Most people visit your profile for one reason: they saw a reply or a post of yours and wondered who you are. They'll look at your photo, read your name and bio, glance at your pinned post and maybe scroll a little. Then they decide. The bio is the part of that decision you have the most control over, and you get 160 characters for it.
What the bio has to answer
A visitor wants to know one thing: if I follow this account, what will show up in my feed? Everything in your bio should help answer that. Your life story, your favorite quote and a list of your hobbies mostly don't.
A useful way to check a bio is to cover your name and photo and ask someone who doesn't know you to read it. If they can tell you what you post about and who it's for, it works. If they say "I guess they're into tech?", it doesn't.
A four-part formula
You don't need all four parts, but most good bios have at least the first two.
- What you post about. The topic, stated plainly. "Posts about home espresso," "Daily notes on learning Rust," "Small-business bookkeeping tips."
- Who it's for, or what they get. "For people starting a bakery." "Weekly breakdowns of failed startups." This is what turns a topic into a reason to follow.
- One line of proof. Why you're worth listening to: "Ran a café for 9 years," "Shipped 3 iOS apps," "Lost 40 lb without a gym." Specific beats impressive.
- A personal touch or pointer. A detail that makes you a person ("Dad of twins, coffee snob") or a pointer to your pinned post or newsletter.
Put together, that might read:
Practical bookkeeping for one-person businesses. Ex-auditor, 12 years. Weekly tax-season checklists. Start with the pinned thread.
That's 121 characters, and a freelancer reading it knows exactly why they'd follow.
Use the words your audience searches
X search looks at names and bios when people search for accounts, and people browsing suggestions see your bio before they see anything else. If your niche has a common term, use it. Write "personal finance" instead of a clever stand-in like "money stuff," and "UX designer" instead of "pixel pusher." You can still be playful in the rest of the bio, but the keyword should be there in its ordinary form.
Your display name is searched too, and it shows next to every reply you write. Some people add a short descriptor after their name, like "Sam Ortiz | Bookkeeping." It costs characters and can look busy, so use it only if your name alone says nothing about your topic and you reply a lot.
Common mistakes
Some patterns show up again and again in profiles that don't convert.
The job title only bio, "Product Manager at Acme," tells people where you work but not what you'll post. Unless you'll be posting about your job at Acme, say what you'll actually share.
The list of identities bio, "Founder. Runner. Dog mom. Coffee addict. Thinker.," is the most common one. Each word is true, and together they tell a visitor nothing about the feed they'd get. Pick the one that matches your posts and turn it into a sentence.
The hashtag wall, "#marketing #growth #SEO #AI #startups," reads as spam to most people and wastes the space you'd use to explain yourself.
The vague ambition bio, "Building the future" or "On a journey," sounds nice and gives no information.
The outdated bio still describes a job you left two years ago or a project that's finished. Check yours whenever your posting focus changes.
The parts around the bio
The bio doesn't work alone. Visitors see it next to your photo and header, so all three should agree.
Your profile photo shows at a small size next to every post and reply, so it needs to read well when tiny. X recommends 400 by 400 pixels. A close, bright face does better than a full-body shot or a group photo; for a brand, a simple logo on a plain background.
Your header is 1500 by 500 pixels and is the largest image on your profile. Many people leave it blank or use a stock landscape. A plain background with one line of text about what you post (the same promise as your bio, in bigger type) is easy to make and does the job. Keep the bottom-left area clear, because your profile photo covers it, and check how it crops on a phone.
The website field should go to one page that continues what your profile promises: a newsletter, portfolio or your best article. Test it on a phone once in a while. A broken link is worse than no link.
The location field is optional. Use it if your audience is local, or put something useful there like your time zone if you run live events.
Test and revise
A bio isn't permanent. Write one, keep it for two or three weeks, and look at your profile visits and new follows in X's analytics if you have access to them. If people visit and don't follow, the bio, photo and pinned post are the likely problem. Try a version that's more specific about what you post, and compare.
When you change your bio, change it because your posting changed or because the old one wasn't clear, not every few days. Regulars notice constant rewrites, and you need a few weeks of data to tell whether a version works.
A quick checklist
- A stranger can tell what you post about in one reading
- The main term for your niche appears in its ordinary form
- There's one specific detail of proof
- No more than one hashtag, and no emoji clutter
- Photo, header and bio promise the same thing
- The link works and matches the topic
Once your bio passes, the next thing a visitor sees is your pinned post. Our guide to pinned posts that convert visitors covers what to put there. You can also run the profile audit to see how your whole profile scores.
Questions people ask
How long can an X bio be?
160 characters. Your display name can be up to 50 characters and your handle up to 15. The location and website fields are separate, so they don't eat into the bio.
Should I use hashtags in my bio?
One at most, and only if it's a tag your niche actually uses. A row of hashtags looks like spam and pushes out the words that tell a visitor what you post.
Is it OK to have a funny bio?
Yes, as long as a stranger can still tell what you post about. Put the joke after the clear part, not instead of it.