How do I get past the search limit on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn limits the number of search results you can view for free to stay within their system capacity. However, there are a few tricks you can use to get around this limit and expand your search reach on LinkedIn.

Understand LinkedIn’s Search Limits

When you do a people search on LinkedIn, you’ll notice a “See all X results” link at the bottom of the page. This link initially shows the first 100 results. If you click on it, the number of results increases to 200, 300, 500 etc. until you reach the maximum number of search results allowed.

The maximum number of results you can view per search is limited to 1000 profiles. Once you hit this limit, you will see a message saying “Showing results 1-1000”. This limit applies to all keyword and advanced searches done without a paid account.

So in summary, the search limits are:

• Initial search results – 100 profiles
• Expanded results by clicking “See all” – Additional 100 profiles every click
• Maximum results possible – 1000 profiles

This limit can be frustrating if you are looking for very specific types of profiles and need more results to find the right people. But there are ways to work around it as explained next.

Use Multiple Search Variations

A simple way to bypass the 1000 profile limit is to do multiple searches with variations of your keywords. For example, if you are searching for “software engineers”, try these additional searches:

• “software developer”
• “software coding”
• “software programmer”
• “software architect”

You can come up with several combinations and permutations of related words. Each new search will give you another 1000 results. The objective is to use synonyms and related terms so you are still targeting the same overall profile attributes while expanding your reach.

Refine Location Filters

Location filters can also help reveal more profiles. Here’s how:

• Search without any location filter to get the maximum 1000 results
• Narrow it down to a single country to get another 1000 results
• Further refine to individual states in that country
• You can even target metropolitan areas and cities for additional results

Always start broad without any location constraints. Then progressively narrow it down to filter more profiles. Just changing the location criteria resets the 1000 result limit.

Vary Past Company Filters

Applying filters on past companies worked at is another technique. For example:

• Search for “accountants” with no filters – 1000 results
• Accountants who worked at “KPMG” – next 1000 results
• Accountants who worked at “Deloitte” – another 1000 results
• Accountants who worked at “Ernst & Young” – 1000 more results

Essentially, you are pivoting the search axis around company names within a profession. This presents new subsets of profiles each time.

Change Past Title Filters

Similarly, you can vary the titles held previously by professionals like:

• Doctors with no filters – first 1000
• Doctors who were “Chief of Surgery” – next 1000
• Doctors who were “Medical Director” – 1000 more
• Doctors who were “Head of Medicine” – another 1000

Tuning the past title filter will uncover many different profiles even within the same field. This works well for job titles that have several levels like managers, directors, VPs etc.

Use Specific School Filters

Schools attended is another aspect you can put filters on:

• Search “finance” with no filters – first 1000 results
• “Finance” profiles who attended “Harvard” – next 1000
• “Finance” from “Wharton School” – another 1000
• “Finance” from “London Business School” – 1000 more

This method helps if you specifically want to target graduates from certain programs. Each school name filter provides an additional trove of profiles.

Filter by Specific Companies

Instead of past companies, you can filter by current companies worked at. For example:

• Search for “sales director” with no filters – first 1000 results
• “Sales director” at “Oracle” – next 1000 results
• “Sales director” at “SAP” – another 1000 profiles
• “Sales director” at “Salesforce” – 1000 more profiles

This works well for targeting employees working in the same field but employed by competitors or major brands. Each company name provides a fresh set of profiles.

Filter by Specific Skills

Targeting profiles with specific skills can also deliver new results beyond 1000 like:

• Search for “programmer” with no filters – first 1000
• “Programmer” with “Python” skill – next 1000
• “Programmer” with “JavaScript” skill – 1000 more profiles
• “Programmer” with “Java” skill – yet another 1000

Any domain has a vast range of associated skills. Mentioning exact skills resets the result limits and surfaces additional matching profiles.

Search within Groups

Expand beyond your own 1st level network by searching within LinkedIn Groups related to your target field or industry like:

• Search for “product managers” with no filters – first 1000
• Search for “product managers” within “Consumer Products Group” – next 1000
• Search for “product managers” within “SaaS Product Group” – another 1000 results
• Search for “product managers” within “Retail Products Group” – 1000 more profiles

Groups let you go beyond your own network to industry-specific pools of hundreds of thousands of members. Useful for customer segment research.

Search by Member Interests

Filtering by interests listed on member profiles can also provide more targeted results:

• Search for “social media manager” with no filters – first 1000
• “Social media manager” interested in “Content Marketing” – next 1000
• “Social media manager” interested in “Digital Strategy” – another 1000
• “Social media manager” interested in “Email Marketing” – 1000 more

Interest keywords help discover profiles passionate and knowledgeable about those topics beyond formal job titles.

Member Search Boolean Operators

Boolean search operators like AND, OR and NOT also help construct more focused searches:

• CEO AND Founder
• CTO OR Lead Developer
• Software Developer NOT at Microsoft

These allow combining keywords, excluding keywords and creating precise searches to reveal new subsets of profiles beyond 1000 results.

Use Premium Account Search Filters

Having a Premium Business or Sales Navigator account on LinkedIn removes many of the search restrictions for your own use. Some of the key benefits are:

• No limit on number of search results
• See full list of people who viewed your profile
• See expanded profiles beyond just name & title
• Advanced filtering and sorting capabilities
• Save search alerts for new prospects

These special filters provide the freedom to search with minimal limits. However, a paid account may still be overkill based on your needs.

Use Boolean Search Plugins

Browser plugin tools like LinkClump and Boolean Search also help construct more advanced searches using Boolean and filter combinations.

For example, using LinkClump you can search:

• “CEO” AND “San Francisco” AND (“Computer Science” OR “Software Engineering”)
• VP OR Director AND Finance NOT “New York”

This provides precision searching capabilities without a paid account.

Use Additional Search Tools

Consider using external search engines and browser plugins that search LinkedIn profiles specifically. For example:

• Pipl – Searches LinkedIn and 30+ other sources
• Owler – Finds LinkedIn profiles by specific companies
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator Extention – Enhanced LinkedIn search and filters

Tools like these provide alternative search capabilities beyond LinkedIn’s own interface and limits.

Use Advanced Google Searches

Google advanced search operators also help turn up LinkedIn profiles. Some useful ones are:

• site:linkedin.com – Search only on LinkedIn
• intitle: or inurl: – Find keyword in page title or url
• “CEO” AND “Oakland” – Combine keywords with AND

Crafting searches like “intitle:CEO Oakland site:linkedin.com” provides another route to surface relevant profiles.

Conclusion

LinkedIn’s 1000 result limit definitely makes comprehensive searches challenging. But with some creativity and the right tactics, it is possible to break past it to some extent. The key is using a mix of alternative keywords, filters, groups and search tools to uncover new profile subsets.

That said, getting a paid Premium account is the most straightforward way to lift limits and get unlimited search access. The techniques here just help tactically expand your search reach without paying.

At the end of the day, the search limit forces us to be more innovative in the quest for finding our ideal prospects. With persistence and the right combination of these approaches, you can get beyond 1000 results and connect with your targeted audience.