Whether your LinkedIn profile is visible to everyone or not depends on your privacy settings. By default, your profile is visible to the public, but you can change this in your settings.
Is my LinkedIn profile visible to people who are not logged in?
Yes, by default your LinkedIn profile is public and can be seen by anyone, even people who are not logged into a LinkedIn account. When your profile is public, it can appear in Google search results and anyone can access it by going directly to your profile URL.
Having a public profile allows you to be discovered by recruiters, potential business connections, and others who may find you through search engines or other means. However, it also means your profile information is openly available.
How do I make my LinkedIn profile private?
You can easily change your LinkedIn profile visibility in your account settings:
- Click on the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and select Settings & Privacy.
- Go to the Privacy tab.
- Under Profile visibility, click Edit your public profile settings.
- Change the toggle from Yes to No for the option Make my public profile visible to anyone on the internet.
Saving this change will make your profile private so only people connected to you on LinkedIn can view your full profile.
What visibility options do I have for my LinkedIn profile?
LinkedIn gives you three main options for controlling profile visibility:
- Public – Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn
- Visible only to people in your network – Only 1st-degree connections can view full profile
- Private – Only you can view your full profile
You can also customize visibility for your name, photo, headline, and activity summaries separately.
Who can see my LinkedIn profile if it’s set to private?
If you make your LinkedIn profile private, the only person who will be able to see your full profile is you when logged into your account. Others will only see your name, photo if provided, current position, and limited profile information.
Setting your profile to private limits visibility to:
- You, when logged into your LinkedIn account
- Your 1st-degree connections, but with profile details hidden
- LinkedIn recruiters you’re currently engaging with
- LinkedIn customer service
- LinkedIn legal and security professionals if required
So a private profile means recruiters, business contacts, and anyone else will need to connect with you first in order to view your full profile information.
Can I choose who sees my LinkedIn profile?
Yes, LinkedIn gives you options to customize exactly who can view your profile:
- Your connections only – Just people directly connected to you can see your full profile.
- Connections of connections – 2nd-degree connections can also view your full profile.
- All LinkedIn members – Any logged-in LinkedIn user can view your full profile.
You can find these controls under “Select who can see your activity and profile” in your account Privacy settings.
This allows you to find a balance between profile visibility and privacy. For example, you may want your profile visible to recruiters and 2nd-degree connections, but not the wider LinkedIn community.
Can I customize visibility by profile section?
Yes, LinkedIn allows you to set unique visibility settings for different parts of your profile:
Profile Section | Visibility Options |
---|---|
Photo | Public, Connections, Only You |
Name | Public, Connections, Only You |
Headline | Public, Connections, Only You |
Current positions | Public, Connections, Only You |
Past positions | Public, Connections, Only You |
Education | Public, Connections, Only You |
Skills | Public, Connections, Only You |
Accomplishments | Public, Connections, Only You |
Interests | Public, Connections, Only You |
So you can choose to show your skills to recruiters but keep your interests private, or make your education public while your photo is visible only to direct connections, for example.
Can I hide my LinkedIn profile from specific people?
LinkedIn does not provide an option to block specific people from viewing your profile. The only way is to connect with someone and then remove them from your connections.
However, there are a few workarounds:
- Change your profile to private so only direct connections can see it.
- Select your current company in the experience section instead of listing all positions.
- Leave off details you don’t want certain people to see.
- Use a professional headshot instead of a casual photo.
While not perfect, being thoughtful about which information you include can help limit exposure to certain individuals when full blocking is not possible.
Can I see who views my LinkedIn profile?
Yes, LinkedIn shows you who has viewed your profile over the last 90 days. To see who’s viewed your profile:
- Go to your LinkedIn home page and click on My Network at the top.
- Select See all next to the Profile Views section.
- This will show the LinkedIn members who have viewed your profile, with paid subscribers able to see additional analytics.
One thing to note is that if someone views your profile in an “anonymous” browsing mode, it will not show up in your list of profile views.
Does changing to private profile remove me from Google?
Changing your LinkedIn profile visibility to private will remove your public profile from Google and other search engine results. However, it does not remove you entirely.
Your name and limited profile information may still appear in search results. For example, if others have engaged with your posts or shared an article you authored, Google can still index that content.
To remove as much LinkedIn content as possible, you can:
- Opt out of search engine indexing in your account Privacy settings.
- Go into Google Search settings and remove outdated or unwanted search results.
- Remove yourself from various “People Search” sites to limit name exposure.
But some references may remain as Google archives content from across the web. Changing privacy settings limits future exposure but does not erase previous activity.
Can I temporarily change my profile to private?
LinkedIn does not have a built-in option to temporarily change your profile visibility. The privacy settings are permanent until you go back and edit them again.
However, you can essentially mimic a temporary change using other privacy controls:
- Turn on “Do Not Notify network of changes” in Privacy settings to edit your profile incognito.
- Change visibility settings on individual profile sections to limit exposure.
- Disable search engine indexing and live profile refreshes in Privacy settings.
Using a combination of these can let you essentially “go dark” for a period without fully committing to a permanent change. Just remember to reverse the settings when ready to make your profile public again.
Conclusion
In summary, your LinkedIn profile visibility depends on your account privacy settings. The default is public, but you can easily change this to limit exposure to only direct connections or even just yourself.
Customizing profile and activity visibility gives you flexibility in balancing privacy and discoverability on LinkedIn. Just be aware that some references may remain in search even after locking down your account since previously indexed content cannot be fully erased.