LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for networking and career development. With over 722 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform on the internet. As such, most professionals maintain a public profile on LinkedIn to connect with colleagues, showcase their skills and experience, and explore new career opportunities.
However, there may be circumstances where you wish to hide or disable your LinkedIn profile for privacy or other reasons. Here are some key things that happen when you hide your LinkedIn profile.
Your profile is no longer visible in LinkedIn search
The most immediate effect of hiding your LinkedIn profile is that it will no longer show up in LinkedIn’s search results. Other users will not be able to find or view your profile by searching for your name or other profile details on LinkedIn.
When you disable your profile, LinkedIn removes it from their directory. Your connections will still be able to see your profile if they have a direct link to it, but general users will not find you in searches.
You appear as “Private Profile” to your connections
Although your first-degree connections on LinkedIn can still access your profile through a direct link, they will see a “Private Profile” placeholder image instead of your photo. Your name, headline, and other profile details will also be hidden from your connections.
This gives your connections notice that you have hidden your profile while limiting exposure of your personal details. Only your shared connections (second and third-degree connections) will see you as fully disconnected.
Your profile will not appear in “People Also Viewed”
LinkedIn’s “People Also Viewed” module on profile pages suggests profiles that viewers of that profile may also want to connect with. When your profile is hidden, it will no longer show up in this section on your connections’ profiles.
This reduces the chance of indirect connections stumbling upon your hidden profile and sending unwanted connection requests.
You cannot appear in search results or suggestions
As your profile is no longer indexed by LinkedIn while hidden, you will not appear as a suggested connection or search result for any user. New users will not find or connect with you organically through LinkedIn.
Your profile will also not appear to groups or companies you are associated with in “People Also Viewed” widgets. You essentially become invisible on the platform.
Your activity, content, and data remain intact
Importantly, hiding your profile does not delete any of your profile data, content, or activity on LinkedIn. All your connections, posts, media, and other data remain saved under your account.
Once you unhide your profile, all previously published content and information will be visible again. Hiding the profile only removes it from public visibility temporarily.
You can still message your connections
Although your profile is hidden, you can still access your LinkedIn account and send messages to people in your connection network. You just become invisible to wider discovery on LinkedIn.
So you can still leverage your connections for career opportunities or advice even with a hidden profile. Just initiate conversations directly rather than waiting for them to find you.
You cannot appear on leaderboards or rankings
While your profile is hidden, you will no longer qualify to appear on LinkedIn’s various leaderboards and rankings. These include rankings for top voices, most engaged profiles, and most viewed content.
Since your content is no longer publicly accessible, LinkedIn cannot rank or showcase your profile in standout lists and features.
You lose out on passive networking opportunities
Perhaps the biggest downside of hiding your LinkedIn profile is missing out on networking and career opportunities that come from passive discovery. With an invisible profile, you have to be much more proactive in finding and reaching out to connections.
Many users find new jobs, clients, partners, and collaborators simply by having a compelling public profile that draws the right people to them. This passive discovery is reduced when your profile is hidden.
You appear fully disconnected to new connections
Any new users who connect with you after you hide your profile will see your profile as fully disconnected, even if they are first-degree connections. They will have to proactively message you to indicate they are connected.
So if you plan to continue networking on LinkedIn while hidden, be sure to inform new connections that you have a private profile so they are not confused by your disconnected appearance.
You can still see who views your profile
LinkedIn’s Premium account holders can see who views their profile within the last 90 days, including when it is hidden or private. So hiding your profile does not prevent you from seeing profile visitors.
This allows you to still leverage your network and identify interested parties even without public exposure. Although again, you will likely get fewer profile views overall when hidden.
You can selectively show your profile
For a more nuanced approach, you can change your profile visibility settings to allow select groups to see your profile while hiding it from the general public. For example:
- Visible only to your first-degree connections
- Visible only to connections within specific companies or groups
- Visible only to paid Premium account holders
This allows you to retain some visibility and discovery within your target network while limiting general exposure.
Conclusion
In summary, hiding your LinkedIn profile removes it from public visibility to give you greater privacy and reduce unsolicited outreach. However, this also limits your passive networking capabilities and prevents discovery by potentially useful new connections.
Weigh your specific priorities and career situation to determine if hiding your profile is the right decision. You can always unhide it later as needed. Focus on actively engaging your current connections in the meantime to maximize the hidden profile approach.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Increased privacy and less unsolicited outreach | Loss of passive networking opportunities |
Prevents unwanted contact or attention | Cannot appear on LinkedIn leaderboards or rankings |
Retain access to your network for messaging | New connections only see you as disconnected |
Profile data remains intact | Less profile views and engagement overall |
Can selectively show profile to some groups | Cannot leverage public profile for opportunities |