LinkedIn has become an invaluable tool for networking and building connections with professionals in your industry. With over 722 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform on the internet.
Making connections and viewing profiles is a big part of using LinkedIn. However, you may wonder – can other people see when you’ve viewed their profile? Will they get a notification if you visit their page without connecting or messaging them?
The short answer
In most cases, no. Viewing someone’s LinkedIn profile does not notify them or show up in their notifications tab. There are a few exceptions when the user will be notified of your visit, but generally your profile views are anonymous.
When does LinkedIn notify someone of your profile view?
There are three main scenarios when LinkedIn will let someone know you visited their profile:
- You don’t have a LinkedIn account – If you view profiles while signed out of LinkedIn, the user will receive an alert that an “anonymous LinkedIn member” viewed their profile.
- You view their profile multiple times – LinkedIn monitors repeat profile views over a short period of time. If you view someone’s profile more than once within a 90-day period, they will get a notification.
- You interact with their content – If you like, comment on, or share any of the user’s LinkedIn posts or content, they will see that you have visited their profile.
You have a LinkedIn account and view someone’s profile once
In most common scenarios, viewing someone’s LinkedIn profile does not trigger a notification to that person. As long as you are signed into your LinkedIn account and you only view someone’s profile once within a 90-day period, your visit will remain anonymous and they will not be alerted.
Some examples where your one-time profile views are anonymous:
- Viewing the profiles of your connections
- Looking at profiles of people outside your network, including 2nd and 3rd degree connections
- Visiting the profiles of people who have visited your LinkedIn page
- Viewing employees of a company to learn more about the organization
Even if you are signed into LinkedIn, repeat profile views within 90 days or engaging with the user’s content will trigger a notification. But a single, anonymous viewing should not.
How to tell if someone gets notified you viewed their profile
Wondering if the people you looked up on LinkedIn were notified? There are a couple ways to check:
- Look for an alert notice – If LinkedIn has informed someone of your profile view, you may see a message saying “X was notified you viewed their profile” or similar language.
- Check your visitor history – In your account settings under “Visit history,” you can see profiles you’ve visited recently. Anonymous views will be marked “Anonymous,” while views that notified the user will show their photo and name.
Use anonymous browsing to hide your visits
If you want to look up people’s profiles without leaving a trace, there are a couple options:
- Sign out of LinkedIn – Viewing profiles while logged out leads to an “anonymous” notification.
- Use private browsing – Enabled private or incognito browsing so visits aren’t logged in your account history.
- Create a separate LinkedIn account – Some advanced users maintain separate LinkedIn accounts for anonymous viewing.
Limits to anonymous browsing
While useful, anonymous browsing has some limitations:
- No Premium features – You lose access to Premium search filters and InMail.
- Easier to forget who you viewed – Your browsing history can help refresh your memory of people you’ve viewed.
- Multiple visits still get notified – Even anonymous accounts see repeat views within 90 days.
Should you tell connections you viewed their profile?
Since most views are anonymous, there is no need to proactively tell your connections that you viewed their profile. Bringing up your visit may come across as strange if they didn’t receive a notification. However, you can reference information you learned if it comes up naturally in conversation.
In certain cases, being transparent about your visit can be helpful:
- Following up after meeting them
- Explaining how you found their profile if relevant
- Letting them know you visited if you think they were notified
Use your best judgment based on your relationship and the situation. When in doubt, don’t mention you viewed their profile.
Can you see who views your LinkedIn profile?
Just as others can’t see your anonymous profile views, you also can’t view who has looked at your profile unless they trigger one of LinkedIn’s notifications.
However, there are two main ways to get insights into who is viewing your profile:
- Check your “Who’s viewed your profile” section – This shows people who commented on or interacted with your content.
- Use LinkedIn Premium to see anonymous profile visitors – Paid Premium members can see aggregate data on the industries, locations, and companies of anonymous viewers.
Keywords triggering notifications
LinkedIn’s algorithms look for patterns and repeated viewing that may indicate snooping or inappropriate use of their platform. Certain keywords and phrases can raise red flags and prompt a notification if you view someone’s profile soon after searching them.
Some keywords to avoid associating with profile views include:
- Ex/former romantic partner names
- “Ex girlfriend”, “ex wife”, etc
- “My crush”, “someone I like”, etc
- Stalking, harassment, inappropriate terms
Remember LinkedIn aims to foster professional connections, so keep your profile viewing focused on networking, career development, and business relationships.
Premium account benefits
LinkedIn Premium subscriptions unlock additional capabilities related to profile viewing and notifications, including:
- Seeing who’s viewed your profile – Premium shows aggregate data on who has anonymously looked at your profile based on industry, location, company size, etc.
- Incognito mode – Premium allows you to privately view other profiles without leaving a footprint that it was you.
- Expanded profile views – See the entire list of people who have viewed your profile, not just those who engaged with your content.
However, even with Premium you may not always know if an individual viewed your specific profile. But you can get aggregated insights into the types of viewers.
Conclusion
To recap, viewing someone’s LinkedIn profile does not notify them in most cases. As long as you are signed into LinkedIn, only look up the profile once, and don’t engage with their content, your visit will remain anonymous without triggering an alert.
Repeat views within 90 days or interacting with the user’s posts and activity would notify them that you visited their profile. If you want to browse anonymously, use private browsing features or a separate LinkedIn account.
While most visits are anonymous, use your judgment on whether to proactively tell connections you viewed their profile. Understand notifications are limited unless you upgrade to a Premium account.
LinkedIn aims to create meaningful professional connections, so be thoughtful in how you use profile viewing and keep visits focused on networking versus snooping. With the right approach, you can benefit from LinkedIn’s profile visibility and grow your career network.
Scenario | Do they get notified? |
---|---|
View profile while signed out | Yes, “anonymous” notification |
View profile once while signed in | No |
View profile multiple times | Yes, after 2nd view |
Like, comment, or share their content | Yes |
Use private browsing mode | No |
Here is an example conversation between a LinkedIn user and their friend discussing profile viewing notifications:
LinkedIn User
I was browsing LinkedIn last night and viewed a few people’s profiles to learn more about their backgrounds. But I don’t want them to know I looked at their pages. Do you think they got notified that I visited their profiles?
Friend
Most likely not. LinkedIn doesn’t notify people every time someone views their profile. As long as you were signed into your account, only looked once, and didn’t interact with any of their content, your browsing probably stayed anonymous.
LinkedIn User
That’s a relief! I was specifically looking at a few connections and some people who work at companies I’m interested in. I viewed their pages to research them more without having to directly reach out. It’s good to know they won’t see that I visited.
Friend
Yeah, that type of viewing is very common on LinkedIn and exactly what the platform is meant for. The only time they’ll get notified is if you view repeatedly or engage with their posts. But one-off, signed-in browsing doesn’t trigger alerts. Just be thoughtful in how you use the viewing capabilities.
LinkedIn User
Good to know, thanks for explaining! I feel better about browsing profiles now that I know it doesn’t bug people with notifications. I’ll be sure not to overdo it or interact with their content so my viewing stays private.
Key Takeaways
- In most cases, people are not notified when you view their LinkedIn profile.
- Exceptions include repeat profile views within 90 days or interacting with the user’s content.
- Anonymous browsing is possible by signing out or using private/incognito mode.
- Premium members can see summary data on who viewed their profile.
- Use good judgment on referencing profile views with connections.
- Focus LinkedIn profile viewing on networking, not snooping.