A LinkedIn banner should tell visitors one thing your headline does not: the result you deliver, the role you want, what you are hiring for, or where to find your work. One message, one short line, placed to the right so your profile photo does not sit on top of it.
The banner is the widest image on your profile and the first thing people see. Most people leave the default background, which says nothing. Pick your goal in the table below, jump to the matching ideas, then try one in the free LinkedIn Banner Maker.
Pick by goal
| If you want visitors to… | Try these ideas | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| See you as a fit for a specific job | 1 Target role, 2 Proof point, 3 Career move | Job seekers |
| Book a call or hire you | 4 Promise, 5 Offer and next step, 6 Process | Sellers, consultants, freelancers |
| Understand the product | 7 Product in one line, 8 Milestone | Founders, small companies |
| Follow you or subscribe | 9 Topic you post about, 10 Resource, 11 Speaker shot | Creators, experts |
| Apply or reply about a role | 12 Open roles | Recruiters, hiring managers |
If two rows feel right, choose the idea you will find easiest to keep current. An accurate plain banner beats a clever one that went stale six months ago.
Job seekers: make the role obvious
Recruiters land on your profile from search results and messages. A banner that names the job you want saves them a scroll.
1. Target role. The title you want plus your strongest two or three skills. It backs up your headline in bigger type.
Product Analyst · SQL, Python, experimentation · Open to roles in fintech
2. Proof point. One result that sets you apart, phrased so a recruiter can find it again in your experience section. Only use a number you can stand behind.
I rebuilt onboarding for 40,000 users · Product designer
3. Career move. Changing fields? Name where you are headed and the bridge from where you have been.
Teacher turned instructional designer · Courses people finish
Sellers, consultants and freelancers: make the next step obvious
Here the banner works like the sign over a shop door. People should know what you sell and how to start.
4. Promise. Who you help and what changes for them. Be specific enough that the wrong clients quietly rule themselves out.
Helping small clinics fill their schedules without extra staff
5. Offer and next step. What you sell, plus one action: a website or “message me.”
Brand identities for climate startups · Booking spring projects · northwind.studio
6. Process. Three short steps that show how you work. Good for consultants whose method is the selling point.
Audit · Plan · Launch · CRM migrations for growing sales teams
Founders and companies: say what it does
7. Product in one line. What the product does, not the mission statement. Add the logo if you have one.
Lumen Health · Appointment reminders patients actually read
8. Milestone. A launch, a funding round, an event. This one has a shelf life, so put a reminder in your calendar to swap it out.
We just launched on mobile · Try it free at lumenhealth.example
Creators and experts: say what people get by following
9. Topic you post about. The subject and the rhythm, so a visitor knows what following you means.
Weekly posts on B2B onboarding · Follow for practical playbooks
10. Resource. Point to a newsletter, podcast or free guide. Banners are not clickable, so pin the actual link in your Featured section. LinkedIn featured section ideas covers what to put there.
Free newsletter: one sales lesson every Tuesday · Link in Featured
11. Speaker shot. A photo of you on stage, running a workshop or with your team, with a short caption. It shows credibility without making a claim. Use your own photo or one you have permission to use.
Recruiters and hiring managers: say what is open
12. Open roles. What you are hiring for, where, and how to get in touch. Update it the day a role closes, because an outdated hiring banner is worse than none.
Hiring backend engineers in Austin and remote · Message me
Three of these, built in the Banner Maker
Here are three of the ideas above written out as settings for our Banner Maker, so you can see how a concept turns into a finished file. Type them in, then swap in your own words.
Idea 1, target role, for a job seeker
- Main line: Product Analyst · SQL, Python, experimentation
- Second line: Open to roles in fintech
- Colors: Sky, a light background with dark text
- Layout: Text right of photo
Idea 4, promise, for a consultant
- Main line: Helping small clinics fill their schedules
- Second line: Without hiring extra front desk staff
- Colors: Ink, a dark background with light text
- Layout: Text right of photo
Idea 12, open roles, for a recruiter
- Main line: Hiring backend engineers in Austin and remote
- Second line: Message me for details
- Colors: Indigo
- Layout: Centered, then switch on the photo guide to check nothing sits under your picture
A few things we confirmed in the tool’s code while writing these. The main line accepts up to 90 characters and the second line up to 80, so every sample line on this page fits. The “Text right of photo” layout starts the text well to the right of the lower left corner, where your round photo covers the banner on desktop. The dashed photo guide arc shows roughly where that photo will sit, and it is left out of the download. The file comes out as a PNG at 1584 by 396 pixels, the size listed on our LinkedIn limits page, and the whole thing is drawn in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.
Choosing your line in five minutes
- Write your goal as one sentence. “I want recruiters to see me as a product analyst.”
- Read your headline. The banner should add something, not repeat it.
- Pick the matching idea from the table.
- Write three versions of the line and keep the shortest one that is still clear.
- Decide on one action or none: a website, “message me” or “link in Featured.”
Layout rules that apply to every idea
- Keep text out of the lower left. On desktop that is where your profile photo sits. The center and right are safe.
- Check on your phone. Mobile crops the banner differently, so open your profile in the app after uploading and adjust if a word gets cut.
- Make the type big and the contrast strong. Dark on light or light on dark. If you have to squint at it, so will everyone else.
- Use one main color, two at most. Your brand color, or one that suits your field.
- Leave empty space. A short line on a calm background reads as confident.
What ruins a good idea
- Cramming in a tagline, phone number, three services and a quote at once
- Repeating your headline word for word
- Gray text over a busy photo
- Dates and details that have expired, like a conference from two years ago
- Images you do not have the rights to
- Patterns or textures behind the words
When to change it
Change the banner when your goal changes: a new job search, a new offer, a launch, a new round of hiring. Otherwise check it every few months. Since every idea here is a single line, an update takes a few minutes.
Make yours
Pick one idea, write the line, and build it in the free LinkedIn Banner Maker. Then check that your photo works with it using our LinkedIn profile picture tips, and see our profile guides for your headline, About section and the rest.