Knowing who’s viewed your profile is one of the best ways to measure how you are doing on LinkedIn. This following video shows you how to know who is viewing your profile. If you are interested in learning more about how to get the most out of LinkedIn, please check out our free training’s.
The following is taking from LinkedIn’s site, but many people don’t know and it’s quite hard to find:
Who Has Viewed My Profile
What is the ‘Who has viewed my profile’ module?
This is a list of the people who’ve recently viewed your profile. Many times instead of seeing exactly who viewed your profile, you’ll see anonymous profile characteristics such as industry and title. As a profile owner it is understandable that you would want to see exactly who has viewed your profile. However, as a profile viewer you may want your privacy protected. To respect your need for privacy, you can control what is shown to other LinkedIn users whose profile you have viewed by taking the following steps:
1. Click on ‘Accounts & Settings’ link found in upper right area of home page.
2. Click on ‘Profile Views’.
3. Select one of the following:
1. Show my name and headline.
2. Only show users my anonymous profile characteristics (default setting).
3. Don’t show users that I’ve viewed their profile.
Sometimes an anonymous viewer will show only as a position and company name while others display with the viewer’s job function and the industry and location they are in. This is because we may have to modify the verbiage to maintain the anonymity requested by the viewer (e.g., we don’t want to display that the viewer was a ‘Vice President at company XYZ’ if that company only has 1 or 2 Vice Presidents). Clicking on viewer names or descriptions will take you to a People Search results page showing all members that meet that specific criterion.
You may notice variations in the time frames. One day it might say ‘you have been viewed 10 times in 15 days’ and then another it switches to ‘you have been viewed 7 times in 8 days’. This is because the timeframe changes dynamically as people view your profile. The module tries to get a minimum of 5 views over any timeframe and so based on profile view activity it will change. Members may not see the module if no one has viewed their profile.
A subscription upgrade from a free account might allow you to receive a greater number of results for ‘Who’s Viewed My Profile’ (if there are additional viewers). However, you will not receive more in-depth information about the viewers if they have chosen to hide their identity in their privacy settings.
I hope you enjoyed this tip. Be sure to invite me as a connection at:
www.linkedin.com/in/nathankievman
Where is “WHo has viewed my profile?”
Very helpful! Thanks!
I think a lot of people underestimate the role of security and privacy when “posting” on Facebook. This is going to become a major area of focus over the next few years, and certainly the next place identiy thieves and hackers will be putting their attention. I usually try not to be a fear-monger when it comes to new technolog, but for some reason, people really seem to be taking their guard down on Facebook.
This is very valuable information. Thank you for taking the time to get the message out.
Thanks, Nathan. The world could do with more people like you who are willing to share useful information.
How exactly may I access the “‘Who has viewed my profile’ module”? If anyone knows, I would appreciate a follow. thx.
What is the ‘Who has viewed my profile’ module?
Thanks for sharing Nathan – off to switch on the privacy button!
Hey Rick, The module is on the customer service page of LinkedIn’s support. If you want more advance strategies on this and other items on LinkedIn, join us for our free webinar at http://www.linkedstrategies.com/webinar-optin.htm.
Best,
Nate
Does anyone know the French term for “Profile views” ? I can’t find it on my French profile page…
Thanks for posting this helpful article. At first, I too had trouble locating my profile views. For anyone struggling to locate this information here are the instructions LinkedIn gives: The module should be visible on your home page in the form of a hyper link that says something like, “Your profile has been viewed by 10 people in the last 90 days. In the last 7 days, you have appeared in search results 7 times.” For me, this was located on the right side of the page under my inbox. If a similar link is not visible from your home page, click on ‘Jobs’ in the top navigation area to see if the module becomes available on the right side of the ‘Jobs Home’ page.
Thanks for sharing … useful one
Thanks for sharing your information,it is very useful for linkedin user.
Thanks. Its really helpful.
Only issue is when I click on a viewer name/description and go to the People Search results page, the results are not accurate. It brings up way more than what actually fit the description. For instance, if the viewer description says “Someone in the Sales function in the Information Technology and Services industry from Charlottesville, Virginia Area”, the results display people who live within 100 miles of Charlottesville (hardly the Charlottesville area) from all industries (instead of just the Information Technology and Services industry). I have to alter the search parameters myself.
Hey Kari,
The only way to fix this is to pay for a account, then you will see exact names.
Best,
Nate
You’ll only see names of people who have selected to allow you to see their details.
You can view peoples profiles completely anonymously if you wish. Settings>Privacy>Profile Views> Don’t show users that I’ve viewed their profile
Tom, great insight and helpful.
Nate
Very helpful. Thanks
i m not understanding it ,,,, i want to know tht who has viewed my profile at facebook ,,, so how can i know it on linked
Here is a video link to help explain it further… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGRbO-2qm1k
Nate,
I too have a paid account and it has never allowed me to over-ride the privacy settings of another member. Why would it? If they choose to remain anonymous, I shouldn’t be able to buy an exception to their desires.
Where the “Who’s Viewed My Profile” section is concerned, a paid account just provides you with a greater number of anonymous viewers than the free account does.
In my opinion, the greater benefit to this section is the statistic that informs you of how often your profile has come up in search results. This is a measurement that matters, because it allows you to monitor the effectiveness of not only your profile content (summary keywords, etc.), but also how your participation in groups and other activities on LinkedIn can impact your relevance to those who you want to be able to find you.
I agree with Nate as I check the “who viewed” section once a week. I can correlate the amount of view traffic and how much online activity I have been doing. Seems to go hand in hand.
If I upgrade my subscription what will I see when i click on who has viewed my profile? Will I see all who have viewed it and will I get names?
I check the “who viewed” section each time the metrics change.
One thing I did as I became an active job seeker was to change the privacy settings so that it would show my name to others as I was viewing others’ profiles. This was because I was targeting certain companies and I wanted an extra way to get my name out there.
Jill your upgrade as I understand it doesn’t have anything to do with your ability to see the names of those viewing you. You can only see those who view your profile’s specific names if they have made an adjustment in their LinkedIn settings.
Nate
Nate – Useful feature. As a job seaker, do you recommend allowing users to see your complete info?
Jay, I do not see a down side to letting others see your complete profile. Especially as a job seeker. I would share what is pertinent and would get you on the phone with the appropriate parties. If it’s not a big deal, then through it all up there. If it’s the same as your resume with more in depth info, let them see it.
Does anyone know if other users can see that you have viewed their profile if you changed your settings to anonymous afterwards?
Hello
How can I know who viewed my profile in past 5 days??
@Eman with a paid account (any level) you can view back a day at a time through 5 days previously by clicking on the NEXT button on the bottom of each page
Once you have changed the setting to “off,” can people see that you have viewed their profile if you had viewed it prior to updating your privacy? Or does that change wipe out any retro views?
oh! And how long do they stay in your recently viewed feed?
Consider that you have made someone upset at you to the point they wish to harm you however possible. Allowing them to be anonymous on a site that publishes your career including where you are currently employed allows for a severe breach of trust. is there truly a legitimate reason to be anonymous other than the fact you don’t want to be known? And if you don’t then why go and look? Voyeurism? in a time where employers can demerit you for comments on Facebook the door should swing both ways on privacy. You have the freedom to be anonymous as long as you don’t go looking, when you do you should be public like the people you go and visit, just for security sakes.
This company is looking to solve this sort of issue around privacy online: https://sgrouples.com/
That said, within the networks, LinkedIn is protecting it’s highest paying clients, the heads of HR. They do not want people to know they looked at their profile as they will get even more inundated with LinkedIn messages than they already are… simply follow the money.
Nate
The same can be said about match.com email on the headcount.
Hi Nate,
Would like to know if i view a linkedin user in google (when i am offline in linkedin), will that particular user get any update in the search results?
for ex. if that particular user linkedin profile shows for them as “You have shown up in search results 12 times in the past 15 days.”, will that be showing as “You have shown up in search results 13 times in the past 15 days.”?
Please clarify..
Thanks
If you change your settings, will this be backdated? So if my profile is anonymous and I subsequently make it visible will this mean that people whose profiles I viewed recently will now see my name and title? Thanks, S
Can you see who views your Facebook profile through LinkedIn?
not that i’m aware
it’s real time. when you change it, if they look at it after the fact, I understand it will show your current settings.
no, you have to be logged into your linkedin account to count as a profile view.
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Will a LinkedIn member be able to see how many times I’ve viewed his/her profile, or just that I’ve viewed it?
I’m preparing for an interview, and I’ve checked the profile of my interviewer several times (at least 5). Will he see the freqency of my visits?
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Does anyone know if you’ve viewed someone’s profile and then change your privacy setting to anonymous afterwards, if that person will be able to see that you viewed their profile or if your settings will reflect your past profile viewing?
If someone does not have a LinkedIn account but does search for people on LinkedIn, will the people see anything after the person without an account has searched them?
It would have been nice if you’d discussed the option of taking action on the list of viewers of one’s profile. If you’re a job seeker, would it be pushy to touch base with, say, a hiring manager who’s looked at your profile but not contacted you? What is the best STRATEGY?
USELESS feature. Who cares who’s looked at your profile?
Thank you!!