As a professional looking to expand your reach and get noticed on LinkedIn, you may be wondering if upgrading to a premium account is worth the investment. LinkedIn Premium comes with additional features like being able to see who’s viewed your profile, send unlimited InMails, and get more profile badge options. But does paying for these extras actually result in more profile views and engagement? Let’s take a data-driven look at whether LinkedIn Premium is effective for increasing your visibility.
LinkedIn Algorithm Basics
To understand if Premium helps get more views, it’s important to first know the basics of how LinkedIn’s feed algorithm works. The LinkedIn feed shows users updates from connections, companies, and publishers they follow. But with millions of members, LinkedIn uses advanced AI to determine the top updates to show each person at any given time. Their goal is to show the most relevant and engaging content for each user.
So what signals does LinkedIn use to determine relevance? Here are some of the top factors:
- How closely connected you are to the person posting.
- How much engagement (likes, comments, shares) posts get.
- How relevant the content is to your industry and interests.
- How frequently the account posts – sporadic or daily.
- If you typically engage with content from that account.
As you can see, who you know and the content itself matters much more than whether the account is premium or not. But Premium does offer some additional features that may indirectly help increase views. Let’s analyze them in more detail.
InMail Benefits
One of the main Premium features is InMail, which lets you send private messages to any LinkedIn member without needing to connect first. This helps reach people outside your network. But does using InMail translate to more profile views? There are a few potential benefits:
- Reach decision makers: You can directly contact managers, executives, and contacts at companies you want to work with.
- Stand out: Your message goes to the top of their inbox and circumvents spam filters.
- Encourage engagement: Recipients may check out your profile before responding.
However, studies show the open rate of InMail is only around 20-25%. And InMail overuse is perceived as spammy. So while InMail can help connect with more relevant contacts, it may only drive limited profile views.
Quantity of InMails
How many InMails you get depends on your Premium plan. The table below shows the InMail allowances:
Plan | InMails Per Month |
---|---|
Premium Business | 25 |
Sales Navigator Pro | 50 |
Sales Navigator Team | 75 |
Sales Navigator Enterprise | 100 |
As you can see, even 100 InMails a month will only reach a small portion of your potential audience. So the additional InMails alone are unlikely to drastically increase your overall profile views.
Who’s Viewed Your Profile
Another Premium feature is seeing who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days. At first glance, this may seem like a great way to get more profile views – you can reach out and engage all those viewers. However, research suggests otherwise:
- Profiles set to anonymous will not show up in your viewer list.
- Reaching out to those who viewed you can come across as creepy.
- Viewers may have just glanced at your profile without much interest.
- Cold contacting people who viewed you still yields low response rates.
So while a popular Premium feature, seeing your viewers has limited ability to drive more genuine engagement or profile views. The majority of your views will come from established connections actually interested in you.
Open Profile Badges
Premium also lets you add badges like “Open to Work” or “Open to Mentoring” to your profile. The idea is signaling your availability can increase relevant views. However, research suggests the impact is minor for most users:
- Most open badges only show for Premium members – limiting reach.
- Badges don’t boost you in main feeds, only in filtered searches.
- Those not seeking jobs/mentors ignore the badges.
- Many users, especially those employed, keep their profiles open by default.
So while badges can help in niche cases, they are unlikely to drive significant general visibility gains for the majority of users.
Profile Branding
Premium also lets you customize the background photo and colors of your profile. Though aesthetically pleasing, research finds minimal impact on visibility:
- Background photos don’t show up in main feeds, only on your profile.
- Most people view profiles on mobile where backgrounds are barely noticeable.
- Fancy visual customizations can detract from your info itself.
- Clean, simple profiles with clear headlines draw more attention.
So while you may get some compliments on the design, a customized profile does not appear to boost overall profile views in most cases.
Removed Advertisements
One definite benefit of Premium is removing LinkedIn ads from your homepage and messages. This provides a cleaner experience. But in terms of impact on your own visibility, there’s no clear correlation:
- Ads are separate from content on your homepage.
- You can still fully access content without ads.
- Premium members see the same content otherwise.
So eliminating advertisements, while a nice perk, does not directly translate to increased profile views or engagement for most members.
Expanded Search Filters
Premium also lets you use more advanced filters when searching for people on LinkedIn, such as location, company, job title, etc. In theory, this helps connect with more relevant profiles and expand your network. But for visibility gains the impact appears small:
- Reaching out to new contacts still has low response rates.
- Advanced filters may only surface a few additional relevant profiles.
- Your content itself still determines engagement, not search filters.
While helpful in specific recruiting or prospecting scenarios, expanded search for most members generates minimal additional visibility on your profile itself.
Salary Insights Access
Premium members can also access salary data for specific job titles at individual companies. But again, this has no clear impact on your own profile views:
- Salary insights don’t affect your core content or activity.
- The data is based on anonymized submissions, not your connections.
- Salary information isn’t highlighted on your profile.
So while interesting, salary insights appear completely unrelated to increasing profile views or engagement for the average user.
Premium Member Badges
With Premium you can display badges like “LinkedIn Power User” on your profile. But research on their impact shows:
- Most members don’t recognize or care about special badges.
- They only show to other Premium members in limited places.
- The default “Open Profile” badge has a similar effect for free.
So while Premium badges may feel special, they do little to boost overall profile visibility based on current data.
Job Seeker Features
Premium offers additional job seeking features like seeing how you rank for positions and one-click applying. But the visibility benefits are again limited:
- Job-related features don’t promote your profile itself.
- Recruiters will still view your profile separately.
- Applicant levels get determined by your skills and experience.
So Premium job tools may help land leads and roles. But they don’t necessarily translate into more profile views or meaningful connections.
Premium Insights
LinkedIn Premium provides exclusive insights on who’s searching for you and viewing/engaging with your content. But these analytics don’t actively increase your visibility:
- The insights only provide rearview mirror data.
- You still need compelling content and networking for visibility.
- Views and engagement depend on overall posting strategy.
So while interesting, Premium insights have minimal ability to drive more profile views on their own.
Conclusion
After an in-depth look at Premium’s features and analysis of current data, the overall verdict is:
LinkedIn Premium provides helpful tools that can aid networking and job seeking. But the majority of features have minimal direct impact on increasing overall profile views and engagement.
This doesn’t mean Premium has no benefits. But visibility gains are likely small for most average users. The best way to get more profile views still comes down to actively engaging with your network, posting valuable content, and building genuine connections.
Here are some top tips for standing out on LinkedIn that have a much greater impact on your profile views:
- Share your unique experiences and perspectives through posts and long-form articles.
- Participate in relevant LinkedIn groups and discussions.
- Be helpful by commenting on connections’ posts.
- Ask connections thoughtful questions to spark dialogue.
- Publish and engage with content on trending industry topics.
- Showcase your expertise through videos and presentations.
While Premium opens some additional doors, putting in the work to provide value is what truly elevates your profile. So focus on sharing your best insights, building authentic relationships, and actively engaging your network. This will do far more for your visibility than any paid tools alone.
Consistency and patience are key. But by developing your unique voice, cultivating a thoughtful personal brand, and delivering value for your network, you can build significant organic visibility on LinkedIn that stands out from the crowd.