A LinkedIn endorsement is a one-click way for your connections to confirm that you have a specific skill listed on your profile. When someone endorses you for “Project Management” or “Digital Marketing,” they are essentially telling other LinkedIn users: I have seen this person use this skill and I can vouch for it.
LinkedIn introduced endorsements in 2012 as a simpler alternative to written recommendations. Rather than asking a colleague to write a detailed paragraph, you can receive validation of your skills through a quick click. The feature has since become one of the most visible parts of every LinkedIn profile, and understanding how to use it strategically can make a meaningful difference in how your profile appears to recruiters and potential clients.
What Is a LinkedIn Endorsement and What Does It Mean?
A LinkedIn endorsement specifically validates a skill, not your overall professional character. It is not a written recommendation. It is not a review. It is a count of how many of your connections have confirmed that a particular skill on your profile is genuine and relevant.
When someone visits your LinkedIn profile, they can see your Skills section showing each skill you have listed along with the number of people who have endorsed it. A skill with forty endorsements signals to a recruiter or prospect that multiple people in your network have independently confirmed you genuinely possess that ability.
The endorsement carries two pieces of information: the skill itself, and the identity of who endorsed it. If a vice president at a Fortune 500 company endorses your “Strategic Planning” skill, that single endorsement carries more weight than ten endorsements from people with no professional connection to the topic.
Endorsements vs Recommendations: The Key Difference
This is the most common source of confusion, and it is worth being very clear about.
Endorsements are one-click skill confirmations. They take seconds to give, are visible as a number count next to each skill, and carry relatively limited weight individually because of how easy they are to give.
Recommendations are written testimonials that appear in a dedicated section of your profile. A recommendation requires a connection to write a paragraph or more specifically describing how they worked with you and what they observed. Recommendations are significantly more powerful than endorsements because they require effort, specificity, and personal commitment from the recommender.
Both matter for a complete LinkedIn profile, but they serve different purposes. Endorsements tell people what skills you claim to have and how many people agree. Recommendations tell people what it is actually like to work with you.
How to Endorse Someone on LinkedIn: Step by Step
On Mobile
Open the LinkedIn app and go to the profile of the person you want to endorse. Scroll down to their Skills section. Tap the plus (+) icon next to any skill you want to endorse. LinkedIn may also show you a prompt at the top of the app suggesting skills to endorse for connections you have recently interacted with. Tap any skill in that prompt to endorse instantly.
On Desktop
Go to linkedin.com and navigate to the profile of your connection. Scroll to their Skills section. Click the plus (+) icon next to the skill you want to endorse. Alternatively, LinkedIn occasionally shows endorsement suggestions when you first visit a connection’s profile, allowing you to endorse multiple skills with a few clicks.
You can only endorse connections, not people you are not connected with. LinkedIn also limits you from endorsing someone for the same skill multiple times.
How to Get More LinkedIn Endorsements
Endorsement counts are not just vanity metrics. They affect how your profile is perceived by recruiters using LinkedIn’s search tools and how seriously prospects take your claimed expertise. Here is how to increase your endorsement count strategically.
Endorse others first. This is the most reliable driver of reciprocal endorsements. When you endorse a connection for a skill, they receive a notification and frequently return the endorsement. Only endorse people for skills you have genuinely observed, but this approach is the simplest and most natural way to generate inbound endorsements.
Curate your skills list carefully. LinkedIn allows up to fifty skills on your profile, but the quality and relevance of your top three skills matters most. LinkedIn pins your top three skills prominently, and these are the ones that attract the most endorsements because they are the first skills connections see. Place your most important, most provable skills in the top three positions.
Ask for endorsements directly. Sending a brief, personal message to a colleague or client asking them to endorse specific skills you worked on together is entirely acceptable and often effective. Be specific: “Would you be able to endorse me for [specific skill]? We worked closely on [project] and I think it would be genuinely relevant coming from you.” Specificity makes the request easier to fulfil and more likely to succeed.
Connect with more people who can vouch for your work. Your endorsements can only come from your connections. Building a larger, more relevant connection base creates more potential endorsers. The LinkedIn follower growth guide covers the content and engagement strategies that build a high-quality LinkedIn connection base within your target professional community.
Keep your profile active. LinkedIn’s algorithm surfaces endorsement suggestions more frequently to connections who have recently engaged with your content. Posting consistently on LinkedIn keeps your name in your connections’ feeds and increases the likelihood they will visit your profile and endorse your skills.
How to Manage, Reorder, and Remove LinkedIn Endorsements
You have full control over which endorsements appear on your profile, which endorsements are visible, and in what order your skills appear.
How to Reorder Your Skills
Go to your profile and click the pencil edit icon in your Skills section. Drag and drop your skills to reorder them. The first three positions are your “top skills” displayed prominently. Place the skills most relevant to your career goals and best supported by endorsements in these positions.
How to Hide Specific Endorsements
If someone has endorsed you for a skill in a way that feels misleading or irrelevant to your current career direction, you can hide those specific endorsements. Go to your profile, click edit on your Skills section, find the relevant skill, and choose to manage who can see which endorsements for that skill.
How to Remove a Skill Entirely
Go to your Skills section, click edit, and use the delete option next to any skill you want to remove. Removing a skill also removes all endorsements associated with it.
How to Turn Off Endorsement Notifications
If you find endorsement notifications disruptive, you can manage them through Settings and Privacy, then Notifications, and toggle off skill endorsement notifications.
Do LinkedIn Endorsements Actually Matter?
The honest answer is: they matter, but less than most people think, and much less than written recommendations.
Where endorsements genuinely matter:
Recruiter search results. LinkedIn’s recruiter tools allow filtering by specific skills, and having those skills endorsed adds credibility signals that can influence whether your profile appears in certain search contexts.
First impressions. When a recruiter or prospect briefly scans your profile, a Skills section with dozens of endorsements from recognisable names reads more credibly than a skills list with no social proof whatsoever.
SEO within LinkedIn. Skills with endorsements are weighted differently in LinkedIn’s internal search algorithm compared to skills with zero endorsements.
Where endorsements fall short:
They are easy to game. Because endorsements are one-click, people endorse skills they have never actually observed. A connection from five years ago might endorse you for a skill they have no knowledge of simply because LinkedIn prompted them to.
They carry no context. Unlike a recommendation, an endorsement says nothing about when, where, or how the skill was used. One strong written recommendation from a direct manager is worth more to a serious recruiter than one hundred endorsements from casual connections.
The practical verdict: Focus first on getting written recommendations from credible sources. Then treat endorsements as a supporting signal worth maintaining but not obsessing over.
LinkedIn Endorsement Etiquette: Should You Endorse Back?
There is no strict rule, but there are reasonable professional norms around LinkedIn endorsements.
Endorsing back is generally expected and appropriate when the endorsement comes from a genuine connection who you can honestly vouch for in return. If a former colleague endorses your “Data Analysis” skill and you can honestly confirm they have strong analytical abilities from working with them, endorsing them back is the natural and appropriate response.
You should not endorse back when you have no genuine basis for confirming the skill. Endorsing someone for “Public Speaking” because they endorsed you for “SEO” when you have never actually heard them speak publicly creates misleading signals that ultimately devalue the endorsement system for everyone.
If you receive an endorsement from someone and do not want to endorse them back (either because you cannot genuinely vouch for their skills or because you prefer not to), there is no obligation to respond. Endorsements are not requests that require a formal response.
How to Use Endorsements as a Business Strategy
For business owners, entrepreneurs, and self-employed professionals, LinkedIn endorsements are part of a broader profile credibility strategy rather than an end in themselves.
Your goal is a profile that converts visitors into enquiries, applications, or business conversations. Endorsements contribute to this when they confirm the specific skills your ideal client or employer cares most about. A freelance SEO consultant with sixty endorsements for “Search Engine Optimisation” from recognisable agency names tells a prospective client something meaningful. Those same sixty endorsements for miscellaneous unrelated skills tell them very little.
The strategic approach: identify the three to five skills most relevant to your professional goals, place them in your top skill positions, actively seek endorsements specifically for those skills from the most credible people in your network, and pair them with two to three strong written recommendations that provide the context endorsements cannot.
For optimizing every other element of your LinkedIn profile alongside your endorsements, the LinkedIn headline guide covers the most important real estate on your entire profile, since your headline appears in search results, connection requests, and comment sections and is seen far more often than your skills section. If your business also operates a company page on LinkedIn, the company page setup guide covers how to build a credible business presence that complements your personal profile endorsements. For understanding the full range of LinkedIn features available to you, the LinkedIn Premium free access guide covers the tools that give you additional visibility into how your profile is performing and who is viewing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A LinkedIn endorsement is a one-click confirmation from a connection that you possess a specific skill listed on your profile. It is not a written review or recommendation. It simply adds one to the count next to that skill and adds the endorser’s name to the list of people who have confirmed that skill.
It means a connection has clicked to confirm that they believe you genuinely have that skill, based on their experience with you or their knowledge of your work. Endorsements from relevant, credible connections in your field carry more meaning than endorsements from casual or distant connections.
They contribute to your profile’s credibility as a supporting signal, but written recommendations carry significantly more weight. Recruiters typically note endorsement counts as a basic credibility check but focus more on the quality of your recommendations, the strength of your experience section, and the specificity of your skills list.
Endorse others first (most effective), curate your top three skills carefully, ask specific connections directly, and stay active on LinkedIn so your name stays visible to your network.
Yes. You can hide specific endorsements from specific people, reorder your skills, and remove skills entirely (which removes all associated endorsements). Go to your profile, click edit on your Skills section, and manage each skill individually.
An endorsement is a one-click skill confirmation that takes seconds. A recommendation is a written testimonial that requires a connection to write a detailed personal account of working with you. Recommendations are significantly more impactful for career development and business credibility.
Only if you can genuinely vouch for the skill. Endorsing back purely as a reciprocal gesture when you have no real basis for confirming the skill creates misleading signals. If you can honestly confirm the skill from personal experience, endorsing back is appropriate and expected.
Alex Bennett is an entrepreneur whose practical tips have helped thousands improve their careers and grow with confidence.