How to Hide LinkedIn Profile: A Fast Guide to Staying Invisible (Yet Online)

As much as we love LinkedIn for networking and business catch-ups, LinkedIn fatigue is very real — just look at the thousands of Google searches for “how to hide your LinkedIn profile”. Been there. Felt that. 

Whether it’s inbox overload or an ex-colleague profile peeping, craving less visibility is totally valid. 

You can hide profile on LinkedIn without deleting it — stay productive, just… quietly.

You will learn what it takes to hide your LinkedIn profile from public, how to do it without hurting your goals, and answer the major FAQs about going low-key on LinkedIn.

Why Hide Your LinkedIn Profile?

Reasons may vary, but mostly people want to control what’s publicly seen about them on LinkedIn.

Hiding your LinkedIn profile from certain contacts can mean anything from keeping recruiters or competitors out of your updates to running a quiet job search without your employer noticing. For others, it’s about taking a break from constant professional pings — or simply keeping unwanted eyes off their profile. 

💡Pro-tip! Recruiters, for instance, can hide LinkedIn  profile to build candidate lists discreetly, without notifying passive talent.

Hiding your LinkedIn profile is simply about privacy without going offline — aka selective invisibility.

It helps keep things smoother in the long run: no one needs to track your negotiations, job moves, or quiet research on the platform, except for you. That’s exactly why so many people go for it. 

How to Hide Your LinkedIn Profile Without Deleting it?

Just so we’re clear: “hiding your LinkedIn profile” is a pretty broad term. It actually comes down to two separate controls: who can see you (your visibility) and what parts of your profile they can note (your profile content).

Let’s break down both hiding options so you know exactly how to use each when the time is right. 

Option 1: Hiding Who Can See You On LinkedIn

This option is ideal if you want to stay off LinkedIn but keep controlling who sees your activity — all invisibly. 

Known as LinkedIn Private Mode, it lets you browse profiles anonymously, stay off other users’ “Who viewed your profile” lists, and keep your name, headline, and company hidden.

To go all “Private Mode” and hide LinkedIn profile when viewing others: 

👉Click the “Me” icon at the top of LinkedIn

👉Select “Settings & Privacy”

👉Open “Visibility” in the left sidebar

👉Click “Profile viewing options”

👉Select “Private mode”

💡Pro-tip! Whenever you need to hide profile on LinkedIn via “Private Mode”, remember: you also lose visibility into who viewed your profile — invisibility goes both ways. 

The only exception is LinkedIn Premium (including Sales Navigator), which lets you browse privately while still seeing profile viewers from the past 90 days (unless they were browsing privately too).

How to Manage Your LinkedIn Connections In Hidden Mode

Once you’ve switched your LinkedIn profile to Private Mode, the good news is you can still use the platform as usual. You can browse profiles, send and receive connection requests, message your connections, and publish posts. 

💡Pro-tip! For your 1st-degree connections, it’s business as usual. They can still view your profile and all the information on it.

The only difference is that your profile won’t appear in search engines or be visible to people who aren’t logged into LinkedIn. In other words, non-LinkedIn users won’t be able to see your profile or send you connection requests.

💡Pro-tip! Additionally, you can also choose how visible your connections are. Simply turn off connection visibility, and no one else will be able to see your network.

How to Hide LinkedIn Profile From Google Search

Another great hack to disappear from nosey crowds is to hide your LinkedIn profile from external queries, so it won’t show up in Google, Bing and any other search engines. 

Here’s a quick steps on how to stop Google from surfacing your LinkedIn profile:

👉Click “Me” → “Settings & Privacy”

👉Go to “Visibility”

👉Select “Edit your public profile”

👉Under “Your profile’s public visibility” , toggle the switch “OFF”

With the toggle off, your profile disappears from public view — but LinkedIn members can still find and see you inside the platform.

💡Pro-tip! Don’t worry if it doesn’t disappear right away — Google needs a few days to catch up. 

You can also hide your profile from Google by going to “Settings & Privacy” and choosing “Profile discovery & visibility off LinkedIn”. 

Option 2: Hiding What People See On LinkedIn About You

Aside from hiding LinkedIn profile from certain contacts altogether, the platform additionally allows you to manage how your profile appears to others by adjusting what information is visible.

For instance, LinkedIn lets you decide which profile sections are visible, who can see your activity, and how much information different people get — all in the “Visibility of your LinkedIn activity” section. 

💡Pro-tip! These hiding options are especially useful if you want to keep your likes, reactions, and recent profile changes private — whether from your connections, recruiters, or even your current employer. 

How to Hide Your LinkedIn Profile From Employer

This is exactly when you might want to hide LinkedIn profile from certain contacts, your employer in particular, while job hunting and wanting to keep it to yourself only. 

Sadly, there’s no “hide from this person” option on LinkedIn. If you want to stay invisible to someone specific, blocking is the only way.

But here’s what you need to do, in case you decided to play dirty: 

👉Go to “Settings & Privacy”

👉Open “Visibility”

👉Select “Share job changes, educational changes, etc. from profile” 

👉Toggle it “OFF” 

This keeps your updates quiet. Your network — employer included — won’t be notified about title changes, profile edits, or new experience additions.

Conclusion

Hiding your LinkedIn profile isn’t about being shady or disappearing from the social media platform whatsoever. It’s about having a grip on what, when, and why people can see about you. Moreover, access to this information becomes exclusive — and entirely on your terms.

It’s using reduced visibility to your advantage: staying under the radar when you want to, while still being present on LinkedIn when it matters.