Are you worried about viewing someone’s profile on LinkedIn because they will definitely know you viewed it? Or you’re worried about someone spying on your account? They are the common issues of most LinkedIn users– and I bet you’re one of them.
You probably want to know how to make LinkedIn private to view profiles freely and secure your account. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place. Here’s a step-by-step LinkedIn beginner guide on how to turn your LinkedIn account from public to private.
If you want to watch a video tutorial on how to make your LinkedIn profile private instead, check out this one:
How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Private?
LinkedIn is one of the best places to build your network, find career opportunities or hire professionals. It’s amazing how you can view someone’s professional profile conveniently. But it’s bothering that your profile will become visible to them as well once you try to look into their profile.
Fortunately, activating your LinkedIn to private mode is available for everyone. You can easily manage your account and make viewing profiles more discreet with a few simple steps. To do it, you can first log in to your account and go to your homepage.
Step 1: On your LinkedIn dashboard, toggle the “Me” section to show the drop-down menu.
Step 2: Upon clicking, find and select the “Settings & Privacy” section on the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Next is to click on the “Visibility” section.
Step 4: Under the “Visibility” section, you’ll see lists of things you can navigate for your account. You need to scroll down and look for the “Profile Viewing Options”.
Step 5: Upon clicking, you’ll have the option to select whether to be visible or anonymous when viewing profiles. Since you want to view discreetly, you can toggle on “Private Mode” and change it later if you change your mind by following the same steps.
Make Profile Complete Private
On the other hand, a LinkedIn private profile also means limiting the people who can view your profile outside the platform. As you might know, your LinkedIn account is accessible to anyone even outside the platform, when it’s set to public. If you want to change it, you can follow the guide above– starting from steps 1 to 4.
However, instead of looking for “Profile Viewing Options”, you need to turn off the “Profile discovery and visibility off LinkedIn”. You can also manage whether you want your profile to be discoverable using your contact number or email address.
Why it Makes Sense to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Private?
Making your profile anonymous to other users when viewing their profile increases the privacy of your account. It’s a smart move for recruiters to research and review the profile of candidates anonymously. So, turning your LinkedIn profile to private mode can offer great benefits if you’re working for a company to check the eligibility of applicants.
Furthermore, LinkedIn Private mode is also ideal to do research and get insights from your competitors. You don’t have to use other accounts just to spy on your competitors since you can do it in private mode.
On the other hand, if you don’t want your competitors spying on you, navigating the visibility section on your LinkedIn profile settings is your best option. Change the visibility of your account and activities to your connections only.
What Happens When You Make a LinkedIn Profile Private?
When your LinkedIn profile is on private mode, the users will not be notified about your visit on their account. However, the site will also turn off the feature for you to receive notifications to who viewed your profile. So, if you don’t want to miss opportunities, you better turn the private mode off once you’re done looking at someone’s profile.
Furthermore, if you’ve gone completely private, it will limit the number of people who can view your profile. Even your activities on your account will not be visible to some. This setting is ideal if you don’t want your competitors to spy on your business or career.
However, this is not advisable if you want to grow your network since you’ll be limiting access to your profile. Usually, only those who are logged in to LinkedIn can view your profile when it’s private. Those people searching for you using your email, phone number, or name outside the platform will not be able to connect with you.
Can’t Make LinkedIn Profile Private?
Every user can make their LinkedIn account private by navigating the settings. If you can’t make your LinkedIn profile invisible to other users, you should check if you turn off the visibility of your profile under “Settings & Privacy”. You can go about the steps above and check if you missed one thing.
After confirming the steps but you still have issues with making your profile private, contact LinkedIn support for assistance. They will assist and provide you with effective solutions for your case.
