LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 722 million users worldwide. As a professional networking site, LinkedIn allows you to connect with other professionals, follow companies, join groups, and view other user profiles. One common question that comes up is whether someone with a LinkedIn Premium account can see who has viewed their profile.
What is LinkedIn Premium?
LinkedIn Premium is LinkedIn’s paid subscription service that provides users with additional features beyond the free basic account. There are three tiers of LinkedIn Premium accounts:
- Premium Career – $29.99/month
- Premium Business – $59.99/month
- Premium Sales – $79.99/month
Some of the key features of a LinkedIn Premium account include:
- See who has viewed your profile
- Unlimited profile views
- Advanced search filters
- InMail messages
- Additional profile customization options
The ability to see who has viewed your profile is one of the main draws of a Premium account. This allows Premium users to get insights into who is looking at their profile which can be helpful for career or sales prospects.
Can someone with a Premium account see who viewed their profile?
Yes, one of the key features of a LinkedIn Premium account is the ability to see who has viewed your profile within the last 90 days. This is only available to Premium account holders and is not a feature that is included in the free LinkedIn account.
When someone views your profile, it will show up under the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section in your Premium account. This section shows the name, headline, and company of those who have viewed your profile. It also shows any shared connections you may have.
There are a few important caveats around this feature:
- Only Premium account holders can see who viewed their profile. Those with free accounts do not have access to this feature.
- Profile views are only tracked for the last 90 days. Any views prior to that will not show up.
- You can only see a limited number of profile views per month, depending on your Premium account type. For example, Premium Career caps views at 70 per month.
- LinkedIn does not reveal anonymous profile views. If someone views your profile in an anonymous or private browsing mode, it will not be tracked.
- Automated bots and programs are excluded from the profile view count.
So in summary, yes Premium subscribers can see the names of those who have viewed their LinkedIn profiles within the last 90 days, up to a monthly limit. This can provide helpful insight into who is looking at your profile and give you an indication of those interested in connecting.
What can you see if you view someone’s profile?
If you view another person’s LinkedIn profile, here is what information you can see depending on the privacy settings they have configured:
- Profile photo
- Name
- Headline/Title
- Location
- Industry
- Connections
- About/summary section
- Experience
- Education
- Skills
- Recommendations
- Accomplishments/Certifications
- Groups/Organizations
However, you will not be able to see the following information:
- Contact information – email, phone number, address (visible only to direct connections)
- Birthdate
- Articles/blog posts (visible only to direct connections)
- Detailed recommendations (visible only to direct connections)
So in summary, when you view someone’s public LinkedIn profile, you can see a good overview of their professional experience, skills, education, and accomplishments. But you won’t see their private contact details or posts unless you are connected.
Can you tell if someone views your LinkedIn profile?
If you don’t have a Premium account, there is no way for you to tell if someone has viewed your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn does not notify free users about who has looked at their profile. The profile view data is only made available to those with Premium accounts.
Some signs that someone may have visited your profile include:
- They connect with you after viewing your profile
- They like or comment on one of your posts
- You appear in their “People Also Viewed” section
- You have new shared connections in common
However, these signs could also just be coincidences. There is no surefire way to confirm if someone looked at your profile without having a Premium account.
If you do upgrade to a Premium account, you will then be able to see the list of who has viewed your profile within the last 90 days. This could include current connections, recruiters, or anyone else who may have found you on LinkedIn and checked out your profile.
How to view someone’s profile anonymously
If you want to view a LinkedIn profile without the person knowing, there are a couple options:
- Turn on private or anonymous browsing. This prevents LinkedIn from storing cookies that can track your activity.
- View profiles while logged out of your LinkedIn account. Without logging in, LinkedIn will not be able to associate the profile view back to you.
- Use an alternate LinkedIn account. Have a secondary account not connected to the profile you want to view anonymously.
- Change your viewer settings. Under Privacy & Settings, you can choose to exclude your name and photo from your viewer activity.
Keep in mind even with these approaches, your view could still show up if you have any shared connections or interactions with the person after viewing. To be completely anonymous, make sure to take the steps above while also avoiding any other activity that could reveal you.
Does LinkedIn notify when you view someone’s profile?
No, LinkedIn does not proactively notify or alert someone when you view their profile. The only way the user will know you viewed their profile is if they have a Premium account and check their list of profile visitors. Otherwise, it is completely anonymous.
Some key things to note:
- Free account holders will never know who viewed their profile, since they cannot access this data.
- Even with Premium accounts, LinkedIn will not send an email or notification that you viewed someone’s profile. The user has to manually check their visitor list.
- Your name and photo will not appear anywhere on the person’s profile or activity. You remain anonymous unless you show up on their viewer list.
- Repeated profile views within a short period can trigger LinkedIn to notify the person of unusual activity. But normally single or infrequent views will not.
In summary, viewing someone’s public LinkedIn profile is meant to be anonymous. LinkedIn does not actively notify or tell users when their profile has been viewed. The only exception is if unnatural viewing activity is detected triggering a notification of unusual activity.
Does LinkedIn tell you who visits your profile?
For free LinkedIn members, you do not have the ability to see who has visited your profile. This feature is only available to Premium subscribers.
As a Premium member, LinkedIn will provide a list of people who have viewed your profile within the last 90 days. You can access this list of recent profile visitors under the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section in your account settings.
This list will contain the name, job title, company, and any shared connections you have with the viewer. It may also contain a short reason for why LinkedIn thinks they may have viewed you, such as looking for a new job.
There are some limitations to be aware of with this viewer list:
- It only shows the last 90 days of visitors.
- Views from anonymous/private browsing don’t show up.
- There is a limit per month, depending on account type.
- Automatic bot views are excluded.
In summary, yes – a Premium LinkedIn account holder can see the names of members who have viewed their profile within the last 90 days. This gives useful insight into who is interested in you and your professional content on LinkedIn.
Pros and Cons of LinkedIn Premium
Here is an overview of some of the key pros and cons of upgrading to a Premium LinkedIn account:
Pros
- See who’s viewed your profile – Get insights into who is looking at your profile which can help with networking and prospecting.
- InMail messages – Contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if they are not directly connected.
- Profile visibility boost – Increase the visibility and exposure of your profile in search results.
- Advanced profile filters – Use additional filters to drill down on your target audience and prospects.
- Unlimited profile views – View as many LinkedIn profiles as you want per month.
Cons
- Cost – Ranges from $29.99-$79.99 per month depending on account type.
- Time to see value – May take 1-2 months to start seeing the benefits and ROI.
- Overwhelming visitor data – A large volume of profile visitors could be hard to parse through and prioritize.
- Need to refine strategy – Requires effort to refine your strategy based on visitor insights.
Conclusion
In summary, having a LinkedIn Premium account enables you to see who has viewed your profile in the last 90 days. This can provide valuable intelligence on who is researching you or interested in connecting.
However, LinkedIn will not proactively notify someone when you view their profile. Your identity typically remains anonymous unless you appear in the viewer list of a Premium account holder. There are techniques to even view profiles anonymously like using private browsing.
Premium accounts provide useful functionality but also come at a cost. Evaluate whether the profile visitor insights and additional features will be worth the monthly price based on your professional networking needs.
