LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with over 740 million members worldwide as of 2021. With so many profiles to browse, LinkedIn members often wonder – can my connections see that I viewed their profile?
The Short Answer
In most cases, no – your 1st degree LinkedIn connections will not receive a notification if you view their profile. There are a few exceptions, which will be explained below.
LinkedIn’s Default Privacy Settings
By default, LinkedIn does not notify members when someone views their profile. This applies to all members, regardless of their account type (free or premium). So if you simply view a connection’s profile, they will not get a notification of this action.
There are two exceptions to this rule:
- LinkedIn Recruiter accounts – these premium accounts designed for talent recruiters will receive notifications when their connections view their profile.
- “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” Premium Feature – members who pay for this premium feature will see the names of who has recently viewed their profile within the last 90 days. However, regular connections viewing your profile are anonymized. You would only see the names of paid account members, such as recruiters.
So unless your connection is a recruiter or has paid for premium account features, they will not know you viewed their profile. LinkedIn does this to respect the privacy of members’ browsing and research activities.
Viewing Member Profiles Anonymously
If you want to view someone’s profile completely anonymously, LinkedIn provides a simple way to do this.
On desktop, hover over a member’s name or profile picture, then click the 3 dots icon that appears. Select “View anonymously” from the dropdown menu. This will open the member’s profile in a private browsing window. They will not receive any notification that you viewed their profile.
On mobile, tap the member’s profile picture, then tap the 3 dots icon. Select “View anonymously” and their profile will open privately without notifying them.
Does Looking at Profiles Show Up in Your Viewing History?
LinkedIn does keep track of every profile you view while logged into your account. This viewing history is private and not shared with your connections, but LinkedIn does use it internally for providing better recommendations and tailored content.
You can view your full viewing history by going to your account settings. Under the Privacy tab, click Viewing History and you will see the last 90 days of profiles and content you have looked at.
Again, this history is only visible to you and is not shared with your connections or displayed publicly.
Will Connections Know if I View Their Profile Multiple Times?
Even if you view a connection’s profile repeatedly, they will not receive multiple notifications or see this reflected anywhere. LinkedIn’s internal analytics may track the frequency, but it is not revealed to members.
The two exceptions are recruiters with Recruiter accounts and members who pay for the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” premium feature. They will be able to see each individual view in their analytics.
Does Looking at Someone’s Profile Show You in Their “Who’s Viewed You” List?
For free LinkedIn members, viewing someone else’s profile does not add you to the Who’s Viewed You list seen by other members. This is because the list of names is limited to paid account holders with the premium feature enabled.
As a free member, your views are anonymous. You would only appear by name to a premium account member if you have a premium account yourself.
Can Connections See if I View Their New/Updated Profile?
When connections add new profile sections, like education or experiences, or make major updates to their profile, LinkedIn may notify some of their network with a “John updated his profile” banner. However, simply viewing the updated profile does not trigger any notification.
So you can freely view connections’ updated profiles without them receiving any alerts. The exception would be if you like, comment on, or share their new content – at that point notifications are sent.
Does Looking at Someone’s Profile Show Up in Their Notifications?
Viewing or looking at someone’s LinkedIn profile does not trigger any type of notification to them. Your browsing activity is private and not proactively shared.
The only notifications sent are if you directly interact with a connection by liking, commenting, sharing their content, or sending them a connection request or message.
Can Premium Members See Who Views Their Profile?
Premium members who pay for the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” feature will see a list of names of members who have viewed their profile recently. This includes premium account members viewing anonymously.
However, your regular 1st degree connections would appear anonymously in the list unless they also have a premium account. Their name would only display if they are a paid member.
So premium members see either a name or “Anonymous LinkedIn Member” depending on the viewer’s account type.
Do Liked/Shared Posts Show Profile Views?
When you interact with someone’s post or content by liking, commenting, or sharing, this does trigger notifications to the member who originally posted it. They will see exactly who liked, commented or shared their post.
However, simply viewing their post or content does not trigger any notification. You can read articles, view images, watch videos, etc. without the posting member knowing.
Conclusion
In summary, the default LinkedIn privacy settings mean your 1st degree connections will not know if you view their profile. The exceptions are premium account holders who pay for special visibility features.
LinkedIn does track private viewing history for use in recommendations, but this data is not shared with connections. The platform aims to maintain the privacy of browsing and research activities.
The only viewing notifications sent are for direct engagement with posts and content, not for profile views. There are simple options to view completely anonymously as needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can 2nd degree connections see I viewed their profile?
No, the same privacy rules apply. Unless they are premium account members with special visibility settings, 2nd degree connections will not be notified of your profile views.
What about 3rd degree connections and beyond?
For 3rd, 4th, and higher degree connections on LinkedIn, the standard privacy settings remain the same. They will not receive any notifications or see that you viewed their profile.
Will I appear in search results if I view someone’s profile?
Simply viewing a profile does not affect search rankings or results on LinkedIn. Your viewing activity remains private and does not directly impact your visibility within search.
Can I tell if my old coworkers or classmates view my profile?
Unfortunately there is no way to detect if your old contacts, classmates, or coworkers are viewing your profile unless you have the “Who Viewed Your Profile” premium feature enabled. Most browsing activity on LinkedIn remains private by default.
What if I visit someone’s profile daily?
Even repeated profile views day after day will not trigger any notifications or viewing counts for your connections. This activity remains anonymous unless account holders are paying for premium visibility options.
Will I appear as an anonymous viewer?
For premium account holders, your views will show up anonymously in their viewer list as “Anonymous LinkedIn Member.” However, most basic free account holders do not have access to this viewer list at all.
Key Takeaways
- By default, 1st degree connections are not notified when you view their LinkedIn profile.
- The exceptions are premium account holders with special paid visibility features enabled.
- You can use the “View Anonymously” option to privately view profiles without detection.
- Direct engagement with posts (likes, comments, shares) does trigger notifications.
- LinkedIn tracks private viewing history for internal analytics only.
So you can comfortably browse LinkedIn profiles knowing your activity remains anonymous in most cases. The platform aims to maintain privacy for ordinary research and viewing actions.
Ready to start expanding your professional network? As you search profiles and make new connections, rest assured your existing contacts won’t get notified every time you browse their profile.
