What you can find out about who has viewed your profile depends on whether you have a free LinkedIn account or a paid, premium membership that comes with extra features. With a free LinkedIn membership, you can see less information and only a limited number of your profile views.
How to Adjust Your Privacy Settings
If you have a free account, you need to set your privacy settings to make your profile visible so that viewers can see your name and headline. This also allows the site to track information regarding people who have viewed your posted information.
Change What People on LinkedIn Can View
Here’s how to adjust your settings, so you will be able to see who has viewed your LinkedIn profile:
Log in to LinkedIn and click on the dropdown labeled Me under your image in the toolbar at the top of the page.Click Settings & Privacy.Select the Visibility tab on the left side of the page.Under the Visibility of your profile & network section, click Profile viewing options.Under Select what others can see when you’ve viewed their profile, choose to show your name and headline.
Change the Public Information That’s Available Online
If you want to change the public information that’s visible online (when someone isn’t logged in to LinkedIn), you can adjust the settings:
Log in to LinkedIn and click the dropdown labeled Me under your image in the toolbar at the top of the page.Click Settings & Privacy.Select the Visibility tab.Click Edit Public Profile.Edit Visibility settings on the right side of the page.
Free LinkedIn Accounts
If you have a free account and elect to display your name and headline, you’ll be able to see the number of visits to your profile, the number of times you’ve appeared in search results, and up to five results of who has viewed your profile. The information you can see regarding people who’ve viewed you depends on how they have designated their own privacy settings. If they have set “name and headline,” you should see their name, job title, and employer. If they have elected to stay partially anonymous, you can see limited information, such as title and industry or company only. In cases where they have elected to be totally anonymous, you will see only “LinkedIn Member” or “Someone from the United States,” for example.
Free Membership: Where to See Your Profile Views
The information about who has viewed your profile appears in the “Your Dashboard” section of your profile page:
Up to five results of who has viewed your profileNumber of visits to your profileNumber of times you’ve appeared in search results
Premium LinkedIn Accounts
Premium users get to see an unlimited number of people who have visited their profile and other information, such as trends in viewership and industry representation. However, premium users will still not see any additional information about viewers who have restricted access via their own privacy settings.
Premium Membership: Where to See Your Profile Views
You can click on “Who viewed your profile” under “Welcome” on the left side of the page to see:
A list of people who viewed your profile for the past 90 days.Weekly viewer insights.A graph with weekly viewer trends.
What To Do With Viewer Information
You may be wondering what to do when someone checks out your profile on LinkedIn. Should you message them or connect with them or not? What, if anything, can you do to capitalize on those who have looked at your profile? It could be a hiring manager you’d be thrilled to hear from, someone who could help you network your way to a new job at a desirable company, or an old colleague you’d love to get back in touch with.
Should You Contact Someone Who Views Your Profile?
Reaching out to viewers with whom you have a logical connection seems more natural than communicating with a random person who has no obvious reason to look at your profile. Someone may have looked at your profile, for example, because you graduated from the same college in the same time period or with a similar major. Or maybe you shared a previous employer, although at different times or in different locations, lived in the same area, have lots of common contacts, or belong to the same professional organization. You can focus on your common bond and why you would like to connect with them.
When You’re Not Sure Why They Were Looking
Keep in mind that viewers without an obvious connection may have accidentally clicked on your profile. Sometimes, as people search for someone, they may click on the profile of someone else with that same name, for example. So, if you have absolutely no professional or personal connection with the person, you might simply want to ignore them. After all, typically the worst outcome is that they ignore you, so you have little to lose except maybe some of your allotted messages, depending on your LinkedIn account level. In your communication, make it clear why you’d like to connect, including how you might be helpful to them. You can either reference their viewing of your profile or simply state your reason for reaching out based on their background.
When to Reach Out
You don’t want it to seem as if you’re stalking people who check you out on LinkedIn, so take a breather and don’t reach out immediately after a person views your profile. Waiting a day or two makes sense. If the person contacted you accidentally, they probably won’t remember. If it’s a recruiter or hiring manager, you don’t want to give the impression that you’re desperate and immediately pouncing on everyone who views your profile.
What to Say in Your LinkedIn Message
If you do mention that the viewer has visited your profile, you might state something like: This way, you acknowledge a common interest between the two of you and provide a reason for possibly furthering the connection. If you do decide to reach out, review these tips for sending LinkedIn messages and invitations before you connect. Want to read more content like this? Sign up for The Balance’s newsletter for daily insights, analysis, and financial tips, all delivered straight to your inbox every morning!
