How to Use the LinkedIn Search to Profile Data

*Execution time may increase when email discovery is enabled.

Before you start

• This Phantom is a merger between the LinkedIn Search Export and LinkedIn Profile Scraper. It first extracts profile URLs from a LinkedIn search and then enriches them with data.
• LinkedIn only shows the first 1,000 results per search (or 2,500 with Sales Navigator). To go beyond, adjust your queries and use multiple search URLs.
• Awareness of LinkedIn’s safety limits:
  • Up to 80 profiles per day (LinkedIn).
  • 150 with Sales Navigator.
  • If you enable email discovery, cut this number in half, since the Phantom will perform additional page visits.

Step 1: Connect your LinkedIn account

To let the Phantom act on your behalf:

1. Install the PhantomBuster browser extension and connect your LinkedIn session in one click.
2. If you’re not using Chrome or Firefox, you can retrieve your session cookie manually (see our cookie guide).

Check your browser user agent
Make sure your browser is up to date before connecting your account.
→ If your Chrome or Firefox version is outdated, your session cookie may expire much more quickly, and you’ll need to reconnect often.

Step 2: Provide your LinkedIn search URLs

Tell the Phantom which LinkedIn search results you’d like it to extract.

• Paste a single LinkedIn search URL.
• Provide a Google Sheet with LinkedIn search URLs (make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link”).

• Upload a CSV file with LinkedIn search URLs (make sure it’s publicly accessible, and note that CSV upload is only available on paid plans).

  → If you’re using a spreadsheet, the Phantom defaults to the first column (A). To use a different column, enter the column’s header name in the field “Name of column containing search URLs.”

Step 3: Enrich your leads with professional emails (optional)

You can choose to add verified professional email addresses to each LinkedIn profile.

Not every profile will return an email address. The match rate depends on the data available, so the number of verified emails may be lower than your credits used.

1. Click on the “Select your email discovery service” dropdown.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • PhantomBuster credits (default option)
     • Each plan includes monthly email discovery credits.
     • 1 credit = 1 attempt to find and verify an email for one profile.
     • Credits reset monthly.
   • Third-party services
     • Connect your own account by entering your API key for:
       • Dropcontact.io
       • Hunter.io
       • Snov.io

Enabling email discovery means the Phantom will spend more time on each profile, since it needs to process both the message and the email lookup. This increases execution time per launch.

Tip for safe use
When using email discovery, process about half of the default daily recommendation for your Phantom. This reduces the risk of hitting LinkedIn’s rate limits.

Step 4: Select launch frequency

Choose how often the Phantom should run:

1. Launch manually: Start the Phantom yourself whenever you need.
2. Launch once at a specific time: schedule a one-time run at a set date and time.
3. Launch repeatedly: schedule regular runs (e.g. once per day, several times during working hours).
4. Launch after another Phantom: chain automations together so this Phantom starts right after another finishes.
5. Advanced scheduling: customize the exact minutes, hours, days, or months when the Phantom should run.

→ For a complete walkthrough of scheduling options, see our guide to scheduling Phantoms automatically.

Step 5 (Optional): Advanced settings

Advanced settings are available if you want to fine-tune how your Phantom runs, but by default they’re already optimized for most use cases.

We recommend leaving them as they are unless a guide specifically instructs you to change something.

→ For a detailed overview of all advanced options (like execution limits, retries, email notifications, proxies, webhooks, and file management), see our Advanced settings guide.

Launch and results

When you’re ready:

• Toggle the ON/OFF switch to start your Phantom.

Once it finishes:

1. Open the Results tab in the Phantom console to see the data collected.
2. Download your results as a CSV or JSON file, or view them as a dynamic list on the LinkedIn Leads page.

→ To learn how to export your data to Google Sheets, integrate with other tools, or reuse it in more automations, check our Access and Export your Phantom Results guide.

Export and input limits on the Free plan
If you’re on the Free plan or Free trial, some features are limited:
- CSV exports include only the first 10 rows of results.
- CSV download links (for dynamic viewing in Google Sheets or integrations) are not available.
- JSON exports are not available.
- CSV upload as an input method is not supported.
To unlock all features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

What you give (Input) and What you get (Output)

This section gives you a detailed breakdown of everything you need to provide to run this Phantom, and everything you’ll receive once it completes.

What you give (Input)

What you get (Output)

Tips and troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• Using a private Google Sheet → make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link.”
• LinkedIn limits → remember the 1,000 (or 2,500 with Sales Navigator) cap per search.
• Not getting professional emails → make sure you’ve enabled email discovery in the Phantom setup (step 3). Without it, only LinkedIn profile data will be extracted.

If you run into issues

• Check how to troubleshoot your Phantom using Logs.
• Browse the Fix Issues & Troubleshoot Errors section for solutions to common problems.
• Review our Automation Rate Limits by Platform guide.
• Check our Best Practices for Social Media Automation guide.

Suggested automations

• AI Advanced Enricher → analyze and enrich the profiles you’ve extracted with deeper insights.
• LinkedIn Outreach → connect with leads and manage personalized follow-ups directly.
• LinkedIn Auto Follow, Auto Commenter, Auto Liker, or Activity Extractor → engage with their content or track their activity to build warmer relationships before outreach.