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One day you wake up feeling great…
You open your LinkedIn account to check your messages…
And boom.
You got this message:
“Your account has been restricted“
Don’t panic.
We got you covered.
In this article, we will explain the different types of LinkedIn account restrictions, common reasons for them and how to react. We’ll also give you tips on dodging future restrictions.
Here are the 5 key takeaways:
- LinkedIn implements two types of account restriction: temporary and permanent ban.
- LinkedIn account restrictions often involve the use of automation tools, spamming or creating fake profiles.
- You can unlock your account by verifying your identity, contacting the LinkedIn customer support team.
- After recovering from a ban, slowly warming up your account and limit your LinkedIn automations.
- To not be banned again, subscribe to LinkedIn Premium, send connection requests judiciously and improve your copywriting skills.
Want to learn more about LinkedIn limits?
Let’s dive in!
The Different Types of LinkedIn Account Restrictions
Depending on the severity and frequency of the violation, there are two types of account restriction that LinkedIn may impose: temporary restrictions or permanent restrictions.
1. Temporary Restrictions
A temporary restriction is a short-term suspension of some or all of your account features.
A temporary restriction usually lasts for a few days or weeks, depending on the nature of the violation.
You will receive an email from LinkedIn explaining why your account was restricted and how long it will last.
A temporary restriction is often a warning sign that you need to change your behavior or risk getting permanently banned.
2. Permanent Restrictions
A permanent restriction is a complete removal of your account from LinkedIn.
This means that you will lose access to your profile, connections, messages, content, and any other data associated with your account.
A permanent restriction is usually reserved for serious or repeated violations of LinkedIn’s rules and policies.
Why is My LinkedIn Account Suspended?
Now that you know the different types of account restriction on LinkedIn, let’s look at some common reasons why they happen.
3 reasons why your LinkedIn account is suspended:
- You used LinkedIn automations tools
- You are spammy
- You created a fake LinkedIn profile
1. You used LinkedIn automation tools
LinkedIn does not officially allow the use of automation tools that violate the LinkedIn User Agreement or Professional Community Policies.
Tools that scrape data from LinkedIn or bypass LinkedIn’s security measures are also prohibited.
They can save you time by automating your messages, your connection requests and extracting data.
However, if you overuse them LinkedIn’s algorithm will flag you as a spammer or a bot.
This can result in a temporary or permanent restriction of your account.
2. You are spammy
Another reason why LinkedIn accounts get suspended is spamming.
Some examples of spamming behaviors are:
- Sending too many connection request
- Having a low acceptance rate
- Having a low reply rate
1. Sending too many connection requests
LinkedIn has implemented a limit of 100 connections requests per week.
If you try to send more you will see this message.
If you ignore this message and you continue sending connection request that may result in an account suspension.
Hopefully there are some ways to bypass the LinkedIn connection request limit.
I share few techniques in this video:
2. Having a low acceptance rate
If most of the people you send connection requests to ignore or decline them, LinkedIn may consider you as a spammer or a bot.
A low acceptance rate can also hurt your profile’s visibility and ranking on the platform.
It’s even worse if they click on “I don’t know this person” after clicking on Ignore
It’s a second sign and a confirmation for LinkedIn that your connection request wasn’t personalized.
You should aim for an acceptance rate of at least 20%.
3. Having a low reply rate
LinkedIn will not only take into account the connection request acceptance write but also the DM reply rate.
That is why it’s really important to work on your LinkedIn messages.
If you send too many messages and no nobody replies there is a risk you end up in LinkedIn jail.
3. You created a fake LinkedIn profile
The third reason why LinkedIn accounts get suspended is creating fake profiles.
LinkedIn does not tolerate fake profiles and considers them as a serious violation of its User Agreement and Professional Community Policies.
If LinkedIn detects that you have created or used a fake profile, it may permanently restrict your account and delete your profile.
With the development of AI LinkedIn has even developed tools to detect AI generated LinkedIn profile pictures.
How Do I Recover My Restricted LinkedIn Account?
If your account has been restricted by LinkedIn: don’t panic.
There are some steps you can take to try to unlock it and regain access to your account.
3 things to do to unlock your LinkedIn account:
- Don’t create a new LinkedIn account
- Complete the identity verification process
- Contact LinkedIn support
1. Don’t create a new LinkedIn account
The first thing you should not do is create a new LinkedIn account with a different email address or phone number.
This may seem like an easy solution, but it’s actually a bad idea for several reasons:
- You will lose all the data and connections from your original account.
- You will have to start from scratch and rebuild your profile and network.
- You will violate LinkedIn’s rule of having only one account per person.
- You will risk getting both of your accounts permanently banned.
LinkedIn has sophisticated tools and methods to detect multiple accounts created by the same person or from the same IP address.
If you create a new account while your original account is restricted, LinkedIn may consider it as a sign of fraudulent activity and delete both of your accounts.
2. Complete the identity verification process
The second thing you should do is complete the identity verification process that LinkedIn may ask you to do.
This process is designed to verify that you are who you say you are and that you are not using a fake profile or an automation tool.
To verify your identity, LinkedIn may ask you to upload a clear photo of your valid government issued ID card, driver’s license, or passport.
You may also need to access a verification code sent to your email address or phone number associated with your account.
To successfully verify your identity, make sure that the photo of your ID is clear and legible and that it matches the information on your profile.
Also, make sure that you have access to the email address or phone number that you used to sign up for LinkedIn.
3. Contact LinkedIn support
The third thing you should do is contact LinkedIn help if the identity verification process does not work or if you have any questions or concerns about your account restriction.
You can contact LinkedIn support through their Help Center or by submitting a ticket.
LinkedIn support will review your case and get back to you within a few days or weeks, depending on the volume of requests they receive.
They may ask you for more information or evidence, or they may decide to lift the restriction or uphold it.
If they lift the restriction, you will be able to access your account again.
If they uphold it, you will have to accept their decision and move on.
How To React After a LinkedIn Ban?
If you manage to unlock your account after a restriction, congratulations!
You have successfully recovered your account and avoided losing your valuable data and connections.
However, this does not mean that you can go back to your old habits and risk getting restricted again.
You need to take some actions to react after a ban and prevent it from happening again.
3 things to after recovering from a LinkedIn ban:
- Stop your LinkedIn automations
- Warm up your account
- Set up safe automations limits
1. Stop your LinkedIn automations
The first thing you should do after a ban is stop using any automation tools that you were using before for at least one week.
This includes any software, service, browser extension, or script that automates your tasks on LinkedIn.
Even if you think that the tool is safe or compliant with LinkedIn’s rules, it’s better to be safe than sorry and avoid using it altogether.
Using automation tools after a ban can increase the chances of getting restricted again, as LinkedIn will monitor your account more closely and detect any suspicious activity.
This way, you will not only avoid getting banned, but also improve your results and outcomes on LinkedIn.
2. Warm up your account
The second thing you should do after a ban is warm up your account gradually and carefully.
This means that you should start with a low volume and frequency of activity on LinkedIn and slowly increase it over time.
This will help you avoid triggering LinkedIn’s algorithm again and show that you are a real and active member of the platform.
- Send 5-10 manual connection requests per day to people who are likely to accept them.
- Send 20–30 messages manually to your existing connections or new connections who have accepted your requests.
- Like, comment, or share a few posts per day that are related to your industry or niche.
As you warm up your account, you can gradually increase the number of connection requests, messages, and engagements per day until you reach the unofficial but know LinkedIn limits:
- 100 connections request per day
- 150 messages per day
As for LinkedIn scraping, it’s better to complete stop your extraction for a week then gradually increase from:
- 10 profiles per day on LinkedIn basic search
- 100 profiles per day on Sales Navigator
3. Set up safe automation limits
The third thing you should do after a ban is set up safe limitations for your automation tools if you decide to use them again.
Personally use LaGrowthMachine which I recommend because I never had a warning in 2 years.
Some of the best practices for using automation tools safely are:
- Choose a reputable and reliable LinkedIn prospecting tool
- Use a tool that mimics human behavior and has random delays and intervals between actions.
- Use a tool that has an option to stop or pause the automation if LinkedIn detects any unusual activity or sends a captcha request.
- Use a tool that allows you to customize the settings and parameters of the automation according to your needs and goals.
- Use a tool that has a dashboard or a report that shows you the progress and results of the automation.
- Limit automations to office hours
- Limit automations to week-ends
- Stay under the LinkedIn limits mentioned earlier.
By setting up safe limitations for your automation tools, you will reduce the risk of getting restricted again and also improve the quality and effectiveness of your automation.
How To Avoid LinkedIn Restrictions?
Your account is up and running again? Great. You have done a great job of recovering and restoring your account.
Now, it’s time to take some preventive measures to avoid a new LinkedIn restriction and keep your account safe and secure in the long run.
5 things to avoid LinkedIn restrictions:
- Buy LinkedIn Premium
- Optimize your LinkedIn profile
- Follow LinkedIn outreach best practices
- Scale LinkedIn outreach the smart way
1. Buy LinkedIn Premium
One of the preventive measures you can take to avoid a new LinkedIn restriction is to get LinkedIn Premium.
It’s simple, if you pay them: LinkedIn will leave you alone
We run an experiment at Evaboot. We program the same prospecting sequencer with 2 accounts:
- one free account
- one premium account (Sales Navigator)
After 1 week of prospecting:
- the free account has been banned
- nothing happened to the premium account
Getting a LinkedIn Premium subscription is a simply to increase:
- the number of connection request you can send
- the number of messages you can send
- the number of leads you can extract
If you have the budget and you want to secure your account, go for it.
It’s a no-brainer.
2. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Another preventive measure you can take to avoid a new LinkedIn restriction is to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Optimizing your profile means that you make it as complete, accurate, and professional as possible to increase your acceptance rate.
Some ways to optimize your profile are:
- Add a professional photo that shows your face clearly and reflects your personality.
- Add a catchy headline that summarizes who you are, what you do, and what you offer.
- Add a compelling summary that tells your story, highlights your achievements, and showcases your skills.
- Add relevant details to your experience section, such as your roles, responsibilities, accomplishments, and keywords.
- Add relevant details to your education section, such as your degrees, majors, minors, honors, and activities.
- Add relevant endorsements and recommendations from your connections that validate your skills and expertise.
Take the time to complete all these steps and you can be sure your acceptance rate will increase.
You will then be less like to get your LinkedIn account banned.
3. Follow LinkedIn outreach best practices
A common mistake that many people make when using LinkedIn is sending connection requests with notes that are generic, spammy, or irrelevant.
This lowers your acceptance rate.
Therefore, a simple hack to avoid getting your account restricted by LinkedIn is to send connection requests without notes.
This will make your requests look more natural and less intrusive, as well as save you time and effort.
A study led by Waalaxy has proven that with data.
Also make sure to maintain a high reply rate to your LinkedIn prospecting messages.
For that 3 rules.
Make your messages short, simple and personalized messages.
The Waalaxy study also shown that shorter messages tended to get more replies.
Be relevant and go straight to the point.
Your prospect will thank you for that.
4. Scale LinkedIn outreach the smart way
There are strategies and tools that can help you reach more people and generate more leads on LinkedIn without violating the rules or policies of LinkedIn.
4 ways to scale your LinkedIn outreach:
- Send InMail messages
- Contact Open Profiles
- Use multiple LinkedIn account
- Send messages requests
1. Send InMail messages
InMail messages are messages that you can send to anyone on LinkedIn without being connected with them.
However, you need to have a LinkedIn Premium subscription like Sales Navigator account to use this feature.
You also have a limited number of InMail credits per month (depending on your plan):
- 10 per month with LinkedIn Premium Business
- 50 per month with Sales Navigator
- 120 per month with Recruiter Lite
That way you increase the number of messages you can send every month without endangering your LinkedIn account.
2. Contact Open Profiles
Open profiles are LinkedIn users who have enabled the Open Profile setting, which allows anyone on LinkedIn to send them a message for free.
This means that you don’t need to spend an InMail credit to contact them.
You can identify open profiles, you must click on More then Message.
If the yellow box message appears, it means it’s an Open profile
You send up to 800 Open InMails per month.
So that is another great way to scale your LinkedIn outreach without risking an account suspension.
3. Use multiple LinkedIn accounts
If you want to increase your reach and avoid getting your account restricted by LinkedIn, you can use multiple LinkedIn accounts.
Before considering creating any fake profile, ask your co-founder or colleagues if they would be OK to have their LinkedIn account automated.
You should also use different email addresses, phone numbers, and proxies for each account to avoid getting detected or flagged by LinkedIn.
4. Send LinkedIn messages request
Another way to scale your LinkedIn outreach is to send LinkedIn messages requests.
Messages request are direct messages you can send to group members and event attendees without being connected to them.
They will appear in the “Other” section of the inbox with the name of the group or event.
These messages are not counted in the 150 LinkedIn DMs per day limit.
You can send up to 200 messages request per week so that is another way to contact more people without sending more connection request.
Other Questions About LinkedIn Account Restrictions
In this part we answer the questions:
- How long will my LinkedIn account be restricted?
- How long does it take LinkedIn to verify identity?
- Can you open another LinkedIn account if you get permanently restricted?
How long will my LinkedIn account be restricted?
Account restriction duration on LinkedIn can vary depending on the reason for the restriction. Typically, restriction periods range from a few days to a few weeks.
How long does it take LinkedIn to verify identity?
Identity verification can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the volume of submissions. Once the verification process is complete, you’ll receive instructions on how to access your account again.
Can you open another LinkedIn account if you get permanently restricted?
No, it is not recommended to open another LinkedIn account if you have been permanently restricted. LinkedIn’s terms of service state that users are only allowed to have one account. Attempting to create a new account after being permanently restricted could result in further disciplinary action from LinkedIn,
Disclosure
This content was partly written by AI (ChatGPT 4), I added my own perspective, fact-checked it and made sure it is helpful for you.
