LinkedIn Skills and Endorsements: Do They Still Matter in 2026?

If you've ever spent ten minutes carefully curating your LinkedIn skills list, only to wonder whether anyone actually looks at it — you're not alone.

LinkedIn endorsements have a reputation problem. For years, they were handed out like candy: someone endorses you for "Microsoft Word," you endorse them back for "Strategic Thinking," and nobody learns anything useful about either of you.

But that doesn't mean your skills section is worthless. In 2026, it plays a specific role — and if you understand what that role is, you can use it to your advantage.

What LinkedIn Endorsements Actually Are (and Aren't)

A LinkedIn endorsement is a one-click signal from a connection confirming that you have a particular skill. No context. No explanation. Just a thumbs-up from someone in your network.

What they aren't: Endorsements are not references. They're not LinkedIn recommendations (those require written testimony). They don't tell a recruiter how good you are at something, or in what context you used that skill.

What they are: Social proof signals that can influence algorithmic ranking in LinkedIn's search results, and a quick visual cue for profile visitors.

The distinction matters because it changes how you should think about them.

Do Endorsements Still Matter in 2026?

Short answer: they matter a little, but mostly as a secondary signal — not a primary one.

Here's what actually happens:

1. LinkedIn's search algorithm considers skills When a recruiter searches for candidates with a specific skill (say, "B2B SaaS sales" or "Figma"), LinkedIn's algorithm factors in whether that skill appears on your profile and how many endorsements it has. More endorsements on a skill can push you higher in recruiter search results.

2. Recruiters use skills as a filter, not a decision-maker Most recruiters will scan your skills section to confirm that relevant keywords are present. They rarely count the number of endorsements. What they want to see is that the right skills are listed — especially if they've searched for specific ones.

3. First-party validation has shifted to assessments LinkedIn now offers skill assessments — short tests you can take to earn a verified badge for specific skills. These carry more weight than endorsements because they require actual effort. If you pass, a badge appears on your profile. That's worth more than 50 people clicking "Endorse."

Bottom line: Endorsements are not worthless, but they're not something you should spend significant time chasing. The structure of your skills section matters far more.

How LinkedIn Skills Are Actually Used by Recruiters

Before you reorganise anything, understand what a recruiter's workflow looks like.

A typical sequence:

Recruiter enters a Boolean search string or uses LinkedIn Recruiter with skill filters
Results return profiles with those skills listed
Recruiter scans headline and summary first
If interested, they scroll to experience — looking for evidence of skills, not just the labels
Skills section gets a quick check: are the right things there?

The implication: your skills section is a matching layer, not a selling layer. It needs to contain the right words so the algorithm surfaces you, but the actual persuasion happens in your headline, summary, and experience entries.

That's why pairing a well-structured skills section with a strong LinkedIn headline and summary is so important. If you haven't sharpened those yet, the LinkedIn Headline Generator is a fast way to rewrite yours around your target role.

How to Optimise Your LinkedIn Skills Section

Here's a practical framework for getting the most out of your skills section in 2026.

Step 1: Lead with your top 3 skills

LinkedIn lets you pin three skills to the top of your skills section. These are the ones displayed most prominently on your profile. Choose them strategically:

They should reflect the skills most relevant to your target audience (hiring managers, clients, collaborators)
They should map to keywords in job descriptions or client briefs you're targeting
At least one should be specific enough to differentiate you (e.g., "Revenue Operations" beats "Sales")

Step 2: Keep your full list focused

LinkedIn allows up to 50 skills, but that doesn't mean you should list 50. A profile crammed with "Microsoft Office," "Teamwork," and "Problem Solving" looks unfocused and wastes prime real estate.

Aim for 15–25 skills that are:

Specific and searchable
Relevant to your current goals (not your career from 2009)
A mix of hard skills (tools, platforms, methodologies) and domain expertise

Remove:

Generic soft skills with no search value
Outdated skills tied to roles you no longer want to be associated with
Duplicates or near-duplicates

Step 3: Take LinkedIn skill assessments

Go to your Skills section and look for skills that have an assessment option. The badge you earn from passing appears directly on your profile and carries genuine credibility — especially for technical skills like Excel, Google Analytics, or programming languages.

You don't need to pass all of them. Focus on 2–3 that are central to your professional identity.

Step 4: Request strategic endorsements

Rather than broadcasting "please endorse me" to your whole network, ask specific people who can genuinely vouch for specific skills:

Former managers: ask them to endorse skills you used directly in your work for them
Clients or collaborators: ask for endorsements tied to a specific project
Colleagues: reciprocate thoughtfully — endorse what you've actually seen them do well

A message like this works well:

"Hey [name] — I'm refreshing my LinkedIn profile and focusing on [skill]. Since we worked on [project] together, you've seen that side of my work firsthand. Would you be comfortable endorsing me for it? Happy to return the favour."

Direct, specific, and easy to say yes to.

Skills vs. Recommendations: What's the Difference?

This is worth clarifying because people often conflate them.

Feature	Skills + Endorsements	Written Recommendations
Effort required	One click	Paragraph of written testimony
Specificity	Label only	Context, detail, examples
Credibility signal	Low-medium	High
Visible to profile visitors	Yes	Yes
Algorithmic weight	Moderate	Low (content isn't indexed the same way)

If you want to build real social proof, written recommendations from credible people in your network matter far more than endorsements. One strong recommendation from a former director outweighs 200 endorsements for "Leadership."

That said, recommendations and skills serve different purposes. Skills help you get found. Recommendations help you get chosen.

The Bigger Picture: Skills Are One Piece of the Puzzle

Here's a trap worth avoiding: spending hours perfecting your skills section while neglecting the parts of your profile that actually convert visitors into opportunities.

The hierarchy of profile impact (roughly):

Headline — first thing people read, shows in search results
Profile photo and banner — visual credibility signals
About section / Summary — where your voice and positioning live
Experience entries — evidence of your skills in action
Skills section — keyword matching layer
Recommendations — trust-building, human testimony
Endorsements — light social proof

Most people over-invest in #5 and #7 while under-investing in #1–4. If your headline reads "Operations Manager at [Company]" and your About section is three sentences long, no amount of endorsements will fix that.

If you want to see how your profile reads to someone landing on it cold, run your current summary through the LinkedIn Summary Generator to benchmark it against what high-performing profiles in your field look like.

What to Do If You Have Zero Endorsements

First: don't panic. Recruiters are not sitting there thinking "only 12 endorsements for Python — hard pass."

What matters more:

Is the skill listed? (yes → you appear in search)
Is there evidence in your experience entries? (yes → recruiter believes it)
Do you have a skill assessment badge? (yes → added credibility)

If you want to build endorsements from scratch:

Endorse others first — many will reciprocate
Ask directly (see the message template above)
Keep your profile active with posts — people who engage with your content are more likely to visit your profile and endorse you

Speaking of posts: if you're not posting regularly on LinkedIn, your profile traffic will be a fraction of what it could be. Regular content keeps you visible to your network and drives profile views. If you're stuck on what to post, the LinkedIn Post Generator is useful for generating a week of content ideas in minutes.

Quick Reference: LinkedIn Skills Checklist for 2026

Use this to audit your skills section in under 10 minutes:

Top 3 skills pinned — are they your most strategic, searchable skills?
Total skill count is 15–25 (not 50, not 3)
Generic soft skills removed (no "Teamwork," "Communication," etc.)
At least 2–3 LinkedIn skill assessment badges earned
Endorsements exist for top skills (not required, but a nice signal)
Skills align with language in your target job descriptions or client briefs
Outdated or irrelevant skills removed

The Verdict

LinkedIn endorsements in 2026 are a mild signal — not a decisive one. They carry some algorithmic weight, they look reasonable to profile visitors, and they cost your connections nothing to give. Worth having. Not worth stressing over.

What matters more: a skills section that contains the right keywords, skill assessment badges on your core competencies, and a profile where the headline, summary, and experience actually tell a compelling story.

Get those right, and the endorsements become a nice finishing touch rather than a thing you're chasing.

Want your whole profile to work harder? Start with your headline — it shows up in every search result. Use the LinkedIn Headline Generator to build one that positions you clearly and gets clicked.