For those familiar with LinkedIn and all that it offers, you likely understand that it provides users with the option to see who has viewed their profile. This feature opens up opportunities to connect with people who may be interested in working with you or your company. The most successful LinkedIn influencers and businesses are using Sales Enablement (that’s us, Kennected) to grow their audience and practice social selling successfully. Let’s dive in and see how to find out EVERY time someone views your profile.
The thing that many users tend to ask regarding this is: “Does LinkedIn notify a person every time I check out their profile?” There are a few reasons we’ve found for people asking this, and each one is different since people utilize LinkedIn for vast number of purposes. A few reasons we’ve found that are common are:
- Not everyone wants to connect with the profiles they view on LinkedIn
- Some users seek out profiles for research and analytics purposes
- Others simply wish to scope out their competition on the platform
The answer to this question depends on your own LinkedIn settings. LinkedIn often notifies people when you view their profiles. The person may get an email or an alert on the LinkedIn notification page saying you viewed their profile. However, LinkedIn also gives you control over who can see if you’ve viewed their profile. If you want some anonymity, you can still browse privately without LinkedIn sharing this information. You can do this by updating your profile viewing options from the Settings & Privacy page.
Update Your Profile
In order to make these changes to your LinkedIn profile, head to their website and follow these steps:
- Click your profile icon on the top bar, and select “Settings & Privacy“
- Under Privacy, click “how others see your profile and network information”
- Click on “Profile viewing options” and select how you want to appear
- You can select “Anonymous LinkedIn Member” for private browsing. There is also the option to appear as just “Someone on LinkedIn” or something more specific
- You can customize your private profile characteristics through this selection
Once you have adjusted your settings, your profile visits will become anonymous. People are still going to see that someone viewed their profile after you view their profile, but all they will see is that an anonymous person viewed it.
Do take note that there is a downside to hiding your name using this method. As LinkedIn warns you on the Settings page, once you become anonymous to other people, they also become anonymous to you. LinkedIn will hide the names of people who view your profile from you after you enable this anonymity option. While it may seem strange that some might prefer anonymity on a social network, there are certain situations that call for it.
Do Not Be Anonymous
On the flip side, if you want to see who has viewed your profile, you cannot choose to be anonymous. There are benefits to staying visible. For example, you can use the “Who Viewed Your Profile” feature to display profile visitors in the last 90 days. This feature displays the viewer’s name, headline, location, and industry.
Also displayed will be the viewer’s semi-private profile characteristics such as job title, company, school, and industry. The information provided by LinkedIn may vary depending on that specific user’s prviacy settings. Of course, you will not be able to see their name if they have chosen to stay anonymous.
To access the “Who Viewed Your Profile” page, click the “Me” icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and click “View profile“. You can also check who viewed your profile from your dashboard or notifications page. Click “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” beneath your profile photo on the left rail of your LinkedIn homepage.
LinkedIn’s privacy settings give users a lot of options to suit their specific needs. Whether you prefer to be visible or anonymous, LinkedIn allows you to browse profiles as you please. Use this to your advantage and expand your network today.
