LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 810 million members worldwide. One of the main features of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with other professionals in your industry or location. When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you are able to view their profile, see their connections, and communicate with them through direct messaging. However, LinkedIn has privacy settings that limit the amount of information you can see about someone’s connections unless you are directly connected with them. So is there a way to search and view someone’s LinkedIn connections if you are not connected with them? There are a few methods people attempt to use to search LinkedIn connections, but LinkedIn has increasingly limited the ability to view extended networks due to privacy concerns.
Searching Connections on Personal LinkedIn Account
If you want to search someone’s LinkedIn connections, the most straightforward way is by logging into your own LinkedIn account and searching for the person. When you visit someone’s LinkedIn profile who you are not connected to, you will be able to see some basic information such as their name, location, industry, job title, and a truncated version of their profile summary. However, you will not be able to view their full list of connections. LinkedIn intentionally limits this ability to protect the privacy of their members.
You can also try searching for the person’s name in the LinkedIn search bar. This may bring up some of their connections in the “People also viewed” section or “People also searched for” section on the search page. However, LinkedIn expressly states in their User Agreement that information about a member’s connections and network should only be available to direct connections on the platform. So the ability to surface non-connections’ extended networks in search results is extremely limited.
Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to Search Connections
One tool some people use in an attempt to search LinkedIn connections is LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This is LinkedIn’s premium paid subscription tool designed for sales professionals to identify new leads and accounts. With a Sales Navigator subscription, users can search across a limited portion of 2nd degree connections. For example, if you are connected to John who is connected to Sarah, Sales Navigator will let you search and view Sarah’s profile even though you are not directly connected.
However, this searchability is quite limited in scope. Sale Navigator only surfaces about 30-40% of 2nd degree connections for searching. And you are unable to export or view the full list of someone’s connections. So while Sales Navigator provides some ability to identify 2nd degree connections, it does not permit searching an extended network. LinkedIn carefully limits this functionality to avoid privacy issues.
Using LinkedIn Recruiter to Search Connections
Another common question is whether LinkedIn Recruiter can be used to search someone’s connections. LinkedIn Recruiter is LinkedIn’s talent and recruiting platform designed for recruiters and HR professionals to source candidates.
At one point, Recruiter did allow searching 3rd and 4th degree connections. However, LinkedIn removed this functionality several years ago. Now Recruiter only allows searching up to 2nd degree connections, just like Sales Navigator. And it also only surfaces a limited portion of 2nd degree connections when searching – not the full extended network.
So in summary, while LinkedIn Recruiter provides some ability to search 2nd degree connections, it does not permit viewing or exporting someone’s full list of 3rd, 4th, or higher degree connections.
Using Boolean Search Operators
Some people attempt to search LinkedIn connections using Boolean search operators like AND and OR statements. For example, searching for “John AND Sarah” in an attempt to surface 2nd degree connections where John is connected to Sarah. However, LinkedIn does not support Boolean operators in this way for searching connections.
The LinkedIn search engine will ignore these types of Boolean statements when attempting to surface non-connections in the search results. The only search operators LinkedIn currently supports are quotes for exact match search and parentheses for grouping. So Boolean operators like AND or OR will not enable searching someone’s connections on LinkedIn.
Using Google Search Operators
Another common attempt is using Google search operators like “site:” to try and surface LinkedIn profiles and connections data. For example, using a search like “site:linkedin.com/in/ AND John” to surface 2nd degree connections to John from the LinkedIn website in Google results.
However, LinkedIn expressly blocks the ability to use the site: operator to index member profiles and connection data. So Google search operators will not reveal full access to someone’s network of connections on LinkedIn in this way.
Scraping LinkedIn Data
Some technically savvy LinkedIn users have attempted to scrape LinkedIn profile pages in order to extract and compile a list of someone’s connections. This would involve writing a script or program to systematically scrape LinkedIn profile data and reconstruct the list of connections.
However, scraping or copying data from LinkedIn in this way expressly violates LinkedIn’s User Agreement. LinkedIn has employed advanced technical defenses to prevent scraping of their site and data. So scraping approaches are very unlikely to succeed and carry a high risk of being banned from the platform.
premium account
One option that does provide full access to search LinkedIn connections is LinkedIn Recruiter with a Corporate Account. This is LinkedIn’s enterprise-level recruitment platform for large companies.
With a Recruiter Corporate account, administrators can enable a feature called “Projected Connections” which surfaces a member’s entire network of connections across all degrees.
However, access to this feature requires a Recruiter Corporate account which starts at over $8,000 per year for a small business plan. And companies must justify a true recruiting need for this level of access to members’ extended connections.
So for most everyday LinkedIn users, a Recruiter Corporate account with the Projected Connections feature is not a feasible option to search someone’s full LinkedIn network. It remains accessible only to large corporate recruiting teams with a demonstrated need.
Using Third-Party Chrome Extensions
Some Chrome browser extensions claim to enable seeing a full list of someone’s LinkedIn connections. Examples include “LinkedIn X-Ray Search” and “LinkedIn Network Crawler.” However, LinkedIn actively works to block these types of extensions and addons from accessing private profile data.
Even if an extension temporarily works, LinkedIn is likely to rapidly update their safeguards to render the extension ineffective again. Chrome extensions also pose privacy and malware risks if not carefully vetted. So browser extensions are an unreliable method at best for searching LinkedIn connections.
Table summarizing methods for attempting to search LinkedIn connections
| Method | Does it work? |
|---|---|
| Searching on personal LinkedIn account | No, limited to direct connections |
| LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Partially, surfaces limited 2nd degree connections |
| LinkedIn Recruiter | Partially, surfaces limited 2nd degree connections |
| Boolean search operators | No, ignored by LinkedIn search |
| Google search operators | No, LinkedIn blocks indexing connections |
| Scraping LinkedIn data | No, violates User Agreement |
| Recruiter Corporate account | Yes, but very expensive and limited access |
| Chrome extensions | Unreliable, often blocked by LinkedIn |
Legal and Ethical Concerns
It is important to note that attempting to access LinkedIn member data like a full list of connections raises significant legal and ethical concerns:
– It violates LinkedIn’s User Agreement which strictly prohibits scraping member data or accessing non-public information without permission. Violating the User Agreement can result in termination of your LinkedIn account.
– It may constitute hacking under anti-hacking laws like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) if improperly accessing computer systems without authorization. Hacking charges can result in fines and even criminal prosecution.
– It infringes on the privacy expectations of LinkedIn members who do not intend for their extended network to be viewable by the general public. Accessing private information without consent raises ethical and legal issues.
– Companies who sell services to scrape or view extended LinkedIn connections are likely engaging in unlawful activity by violating the platform’s terms.
So any method that purports to show the full list of someone’s LinkedIn connections is highly questionable legally and ethically. Tread very carefully in this area and do not attempt to compromise the privacy controls put in place by LinkedIn.
Conclusion
LinkedIn limits viewing other members’ connections and extended network to direct 1st degree connections only. Methods that claim to show more than a couple levels of connections through premium tools, browser extensions, Boolean searches, scraping, or other tricks are heavily restricted by LinkedIn specifically to protect member privacy. While LinkedIn once allowed more open access, the platform has rightly increased privacy protections over time as the network grew. Any attempt to improperly bypass these protections likely violates LinkedIn’s policies, end user expectations, and even the law in some cases. So there is no feasible way for the average user to ethically search and compile the full list of someone’s connections on LinkedIn without their consent. The platform’s privacy settings intentionally prevent this kind of extended network visibility.
