I have always advocated using URLs to help further tell your story:
- the addition of publication URLs you were part of in any way,
- links to PDFs of slide decks at conferences to demonstrate your ability to present, associations and
- website links to organizations you belong to so the best description of its mission can be easily obtained by your profile reader, etc.
But URLs change. You may not think so, but they can and do.
One of my earlier articles in a major online business ezine was published, and then a few days later the editors decided to retitle it and thus the URL had to change, but I was not informed. I merrily added the (old) URL to my Publications section and then a few months later went back to find the article to show someone and lo and behold it was not a valid URL. Uh-oh! Amendment made.
Organizations and associations rebrand and merge, so you want to check those too.
Don’t get caught with URLs in limbo. It shows you don’t keep tabs on your profile and need to pay better attention to details. And you don’t want that impression, so take the defensive move to check your links from time to time.
As has been said, the chain is as strong as the weakest link. Keep readers reading about your profile, not leaving it in frustration.
