LinkedIn Privacy Settings: What to Change and What to Keep Public

The LinkedIn privacy settings that matter are under “Settings and Privacy,” mainly in the Visibility and Data privacy sections: what your public profile shows to people off LinkedIn and to search engines, whether others see your name when you view their profile, who can see your connections and email address, and whether your network is notified about profile changes. Unlike most social networks, the goal on LinkedIn usually isn’t to hide, it’s to choose carefully what’s public.

LinkedIn is often the top search result for a person’s name, which makes it one of the most valuable profiles you own. So this guide treats privacy and visibility together: what to lock down, and what to leave open because it works for you.

The two audiences on LinkedIn

Your profile has two separate audiences, and they’re controlled in different places.

• Signed-in LinkedIn members. What members see depends on your connections and a few visibility settings, but your core profile (name, headline, photo, current role) is broadly visible to other members.
• The public and search engines. This is your “public profile,” the version people see without logging in and that Google can show in results. You control it separately, section by section.

Mixing these up is the most common source of surprise. Someone might hide their profile photo from the public, then wonder why a recruiter who’s signed in can still see it.

Edit your public profile

In the Visibility section, look for the option to edit your public profile. Here you can turn your public profile on or off entirely, and choose which parts are shown: photo, headline, current and past positions, education, and other sections.

For most people the best choice is to keep the public profile on and show your headline, current role and a professional photo. That profile is what you want ranking for your name. You can also set a custom public profile URL, which looks cleaner on a resume and helps the page match searches for your name. Our guide on optimizing your LinkedIn profile for search covers that side in detail.

Turning the public profile off removes it from the logged-out view and, over time, from search results. Do that only if you have a specific reason, such as a safety concern, because it hands the top result for your name to whatever ranks next.

Profile viewing options

When you look at someone’s profile, LinkedIn can tell them. You choose how you appear:

• Your name and headline. They see exactly who looked.
• Private profile characteristics. They see something general, like a job title and industry, but not your name.
• Private mode. You appear as an anonymous LinkedIn member.

Going private has a trade-off: LinkedIn generally limits how much of your own “who viewed your profile” information you can see while you browse privately, unless you have a paid plan. Many people switch to private mode before researching an ex-employer, a competitor or a new manager, then switch back.

Connections, follows and email

• Who can see your connections. You can let your connections see your full list or keep it to yourself. People you share connections with may still see mutual ones. Hiding the list is sensible if you work in sales, recruiting or anywhere a competitor might want your contact list.
• Who can see members you follow. Following political figures, activists or rival companies can be visible to others. Check this if you’d rather keep your interests private.
• Who can see or download your email address. By default your connections may be able to see it, and in some cases export it with their contact list. Narrow this if you get too much unsolicited email.
• Profile discovery by email or phone. These settings decide whether people who have your email or phone number can find your profile with it. Turn them off if you want to limit how easily people can link your contact details to your LinkedIn.

Job changes and profile updates

LinkedIn can share profile updates with your network, such as a new job or work anniversary. If you’re updating your profile while quietly job hunting, turn off sharing of profile updates first, make your edits, and turn it back on later if you want to.

The “Open to Work” feature has its own visibility choice: you can show it to all LinkedIn members, with the green photo frame, or limit it to recruiters. LinkedIn says it takes steps to hide the recruiter-only signal from recruiters at your current company, but it can’t promise they won’t see it, for example if they’re using another firm’s account. Our guide to LinkedIn Open to Work explains the trade-offs.

Activity and mentions

Likes, comments and reposts on LinkedIn are public to anyone who can see the original post, and your recent activity appears on your profile. There’s no switch to make comments private, so the only control is what you engage with. You can delete your own comments and reposts at any time.

You can also choose whether others can mention or tag you, and whether your profile shows when you’re active. If comments on your own posts are turning hostile, see our guide to handling negative comments on LinkedIn. If one person keeps finding you, you can block them on LinkedIn, which also stops them seeing your profile.

Data privacy settings

The Data privacy section covers how LinkedIn itself uses your information. Worth reviewing:

• Data for generative AI improvement. LinkedIn has a setting that controls whether your data can be used to train content-generating AI models. Decide whether you’re comfortable with it and set it accordingly.
• Ad settings. A group of options controlling how your profile and activity are used for ads on and off LinkedIn. Switching these off doesn’t stop ads, it makes them less targeted.
• Job application settings. LinkedIn can save your resume and application answers. Review what’s stored if you’ve applied through it.
• Get a copy of your data. You can request an export of your LinkedIn data, which is useful before a big clean-up or before closing the account.

Security settings

A hijacked LinkedIn account can message your whole network or post as you, which is a reputation problem in minutes.

1. Turn on two-step verification in the sign-in and security settings.
2. Review where you’re signed in and end any sessions you don’t recognize.
3. Check which third-party apps have access to your account and remove ones you don’t use.
4. Use a unique password. If you’ve reused it, change it now.

If someone is already in your account, go to our guide to a hacked LinkedIn account.

A worked example

This is illustrative, not a real client. Marisol is a finance manager planning to leave her employer in a few months. She wants to polish her profile without tipping off her boss, and she’s had a few odd messages from a stranger who found her email.

First she turns off sharing profile updates with her network, then rewrites her headline and summary and adds two certifications. She sets Open to Work for recruiters only, knowing it isn’t a perfect shield. She switches her connections list so only she can see it, narrows email visibility to herself, and turns off discovery by phone number.

She leaves her public profile on, with photo and headline visible, because it’s the first result for her name and she wants it to look sharp. Before researching hiring managers at target firms, she switches to private viewing mode. Finally she turns on two-step verification. Total time: about half an hour.

Common mistakes

• Hiding the public profile entirely. It’s often your strongest search result. Hiding it rarely helps and often lets something worse rise.
• Editing before turning off update sharing. Your network may already have seen the change.
• Assuming comments are private. They’re visible to anyone who can see the post, including your employer.
• Forgetting a second account. An old duplicate profile with an outdated job and photo can confuse searchers. Merge or close it; see how to delete a LinkedIn account.
• Leaving private mode on permanently. It limits what you can see in return and makes networking harder.

If what shows up for your name is bigger than one profile can fix, our personal reputation management work covers building and protecting the whole first page.

Frequently asked questions

Can people see that I viewed their LinkedIn profile?

Yes, if your profile viewing option shows your name and headline. Switch to private profile characteristics or private mode in the Visibility settings to browse anonymously.

How do I hide my LinkedIn profile from Google?

Edit your public profile and turn off its visibility to the public. Search engines will usually drop it over time. Signed-in members can still see your profile.

Can I hide my LinkedIn connections?

Yes. In the Visibility settings, choose who can see your connections and set it so only you can. People may still see connections you share with them.

Will my network be notified when I change jobs on LinkedIn?

It can be. Turn off sharing profile updates with your network before you edit your experience if you’d rather it went unannounced.