How to optimize your Malt profile: the complete guide

A good Malt profile has to do two things: get found by Malt's search engine, then get picked by a client comparing several freelancers. This guide goes through each part of the profile, in the order clients discover them, with concrete actions.

How Malt decides who to show

Malt works like a search engine. A client types a few words, for example "React developer" or "motion designer", and Malt shows the profiles that match them best.

Several signals count in this ranking:

• relevance: do the search words appear in your title, skills, description and experience?
• profile quality: is it complete, with a photo, portfolio and detailed experience?
• responsiveness: your response time and rate to new messages;
• availability: was it confirmed recently?
• reviews and recommendations: they reassure clients and weigh in the ranking.

Your title: 50 characters to get found

The title is the line under your name, shown in search results. It's the most important place for your keywords.

• Put your job and 1 or 2 keywords your clients actually type.
• Use the available space: aim for 35 to 50 characters.
• Avoid vague phrases nobody searches for.

Your skills: feed the search engine

Skills tell Malt which searches to show you in.

• Add around thirty skills.
• Type your keyword in the skills field and add the variants Malt suggests ("SEO", "SEO writing", "SEO audit"...).
• Pick your 5 key skills carefully: they show next to your title in search results. They should echo the words of your title.

Your description: convince and repeat your keywords

The description is read by clients and by the algorithm. Aim for at least 1,000 characters, with a simple structure:

1. A hook: what you do and for whom.
2. Your services, with your keywords.
3. Concrete results: numbers, clients, projects.
4. How you work, and an invitation to contact you.

Repeat your main keywords several times, naturally. And avoid sentences that could describe anyone: talk about your clients' problems and what you deliver.

Your experience and portfolio: the proof

Once on your profile, clients look for proof.

• Experience: for each one, 3 or 4 lines (context, what you did, the result) and 5 skills echoing your main keywords.
• Portfolio: at least 3 items. Your client logos if they're well known, a visual summing up your offer, and 2 or 3 projects with a clear title stating the result.

Responsiveness, availability, reviews: stay on top

• Reply fast: clients often contact several freelancers. Install the Malt app and keep a template reply ready to adapt.
• Confirm your availability regularly, even if nothing changed.
• Ask for recommendations from 3 or 4 past clients or colleagues, and ask for a review after each Malt project.

Check all this in one click

Going through all this by hand takes time. OptiMalt does it right on your Malt profile: a 10-point checklist with a score, an analysis of your keywords and a title and description generator.