Quick Answer
Putting your location on your LinkedIn profile is optional. You don’t have to include your location if you don’t want to. However, adding your location can help make your profile more discoverable and provide relevant context about you to viewers. Some key things to consider are:
- Adding a location allows recruiters and employers in your area to more easily find you for local job opportunities.
- It gives connections a sense of where you are based and your local network.
- You can list your location narrowly (city/state) or broadly (country) depending on your preferences.
- Leaving it blank makes your location ambiguous and less searchable.
- Some people prefer to keep their location private for personal or security reasons.
Overall, including a location can be beneficial but is not required. Think about your own preferences, career goals, and privacy concerns to decide what makes the most sense for your profile.
Should I put my full location on my profile?
When adding a location to your LinkedIn profile, you have a few options for how precise you want to be:
- Full city and country (e.g. Seattle, WA United States)
- Just city and state (e.g. Seattle, WA)
- Only country (e.g. United States)
- No location at all
Here are some factors to help decide how specific to get with your location:
- Narrow locations aid local networking and help recruiters find you for nearby job opportunities.
- Broad locations maintain some privacy and flexibility if you may be open to opportunities nationally/globally.
- List only the country if you want to indicate your time zone without too much detail.
- Leave it blank if you do not want your location known for privacy reasons.
In summary, there are benefits to listing your full city and country if you want to maximize local connections and visibility. However, you can also use just a city/state or country if you prefer being less specific. Choose the option that best aligns with your priorities and level of comfort sharing location details online.
What are the pros of displaying my location?
Here are some potential benefits of adding your location to your LinkedIn profile:
- Increased discoverability for local opportunities – When recruiters and hiring managers search for candidates in your city or region, including your location makes it easier for you to appear in results and be considered for relevant openings.
- Tap into your local network – Displaying your location allows nearby connections and alumni of local schools/companies to more easily find and connect with you to build your local professional network.
- Provide context for your experiences – Seeing the city and country where you are based gives helpful context about your past roles and education when reviewing your profile.
- Show availability for in-person engagements – Your location shows if you are based close enough to readily meet up for conferences, events, informational interviews, and client meetings.
- Indicate your time zone – Even just listing your country helps convey your general time zone to make scheduling and communicating easier.
Overall, a visible location can enhance your discoverability, networking, context, and logistics coordination on LinkedIn. It helps align your profile with relevant opportunities and people in your geographic area.
What are the cons of displaying my location?
Here are some potential downsides of adding your location to your LinkedIn profile:
- Reduced privacy – Displaying your exact city and country gives away more personal details and makes it easier for anyone to determine where you live and work.
- Pigeon-holed to local roles – Recruiters may assume you are only interested in or available for positions in your immediate area, even if you are open to opportunities more broadly.
- Location bias – Some companies sort search results by location and may unconsciously rank local candidates higher, even if you have the skills to work remotely.
- Security concerns – For individuals such as doctors, lawyers, or those who have dealt with stalkers/harassment, sharing their location may raise safety issues.
- Not always relevant – If you work remotely or are willing to relocate, including a location can seem arbitrary or misleading to profile viewers.
In general, location can introduce biases, reduced privacy, and assumptions that you are geographically limited in your job search. Consider your own priorities, risks, and flexibility before choosing to display this info.
What if I want my location visible only to recruiters or connections?
LinkedIn gives you a couple options to display your location only to certain audiences:
- Profile visibility settings – Adjust your profile visibility to limit access to connections only or connections of connections. Your location will only appear for those audiences.
- Recruiter profile visibility – In your Settings & Privacy menu, toggle recruiter profile visibility off. This will hide your full profile and location from recruiters who are not connections.
Using these settings, you can show location details only to your direct connections or second-degree connections. Another option is to toggle off visibility for recruiters you are not connected to.
This balances broadening exposure among your network while limiting visibility from the general public and unconnected recruiters. You maintain some privacy without entirely eliminating the benefits of displaying a location.
Should I put a fake location or leave it blank for privacy?
If displaying your real location on your LinkedIn profile raises privacy concerns or other issues for you, here are two alternatives to consider:
- Leave it blank – Simply don’t fill out the location field on your profile. This will remove any doubts and prevent assumptions based on your location.
- Use a fake location – List a city, state, or country that is not your real location. This provides some general regional or time zone context without revealing your exact area.
Points to weigh with each approach:
Considerations | Leave Blank | Fake Location |
Privacy protection | High -cannot be identified | Medium – general region known |
Local discoverability | Low -cannot be found by location | Medium – found in broad geography |
Location biases | Low – no assumptions made | Medium -some bias can occur |
Resume alignment | Harder to align – location unknown | Easier to align – consistent geography |
Overall, leaving it blank gives you the highest privacy protection but lowest local visibility. Using a fake location balances privacy and discoverability. Assess your own tolerances for risk, visibility, and alignment to guide your decision.
What are some alternatives to displaying a location?
If you want to avoid adding your location to your LinkedIn profile altogether, here are some alternative ways to provide useful context:
- Commutable distance – Rather than a city, list that you are open to roles within a X mile radius or Y hour drive time from a vague region or landmark.
- Time zone – Specify just your time zone rather than a full location, such as Pacific Time Zone or EST.
- Remote status – Note on your profile that you work remotely or are willing to relocate to clarify you aren’t tied to any one location.
- Travel range – Say you are able to travel within a certain region, country, or distance for work opportunities.
- Local groups/events – Join and engage with LinkedIn groups and attend events in your area to build local connections online.
These approaches allow you to signal professional contexts like your time zone, commuting range, travel ability, and local networking without disclosing your exact city and country. Get creative with location alternatives to maximize the benefits while protecting your privacy.
Conclusion
Displaying your location on your LinkedIn profile is optional and comes with trade-offs. Adding it boosts local discoverability and provides clearer context about your experience and network. However, it also can raise privacy concerns and assumptions that you are geographically restricted in opportunities you will consider. Evaluate your own career priorities, risk tolerance for sharing personal details online, and how much you want to stand out in local searches. Your ideal solution may be showing your full location, just a country/region, adapting your settings to limit visibility, or omitting it altogether. Whichever approach you take, make sure it aligns with your professional goals and personal comfort level.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it bad to not list a location on LinkedIn?
No, it is perfectly fine to not list a location on your LinkedIn profile. You may choose to exclude it for privacy reasons, being open to opportunities anywhere, or not wanting assumptions made about your geographic availability. While adding a location has some benefits, it is not required, and many professionals leave it blank without any negative impact.
Can I change my location to get more views?
You can adjust your listed location on LinkedIn to try to get more profile views, but this approach has limitations:
- Changing to an inaccurate location is misleading and could hurt your credibility if found out.
- Views may temporarily spike from that area but drop again once the mismatch is apparent.
- Keywords and experience alignment matter more than location for sustained visibility.
Rather than frequently changing your location, focus on profile completeness, optimization for relevant keywords, and building connections in your geographic area. These tactics drive more meaningful, long-term visibility.
Should I list multiple locations on LinkedIn?
Listing multiple locations on your LinkedIn profile is not recommended in most cases. For example, including past places you’ve lived or adding multiple cities where you have connections. Reasons to avoid multiple locations:
- It can look inconsistent or suspicious to recruiters and viewers.
- The locations may have little relevance to your current career situation.
- It makes it unclear where you are really based right now.
- You lose the benefits of targeting a specific geographic area.
Exceptions could include indicating an available commutable radius from a central point or noting recurring travel destinations relevant to your work. But in general, stick to one current, genuine location for the strongest results.
Can I get in trouble for putting a fake location?
Technically, yes you could get in trouble with LinkedIn for listing a fake location that does not represent where you actually live or work. Violating their restrictions on inaccurate information and misrepresentation could result in:
- Having your profile flagged or removed.
- Limited visibility due to their algorithms detecting false info.
- Difficulty getting hired if a recruiter discovers your real location is different.
- Damage to your personal brand and credibility.
However, lots of users still choose fake or vague locations for privacy reasons. Just be aware of the potential consequences if caught versus alternatives like leaving it blank.