LinkedIn Growth5 min read
How to Change Your LinkedIn URL (Desktop and App)
How to change your LinkedIn URL to a clean custom link in under a minute, on desktop and mobile, plus what happens to your old URL and the links that used it.
By Animesh Kudake, Co-founder, Apna Project
The short version
- Change your LinkedIn URL on desktop under Edit public profile and URL, in the panel on the right where you edit the custom link at the top.
- On the app, tap your photo, open the contact section, and edit the public profile URL there. Same result, slightly different path.
- Pick firstname-lastname or a close variant. A clean URL looks professional on a resume, email signature, or business card.
- When you change your URL, the old one stops pointing to you, so any place you already pasted the old link will break. Update those after you switch.
- You can change it more than once, but each change breaks the previous link, so choose a version you will keep rather than editing it repeatedly.
Pick a URL you will keep
The best custom URL is your name: firstname-lastname. It is easy to say, easy to type, and looks deliberate. If your name is common and the plain version is taken, good fallbacks are a middle initial, your profession, or a short number that means something to you. Keep it readable and skip random characters, since the whole point is a link that looks clean when you paste it on a resume, a card, or your email signature.
A tidy URL is a small part of a profile that reads as intentional overall. If you are doing a broader cleanup, our LinkedIn profile checklist lists the custom URL alongside the other quick fixes most people skip.
The one thing to know before you switch
When you change your URL, the old one no longer points to you. This matters more than it sounds. Every place you have already pasted your LinkedIn link, an old resume, an email signature, a portfolio site, a directory listing, still uses the previous URL, and those will now break.
So after you change it:
- Update your email signature.
- Update your resume and any application materials.
- Update your website, portfolio, or link in bio.
- Update any professional directories where you listed the old link.
You can change your URL more than once, but each change breaks the last link, so do not treat it as something to tweak monthly. Choose a version you are happy to keep, switch once, then fix your outbound links. Do it in that order and no one ever hits a dead link to your profile.
What a custom URL does and does not do
It helps to be clear about the ceiling here, because some guides oversell it. A custom URL is a presentation fix, not a growth lever. It makes the link you hand people look clean and deliberate, which matters on a resume, a business card, or an email signature where a string of random characters looks sloppy. That is the whole benefit, and it is a real one.
What it does not do is change how you rank in LinkedIn search or how many people find you. Those depend on your headline, your skills, your activity, and how complete your profile is, not on the text after linkedin.com/in/. So change the URL for the reasons it actually helps: a tidier share and a more professional impression. Do not expect it to move your reach, because it will not, and any tool or guide that implies otherwise is stretching.
A common mix up: the URL versus the link above your followers
People sometimes search for how to change their LinkedIn URL when they actually want to edit something else: the website link that shows near the top of the profile, above the follower count. That is a different field, edited in the intro or contact section as a website or link, not the public profile URL.
If you are trying to change where a link on your profile points, look in the edit intro or contact info area for a website or link field. If you are trying to change the address of the profile itself, that is the custom URL covered above. Knowing which one you mean saves a frustrating few minutes of hunting in the wrong menu. Once you have both sorted, our LinkedIn profile best practices covers the rest of the intro section that visitors see first.
A clean URL will not by itself change who finds you, that comes from your activity and how complete your profile is. But it removes friction every time you share your profile, and it costs you sixty seconds. Change it once, update where you pasted the old one, and move on.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change my LinkedIn URL?
On desktop, open your profile, click Edit public profile and URL in the top right, then edit the custom URL field in the right panel and save. On the app, tap your profile photo, go to the contact section, and edit the public profile URL. Choose a clean version of your name and confirm.
What happens to my old LinkedIn URL when I change it?
The old URL stops leading to your profile. Anyone who clicks a link with your previous custom URL, on an old resume, email signature, or webpage, will hit a dead or reassigned link. After you change it, update the places you shared the old one so people can still reach you.
What should my LinkedIn custom URL be?
Use your name, ideally firstname-lastname. If that is taken, add a middle initial, your profession, or a number you will remember. Keep it short, readable, and free of random characters. The goal is a link you can say out loud and that looks intentional on a resume or card.
Can I change my LinkedIn URL more than once?
Yes, you can edit your custom URL multiple times. The catch is that every change breaks the previous link, so old shares stop working each time. Because of that, pick a version you are happy to keep long term rather than tweaking it repeatedly and orphaning links along the way.
Written by the team building Commenti on real LinkedIn growth data. Found an error? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Accuracy beats winning.
Co-founder, Apna Project
Co-founder at Apna Project, where he helps founders and agencies turn ideas into products. Writes here on LinkedIn growth and what actually earns attention in a comment section. Commenti is the LinkedIn comment automation tool by Ampliflow.
By default LinkedIn gives you a profile URL with a string of random characters after your name. It works, but it looks like a placeholder on a resume or in an email signature. Swapping it for a clean custom URL takes under a minute and is one of the easiest wins on your whole profile.
The steps differ slightly on desktop versus the app, and there is one thing worth knowing before you change it: your old URL stops working. Here is the full picture.
Change it on desktop
This is the faster path if you have a laptop handy.
That is it. The new URL is live immediately. If the version you want is taken, LinkedIn tells you, and you can try a variant. This is the same screen where you control what parts of your profile are visible to the public, so if you are also cleaning up visibility, our guide on making your LinkedIn profile publicly visible walks through those settings.
Change it on the app
The mobile path lives in a different spot, but the result is identical.
Some app versions route this slightly differently, but "profile, contact section, edit the URL" is the reliable pattern. If you cannot find it on mobile, the desktop route above always works.