ByUnderstanding how your LinkedIn profile appears to others is crucial for maintaining a professional online presence.
It allows you to ensure your profile effectively communicates your skills and experience to potential employers, recruiters, and connections.
This article will guide you through the process of viewing your LinkedIn profile as others see it, using your own LinkedIn account, so you can optimize your profile for a better impression.
We will also show you how to control your public visibility with LinkedIn’s built-in settings.
How Can You See Your LinkedIn Profile as Someone Else?
LinkedIn offers a built-in feature to preview your profile as someone else. The process is similar for both LinkedIn web and mobile.
Here, we will use LinkedIn mobile because, in the mobile version, we get a dedicated “Preview Your Public Profile” button. On the desktop, it automatically shows you how others see your profile.
Here’s how you can access this feature:
1. Go to your Settings: Once you’re logged into LinkedIn, click on your profile picture in the top corner of the homepage.
From the dropdown menu, select “Settings” (“Settings & Privacy” for LinkedIn web).
2. Navigate to Visibility: In the Settings page, find and click on the “Visibility” section.
3. Edit your Public Profile: Within the Visibility section, you’ll find an option named “Edit your public profile.” Click on it.
4. Preview your Public Profile: On the bottom of the public profile settings page, you’ll find a button that says “Preview Your Public Profile.” Click this button.
By clicking the “Preview public profile,” you’ll see exactly how your profile appears to someone who is not logged in or has no first-degree connection.
However, if you access the “Edit Your Public Profile” page from your PC, you will directly get a preview of your public profile.
Okay, so this is how you can see how someone else sees your LinkedIn profile.
But what if you don’t want to show some of your information to the public? That’s precisely why checking your public profile is so important—it allows you to control what others can see.
To take control of your public profile visibility:
Return to the Edit Public Profile Settings: As described earlier, navigate to your “Edit Public Profile” settings from the Visibility settings.
Preview and Assess: Use the “Preview public profile” feature again to see exactly how your profile appears to the public. Carefully note which sections you want to make visible and which you prefer to keep hidden.
LinkedIn provides granular control over the visibility of different sections of your profile.
On the “Edit your public profile” page, you’ll find options to configure the visibility of each section.
Controlling Overall Public Visibility:
The most important setting on this page is “Your profile’s public visibility.” This is a master switch that determines whether any of your profile is visible to the public at all.
- Off: If this toggle is turned off, nothing from your profile will be visible to anyone.
- On: If this toggle is turned on, you then have the option to choose which parts of your profile are visible. This is where the granular control comes in.
If you choose to make your profile publicly visible (by turning the master switch “on”), there is some basic information that LinkedIn requires to be shown. This includes:
- Name: Your full name.
- Number of connections: The number of connections you have on LinkedIn.
- Number of followers: The number of followers you have.
- Region: Your general geographic location (e.g., “Greater London Area”).
This basic information is always visible if your profile is publicly accessible.
Once you’ve enabled public visibility, you can control the visibility of your profile photo separately. You have the following options:
Profile Photo Visibility:
- Only 1st-degree connections: Only people you are directly connected to on LinkedIn can see your photo.
- Your network: Your connections and their connections up to three degrees away can see your photo.
- All LinkedIn members: Anyone with a LinkedIn account can see your photo.
- Public: Anyone, even without a LinkedIn account, can see your photo.
Beyond the basic information and profile photo, you have granular control over the visibility of other sections of your profile. Each of these sections has a simple on/off toggle:
Controlling Individual Profile Sections:
- Background Photo: Choose whether or not your background photo is visible to the public.
- Headline: Control whether your professional headline is displayed publicly.
- Websites: Determine if links to your personal website, portfolio, or other online presences are visible.
- Summary: Decide whether your summary/about section is publicly accessible.
- Articles & Activity: Choose whether your LinkedIn activity, such as articles you’ve written or posts you’ve shared, is visible.
- Current Experience: Control the public visibility of your current job and responsibilities.
- Past Experience: Manage the public visibility of your previous work experience.
- Education: Choose whether your educational background is shown publicly.
- Certifications: Determine if your certifications are publicly visible.
- Languages: Control the visibility of the languages you speak.
How the Toggles Work:
Each of these sections has a simple on/off toggle. When the toggle is “on,” that section is visible to the public (subject to the broader “Your profile’s public visibility” setting being turned on). When the toggle is “off,” that specific section is hidden from public view.
By using these settings, you can completely customize which parts of your LinkedIn profile are publicly accessible, giving you complete control over your online presence.
This level of control ensures your LinkedIn profile aligns with your privacy preferences and professional goals.
Final Words
Seeing your profile through someone else’s eyes lets you identify areas for improvement, optimize your content, and make a stronger impression.
And gaining mastery over the visibility settings discussed in this article will allow you to completely control how others perceive your LinkedIn profile.
So make sure you regularly review your public profile using the “Preview public profile” feature to ensure your settings are aligned with your current goals and privacy preferences.
However, if you need a break from LinkedIn, you have an option too! Check out our guide on how to temporarily deactivate your account.
