, whether the terms recruiters filter on for your role are present, how concrete the line is versus filler, and whether it carries any evidence of scope or impact. The 0–100 number and a rewritten headline come back immediately, in full and unblurred. The rewritten About and your top 3 experience bullets are the $1 one-time part.
- Paste your current headline — or a few lines of your About — into the box at the top of this page. Text is the input: nothing is fetched, so there is nothing that can fail to load, and a profile URL is accepted in the same box if you have one handy.
- Read your 0–100 visibility score and your rewritten headline — free, in full, no signup and no card. A score in the 80s means the terms and evidence recruiters filter on are mostly there. A score in the 40s means most of them are missing.
- Want the rest? $1, one-time, unlocks the rewritten About section and your top 3 experience bullets, written from the same text — no subscription, no account access, nothing posted anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
How many characters is a LinkedIn headline?
220 characters. Only the opening stretch — commonly measured at roughly 60–80 characters — is visible in search results and on the mobile profile card, so the front of the headline is what gets read.
How many characters is the LinkedIn About section?
2,600 characters. Roughly the first 265–300 characters are visible on desktop before the “See more” link, and fewer on mobile.
How many characters show before “See more” on LinkedIn?
In the About section, roughly 265–300 characters on desktop and fewer on mobile. It's a display behaviour rather than a fixed limit, and it varies by device and app version, which is why sources disagree about the exact number.
Is the LinkedIn headline still 120 characters?
No. 120 was the limit in an older version of the field. The current limit is 220 characters.
Does the headline character limit count spaces?
Yes. Every character in the field counts, including spaces and punctuation.
What's the difference between the headline and the About section?
The headline is one line — 220 characters — under your name, shown in more places than any other field on the profile. The About section is 2,600 characters of free text where you write in your own voice about context, direction, and what you want next.
How do I change my LinkedIn headline?
From the introduction card on your profile — the pencil on desktop, the edit icon in the app. Nothing about the field changes between devices: the same 220 characters, the same default text LinkedIn fills in.
Is my LinkedIn headline the same as my job title?
No. Your job title lives inside each Experience entry with its dates; the headline is a separate field you write, up to 220 characters, shown next to your name everywhere. LinkedIn copies your current job title into the headline by default, which is why so many profiles stop at “Job Title at Company”.
How long should a LinkedIn headline be?
As long as it takes to name the role you want, the terms that role is filtered on, and one piece of proof — usually ten to twenty words. Only the opening ~60–80 characters show in search and on the mobile card, so front-load it and treat the rest as a bonus.
Is the score really free, and what does the $1 unlock?
The 0–100 visibility score and your rewritten headline are free — no signup, no credit card, and no email address needed. The $1 one-time charge unlocks the rewritten About section and your top 3 experience bullets. It never recurs: $1 per review, no subscription, and you only pay when you want fresh rewrites.
Do you need access to my LinkedIn account?
No. Standout never asks for your LinkedIn password, never connects to your account, and never posts or edits anything on your profile. You paste text you can already see on your own public profile, and the review is written from that text.
Why paste my headline instead of just my profile URL?
LinkedIn blocks automated reads of public profiles, so a review built from a URL alone would fall back on a public preview and whatever search-indexed copies exist — a thinner picture of you than the ten seconds it takes to paste your real headline or About. The same box accepts a profile URL if you have one handy, and you can paste both.
Do you store my data?
We keep the review we wrote for you — the score, headline, About, and bullets — and the email address you give us. If you pay for a review, we also keep the headline or About text you pasted, so we can deliver it and re-deliver it if anything goes wrong. We never connect to your LinkedIn account, never post or edit anything, and never sell your data.
What if I'm not happy with my rewrites?
If you're not satisfied, email us at [email protected] and we'll make it right — including a refund if needed.
What if my role or situation isn't covered on this page?
Paste your current headline into the box anyway — the score is computed from your own text, and the rewritten headline is written from the same text, so any role works. The role pages exist to tell you which words are worth having, not to limit who can use the tool.