• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 6, 2012

LinkedIn on Thursday introduced redesigned company pages, aimed at giving businesses a more visually appealing presence on professional networking site. The updated pages launch to day with a handful of companies including Philips, Citi, Dell and HP.

The new look features a large image at the top and a cleaner, more streamlined layout overall. Beneath the image with a stream of company updates below. LinkedIn says it also shows updates tailored to each user, “which means companies are able to share status updates and job opportunities with the right members on LinkedIn.”

The revamped navigation bar on the right is designed to better showcase a company's products and services as well as career opportunities for potential job candidates. LinkedIn said company pages are now also available on its iPhone, Android and iPad apps as it continues to extend its platform to mobile devices.

LinkedIn has long lagged other social sites like Facebook in time spent per session. By giving companies pages that look more like personal profiles on Facebook and elsewhere, LinkedIn may be hoping to keep members hanging around for longer periods on the site.

Redesignd company pages will be rolled out more widely on LinkedIn later this year.