A custom LinkedIn URL swaps the random characters at the end of your profile link for a name you choose, like linkedin.com/in/danareyes. You set it in your public profile settings. It’s free and takes about a minute.
We’ll follow one person through the whole thing, start to finish. Dana Reyes is a fictional UX designer in Austin. Her current link is linkedin.com/in/dana-reyes-4b7a29c1, and she wants something she can say out loud on a call without spelling it.
Why Dana bothers
Her default link works fine. It just looks like nobody has touched it. On a resume, next to a portfolio link and an email address, the string of digits stands out for the wrong reason. It also won’t fit neatly on a business card, and she can’t read it to someone over the phone.
A custom URL fixes all of that. What it won’t do is change how LinkedIn search ranks her. Treat it as a tidy address, not a visibility trick.
Step 1: Find the setting
On desktop, Dana opens her own profile. The option to edit her public profile and URL usually sits in the right-hand column of that page. If it isn’t there, searching your profile or settings area for “public profile” gets you to the same screen. LinkedIn rearranges menus from time to time, so don’t worry if the button looks slightly different.
On the mobile app the route is similar. Tap your profile photo to open your profile, open the menu with more profile options, and look for contact info or public profile settings. Sometimes the app hands you over to a web page for this step. That’s normal; finish the change there and it applies to your account everywhere.
Step 2: Choose the ending
The part you edit is everything after linkedin.com/in/. Before typing anything, Dana writes down a first choice and two backups. That saves a round of trial and error.
The rules she follows:
- Letters and numbers, plus a hyphen if needed. Spaces and most symbols aren’t allowed, and LinkedIn will show an error if something doesn’t fit.
- Her name, as people search for it. No middle name, since nobody calls her by it.
- No job title. “danareyes-ux” would look odd the day she moves into product.
- No birth year or random digits. Those bring back the cluttered look she’s trying to get rid of.
- Nothing she’d be embarrassed to print. Nicknames tend to age badly.
The link isn’t case-sensitive in practice, so she’ll write it in lowercase everywhere.
Step 3: Try it, and have a backup ready
Dana enters “danareyes”. Taken. Common names often are.
So she works down her list. Here are the usual fallbacks, roughly from most to least natural:
| Try this | Dana’s version | Good fit when |
|---|---|---|
| Middle initial | danajreyes | You already use the initial elsewhere |
| Hyphen between names | dana-reyes | It’s free and easy to say |
| Reversed name | reyesdana | Both names are short |
| Name plus field | danareyesdesign | You’ll stay in the field for years |
| Name plus city | danareyesaustin | Local services and small businesses |
| Name plus credential | danareyescpa | Licensed professions |
She doesn’t use her middle initial anywhere, so she skips the first row. “dana-reyes” is free, and it’s easy to say: “dana dash reyes.” She takes it. If her portfolio domain or other handles already use one of these patterns, matching them would be the better call, so people recognize her across sites.
Step 4: Save, then check the side effects
She saves, and the change applies right away. Before she celebrates, she runs through what a URL change affects:
- Her old link may stop working. Anyone who saved it, and anything she printed, may now lead to an error page.
- The old URL may become available to someone else. She can’t count on switching back later.
- LinkedIn doesn’t encourage frequent changes and may limit how often you can make them. This should be a link she keeps for years.
That’s why the next step matters more than the change itself.
Step 5: Update everywhere the old link lived
Dana makes a quick list of every place her old link appears, then updates them in one sitting:
- Resume and cover letter template, near her contact details
- Email signature, as a plain link under her name and title
- Portfolio site header and contact page
- The “LinkedIn profile” field on job application sites she’s signed up to
- Last slide of her conference talk
- Business cards, which she’ll reprint with the next order
For anything printed, a QR code beats typed text because people scan instead of type. She pastes her new link into the free LinkedIn QR Code Generator, downloads the code and scans it with her own phone before sending anything to print. If she ever changes the URL again, every printed code has to be replaced too, which is one more reason to pick a link she’ll keep.
The quick version, if you’re in a hurry
Without Dana’s commentary, the steps are:
- Open your profile and go to the public profile and URL settings.
- Edit the part after linkedin.com/in/ and type your name.
- If it’s taken, try a hyphen, a middle initial, your field or your city.
- Save, knowing your old link may stop working.
- Update your resume, signature, website and any QR codes the same day.
While you’re in the public profile settings
The screen where you edit your URL also controls what people who aren’t signed in to LinkedIn can see. Dana opens a private browser window and checks how her profile looks to a stranger. If a section she wants recruiters to find is hidden, she switches it on.
Then she looks at the first screen a visitor lands on, since a cleaner link should bring more people there. A clear photo, a banner that says what she does and a headline people get at a glance. The Headline Generator drafts options for that line, and the LinkedIn Profile Checklist covers every other section. If her photo needs work, LinkedIn Profile Picture Tips goes through lighting, framing and crop.
Questions people ask about custom URLs
Does a custom URL cost anything?
No. It’s available on free accounts.
Can I use a URL someone else has?
No. Each one belongs to a single profile. If your name is taken, you need a variation.
Will my connections lose me?
No. Your connections, messages and followers stay attached to your account. Only the public link changes. People who saved the old link elsewhere are the ones who may hit an error.
Should I put my LinkedIn URL on my resume?
Yes, if your profile is up to date. A short custom link next to your email looks deliberate and is easy to type. If you’re job hunting, How to Get Noticed by Recruiters on LinkedIn covers what they look at once they click through.
Make it scannable
Once your new link is set and updated everywhere, turn it into a code for your business card, badge or slides with the free LinkedIn QR Code Generator. For a wider look at what makes a profile work once people arrive, read the LinkedIn profile optimization guide.