LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 800 million members worldwide. Among its many features for connecting professionals, LinkedIn provides personalized recommendations to help users discover and connect with new people, companies, jobs, content, and other opportunities relevant to their professional interests.
These recommendations appear in various places across the platform – on your homepage feed, when viewing other profiles, in emails, and more. They are powered by LinkedIn’s algorithms which analyze your profile, activity, and connections to suggest people and content you may be interested in connecting with.
While recommendations can be helpful, some users may find certain suggestions irrelevant or bothersome. You may wonder – can you remove or hide recommendations on LinkedIn?
The short answer is yes, there are ways to remove and limit recommendations on LinkedIn to customize the experience to your preferences. In this article, we’ll explore the options for removing different types of recommendations on both desktop and mobile.
Turning Off “People You May Know” Recommendations
One of the most common recommendations on LinkedIn is “People You May Know.” This section suggests new people for you to connect with based on mutual connections, shared interests, experiences, groups, and other relevance signals.
If you find these suggestions repetitive or irrelevant, they can be turned off as follows:
On desktop:
- Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and select Settings & Privacy.
- Go to the Preferences tab.
- Under Show Recommendations For deselect the checkbox next to People.
On mobile:
- Tap your profile icon at the top of your homepage.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Notifications.
- Turn off the toggle next to People You May Know.
This will stop LinkedIn from suggesting new people to connect with. You can toggle it back on anytime if you want recommendations again.
Removing Suggested Connections
In addition to the general “People You May Know” section, you may see suggested connections on individual profiles. These are people LinkedIn recommends you connect with based on your shared connections or interests with that particular profile.
To remove these:
On desktop:
- Go to the profile that has the suggested connections.
- Hover over the suggestion and click the X icon that appears.
- Click Remove to confirm.
On mobile:
- Go to the profile that has the suggested connections.
- Tap the 3 dots icon next to the suggestion.
- Tap Remove.
You can remove suggestions one by one in this manner. LinkedIn will continue to show new recommendations over time.
Removing Suggested Hashtags and Interests
LinkedIn may recommend hashtags and professional interests for you to follow based on your profile details. Here’s how to stop seeing these:
On desktop:
- Click the Me icon and select View profile.
- Go to the Interests section.
- Hover over a suggested hashtag or interest.
- Click the X icon to remove it.
On mobile:
- Tap your profile icon and select View profile.
- Go to the Interests section.
- Tap the 3 dots next to a suggestion.
- Tap Remove to confirm.
Hiding Suggested Posts
The LinkedIn feed shows recommended posts based on your connections and interests. If certain post suggestions are not relevant, they can be hidden:
On desktop:
- In the LinkedIn feed, hover over the suggested post.
- Click the X icon.
- Select I don’t want to see this.
On mobile:
- In the feed, tap the 3 dots next to the post.
- Tap I don’t want to see this.
This will remove that specific post. You can continue hiding irrelevant suggested posts as they appear.
Limiting Recommended Content
To reduce recommended posts overall:
On desktop:
- Go to Settings & Privacy.
- Click Preferences.
- Under Show recommendations for deselect Posts.
On mobile:
- Tap your profile icon.
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Notifications.
- Turn off Recommended for you.
This will stop personalized post suggestions based on your profile and activity. You can still see posts shared by your connections.
Removing Suggested Jobs
LinkedIn recommends jobs you may be interested in applying for based on your profile, search activity, and other signals. To stop seeing these:
On desktop:
- Go to the Jobs section.
- Click the gear icon to access Job seeking preferences.
- Under Recommended jobs, deselect Let LinkedIn recommend jobs for you.
On mobile:
- Tap the Jobs icon on the bottom toolbar.
- Tap your profile icon.
- Go to Job seeking preferences.
- Turn off Get job recommendations.
You will no longer get suggested jobs, but you can still search for jobs manually.
Avoiding Recommended Companies
LinkedIn may recommend companies to follow or research based on those your connections follow or are employees of. To stop seeing these:
On desktop:
- Click the My Network icon at the top.
- Go to Manage my network.
- Under Companies to follow, click Customize recommendations.
- Toggle off recommendations for Companies your connections follow and Featured companies.
On mobile:
- Tap the My Network icon on the bottom toolbar.
- Tap your profile icon.
- Go to Manage my network.
- Under Companies to follow, turn off recommendation toggles.
This will stop LinkedIn from showing you suggested companies.
Removing Recommended Groups
LinkedIn suggests groups you may be interested in joining based on your profile and connections. To stop seeing these:
On desktop:
- Go to Groups in the top toolbar.
- Click My Groups on the left sidebar.
- Next to Suggested groups, click the gear icon.
- Select Cancel group recommendations.
On mobile:
- Tap the My Network icon.
- Select Groups.
- Tap your profile icon.
- Go to Account preferences.
- Turn off Get group recommendations.
This stops the personalized suggested groups. You can still browse groups manually.
Avoiding Recommended Courses
LinkedIn Learning suggests online courses to take based on your profile and activity. To stop getting recommendations:
On desktop:
- Go to the Learning tab.
- Click your profile icon.
- Select Preferences.
- Under Recommendations, uncheck Use my data to recommend courses for me.
On mobile:
- Tap the Learning icon.
- Tap your profile icon.
- Go to Account settings.
- Toggle off Use my data to recommend courses for me.
You will no longer get suggested courses. You can still browse all available courses.
Removing LinkedIn Stories Recommendations
The LinkedIn Stories feature shows ephemeral video stories from your connections. If you don’t want to see recommended stories:
On desktop:
- Click the Me icon and go to View Profile.
- Click Preferences next to the Stories section.
- Toggle off Recommended Stories.
On mobile:
- Tap your profile icon and go to your profile.
- Tap Preferences next to Stories.
- Toggle off Recommended Stories.
This stops Stories recommendations based on your network. You can still view Stories from your direct connections.
Limiting Recommendations via Ad Preferences
In addition to organic recommendations based on your activity, LinkedIn also personalizes advertisements by default. To limit targeted ads:
On desktop:
- Click the Me icon and go to Settings & Privacy.
- Select Ad preferences.
- Toggle off options for personalized ads.
On mobile:
- Tap your profile icon.
- Select Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Settings.
- Select Ads and turn off personalized ad options.
Note this prevents ads from being targeted, but you will still see generic ads. Use an ad blocker to hide ads completely.
More Tips for Controlling Recommendations
In addition to the above options, here are some more tips for limiting recommendations on LinkedIn:
- Be selective about sharing your contact list – this fuels suggestions.
- Be cautious about “endorsing” skills for connections.
- Review your interests and highlighted skills in your profile.
- Be careful about liking, following, commenting on posts.
- Select “I don’t want to see this” on irrelevant activity notifications.
- Periodically remove suggested connections you don’t want.
Essentially, being more judicious about interacting on LinkedIn can reduce the “signal” used to generate recommendations.
Also consider periodically revisiting recommendation settings to review and turn off anything newly added by LinkedIn. Maintaining your preferences can help ensure suggestions stay relevant.
Should You Completely Eliminate Recommendations?
While too many irrelevant recommendations can be annoying, some level of personalization can enhance your LinkedIn experience. Discovering new connections, companies, groups, and opportunities is a key benefit of the platform.
Completely eliminating recommendations may isolate your experience. However, excessive, repetitive, and off-base suggestions can also negatively impact the experience.
Finding the right balance comes down to your personal preferences and needs. Tune your settings to hide recommendations from aspects of LinkedIn you don’t engage with often. But you may want to keep suggestions enabled for areas important to your professional networking. Monitor this over time as your needs evolve.
Conclusion
LinkedIn provides many options to remove, limit, or customize recommendations based on your specific priorities. While you can’t eliminate them completely, you can curate suggestions to suit your professional networking style and interests. Focus on removing irrelevant content first, while keeping useful recommendations enabled. Adjust these settings periodically to maintain a personalized but focused LinkedIn experience.
Recommendation Type | How to Remove on Desktop | How to Remove on Mobile |
---|---|---|
People You May Know | Settings & Privacy > Preferences > Uncheck People | Profile Icon > Settings > Notifications > Toggle Off |
Suggested Connections | Profile > Hover on Name > Click X > Remove | Profile > Tap 3 Dots > Remove |
Suggested Hashtags & Interests | Me > View Profile > Interests > Hover on Hashtag > Click X | View Profile > Interests > Tap 3 Dots > Remove |
Suggested Posts | In Feed > Hover on Post > Click X > Don’t Want to See | In Feed > Tap 3 Dots > Don’t Want to See |
Suggested Jobs | Jobs > Settings Icon > Deselect Let LinkedIn Recommend Jobs | Jobs Icon > Profile Icon > Job Seeking Preferences > Toggle Off Get Recommendations |
Suggested Companies | My Network > Manage My Network > Customize Recommendations | My Network > Profile Icon > Manage My Network > Turn Off Toggles |
Suggested Groups | Groups > My Groups > Gear Icon > Cancel Recommendations | My Network > Groups > Profile Icon > Turn Off Get Recommendations |
Suggested Courses | Learning > Profile Icon > Preferences > Uncheck Use My Data | Learning > Profile Icon > Account Settings > Toggle Off Use My Data |
Suggested Stories | Me > View Profile > Stories Preferences > Turn off Recommended | View Profile > Stories Preferences > Turn Off Recommended |