LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site, with over 300 million users worldwide. Many professionals use LinkedIn to network, find jobs, connect with business partners, and build their personal brand.
When you create your LinkedIn profile, you have the option to add your location – including your city and country. Displaying your location can be beneficial in some cases – for example, recruiters may search for candidates in a certain geographic area. However, there are also reasons why you may prefer to keep your location private on LinkedIn.
In this article, we’ll discuss whether or not you can hide your location on LinkedIn. We’ll cover the pros and cons of showing your location, how to remove your location from your profile, limitations, and tips for maintaining some privacy around your location.
Should You Show Your Location on LinkedIn?
Here are some potential benefits of displaying your location on your LinkedIn profile:
– Networking locally. Adding your city and country allows people in your geographic area to more easily find and connect with you. This can be especially helpful for in-person networking and making local professional connections.
– Discovered by local recruiters. Recruiters often search LinkedIn for candidates within a certain mileage radius of a job location. Showing your location makes it easier for recruiters to find you for local job opportunities.
– Share local insights. You can establish yourself as a thought leader on topics related to your geographic area by sharing local insights, news, and trends.
– Personalized communications. When connecting with someone, it gives context if they know what city you’re messaging them from.
However, there are also some potential downsides to showing your location:
– Privacy concerns. General privacy concerns around sharing your location with your broader network. Stalkers or bad actors could potentially use this info to find out where you live or work.
– Irrelevant networking. You may get connection requests from people in your area even if you have no other common interests or professional reasons to connect.
– Location discrimination. Unfortunately, some recruiters or business connections may make unfair assumptions based on your location.
– Security risks. In some cases, displaying your location could make you more vulnerable to security risks like burglary or identity theft when traveling.
Overall, think carefully about your own priorities, comfort level, and career goals when deciding whether or not to display your LinkedIn location. There are pros and cons to both options.
How to Remove Your Location from LinkedIn
If you decide you’d prefer to keep your location private on LinkedIn, here is how to remove it from your profile:
1. Go to your LinkedIn profile page and click “View profile” to edit your profile.
2. Scroll down and click on the “Contact Info” section.
3. Delete the information in the “Location” field. Remove your city and country.
4. Click Save.
Once you save the changes, your location will no longer be visible to others on your LinkedIn profile.
Limitations
Although you can remove your location from your profile, there are some places on LinkedIn where your location can still be visible or inferred by others:
– Previous positions and education. If your past companies and schools display the city and country, your network can still get clues as to where you have lived and worked. You can choose to omit the city and country for your positions and education.
– Posts and articles. If you write a post referencing events or news in a certain city, it indicates you have some geographic connection to that place. Use judgment when mentioning locations in posts.
– LinkedIn notifications and emails. When you connect with someone, the notification may indicate your city and country even if it’s not on your profile. Your location may also appear in email notifications from LinkedIn.
– Connections locations. Even if you remove your own location, your connections’ locations are still visible. People may infer your location through the places your connections work and live.
– Remote work location. If you indicate you are open to remote work or working from a certain city, recruiters may assume you live there or are planning to relocate.
So while you can directly remove your location from your profile, there are still ways your general location can be inferred from other information.
Tips for Maintaining Privacy Around Your Location
Here are some additional tips for maintaining privacy around your location on LinkedIn:
– Be vague if displaying. If you do opt to show your location, consider only displaying your country or general metropolitan area rather than your specific town.
– Use a vague location like “New England” rather than your specific city and state. Or put your country but not city.
– Omit location details from your prior positions and education. Don’t display the city or country for past companies and schools.
– Be cautious when posting articles or updates referencing your geographic area or local events. Consider using more general language like “In my region” rather than naming your city and state.
– Customize notifications and visibility settings. Adjust your settings so your location doesn’t display in notifications and limit profile visibility when possible.
– Use privacy mode when traveling. Privacy mode temporarily removes your name and photo from your profile. This can be useful when traveling to limit security risks.
– Connect selectively. Be prudent when accepting connection requests from those in your geographic area. Only connect with people you know and trust.
– List remote preferences when job searching. If you’re open to opportunities in multiple locations, list that you are willing to relocate or work remotely.
Using Alternate Location Details
In some cases, professionals on LinkedIn choose to display an alternate location rather than their real location for increased privacy:
– Major metro area nearby. List the nearest well-known city, even if you live in a smaller town nearby. Helps give some indication of your region without naming your specific location.
– State or country only. As mentioned above, listing just your state (“NY”) or country (“United States”) provides some level of location context without the specifics.
– Office location instead of home. If you primarily work from an office, list the office’s city and state rather than your home location.
– Vague or fictional location. Some professionals list made up locations like “New England” or even fictional places like “Gotham City.”
The downside to fictional locations is it can come across as deceptive. But listing a major city near you or just your country can help strike a balance between privacy and providing some level of location context.
Conclusion
Displaying your location on LinkedIn can facilitate local networking and help recruiters find you, but also raises privacy concerns. If you wish to keep your details private, you can remove your city and country from your profile, but your location can still be inferred from other profile information.
Carefully consider your comfort level, career goals, and privacy priorities when deciding whether to show your LinkedIn location. Use vagueness, omissions, privacy settings, and discretion when posting to maintain some privacy around your physical location. With the right precautions, you can limit visibility of your location while still benefiting from LinkedIn.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my LinkedIn location always public?
No, you can remove your city and country from your profile so your location is not visible. However, it may still be possible for others to infer your general location from your connections, past positions, posts, and other profile info.
Can I show a fake location on LinkedIn?
Technically you can, but this is generally not recommended as it could be seen as deceptive. A better option is to list a larger metro area near where you live or just your state/country for a vague sense of location.
Does location matter for LinkedIn networking?
It can facilitate networking on a local level, but it’s not critical. You can still effectively network on LinkedIn without listing your exact location. Focus on listing your skills, experience, and interests instead.
Should I omit my company’s location if I want privacy?
Listing just the company name without the city and country is an option. Recruiters will still be able to identify the employer, but it obscures your exact geographic location. Alternatively, list the nearest major metro area instead of the precise office location.
Can LinkedIn tell I’m signed in from a certain location?
Yes, LinkedIn can likely identify your usage location based on your device and IP address. Your access location data may be tracked and logged by LinkedIn even if your profile location is hidden.
Does LinkedIn show my location when messaging?
In some cases, yes – when you send InMail messages your recipient will see your location listed below your name even if you removed it from your profile. Adjust notification settings or use privacy mode when messaging to obscure your location.
Is there a way to completely hide my location on LinkedIn?
Not completely, but you can take steps like removing it from your profile, omitting it from past positions, adjusting visibility settings, using privacy mode, and being cautious when posting location details. This will help limit visibility and exposure of your location.
Can I set my location to be visible only to connections?
Unfortunately no – LinkedIn does not allow you to customize location visibility settings. It’s either displayed publicly on your profile or fully removed. The best options are showing a larger metro area instead of your exact location, or removing it entirely.
Is it bad to list a fake location on LinkedIn?
It’s generally not advisable, as misleading information on your profile raises ethical concerns and could harm your reputation if discovered. There are other ways to maintain some privacy around your location that are more appropriate, like using a large metro nearby or just listing your country/state.
Can recruiters find me without my LinkedIn location?
Yes, recruiters have many ways of searching for and finding relevant candidates beyond just location, such as by keyword, skills, company, job title, groups, and connections. Listing your location facilitates location-based searches, but is not required for discoverability.