Finding a specific URL or webpage on LinkedIn can be useful for a variety of reasons. As a professional social media platform, LinkedIn allows users to share content as part of their profiles, posts, and other interactions. If you want to locate a particular URL that was shared on LinkedIn, there are a few methods you can use.
Searching LinkedIn for a Specific URL
One of the simplest ways to find a URL on LinkedIn is to use the built-in search function. Here are the steps:
- Go to the LinkedIn homepage and log into your account if you aren’t already logged in.
- Type the full URL into the main search bar at the top of the page. Make sure to include the “https://” portion.
- Hit enter. The search results page will display any matching LinkedIn profiles, posts, or other content containing that URL.
For example, if you want to find the Anthropic homepage (https://www.anthropic.com) on LinkedIn, you would search for “https://www.anthropic.com”.
This search method allows you to quickly see if a specific page or website has been shared anywhere on LinkedIn. You can then click through to the various search results to see the context of how that URL was used.
Searching Within a Specific LinkedIn Profile
If you want to locate a URL shared by a certain LinkedIn member, you can search within their personal profile.
- Go to the profile of the LinkedIn member you want to search.
- Click on the “See all activity” link below their introductory bio section. This will open a detailed view of their posts, shares, etc.
- Use the page search box in the upper right to search for the specific URL within that member’s activity.
This will let you see if and where that LinkedIn member has shared a certain URL or website link. You’ll be able to view it in the context of their own profile and posts.
Searching Through Your LinkedIn Network
If you want to find out if someone in your LinkedIn connections has shared a particular URL, you can search through your own network.
- Click on the My Network icon in the top toolbar.
- Use the search box here to search for the full URL, including “https://”.
This will search for that URL among all your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn. The results may show connections who have shared that link on their profiles or through posts and updates.
Using LinkedIn’s Advanced Search
LinkedIn also offers an advanced search option to target your search queries. Here is how to use it to find a specific URL:
- Go to the main LinkedIn search page.
- Click on the “Advanced” link next to the main search bar.
- Select “URL” from the “Search by” dropdown menu.
- Enter the full URL you want to find within the website field.
- Use the other advanced search filters like date range and content type to narrow your search further.
- Click the blue “Search” button to run the URL query.
Some tips for using the advanced search include:
- Use filters like “People” or “Posts” to narrow where it looks.
- Search by time frame if you have a date range for when it may have been shared.
- Combine the URL search with keywords relevant to the content.
The more filters you use, the more precise the search results will be.
Searching LinkedIn via Google Search
You can also leverage Google search operators to find a URL on LinkedIn. Here is the process:
- Go to Google.com and do a search like this:
[URL] site:linkedin.com - Replace [URL] with the actual URL you want to find.
- This will search LinkedIn specifically for pages containing that URL.
- Scan through the search results to find relevant LinkedIn profiles, posts, or content.
Some tips for using Google to search LinkedIn:
- Add keywords after the URL to narrow things down, like “site:linkedin.com/in/”
- Use Google’s tools like date filters to customize the search.
- The first few results will be the most relevant pages containing that URL.
Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool
Social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and BuzzSumo also provide ways to search for specific URLs across LinkedIn.
The main steps are:
- Enter the target URL into the tool’s search function.
- Filter the results to just show matches from LinkedIn.
- Use date filters or advanced search operators to get more precise results.
- Click through on the search results to see the URL mentions in context.
The benefit of using a tool like this is it provides one dashboard to quickly visualize URL mentions across major social platforms, including LinkedIn.
Tips for Finding a URL Match
Here are some additional tips when searching for an exact URL match on LinkedIn:
- Try different keyword variations related to the URL when searching profiles and posts. The URL itself may not always appear verbatim.
- Use LinkedIn’s filter tools to narrow down URL search results by content type, date, industry, location, language, etc.
- Look for the URL across both personal profiles as well as LinkedIn Company Pages and Showcase Pages.
- If you find a partial URL match, click through to see if it redirects to the target URL you want to find.
- Dig through posts and updates manually if needed, rather than just relying on search. The URL may not be visible to search crawlers.
- Enlist help from colleagues or connections who may have seen the URL you are looking for.
Obtaining Analytics on a LinkedIn URL
Once you’ve found mentions of a URL on LinkedIn, you can take your search one step further by viewing analytics data.
This allows you to see how many clicks, likes, comments, shares, etc. that the URL has received on LinkedIn.
To find these analytics:
- Install the LinkedIn browser plugin for free from LinkedIn’s website.
- When on a LinkedIn page or post containing your target URL, click the browser extension icon.
- This will display a pop-up overlay with detailed analytics for that URL and post.
- You can also click through to view aggregated analytics for that URL’s performance across LinkedIn as a whole.
This data can provide valuable insight into how well your URLs and content are resonating on LinkedIn. It’s a free way to get engagement analytics beyond just simple view counts.
Conclusion
Finding specific URLs and links on LinkedIn may take some digging, but a range of search methods and tools make it possible. Focus your searches within individual profiles, across your direct connections’ activity, or use LinkedIn and Google search operators to your advantage. Monitor URL mentions through social media tools and analytics plugins. With the right approach, you can track down even obscure URL references on LinkedIn profiles and posts.