Last month LinkedIn expanded their search capacity for all 340+ million members. Now, every member on the platform can see 3rd degree Profiles. This news is exciting for free subscribers who identify people-of-interest who are not in their immediate network (i.e. 1st and 2nd degree connections); this visibility was previously only available to paid LinkedIn subscribers. What LinkedIn did not divulge in this announcement was that this expanded access comes at a price. There is now a limit to the number of searches you can do each month with a free LinkedIn basic account.
This is a screen shot of the notification you will receive from LinkedIn when you hit your commercial limit:
While at first, this may sound frustrating to free subscribers, we actually agree with LinkedIn on this change. LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful business tool that creates tremendous opportunity; from the job seekers to the recruiters to the sales reps and beyond. By putting a commercial limit on the LinkedIn search, it incentivizes members who want, and frankly need, more access to make a financial commitment to gain more insight.
This change will likely impact recruiters the most, who will need to consider upgrading from a free LinkedIn basic account to a paid LinkedIn premium account.
LinkedIn has not designated a specific number to their commercial limit. However, here is a deeper explanation that includes a few alerts to be aware of and understand that your limit resets on the first day of each month.
Sort of. We are always teaching our clients to maximize their saved LinkedIn searches. As a free subscriber, LinkedIn gives members three saved searches. One saved search only counts as one search. This is good news in lieu of the new update. When you save a LinkedIn search, LinkedIn will email you once a week if any new profiles fit that search criteria. Think of this feature as an automatic lead generator. If you are not paying for LinkedIn today, leverage your saved searches by setting them as your most common searches. It will only count as one search each month, but will continue to scan the network for new results.
Remember: LinkedIn basic members do not get access to more filters, they get fewer saved searches and they receive fewer Profile results.
LinkedIn is constantly tweaking their subscription levels, but here is an article to give you a better understanding of the differences between levels: Advantages of a LinkedIn Premium Subscription.
We will continue to stay on the pulse of these updates for you. Please stay tuned for more information.
