LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 850 million members. With so many professionals on the platform, it’s common for people to want to search for and view other members’ profiles. A natural question that arises is: Will the other person know if I search for or view their profile on LinkedIn?
The Short Answer
In most cases, no, someone will not be notified or know if you search for or view their LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn does not automatically alert members when their profile has been searched or viewed by others. There are some exceptions and scenarios in which a person may find out you viewed their profile, but in general, your LinkedIn searching and profile viewing is anonymous.
When Might Someone Know You Viewed Their Profile?
Here are some cases in which someone may become aware you searched for or looked at their LinkedIn profile:
- You are directly connected to them on LinkedIn. Your 1st degree connections can see when you visit their profiles.
- You viewed their profile while logged out of your account. LinkedIn members can see anonymous profile views.
- They have a Premium account. Paid subscribers can enable profile view notifications.
- You connected with them afterwards. They may guess you first viewed their profile.
- You contacted them referencing info only on their profile.
- You accidentally clicked “Add Note” on their profile.
Let’s explore these scenarios further:
You Are Directly Connected on LinkedIn
If you are directly connected with someone as a 1st degree connection on LinkedIn, they will be notified when you visit their profile. This allows you to keep up with activities from your network.
However, you can turn off your ability to see which connections have viewed your profile, so even a direct connection may not know you viewed their profile if they have disabled this feature.
You Viewed Their Profile While Logged Out
LinkedIn shows users anonymous statistics about who has viewed their profile, including people who viewed their profile without being logged into a LinkedIn account.
So if you search for and view someone’s profile completely logged out, the profile owner will see an anonymous viewer in their stats. However, they will not know it is specifically you.
They Have a Premium Account
LinkedIn Premium subscribers can elect to turn on notifications that inform them every time their profile has been viewed.
This means if you view someone’s profile who has the “profile view” notification setting enabled in their Premium account, they will be alerted of your profile view.
However, even in this case, they won’t specifically know it was you viewing their profile. The notification just informs them an unnamed viewer looked at their profile.
You Connected Afterwards
If you view someone’s profile, and then later connect with them on LinkedIn, they may be able to deduce that you likely viewed their profile prior to connecting.
However, there would be no way for them to know for sure you looked at their profile before requesting a connection.
You Contacted Them Referencing Profile Info
If you reference information that is only available on someone’s LinkedIn profile when you contact them, it may indicate to them that you had viewed their profile beforehand.
For example, if their profile lists an obscure previous employer you mention in your outreach to them, they may figure you must have come across that info on their LinkedIn profile at some point.
You Accidentally Clicked “Add Note” on Their Profile
LinkedIn gives the ability for premium account holders to add private notes to connections’ profiles. If you accidentally click this “Add Note” button while viewing someone’s profile, the profile owner will be notified even if you don’t end up leaving a note.
So make sure not to inadvertently click buttons like this when browsing anonymously, as it can tip the person off that you were looking at their profile!
When You Might Want Someone to Know You Viewed Their Profile
While most LinkedIn profile viewing is anonymous, there are some cases where you may want to intentionally let someone know that you viewed their profile:
- After a job interview, so they know you are interested and engaged.
- After meeting someone professionally, to find and connect with them.
- When you are getting ready to reach out to them.
- To remind someone you are interested in them professionally.
Here are some best practices for intentionally letting someone know you have viewed their LinkedIn profile:
- View their profile while logged into your account.
- Connect with them soon after viewing the profile.
- Reference something on their profile when you reach out.
- Directly tell them you came across and viewed their profile.
Doing any of these things soon after viewing someone’s profile can strongly signal to them that you were checking out their LinkedIn profile intentionally.
How to Browse LinkedIn Anonymously
If you want to search for and browse LinkedIn profiles without others receiving notifications or indications, here are some tips:
- Fully log out of your LinkedIn account before searching.
- Avoid connecting with or contacting the person after viewing their profile.
- Don’t reference anything specific only available on their profile.
- Be cautious clicking any buttons or features on their profile.
- Use private browsing mode on your internet browser.
As long as you stay logged out of LinkedIn and are careful in your subsequent interactions, your searching and profile viewing should remain completely anonymous in most cases.
Limits to LinkedIn’s Profile Viewing Data
While LinkedIn does provide some visibility into who has viewed your profile, this data is limited and anonymous. Here are some restrictions:
- Only total number of profile views are shown, not specific people.
- Only connections’ profile views are identifiable.
- Profile views only show for past 90 days.
- Private browsing limits tracking of viewing data.
So even when you are logged in, much of your LinkedIn searching and profile viewing behavior is not tracked or revealed over time.
Ethical Considerations
While most LinkedIn profile viewing is anonymous, it is worth thinking through the ethics of searching for and viewing someone’s profile without their knowledge. Here are some questions to consider:
- Is your purpose for viewing their profile legitimate and professional?
- Could viewing their full profile be an invasion of privacy?
- Are you using information from their profile appropriately?
- How would you feel if roles were reversed?
Thinking through these types of questions can help ensure you are using LinkedIn’s profile viewing features responsibly.
Conclusion
In summary, typically someone will not know if you search for or view their profile on LinkedIn, as profile viewing is designed to be anonymous for non-connections.
There are some exceptions, such as if you are directly connected, they have Premium notifications enabled, or you contact them afterwards referencing their profile.
But in general, you can browse and search LinkedIn without others being notified or informed that you viewed their profiles. Just be thoughtful in how you use any profile information you uncover.