Can you make your LinkedIn profile completely private?
Not while you're using the account. LinkedIn's help page on what people can see on your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026) says: "Generally, your profile is fully visible to all LinkedIn members who've signed in to LinkedIn.com or our apps." The same page says any member who searches your first or last name can see your full profile unless you have blocked them.
So making a LinkedIn profile private is four separate jobs, each with its own setting:
- Signed-out visitors and search engines: your public profile.
- Partner apps, such as the mini profiles shown in email tools: Off-LinkedIn visibility.
- Single details: photo, last name, email, connection list, followers and job-change announcements.
- People: blocking for one person, hibernation for everyone at once.
Most of these sit under Settings & Privacy, then Visibility. LinkedIn's settings overview says you can also type linkedin.com/psettings into your browser to open Settings & Privacy.
How do I hide my LinkedIn profile from Google?
Turn off your public profile. These steps are from LinkedIn's Control your public LinkedIn profile page, last updated about a month before we checked it on 4 November 2026.
On a computer
Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, click View Profile, then click the Edit icon next to Public profile & URL in the right pane. Toggle Your profile's public visibility to Off, or leave it on and switch off single sections. Changes save automatically.
In the LinkedIn app
Tap your profile photo, then Settings, then Visibility. Tap Edit your public profile under Visibility of your profile & network and use the same toggles.
Switch off partner display too
Click Me, then Settings & Privacy, and in the Visibility section click Off-LinkedIn visibility. Turn the toggle Off. LinkedIn's Off-LinkedIn visibility page says this covers affiliates, partners and permitted developers, such as email integrations and lead managers. It doesn't limit your public profile, so you need both switches.
Two warnings from LinkedIn's public profile visibility page. Google, Bing and other search tools can take several weeks or months to reflect a change, and LinkedIn doesn't control that refresh. And disabling your public profile could stop you recovering the account if you lose access to your primary email, because LinkedIn may ask for your public profile URL. Save that URL somewhere safe before you switch it off.
To check the result, the same page says the Public profile settings page shows the sections that can be displayed publicly. Our extra check: open your profile link in a private browser window while signed out. LinkedIn notes that people who aren't members may be asked to sign in to view parts of a public profile, even one set to public.
Which LinkedIn privacy setting hides what?
Use this table to switch off only what you need. Paths start at Settings & Privacy, then Visibility, on desktop or in the app, unless the row says otherwise. Each row comes from the linked LinkedIn help page, checked 4 Nov 2026.
| You want to | Setting | What still shows |
|---|---|---|
| Keep your photo to people you know | Photo visibility: on your profile, click your photo, then the Visibility icon in the pop-up (desktop); in the app, tap your photo, then View or edit profile photo, then the Visibility icon. Choose 1st-degree connections only, Your network, All LinkedIn members or Anyone | The default is Anyone. The photo setting on your public profile can be changed only on desktop, not in the app |
| Show only your last initial | Last name visibility, available once your public profile is off | 1st-degree connections always see your full name, and people can still find you by first and last name |
| Hide your email address | Email visibility: Only visible to me | LinkedIn also says people who are your email contacts can see your primary email. The default is your 1st-degree connections only |
| Stop lookups by email or phone | Discoverability by email or by phone number: Nobody | Permitted services off LinkedIn can still find you by name and organisation |
| Hide your connection list | Connection visibility: Off | Your connections can still see the connections you share, from the People tab of search results, says LinkedIn's connections page |
| Limit who follows you | Followers (under Visibility of your LinkedIn activity): Your connections | Followers outside your network are removed. Changes can take up to 24 hours |
| Edit your profile quietly | Share profile updates: Off | Anyone who views your profile sees your edits as soon as you save them |
| Keep a post to your connections | Post visibility: choose Connections only before you post | You can't change a post's visibility after sharing it |
| Hide from everyone, connections included | Hibernate account, under Account management in Settings & Privacy (the help page gives desktop steps) | Posts, comments and messages stay, labelled "A LinkedIn member". You can reactivate 24 hours later, and an active Premium plan is cancelled at once |
How do I block someone on LinkedIn?
Block them from their profile. From LinkedIn's block or unblock a member page, last updated about two months before 4 November 2026:
- Desktop: open their profile, click the More… button below their profile picture, select Report/Block, select Block [name], then click Block.
- iOS and Android: open their profile, tap the More icon in the top right, tap Report or Block (Report/Block on Android), tap Block [name] and confirm.
- To unblock: Settings & Privacy, Visibility, then Blocking under Visibility of your profile & network.
That page says the person won't be notified (LinkedIn may tell someone you share or have shared a Recruiter account with), and you have to wait 48 hours before blocking the same person again after an unblock. Their recommendations disappear from your profile and can't be reinstated if you unblock them.
Blocking has gaps. LinkedIn's blocking overview says a blocked member may still see what you make public, such as your public profile and your public posts, and that you can't block people viewing your profile in private mode. The overview suggests pairing a block with a hidden public profile and a limited profile photo.
Is LinkedIn private mode actually private?
For the person whose profile you open, yes. LinkedIn's private browsing page says you show up in their viewer list only as a LinkedIn Member viewing in private mode, with no other information shared. The cost on a free account: you can't see who viewed your own profile. Premium members can browse privately and still see their viewers from the last 90 days.
To switch on desktop, open Settings & Privacy, then Visibility, then Visibility when viewing other profiles, and pick Private mode. Private mode hides you while you browse; your own profile stays as visible as before. Our guide to viewing LinkedIn profiles anonymously compares the three browsing modes.
Should a founder make their LinkedIn profile private?
Usually not the whole profile. A prospect who gets your message can open your profile to check you, and our comparison of personal profiles and company pages shows why buyer conversations start from your own profile. A hidden public profile also drops out of Google results for your name, and any change can take weeks or months to show in search tools.
| Your situation | What to change |
|---|---|
| You sell or hire on LinkedIn | Keep the public profile on. Set email to 1st-degree connections, hide the connection list, and turn off Share profile updates while you rewrite. |
| You're checking competitors or candidates | Browse in private mode for that session, then switch back if you rely on seeing who viewed you. |
| Someone is bothering you | Block them, then hide the public profile and limit your photo, as LinkedIn's blocking overview suggests. |
| You want a break | Hibernate. Nobody sees the profile, and you can come back after 24 hours. |
| You want your data gone | Close the account. Our guide to deleting your LinkedIn account lists what to save first. |
Step 6 also checks the founder brand you're building; our 30-minute-a-week personal branding system covers what that profile should say.
Frequently asked questions
Can people see my LinkedIn profile if we're not connected?
Yes. LinkedIn's help centre says your profile is generally fully visible to every signed-in member, and any member who searches your name can see your full profile unless you've blocked them. One exception is your Contact Info section, which LinkedIn says only 1st-degree connections can see, though your webpage, blog URL or Twitter handle may be visible to all members. Your email address defaults to direct connections only.
Does LinkedIn tell people when I update my profile?
It does when sharing is on, in Share profile updates or the Share with network toggle shown while editing on a computer. LinkedIn says job updates can take up to two hours to reach your network and education updates up to 24 hours, and the automated update posts are deleted after 90 days. With sharing off, LinkedIn stops sharing your edits with your network, but anyone who opens your profile sees each edit as soon as you save it.
How long does it take for my LinkedIn profile to disappear from Google?
LinkedIn says it can take several weeks or even months for Google, Bing and other search tools to reflect a public profile change, and that it doesn't control their refresh. If an old version keeps showing, LinkedIn's advice is to contact the search tool directly and ask it to correct the result.
Can I hide my LinkedIn profile from my employer?
The help pages we checked on 4 November 2026 offer no setting that hides you from one company. You can block individual colleagues, turn off Share profile updates so changes aren't announced, and browse in private mode. Members you haven't blocked can still see your profile while signed in; of the settings we checked, only hibernation hides it from everyone.
How do I remove my information from LinkedIn?
Edit or delete single items yourself, such as profile sections, comments and past searches. To delete everything, close your account; LinkedIn says it generally deletes data within 30 days of closure, with exceptions set out in its privacy policy. Download a copy of your data first. For other objections, LinkedIn offers a Data Processing Objection/Restriction form.
Sources
- LinkedIn Help: What people can see on your profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Manage your account and privacy settings (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Control your public LinkedIn profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: LinkedIn public profile visibility (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Off-LinkedIn visibility (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Manage your profile's visibility on and off LinkedIn (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Settings for profile photo visibility (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Last name visibility (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Manage who can see your email address (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Connection visibility (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Manage who can follow you settings (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Share profile updates (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Visibility of shared posts (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Hibernate your LinkedIn account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Block or unblock a member (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Block a member, overview (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Browse profiles in private and semi-private mode (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Manage your personal data (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Close and delete your LinkedIn account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: View your connection's connections (checked 4 Nov 2026)