How to add certifications to LinkedIn

To add a certification on LinkedIn, open your profile, select Add profile section, open Recommended and choose Licenses & certifications. Fill in the Add license or certification form with the credential's name, issuing organization, dates, credential ID and credential URL, then save.

LinkedIn's dedicated help page for this section, "Manage Licenses & certifications", returned a Page not found error when we checked it on November 5, 2026. The steps below come from LinkedIn's current Help pages on profile sections, LinkedIn Learning and the Featured section, plus LinkedIn's own Marketing Academy instructions. Where a detail appears only on the retired page, we say so and link an archived copy from July 2025.

Add a license or certification

On desktop

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, then View Profile. Some accounts now show your Profile card in that dropdown instead.
2. Click Add profile section in your introduction section.
3. Open Recommended and choose Licenses & certifications. LinkedIn's list of profile sections puts it there with Featured, Projects, Courses and Recommendations.
4. Fill in the Add license or certification window. The next section covers each field.
5. Click Save. Repeat for each credential.

In the LinkedIn app

1. Tap your profile picture, then tap your profile photo again to open your profile.
2. Tap Add section, the app's name for Add profile section.
3. Tap Recommended, then the licenses and certifications option. The archived page spelled it Add licenses & certifications on desktop and Add licenses and certifications in the app.
4. Fill in the details and tap Save.

To change an entry later, use the Edit icon next to it in the Licenses & certifications section. In the app, tap the section's Edit icon first, then the one next to the entry, as LinkedIn's profile editing page describes. The archived page put deleting in the same place: Delete license or certification, then confirm Delete.

What to put in each field

LinkedIn's Marketing Academy FAQ lists the fields of the Add license or certification form: Name, Issuing organization, Issue date, Expiration date, Credential ID and Credential URL. The examples below are fictional.

A few habits make each entry easier to trust:

• Pick the issuer from the suggestions. LinkedIn's Add to Profile FAQ says certificate logos come from the issuer's LinkedIn Page, and the archived page told members to select the correct authority from the list so its logo appears.
• Link the verification page, not the course page. A credential URL that opens your own certificate lets a viewer check it in one click. A link to a course catalog proves nothing.
• Leave out dates you don't have. If a credential doesn't expire, don't invent an expiration date. For comparison, LinkedIn's own advertising certifications expire after two years.
• Think before publishing a license number. If your profession doesn't already publish license numbers in a public register, the verification link may be enough.

Add certificates from LinkedIn Learning and other issuers

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn's Learning instructions start in LinkedIn Learning rather than on your profile:

1. Log in to LinkedIn Learning.
2. Click your profile picture in the upper right and select My Library, or select My Library on the left.
3. Click Learning History, then More (...) to the right of the course.
4. Select Add to profile.
5. In the confirmation window, tick Share with network if you want an update to go out. The Share with: dropdown limits it to Connections or Individuals.
6. Click Add to Profile.

In the Learning app, the path is the My Courses icon, Learning History, See all, then Add to profile. You can only add a course after every video in it shows as viewed. Unselect any suggested skills you don't want; a profile that already lists more than 100 skills can't take more.

Be accurate about what you're adding. LinkedIn's Certificates of Completion FAQ says these certificates aren't accredited and aren't the same as a software certification program. Professional Certificates are different: third parties issue them after an assessment on LinkedIn Learning, and LinkedIn says you can add one to your profile once you pass (Professional Certificates FAQ).

Coursera and other issuers

Many training providers send you to LinkedIn with an Add to Profile button on the certificate page or in the completion email. LinkedIn's Add to Profile FAQ says the button now opens a profile form and no longer autofills certification details, so you type them in. LinkedIn's own Marketing Academy still describes its button as filling the six fields automatically. Either way, check every field against the certificate before you click Save. The same FAQ points to Coursera, which runs a separate Coursera Verified Certificates Page so its certificates carry their own logo.

If an issuer offers no button, add the entry by hand as above and paste the verification link it gives you.

Attach the certificate image or PDF

Upload the certificate to your Featured section, following LinkedIn's Featured instructions:

1. Click Add profile section, open Recommended and click Add Featured. In the app: Add section, Recommended, Add featured.
2. Click the Add icon at the upper right of the Featured page.
3. Select the type of work sample (uploaded images and documents count as media) and follow the prompts.
4. Click Save or Done.

Supported files include PDF, PowerPoint, Word, JPG, PNG and GIF (first frame only), up to 100 MB. Documents can't be uploaded from mobile devices, so add a PDF from a computer. Only signed-in LinkedIn members can see Featured items, within your visibility settings.

Before you upload, cover anything you wouldn't post publicly, such as a license number or date of birth. Keep the credential URL in the entry itself: the image shows the certificate, while the issuer's page confirms it.

Reorder and feature your strongest credentials

The archived page said certifications are ordered by issue date and expiration date, newest first, that entries without an issue date sit at the bottom, and that the order can't be changed. None of LinkedIn's current pages describe a reorder control for the section.

To put one credential first, use Featured:

• Premium Business, Sales Navigator and Recruiter subscribers can pin a Licenses & certifications entry. In the Featured section, click the Add icon, choose Add content from profile, pick the section and click Feature (LinkedIn's page on featuring profile content).
• Everyone else can feature the certificate file or a post about it, then click the Edit icon on Featured and use the Reorder icon. Reordering needs at least two featured items.

LinkedIn has no name suffix field. Its suffix page suggests adding a credential to the Last Name field, such as "Smith Ph.D.", if you want it beside your name. Save that for credentials your buyers or employers recognize.

Certifications, courses or skills?

The Add profile section menu splits these up:

• Licenses & certifications (Recommended): credentials an organization issued after an exam or other requirement, ideally with an ID or verification link. Professional licenses belong here too.
• Courses (Recommended): training you finished without a credential, such as a workshop or a university module.
• Skills (Core): the abilities themselves. You can also attach skills to each position in Experience.
• Education (Core): degrees and diplomas.
• Honors & awards and Test scores (Additional): awards and exam results that aren't credentials.

An online certificate of completion sits between the first two. If the issuer verifies it and your buyers or employers would recognize it, Licenses & certifications is reasonable. If it only shows attendance, Courses is the more accurate place.

Share a post about it

Certifications aren't among the changes LinkedIn says it shares with your network: its Share profile updates page lists job changes, education changes and work anniversaries. LinkedIn Learning's Share with network box is the exception. Otherwise, write a post: Start a post on desktop, or Post in the app's navigation bar (LinkedIn's posting instructions).

I've earned [credential] from [issuer]. The part I'll use most is [specific skill] for [the kind of work you do]. It took [honest effort, such as "three months of evening study and a proctored exam"]. If you're weighing the same certification, ask me what helped.

Attach the redacted certificate image if you like, and check where the text cuts off on mobile with the post preview tool.

Credentials and connection requests

When you prospect on LinkedIn, the people who get your connection request often look at your profile before accepting. A credential that matches why you're contacting them, such as a security certification when you sell to IT teams, answers one of their first questions. Ten unrelated certificates don't. Make the headline and About section explain the offer, and keep the relevant credential where it's seen. See a profile that explains your offer, the LinkedIn headline generator and our acceptance rate guide. For a new job title rather than a new credential, read how to add a promotion on LinkedIn.