LinkedIn public profiles allow users to share professional information and connect with others on the platform. However, it’s important to understand who can actually view your public profile and the information it contains. In this article, we’ll break down exactly who can see your LinkedIn public profile and what they can see.
Anyone on the Internet
The default setting for LinkedIn profiles is “public”. This means anyone on the internet can view your public profile, even if they don’t have a LinkedIn account. Your public profile will appear in Google search results. Essentially, your public profile acts as your professional online presence and anyone can access it if they search for you online.
Some key things that are visible to the public on your profile include:
– Your name
– Your profile photo
– Your current position and company
– Your industry
– Your geographic location
– Your LinkedIn headline
– Your summary/about section
– Your experience and education sections
– Your skills and endorsements
– Any publications, patents, courses, projects, honors & awards, test scores, languages, etc. that you’ve added
– Your public activity such as posts and articles you’ve shared
So in summary, if your profile is set to public, virtually anyone on the internet can see all of your professional information.
LinkedIn Members
In addition to anyone on the internet, all LinkedIn members can view your public profile, regardless of whether they are directly connected to you or not. They can access your profile by searching your name in LinkedIn search.
The only difference is LinkedIn members who are not connected to you will not be able to see your connections list or the names of people who have viewed your profile.
Your Connections
Your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn will have additional visibility beyond your public profile. They can view not just your profile, but also your full connections list and all of your activity on LinkedIn, such as jobs you’ve looked at, groups you’ve joined, posts you’ve liked, etc.
Essentially your 1st-degree connections have insider access and visibility into everything you do on the LinkedIn platform, beyond just your public profile info.
2nd-degree, 3rd-degree and Group Connections
Your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections on LinkedIn have the same access as any other LinkedIn member who is not connected to you. They can view and access your public profile but not your full connections list or account activity.
The same goes for connections that were made through LinkedIn groups. They can only see your public profile.
Profile Visitors
Anyone who has visited your public LinkedIn profile, whether they are a LinkedIn member or not, will appear under “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” on your LinkedIn account. You can see the names of up to 500 profile visitors.
Note that visitors who were signed out of their LinkedIn account when they viewed your profile will appear as “anonymous”. You won’t be able to see those visitors’ names or professional information.
Recruiter Accounts
If you have a free basic LinkedIn account, recruiters with Recruiter Lite, Recruiter Corporate, Talent Insights, and Premium Business accounts can view your public profile as well as limited information from your account activity. This includes:
– Profile views
– Skills
– Current company and title
– Location
– Industry
– Past companies
– Education
– Connections in common
– Groups in common
With a Premium account, you can control recruiter access to your name, headline, and other profile info. You can also restrict access to your full profile, activity, and connections list.
Your Network’s Connections
Your network, meaning your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn, can see limited profile information about you when they visit another person’s profile.
For example, if John is connected to you and views Jane’s profile, who is also connected to you, he will see that you and Jane share a connection. This appears under Jane’s contact info on her profile.
He can then click on your name to view your public profile, but he won’t see any additional activity or connections beyond your public profile since he’s not directly connected to you.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Users
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium sales tool that allows users to view limited profile data beyond just public profiles.
With Sales Navigator, users can see your name, headline, current title, past titles, current company, past companies, school, industry, location, mutual connections, profile stats, and lead gen forms you’ve filled out.
However, they cannot view your full profile, activity, connections list, or contact information unless you are directly connected.
LinkedIn Recruit and Job Seekers
When you apply to jobs through LinkedIn, your full profile becomes visible to recruiters and hiring managers at that company. This gives them an inside look at your profile, activity, connections, and contact info during the hiring process.
Similarly, when you contact job posters directly through LinkedIn, your full profile becomes visible to them.
This allows recruiters and hiring managers to thoroughly evaluate you as a candidate based on your full LinkedIn presence.
LinkedIn Ad Targeting
LinkedIn allows advertisers to target ads based on user data and activity on the platform. As a result, some of your profile info and activity may be used to determine which ads you see on LinkedIn.
For example, advertisers can target based on profile info like your job title, industry, interests, company, location, age, gender, etc. depending on your account settings. Activities like the groups you’ve joined may also be used for ad targeting.
While advertisers won’t have access to your full profile and contact details, some of your data is used behind the scenes to target relevant ads to you on LinkedIn.
Premium Account Holders
As mentioned for recruiter, sales, and advertising accounts above, there are a few cases where other premium account holders may have limited visibility beyond just your fully public profile.
For example, premium subscribers can see more in-depth profile analytics such as how your profile ranks and performs compared to others in your industry.
Some other premium account types like job seekers may also have access to contact information and full profiles when applying to jobs through LinkedIn.
Overall though, standard premium account holders don’t have much more access than a public user outside of some performance analytics and metrics tied to your public profile data.
LinkedIn Partners and Developers
In some cases, LinkedIn may share certain profile data and analytics with third-party partners, developers, and API platforms to enable services and integrations built on top of LinkedIn.
For example, partners like Microsoft can access profile data to enable LinkedIn integration across Microsoft apps and services. Statistical data may also be shared with select partners and platforms.
For the most part though, LinkedIn does not share personal identifiable profile details like contact info with third-party partners and developers without your consent. Public profile data may be selectively shared to power integrations and services.
Account Settings For Controlling Visibility
While your public profile is visible widely by default, LinkedIn does offer some account settings and options to limit visibility:
– You can change your profile visibility from public to “Connections only” or “Private mode”
– You can control what profile sections are visible to your 2nd and 3rd degree networks
– You can limit visibility of your connections list
– You can customize visibility by individual profile section as well
– Under privacy settings, you can limit ad targeting and recommendations
– You can block specific members from viewing your profile
By adjusting these settings, you can limit certain profile visibility and custom tailor it as needed. While profiles are public by default, you do have control over what is seen by different audiences.
Conclusion
In summary, here’s a quick rundown of who can see your LinkedIn public profile:
– Anyone on the internet can see your fully public profile
– All LinkedIn members can see your public profile
– Your 1st-degree connections have visibility into your profile, activity, and connections list
– 2nd and 3rd-degree connections see your public profile only
– Profile visitors appear under “Who’s Viewed Your Profile”
– Recruiters may have limited visibility into your profile and activity
– Your network’s connections see limited profile info when shared in common
– Sales Navigator users see profile data but not full connections
– During job applications, recruiters/hiring managers can see your full profile
– Profile data may inform targeted ads on LinkedIn
– Some premium account holders can see enhanced profile analytics
– Select partners and platforms may be granted access to public profile data
You can control visibility under account settings. But overall, your public LinkedIn presence is visible to a wide range of audiences. It’s your professional identity and resume online. Understanding who can see your profile can help ensure you put your best foot forward on LinkedIn.