Finding someone on LinkedIn by just their email address used to be easy. You could simply search for members by email and get a list of matches. However, LinkedIn removed this feature in 2014 due to privacy concerns. Now it takes a bit more work to find someone’s profile using only their email.
While you can no longer search directly by email, there are still a few methods you can use to try to find someone’s LinkedIn profile using their email address.
Search Google
One of the easiest ways is to simply search on Google. Type in the person’s full name along with LinkedIn and their email address in quotes. For example: “John Smith” LinkedIn [email protected].
Google will often pull up LinkedIn profiles in the results that match the name and contain that email address. You may need to go through a few results pages to find the right profile if they have a common name.
Search through connections
Another option is to go through your LinkedIn connections to see if you’re already connected to the person whose profile you want to find. Enter their email address in the search/filter box at the top of your connections page. If you are connected, their profile will show up in the filtered list.
If you have several hundred connections or more, this can be tedious. But if you have a reasonable number of connections, it’s worth a quick check.
Check who viewed your profile
On LinkedIn’s premium accounts, you can see a list of people who have recently viewed your profile. If the person you’re looking for has viewed your profile, their name and headline will show up here. You can then click through to their full profile.
Of course this method only works if they’ve actually viewed your profile recently while logged into their account. But if you suspect they may have come across your profile, it’s worth a look.
Search company profiles
If you know the company someone works for, go to that company’s LinkedIn page and search for their name in the list of employees. You can also search by their title or keywords if you know what they do at that company. This works best for finding profiles at smaller companies.
Use LinkedIn Premium search filters
LinkedIn Premium accounts have access to advanced profile search filters including industry, company, job title, location, school attended, and more. You may be able to filter down to a short enough list that contains the person you’re looking for if you have enough information about them.
For example, if you know the person works as a Marketing Manager at XYZ Company and attended University of Michigan, you could search using those filters to narrow down the possibilities.
Ask for an introduction
If you have a shared connection, you can ask that person for an email introduction. Say that you want to connect with the person whose profile you’re seeking for business purposes, and would they be willing to forward an intro email making the connection?
This takes advantage of the “six degrees of separation” concept, reaching the target contact through someone you both know. Most LinkedIn users are willing to do quick email introductions like this if asked politely.
Connect with them directly
You can also try sending a connection request directly to their email address. Go to LinkedIn’s Add Connections page. Then click “Add connections by email”.
Enter the person’s full name and email address. LinkedIn will send them an email inviting them to connect with you. This also works if you already have a connection in common with them.
Search public profile links
Some LinkedIn users include a link to their public profile in their email signature or on their business cards. You may be able to find it there. If you find a profile link, you can visit the profile directly without needing to search.
Use LinkedIn Recruiter or Sales Navigator
If you have access to LinkedIn Recruiter or Sales Navigator through your company, these premium tools let you search for people by email address. You can enter their email to view their profile, if they have a LinkedIn account associated with that email.
Recruiter and Sales Navigator accounts are primarily intended for business purposes like hiring and sales prospecting. But if you already have access, you can use them to find individual profiles quickly with an email address.
LinkedIn profile visibility settings
Keep in mind that not every LinkedIn profile is visible to the public. Some people choose to hide their profile from search engines, or make it visible only to their 1st-degree connections.
If someone has limited the visibility of their profile, you may not be able to view the full profile even if you find it. You would need to send a connection request first.
Does email search work for Premium accounts?
No, LinkedIn removed the ability to search for members by email even for premium accounts. The only way to search by email now is through Recruiter or Sales Navigator accounts designed specifically for corporate recruiting and sales.
Premium consumer accounts like Premium Career and Business Plus do not let you search profiles by email address anymore.
Third party browser extensions
There are third party browser extensions and tools available, like LinkedIn Email Extractor, that claim to help find LinkedIn profiles by email. However results can be hit or miss.
LinkedIn actively works to block these tools and extensions from accessing their platform. Any free tool claiming to search LinkedIn by email is likely scraping data, which violates LinkedIn’s terms of service.
Is searching by email address effective?
The ability to find someone on LinkedIn by email used to be straightforward. But now that LinkedIn has purposely removed email search, there is no direct way to reliably do it.
The methods listed above can help you try to track down a profile. But there is no guarantee any will work, unless the person has made their profile openly visible.
In many cases you may not be able to conclusively find someone’s LinkedIn profile with 100% certainty using just their email address. If the profile visibility is limited or the profile is inactive, it simply may not show up in any searches.
Why did LinkedIn block email searches?
LinkedIn decided to block the ability to search for other members directly by email address in 2014. They said this was done “to put email lookup in line with member expectations of greater privacy controls and to better protect our members from unwanted solicitation.”
Essentially it came down to privacy concerns. Members did not necessarily want their email addresses searchable and visible. It also cut down on unwanted solicitation from marketers, recruiters, and sales prospects using email searches to reach members.
While removing email search makes things a bit more difficult, overall it is likely the right move to maintain privacy expectations. There are still ways to try to find profiles as outlined above.
Conclusion
Searching LinkedIn by email used to be simple but is no longer possible directly. You will need to use indirect methods like searching Google, checking connections, and searching company profiles. But there is no guarantee of finding a match.
Some third party tools claim to search by email, but most are just scraping data in violation of LinkedIn’s terms. Premium corporate accounts like Recruiter provide the best options for email search now.
Overall, expect that you may not be able to conclusively find someone on LinkedIn with only an email address anymore. While not as easy as before, there are still some options to try finding a profile, or asking for an introduction through a shared connection.
