LinkedIn is a professional networking platform used by millions of people around the world. With so much personal information available on LinkedIn profiles, it’s natural for users to wonder about privacy settings and controlling who can see their information.
What Types of Privacy Settings Does LinkedIn Offer?
Yes, LinkedIn does have privacy settings that allow users to control what information is visible on their profiles. Here are some of the main privacy settings available on LinkedIn:
- Profile viewing options – Controls who can view your full profile. Options include your connections only, connections and people who know your email address or phone number, connections and all LinkedIn members.
- Profile photo visibility – Controls who can see your profile photo. Options include your connections only or public (visible to anyone).
- Activity broadcasts – Controls whether your connections are notified when you make profile changes or celebrate work anniversaries. You can turn off activity broadcasts.
- Share profile edits – Controls whether your connections are notified when you edit your profile information. You can turn off share profile edits.
- Recommendations visibility – Controls whether recommendations you’ve received are visible on your profile. You can choose connections only or public visibility.
- Profile viewing notifications – Get notified whenever someone from a different company views your profile.
- Search engine visibility – Controls whether search engines can index and display your profile in results.
In addition to the above privacy settings, LinkedIn also allows you to control the visibility of individual profile sections like your education, skills, accomplishments, interests, and publications.
Who Can See Your LinkedIn Profile?
Depending on your privacy settings, different levels of profile information may be visible to:
- Your LinkedIn connections – People you are connected with on LinkedIn.
- People who know your email address or phone number – LinkedIn members who have your contact info in their address book which matches the email or phone number on your LinkedIn account.
- All LinkedIn members – Everyone with a LinkedIn account whether you are connected to them or not.
- Public – Anyone on or off LinkedIn can see your public profile information through search engines.
You have granular control over which option is selected for your full profile, profile photo, and individual profile sections. The more restrictive your settings, the smaller audience can see the information.
Steps to Update LinkedIn Privacy Settings
Here is an overview of how to access LinkedIn’s privacy settings and update them:
- Click on the ‘Me’ icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and select ‘Settings & Privacy’ from the dropdown menu.
- On the next page, click on the ‘Privacy’ tab located at the top.
- Review and update your privacy settings as desired. Some key settings to review include:
- Profile viewing options – Who can see your full profile?
- Your profile URL – Listed publicly or restricted?
- Profile photo visibility – Public or connections only?
- Editing profile details – Notify your network?
- Scroll down and click ‘Save’ to apply changes.
You can always return to these LinkedIn privacy settings later to make further adjustments. It’s a good idea to revisit them periodically to ensure your profile visibility matches your professional privacy preferences.
Keep Individual Profile Sections Private
For granular control, you can set viewing permissions for each section of your LinkedIn profile:
- Background summary
- Experience
- Education
- Skills
- Accomplishments
- Interests
- Publications
- Certifications
- Courses
- Projects
- Honors & Awards
- Test Scores
- Languages
- Organizations
Next to each profile section, use the dropdown menu to select who can view it – your connections, connections of connections, or public. Setting individual sections to “Connections” ensures they stay private and accessible to only people in your network.
Customizing Profile Viewing Options
LinkedIn allows three main options for who can see your full profile:
- Your connections – Only people directly connected to you on LinkedIn.
- People who know your email address or phone number – Connections + people who have your contact info matched to their LinkedIn account.
- All LinkedIn members – Everyone including members not connected to you.
The more restrictive “Connections” option is best for limiting profile views to just people in your network. However, some exposure to 2nd-degree connections or LinkedIn members can benefit networking and be okay depending on your career stage.
New Grad or Career Changer
If you are just starting your career, visibility to 2nd-degree connections and other LinkedIn members can help expand your networking reach. As you build connections, you can eventually restrict visibility to just direct connections.
Employed Professional
Once established in your career, limiting full profile viewing to direct connections maintains privacy while still allowing networking within your industry. But you can selectively showcase certain info like skills and background summary publicly.
Executive Leader or Influencer
As a recognized leader or influencer in your field, you likely want wider visibility which can be achieved by opening up full profile viewing to all LinkedIn members.
Profile Photo Privacy
Your profile photo can also be limited to just your connections or made public:
- Your connections – Recommended for limiting visibility and maintaining privacy.
- Public – Allows anyone on or off LinkedIn to see your profile photo when visiting your profile.
Keep in mind a public photo also means it can appear in Google image search results.
Activity Broadcasts to Connections
LinkedIn automatically lets your connections know whenever you update your profile. You can limit these activity broadcasts:
- Share profile edits, work anniversaries, etc. – Connections automatically notified.
- Don’t share profile changes – Changes happen quietly without notifications.
Turning off announcements gives you more privacy and prevents bombarding connections with updates. But for professional networking, some activity sharing is helpful.
Recommendations Visibility
You can control whether recommendations you receive are publicly visible or limited to your connections only:
- Your connections – Limits endorsements to your direct network and protects privacy.
- Public – Allow recommendations to be seen by all LinkedIn members as a credibility boost.
As a best practice, new grads or career changers benefit most from public recommendations. Senior professionals should restrict to connections only to maintain exclusivity.
Notifications When Others View Your Profile
LinkedIn can notify you whenever people from outside your network view your profile. To enable:
- Go to your LinkedIn Settings & Privacy page.
- Click the Privacy tab at the top.
- Under the How LinkedIn uses your data section, check the box for profile viewing notifications.
This gives you visibility into who is viewing your profile which can be helpful for security. But it also means receiving many notifications which may be annoying.
Controlling Search Engine Visibility
To control whether your profile appears in Google and other search engines:
- Go to your LinkedIn Public Profile settings
- Under the Customize public profile URL section, there is a setting labeled Allow search engines to index my public profile.
- Unchecking this box will exclude your profile from search engine results pages.
Excluding your profile from search can increase privacy. But for many professionals, search engine visibility provides helpful name recognition in Google.
Potential Privacy Risks to Consider
While LinkedIn offers many privacy controls, users should also be aware of potential privacy risks to watch out for:
- Contact information in your profile could be scraped by third parties.
- Activity updates may indicate extended vacation periods alerting criminals that your home is empty.
- Current employment information helps identify your workplace to harassers.
- Connecting to strangers could reveal your connections to scammers.
- Scrapers can harvest your public profile data even if you are not a LinkedIn member.
Understanding these risks allows you to make informed choices about what profile information to share publicly versus keep private restricted to your connections.
Is a Private LinkedIn Profile Possible?
While LinkedIn does not allow profiles to be 100% private, you can get close by:
- Making your profile only visible to direct connections
- Turning off activity broadcasts
- Disabling your public profile URL
- Excluding your profile from search engine indexing
This prevents casual viewing of your profile and limits exposure mostly within your trusted connections network. However, some basic public info like your name, headline, and profile photo remain visible in LinkedIn member searches.
Should You Make LinkedIn Entirely Private?
For many professionals, it is not advisable to lock down your LinkedIn profile completely. Some visibility settings like allowing 2nd degree connections or public skills are helpful for networking and career growth. The right balance depends on your own risk tolerance and career goals.
Potential Downsides of a Private Profile
- Hurts networking opportunities and discovery of your profile organically
- Limits profile SEO value and thought leadership visibility
- Reduces endorsements for you skills and credibility
- Employers may question why you are “hiding” your profile
Weigh the downsides above against the privacy benefits of a more restricted profile. Find a balance that meets your specific needs.
Other Ways to Increase LinkedIn Privacy
In addition to your profile settings, here are some other ways to increase privacy on LinkedIn:
- Customize your LinkedIn URL to prevent revealing personal info
- Use a professional profile photo instead of casual personal pictures
- Limit sharing personal opinions that could be deemed controversial
- Be selective about accepting connection requests from people you do not know
- Turn off activity and profile change announcements
- Disable your last name on your public profile to remain semi-anonymous
Conclusion
LinkedIn provides extensive privacy controls that allow you to limit your profile visibility. Key settings include your profile viewing options, profile photo visibility, activity broadcasts, and individual section permissions. However, some profile exposure is usually advised to aid networking and career advancement.
Understand that privacy on any social media platform involves risks. Use discretion when sharing personal information, opinions, and connections. Find the right balance for your own comfort level while still leveraging LinkedIn for professional networking in today’s digital age.