Did you always want to search for LinkedIn profiles using Google but haven't done so yet? This is an intro to searching and a link to a Custom Search Engine to do just that.

This is a "shortcut" (a Custom Search Engine) to searching for LinkedIn profiles on Google:

https://bit.ly/Search-LI

To use this X-Ray shortcut, log out of LinkedIn first. When the page opens, enter your keywords into the middle box on the page - and search for profiles.

Here is an example of its usage: enter a LinkedIn group name to find the members of the group.

Q. Why use Google to search for profiles?

A. Perhaps the top reason would be to find the full profiles for the 3rd level connections and out-of-network. Other interesting searches are possible, such as searching for the members of a LinkedIn group.

Q. Wouldn't the profile visibility still depend on my network and the type of account?

A. No. Google has no idea of your account on LinkedIn. These are public profiles.

Q. Wouldn't I need to have an advanced account to see more information on the found profiles?

A. Not really. Perhaps 99% of the members have the default settings, meaning, their public profiles have the full information.

For those who feel at ease with Advanced Searching on Google, here's the search expression itself. The shared X-Ray LinkedIn Custom Search simply hides the following Boolean String, that you can run on Google directly, if you like (add your keywords to the search):

site:linkedin.com/in OR site:linkedin.com/pub -pub.dir...

Alternatively, to access the same Custom Search, bookmark this page on my blog: X-Ray LinkedIn.

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