Two builds, not one: a Company Page for the business and a real profile for every person in it.
Verified August 2026.
LinkedIn is the only item in Tier 1 of the complete setup guide that isn't a listing, and it's the one most businesses do half of.
They create a Company Page, add a logo, post twice, and stop. Meanwhile, the owner's personal profile still says a job from 2019.
That's backward. Personal profiles consistently reach several times the audience of an equivalent company page. LinkedIn's algorithm favors people over brands, and so do humans — a referral partner checking you out looks you up, not your company.
Build both. Put more effort into the personal profiles.
Before you start
You will need:
- A personal LinkedIn profile — required before you can create a Company Page
- A company email address on a verified domain (a Gmail address will not work)
- Company logo at 400 × 400 px
- Company cover at 4200 × 700 px
- A headshot for each person at 400 × 400 px or larger
Part 1: The Company Page
Step 1: Check whether one already exists
Search your company name on LinkedIn. Unofficial pages get created when employees list an employer LinkedIn doesn't recognize.
If a page exists but nobody controls it, you can claim it. If a former employee or vendor controls it, request access through LinkedIn's process.
Step 2: Create the page
From your personal profile, use the "For Business" menu and choose to create a company page. Select the type — small business, medium to large business, showcase page, or educational institution.
Enter your company name and LinkedIn generates a public URL. Check that URL before finishing. It becomes your permanent address and changing it later is awkward.
You will need to verify you're authorized to act for the company, which is where the domain-matched email requirement comes in.
Step 3: Fill in every field, respecting the limits
| Field | Hard limit | Visible |
|---|---|---|
| Tagline | 120 | 120 |
| About / description | 2,000 | ~300 |
| Specialties | 20 entries, 25 characters each | — |
Tagline (120 characters). This appears under your company name everywhere on LinkedIn — in search results, on your page, next to employee profiles. It is not a mission statement. The formula that works: what you do + for whom.
Good: "Accounting and tax planning for independent contractors." Bad: "Empowering financial journeys through innovative solutions."
The second one is 100 characters that say nothing.
About (2,000 characters). Note this is 600 characters shorter than the personal About section. Copy one into the other and it truncates.
Only about the first 300 characters show before "See more," so front-load. Open with what you do and who you serve. Use the rest for services, service areas, credentials, and history.
Specialties (20 entries, 25 characters each). These are indexed in LinkedIn's internal search. Most companies skip this field entirely. Fill all 20 with the terms someone would actually search — service names, not adjectives.
Location, industry, company size, website, founding year. Complete all of them. LinkedIn surfaces more complete pages more often.
Step 4: Images
| Asset | Specification |
|---|---|
| Logo | 400 × 400 px, minimum 268 × 268, under 3 MB |
| Cover image | 4200 × 700 px, 6:1, under 3 MB |
| Feed post image | 1080 × 1350 px |
| Link preview | 1200 × 627 px |
The cover image is where most pages go wrong. LinkedIn now specifies a 4200 × 700 upload even though it renders at roughly 1128 × 191 on the page. Many published guides still list only the smaller number, and uploading at that size produces a visibly blurry banner.
The banner also crops to roughly the center 900 pixels on mobile. Keep your name and any text centered.
Step 5: Set up admins and connect employees
Add at least two page admins from your organization. As with every account in this guide, the business should hold ownership and vendors should hold access.
Then have employees list the company as their employer, selecting it from LinkedIn's dropdown so it links to the page. This connects their profiles to yours and is what makes the "People" tab on your page useful.
Part 2: Personal profiles
This is where the return actually is.
The fields that matter, with limits
| Field | Hard limit | Visible |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | 220 | 220 |
| About / summary | 2,600 | ~210–350 |
| First name | 20 | — |
| Last name | 40 | — |
| Position title | 100 | — |
| Experience description | 2,000 per role | — |
| Post | 3,000 | ~210 |
| Connection request note | 300 (200 on free accounts) | — |
Photo
400 × 400 px minimum, under 8 MB. It displays as a circle.
A real, current, well-lit headshot with your face filling most of the frame. Not a logo. Not a group photo cropped down. Not a photo from twelve years ago — people meet you afterward.
Cover image
1584 × 396 px, 4:1. Your photo overlaps the lower-left, so keep that corner clear.
Headline (220 characters)
The single most-viewed text you have on LinkedIn. It appears in search results, in comment threads, on connection requests, and anywhere your name shows up.
The default is your current job title, which wastes it. Use the space for what you do, who you help, and how.
Weak: "Attorney at Smith & Associates" Better: "Estate Planning Attorney | Helping South Carolina families protect what they've built | Wills, trusts, probate"
About (2,600 characters)
Roughly the first 210–350 characters show before "See more," so the opening line determines whether anyone reads the rest.
Do not open with "I am a results-driven professional with a passion for excellence." Open with something specific — a particular problem you solve, a concrete detail, a point of view.
Write in first person. This is the one place on LinkedIn where a human voice clearly outperforms a corporate one.
Experience
Each role gets a title (100 characters) and a description (2,000 characters). Lead with outcomes rather than duties. "Managed client accounts" tells a reader nothing; "Handled 200+ estate matters, including contested probate" tells them what you actually do.
Custom URL
Change your profile URL from the default string of numbers to your name. Takes thirty seconds and makes the link usable on a business card or email signature.
If your profession is regulated
Attorneys are subject to state bar advertising rules on claims of expertise, specialization language, and testimonials — including LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements. Some states restrict how you may describe yourself as a specialist.
Investment advisers are subject to the SEC Marketing Rule; recommendations and endorsements on your profile may constitute testimonials requiring disclosure.
Review your profile and any recommendations against your rules before treating it as finished. Nothing here is legal or compliance advice.
Common problems
"You need a company email to create a page." LinkedIn requires an email on a verified domain. Personal email providers won't work.
Blurry banner. Uploaded at the display size instead of 4200 × 700.
Employees aren't linked to the page. They typed the company name manually instead of selecting it from the dropdown. Have them re-select it.
Duplicate company pages. Created because an employee typed a variant. Request a merge through LinkedIn support.
Nobody sees company page posts. Expected. Company page organic reach is low. Have people share from personal profiles.
Maintenance
- Weekly, if you post at all: post from personal profiles, not just the page
- Quarterly: confirm employee list is current; remove departed staff as admins
- Annually: rewrite the headline and About section — they age faster than you'd think
- Immediately: when anyone joins or leaves
Next steps
Next is Facebook, which also gates your Instagram setup.
If you're an attorney, a real estate agent, or a healthcare provider, your industry directories carry profiles generated from licensing records — see attorney directories, Zillow and Realtor.com, or healthcare directories.
Full checklist: the complete setup guide.
Verified August 2026 against LinkedIn documentation and current published sources. LinkedIn adjusts field limits without notice.