LinkedIn has become a must-have social media platform for professionals and business people, as well as for everyone looking to develop their career or for LinkedIn sales prospecting. Hence, your LinkedIn account becomes your asset with all the connections you have gathered and the network you have built.
Prospects check your Linkedin profile when you send an invite to decide afterwards if they want to connect with you or not, but what if one day you wake up and all that is gone? What if your profile wasn’t being handled the right way and you find out you no longer have access to it? For this reason, we put the guidelines for you on how to manage your LinkedIn account properly and be safe.
Why are LinkedIn accounts being blocked?
LinkedIn follows a strict set of rules and policies when it comes to the do’s and don’ts of accounts. These set of rules and policies are adopted by LinkedIn as Professional Community Policies, that outline the types of content and conversations that are acceptable on LinkedIn, and what may be viewed as inappropriate, suspicious and might get your account restricted or removed. Typically, accounts get blocked when LinkedIn detects suspicious activity either from your account profile or from other accounts. That is the case even with accounts that have been active for a while and are suddenly restricted or blocked. The reasons may vary, from your account being “too active,” people reporting your account many times as “I don’t know this person,” too many connection requests being sent out from your account, to a very low acceptance rate.
Here are the top reasons why accounts get restricted on LinkedIn:
- An unusually large number of page views from your account
- LinkedIn detected inappropriate or illegal activity in your profile
- The name used in the account profile is in violation with LinkedIn’s User Agreement
- A history of repetitive abusive behaviour on the account
- LinkedIn has detected that the account might be hacked or compromised
Depending on the violation, you may have your account restricted or content removed. In severe violation cases, your account might get restricted indefinitely.
What happens when your LinkedIn account is blocked?
Normally, when your account gets restricted or blocked, you will get notified when you try to sign in or from LinkedIn support. In some cases, the restriction will be gone by itself after 7 days however in most cases, you will need to upload a scan or picture of ID/Passport copy.
Even though sharing personal information like this can be unsettling, this is the only way you’ll be able to get your LinkedIn account back. After you submit your ID or Passport, usually you will get an answer from LinkedIn support team within 7 to 10 working days letting you know that your restriction has been lifted, the reason it was restricted in the first place and how you can avoid that in the future.
What to do?
The first thing people are prone to do when their LinkedIn account is restricted is to panic and create a new LinkedIn account. These two combinations can lead to another mistake: getting yet another account restricted from LinkedIn. Why? Because LinkedIn will detect a new account from the same IP, and it will restrict that one as well.
If you’re using LinkedIn automation tools for prospecting, this sheds lights into the importance of using secure LinkedIn automation tools like SalesFlow, that are cloud-based instead of chrome extensions and use static IP’s.
Here’s the DO’s when your account is restricted:
- Disconnect your LinkedIn automation tools you might be using that are not safe, even if that was not the reason why your account got restricted in the first place.
- If you manage to get your account back after following the procedures mentioned above, you will have to manually warm up your account so that it doesn’t get a permanent ban in the future.
- Use only the safest and latest LinkedIn practices.
- Treat your recovered account as a new LinkedIn account.
- Avoid any types of mass outreach campaigns.
Best practices of not being restricted
If you’re automating processes on LinkedIn, you’re likely to hit a limit and get suspended. However, LinkedIn limits vary whether your account is warmed up and if you have a Premium account.
In order to take that into account, here are the three types of accounts to provide answers for:
- For free cold/new accounts
- For free warmed up accounts
- For premium Sales Navigator accounts
Maximum messages you can send per day on LinkedIn
60-80 messages per day are the safe limit we would recommend for free/cold new accounts.
80-100 messages per day for free warmed up accounts spread out throughout the day.
Maximum connection requests you can make daily on LinkedIn
50 requests per day are the ideal safe number for new accounts.
What’s the maximum number of connections you can make on LinkedIn?
The maximum number of connections you can make is 30,000 max.?
How many searches can you do in a month on LinkedIn?
Up to 30 searches for inactive accounts to stay on the safe side on LinkedIn.
300 searches per month maximum for warmed up accounts.
An unlimited number of searches for premium accounts they can do per month.?
What’s the maximum number of people in a conversation on LinkedIn?
50 people maximum is the number of people in a conversation to comply with LinkedIn policies.
What’s the maximum number of groups you can manage and be part of?
You can manage up to 30 groups and be part of 100 groups on LinkedIn.
What’s the maximum number of mentions you can use in a LinkedIn post?
The maximum number of mentions you can use on a LinkedIn post is 20 mentions.
Conclusion
In summary, every social media platform uses some kind of policies and rules when monitoring suspicious behaviour and that is the case with LinkedIn as well. You can get banned or restricted (something none of us wants) for different reasons. Which is why it is important to follow the best practices to avoid these types of situations. In conclusion, as long as you stick to the guidelines listed above, your LinkedIn account should be safe.