LinkedIn allows users to control the visibility of their profiles through the public profile settings. Turning off your public profile on LinkedIn means that your profile will no longer be viewable to people who are not connected to you on LinkedIn.
Why Would You Want to Turn Off Your Public Profile?
Here are some common reasons why someone may want to turn off their public LinkedIn profile:
- Privacy – To limit who can see your profile information
- Reduce unsolicited outreach – Turning off your public profile can reduce unwanted messages from recruiters or salespeople.
- Job search discretion – If you are actively looking for a new job, you may want to be more discreet by making your profile visible only to your direct connections.
- Career break – If you are taking a break from your career, you can turn off public access to indicate you are not currently looking.
- Workplace concerns – Some companies have policies restricting employees’ public professional profiles.
Overall, turning off your public profile gives you more control over who can view and access your profile on LinkedIn.
How Do I Turn Off Public Profile on LinkedIn?
Turning your public profile on or off is easy to do within your LinkedIn account settings:
- Log into your LinkedIn account
- Go to your profile page
- Click on the “Edit public profile & URL” link located just below your profile photo (on the right side of the page)
- This will open your public profile settings
- Uncheck the box next to “Make my public profile visible to anyone on the internet”
- Click Save
Once you save the changes, your public profile will no longer be viewable to people who are not directly connected to you on LinkedIn.
What Visibility Does Turning Off Public Profile Give You?
Here is what turning off your public LinkedIn profile affects:
- Your full profile will only be viewable to your 1st degree LinkedIn connections
- 2nd and 3rd degree connections will only see your name, headline, and industry
- You will not appear in LinkedIn search engine results or Google searches
- Unconnected LinkedIn members will see a “Profile Not Found” page if they try to access your profile URL
- Your LinkedIn profile URL will still be accessible to anyone you share it with directly
So in summary, your full profile content remains visible to your direct LinkedIn connections, but not to the general public or wider LinkedIn membership when your public profile setting is turned off.
What Remains Public With My Profile Turned Off?
While most of your profile content becomes private, some elements of your LinkedIn presence remain public even with a private profile:
- Your name and photo remain visible in any groups you are a member of
- You can still appear as a connection on other people’s profiles
- Any activity you have on public LinkedIn posts and articles remains visible
- Your name remains searchable in reference to any content you share or post on LinkedIn
So you still have some public presence on LinkedIn, but your detailed profile information and connections are not accessible to those outside of your network.
Can I Choose What Parts of My Profile Are Public or Private?
Unfortunately, LinkedIn does not allow granular control to make certain profile sections public while keeping others private. It is an all-or-nothing setting for your full profile visibility.
The options are:
- Public profile – Full profile visible to anyone
- Private profile – Full profile only visible to 1st degree connections
So you cannot pick and choose which parts of your profile are public or limit visibility by profile section.
Can Connections Still See My Full Profile if It’s Private?
Yes, turning off your public profile has no effect on the visibility of your full profile to your existing LinkedIn connections.
Your 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections on LinkedIn will still have full access to view your profile, regardless of your public/private profile setting.
You control the visibility only for people who are not already connected to you in your network. Connections see the same profile content whether you are private or public.
Is My Photo Hidden from Public View?
When you make your LinkedIn profile private, your profile photo is no longer visible to the general public. However, as mentioned above, your photo will still be visible to:
- Your LinkedIn connections (1st, 2nd and 3rd degree)
- Within any LinkedIn groups that you are a member of
- Within posts or content you may have shared publicly on LinkedIn
So your profile picture is technically no longer fully “public” but remains viewable within parts of the LinkedIn network.
Can I Choose to Make Only My Photo Private?
There is no setting to isolate your profile photo and make only that private on LinkedIn. Your options are:
- Photo public along with full profile
- Photo private along with full profile
So your profile photo visibility is tied to your overall public/private profile setting. The two cannot be separated.
Does Turning Off Public Profile Also Change My URL?
No, turning off your public LinkedIn profile does not change or invalidate your unique LinkedIn URL.
For example, if your profile URL was:
www.linkedin.com/in/yourname
That exact same URL remains intact and accessible to anyone you share it with directly, regardless of your public/private setting.
The only difference is that if someone types your URL without being connected to you, they will see a “Profile Not Found” page if your profile is set to private.
Can People Still Find Me by Email if My Profile is Private?
If your profile is fully private, someone searching for your profile by email address on LinkedIn will not be able to locate or view your profile unless they are within your network of LinkedIn connections.
A “Profile Not Found” message appears during email lookups if the profile is private and the searcher is not connected to you.
So turning off your public setting also removes the ability for people to lookup your profile via email address if they are not already connected.
Is There Any Way to Be Completely Hidden on LinkedIn?
While turning off your public profile provides more privacy on LinkedIn, there are still some elements that remain publicly visible even with a private profile, as mentioned earlier.
If you want to be completely hidden from public view on LinkedIn, the only option that comes close is cancelling and deleting your LinkedIn account altogether.
However, some traces of your name may still exist within other profiles, posts, or groups even if you delete your account.
True complete privacy is difficult within a large public social network like LinkedIn. Some visibility remains in parts of the network whether your personal profile is public or private.
If I Apply to Jobs, Is My Profile Visible to Recruiters?
When you submit job applications via LinkedIn, only the portions of your profile that are set to public visibility are shared with the poster/recruiter by default.
If your full profile is private, the recruiter would only see your name, headline, and industry.
However, most job applications on LinkedIn give you the option to check a box that shares your full private profile with that specific poster as part of your application. This overrides the profile visibility setting temporarily for that recruiter.
So you can still share your full profile selectively with recruiters and job posters, even if you choose to keep your profile private overall.
Does a Private Profile Affect My LinkedIn Activity?
Outside of visibility, turning off your public LinkedIn profile does not restrict you from participating actively on LinkedIn in any way. You can still:
- Connect with others
- Join groups
- Comment and post
- Share articles
- Message connections
- Search and view profiles
- Use LinkedIn Learning
All LinkedIn capabilities function as usual with a private profile. You simply have more control over who sees your detailed profile information.
Is There Any Reason to Keep My Profile Public?
Here are some reasons you may want to keep your LinkedIn profile public rather than private:
- Actively seeking new career opportunities
- Open to new business partnerships or clients
- Want to establish yourself as an industry influencer
- Aspiring thought leader seeking to build followers
- Freelancer or consultant wanting to be discoverable
- Looking to attract venture capital or investors
Essentially, if you want to maximize exposure, networking, and opportunity, a public profile can help increase your discoverability and connections on LinkedIn.
Can I Temporarily Toggle My Profile Visibility?
One tip is that you can quickly toggle your public profile setting on and off as needed if you want to experiment or temporarily make your profile public or private again.
Just visit your profile settings again and recheck or uncheck the public visibility box to immediately change your privacy level at any time.
This allows flexibility if you only want to be private some of the time. The change takes effect right after saving the setting.
Is the LinkedIn Mobile App Different?
The LinkedIn mobile app has its own settings to separately control profile visibility. So you need to also update the privacy setting within the LinkedIn app to turn off public visibility on mobile.
By default, the mobile app profile visibility mirrors whatever you have set on the main LinkedIn website. But you can override it as needed in your app settings.
Does LinkedIn Notify Connections When I Go Private?
No, turning off your public setting does not generate any automatic notices or alerts to your connections on LinkedIn.
There is no indication given within your existing connections’ profiles that your profile has changed from public to private. It occurs silently behind the scenes without notifications.
The only change is that now unconnected members will not be able to view or interact with your full profile anymore, unless directly connected to you.
Can I Message Non-Connections if My Profile is Private?
Typically, you can only directly message people who you are already connected to on LinkedIn. However, there are a couple exceptions:
- If you have a paid Premium LinkedIn account, you can message anyone.
- You can message non-connections who have already viewed your profile.
So having a private profile does not prevent you from reaching out to non-connections in some circumstances – it only limits who can message you first.
Is There Any Downside to Going Private?
Some potential drawbacks of turning off your public LinkedIn profile include:
- Reduced networking and exposure to new opportunities
- Declines in followers and viewers of your content
- Fewer unsolicited inquiries and messages from interested parties
- Less discoverability for your personal brand and expertise
- Spillover effects on search engine optimization (SEO)
However, for many people, the benefits of increased privacy outweigh potential downsides. You control the optimal balance for your needs.
Can I Return to Public Profile Later On?
As mentioned previously, you can easily change your profile visibility setting again at any time. Just re-enable public access within your profile settings.
This immediately turns your profile public again in LinkedIn search results and Google after saving the change.
Toggling between public and private is simple to do as needed for your circumstances.
Is Going Private Permanent or Just Temporary?
That decision is entirely up to you and your needs at any given time. Maintaining a private LinkedIn profile is not a permanent one-way choice.
Some people go private only temporarily during a job search or career transition. Others choose to stay private indefinitely for maximum privacy.
You can adapt your profile visibility to suit your priorities as they evolve over time on LinkedIn.
Conclusion
The key takeaways are:
- Turning off public access limits visibility for your LinkedIn profile and connections lists to direct connections only.
- Your name, photo, and activity remain viewable in parts of the LinkedIn network.
- A private setting reduces unsolicited outreach and creates more privacy.
- You can change between public and private at any time in your settings.
- Weigh the pros and cons based on your personal brand and career objectives.
- A private profile still fully participates in LinkedIn but becomes undiscoverable by the general public.
Adjusting your profile visibility is personal to each member’s approach. Find the right balance for your professional needs and privacy concerns on LinkedIn.