LinkedIn is one of the most popular professional networking platforms, with over 740 million members worldwide. Making connections is a key activity on LinkedIn, allowing you to grow your professional network and keep in touch with colleagues, clients, and recruiters.
However, sometimes you may send a connection request on LinkedIn and not see it reflected on your account or the recipient’s profile. There are a few potential reasons why your LinkedIn connection requests may not be going through or showing up.
Your account settings are restricting requests
One of the most common reasons connection requests do not show up is due to your own account settings. On LinkedIn, you can control who can send you connection requests and how you receive them.
For example, your settings may be configured to:
- Only allow connection requests from people who know your email address or appear in your “Imported Contacts” list
- Only accept requests from people who are 3rd-degree connections or closer
- Require you to confirm receipt of a connection request before it’s displayed
If your settings are highly restrictive, many of the requests you send may be blocked or subject to confirmation before they are visible. Be sure to check your LinkedIn account settings and adjust them if needed to allow more connection requests through.
The recipient’s account has restrictions
In the same way your own account settings may block requests, so too can the settings of the person you are trying to connect with. Even if you have very open settings, if the recipient has their settings highly locked down, your request may never make it through to their account.
For example, they may configure their account to only receive requests from people in specific companies or titles. Unless you meet their criteria, your request won’t show up for them.
There isn’t much you can do in this situation unless you know the person. You can try reaching out to them through other channels to request they accept your request or adjust their LinkedIn settings.
LinkedIn’s spam filters are blocking you
LinkedIn automatically screens incoming connection requests using filters and algorithms to detect spammy or malicious activity. If you are sending large volumes of connection requests indiscriminately, LinkedIn may treat your requests as spam and prevent many of them from going through.
To avoid being flagged, be selective in who you choose to connect with. Only send requests to people you know, have interacted with professionally, or share common connections, interests and credentials with. Also avoid using any third-party tools or services to automate connection requests.
You have hit LinkedIn’s daily request limit
To prevent spam, LinkedIn enforces limits on the number of connection requests you can send per day. Free account holders are limited to about 300 requests per day. Paid Premium and Sales Navigator subscribers have higher daily limits.
If you are sending out a very high volume of requests in a short period of time, you may hit this limit. Once you do, any additional requests will be blocked for the remainder of the 24 hour window. Spread out your requests over multiple days to stay under the cap.
There is a technical issue
In some cases, a technical glitch on LinkedIn’s end may prevent connection requests from going through properly. Server errors, performance issues, or app bugs could all feasibly interfere with request delivery.
Try sending the requests again later or via a different method (mobile app vs. desktop site). If the issue persists, it’s likely site-wide and you’ll have to wait for LinkedIn to resolve it.
Your account or the recipient’s account is restricted
LinkedIn will impose restrictions or bans on accounts that violate their policies. For example, an account may be temporarily restricted from sending messages or connection requests if it’s caught spamming others.
If your account or the recipient’s account is in restricted status, you’ll be unable to send or receive connection requests until the restrictions are lifted.
The request is stuck pending confirmation
As mentioned above, some account settings require confirming connection requests before they will be displayed. As the sender, your request may be stuck in pending status until the recipient logs in and confirms it.
Similarly, if you have your own account set to confirm requests first, incoming requests will be pending until you manually confirm them. Don’t forget to periodically check your settings and confirm any requests awaiting approval.
You input the wrong profile URL or email
This is an obvious one, but double check that you entered the correct profile URL or email address for the person when submitting the connection request. If there is even a small typo or error in the address, LinkedIn will be unable to match it with a registered user.
Carefully verify the email or profile URL you used for the request and re-submit it if needed. Copying and pasting the URL is better than typing it manually.
The recipient deleted their account
If the person you tried to connect with deleted their LinkedIn account, your request will effectively be sent into the void with no account to receive it. Obviously, deleted accounts will show no sign of ever receiving the request.
Do a quick LinkedIn search to see if the recipient’s profile still exists. If not, it’s likely they closed their account and you’ll have to connect some other way.
You already have a pending request or are connected
LinkedIn will not let you send multiple connection requests to the same person. If you already have a previous request still pending or are already connected, any new requests will be blocked.
Before trying to resend a request, check to see if you are currently connected to the recipient or have an older request still open. Withdraw the old request or disconnect from the recipient before sending a new one.
The recipient ignored your request
Unfortunately, there is always the possibility the recipient saw your connection request but chose to ignore it. Rather than directly declining it, they simply took no action to accept or reject it.
You won’t receive any notification in this case, but this may be the reason your request went into a black hole with no response. Don’t take it personally and try connecting with others.
Following up on unconfirmed requests
If your connection requests seem to frequently go unanswered, there are a few follow-up steps you can take to get confirmation:
- Politely write to the recipient asking them to confirm your pending request
- Check back after a week to see if the requests are still pending
- Connect with the recipient through other channels like email or social media
- Leverage mutual connections to introduce yourself
With persistence and some extra effort, you can figure out why your requests are not being confirmed and get them in front of the right people.
Best practices for sending requests
To avoid having your LinkedIn requests go into a black hole, follow these best practices:
- Personalize each request with a message
- Only connect with people you know or share common bonds with
- Watch your daily request limit
- Follow up on pending requests
- Keep your account in good standing by avoiding spam
- Triple check profile URLs and email addresses
Conclusion
There are a variety of reasons your LinkedIn connection requests may not be visible or receiving responses. The most common problems are restrictive account settings, spam filtering, technical issues, or user errors like incorrect profile URLs. With some diligence, you can troubleshoot and resolve most of these problems.
Make sure to follow up on pending requests, adhere to LinkedIn’s rules on spam, and use best practices when sending connections. With some extra effort, you’ll see more of your requests making it to the right people.