Unleashing the Power of AI: LinkedIn's Breakthrough SEO Strategy

The reason behind the success of Collaborative Articles is the combination of AI technology and human expertise.

The Collaborative Articles project is based on the idea that people rely on the Internet to learn about different topics. However, the information found online may not always come from actual subject matter experts.

When someone searches on Google, they might end up on a website like Reddit and read the content posted there. The problem is, there is no guarantee that the information is accurate or written by a subject matter expert. How can a non-expert distinguish between trustworthy information from an expert and just random posts from strangers online?

LinkedIn's approach to solving the issue involved tapping into the expertise of their users to generate articles on their areas of specialization. This strategy not only boosted the visibility of the pages on Google but also brought added value to the subject matter experts. Consequently, this led to increased motivation for these experts to produce more high-quality content.

The Strategy Behind LinkedIn's Creation of 10 Million Expert Pages

LinkedIn reaches out to subject matter experts to write essays on specific topics. These topics are suggested by an AI tool called "conversation starter" created by LinkedIn's editorial team. The tool matches these conversation topics with experts identified through LinkedIn's Skills Graph.

The Skills Graph on LinkedIn connects members with subject matter expertise using a framework called Structured Skills. This framework utilizes machine learning and natural language processing to identify skills that go beyond what members have identified themselves.

The mapping starts by analyzing skills from members' profiles, job descriptions, and other text data on the platform. They then leverage AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to further enhance the members' subject matter expertise.

The Skills Graph documentation provides a detailed explanation of this process.

Our machine learning and artificial intelligence technology analyzes huge amounts of data and recommends new skills and connections between them. If you're familiar with Artificial Neural Networks, then you already have some understanding of Deep Learning, which in turn gives you some insight into Machine Learning.

Extracting Skills with Natural Language Processing

We utilize natural language processing to extract skills from various types of text. This allows us to confidently map skills to our members with high coverage and precision.

LinkedIn's Collaborative Articles project is truly brilliant as it generates a vast amount of top-notch content from experts on various subjects, resulting in millions of pages. This has led to an increase in visibility for LinkedIn pages on Google search.

To further enhance the quality of the pages, LinkedIn is now working on enhancing their Collaborative Articles project with new features.

Evolved how questions are asked:

LinkedIn is now presenting scenarios to subject matter experts that they can respond to with essays that address real-world topics and questions.

LinkedIn has added a new button for readers to provide feedback if they find a specific essay unhelpful. It's fascinating to note that LinkedIn is associating the thumbs down button with the concept of helpfulness, which is an interesting perspective from an SEO point of view.

LinkedIn has upgraded their topic matching algorithms to better connect users with relevant topics. This enhancement, known as "Embedding Based Retrieval For Improved Matching," was developed in response to feedback from members who were dissatisfied with the accuracy of topic-to-member matching.

LinkedIn recently made improvements based on feedback from our members. One of the key areas we focused on was enhancing the matching capabilities between articles and member experts. To achieve this, we have implemented a new method called embedding-based retrieval (EBR). This method involves generating embeddings for both members and articles in the same semantic space and utilizing an approximate nearest neighbor search to identify the best article matches for contributors.

Key Highlights of SEO

LinkedIn’s Collaborative Articles project is a game-changer in content creation. By combining AI and machine learning with human knowledge, this project produces valuable and trustworthy content that resonates with readers.

LinkedIn is now using user interaction signals to enhance the selection of subject matter experts invited to write articles, and to pinpoint articles that do not meet user needs.

The act of creating articles brings benefits, as high-quality subject matter experts receive promotion when their articles rank on Google. This presents an opportunity for individuals promoting services, products, seeking clients, or searching for job opportunities to showcase their skills, expertise, and authority.

Read LinkedIn’s announcement of the one-year anniversary of the project:

Unlocking nearly 10 billion years worth of knowledge to help you tackle everyday work problems

Featured Image by Shutterstock/I AM NIKOM

Editor's P/S:

The Collaborative Articles project, a collaboration between LinkedIn and subject matter experts, has revolutionized content creation. By leveraging AI technology and human expertise, LinkedIn has created a vast repository of high-quality articles written by experts in various fields. This unique approach ensures the accuracy and trustworthiness of the information, addressing the concerns raised by the prevalence of unreliable content online.

The project's success lies in its ability to tap into the knowledge and expertise of LinkedIn's extensive user base. The AI-powered "conversation starter" tool identifies relevant topics, while the Skills Graph connects these topics with experts. This systematic approach not only enhances the visibility of LinkedIn pages on Google but also provides subject matter experts with a platform to showcase their knowledge and contribute to the collective body of knowledge. empowers readers to contribute to the quality of the content, ensuring that articles meet their evolving needs. By tapping into the collective knowledge of its vast network of professionals, LinkedIn is creating a comprehensive repository of expert content that is accessible and relevant to a wide audience.