How to Use the LinkedIn Search to Lead Outreach

*For a workflow targeting 10–20 LinkedIn leads, the full process typically takes around 5–15 minutes total, including exporting search results, sending connection requests, and follow-up messages, plus a few extra seconds for the workflow to process.

Before you start

• This Workflow combines a LinkedIn Search Export with automated outreach.
• If you’re working with Sales Navigator search URLs, use our dedicated Sales Navigator Search to Lead Outreach Workflow instead.

Step 1: Connect your LinkedIn account

To let the automation 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→ If your Chrome or Firefox version is outdated, your session cookie may expire much more quickly, and you’ll need to reconnect often.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: Choose which LinkedIn profiles to invite

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

• Provide the profiles you want to target in one of the following formats:
  • Paste a single LinkedIn search URL.
  • Provide a Google Sheet with LinkedIn people search URLs (make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link”).

  • Upload a CSV file with LinkedIn people search or list 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 Workflow defaults to the first column (A). To use a different column, enter the column’s header name in the field “Name of column containing searches or lists.”

Advanced settings (dropdown in setup)

• Specify the Number of profiles to extract per search or list:
  • Default = empty which means it will extract all available.
  • You can only set this value when configuring the Workflow for the first time. Once your Workflow has finished retrieving results and shows the status "Search successfully processed", increasing this number won't extract additional profiles. The search has been treated as complete. To pull more profiles, create a new Workflow with the same search input and set the desired number (or leave it blank to capture the full search).
• Specify the Number of invites to send per day:
  • Default = capped at 20.
  • LinkedIn limits you to 100 invitations per week.
  • To stay within this limit, the Workflow defaults to sending 20 invites per working day (Monday–Friday). You can lower this number if you’re just starting with automation or want to be extra cautious.
• Select the Times at which to send invites and messages:
  • Weekdays during working hours → Sends steadily Monday–Friday in standard office hours.
  • Randomly throughout the day and week → Spreads invites unpredictably.

This Workflow does not include customizable Launch settings. You can’t change the frequency beyond these two options or set a different launch schedule.

Step 3: Customize your connection request

If you skip this step, invites will be sent without a message.

To add a personal message to your invite:

1. Enter your message:

   • Write your message. 
     – Free LinkedIn accounts are limited to 200 characters and 5 personalized invites per month.
     – Premium accounts allow the full 300 characters with unlimited personalized invites.

   Watch the character counter in the bottom-right corner of the message box to track your usage. This helps you stay within limits and avoid your message being cut off. Keep in mind that placeholder tags also count toward the limit, so leave room for both the tag itself and the replaced text.

• Placeholder tags:
  • All available tags appear at the bottom of the message box.
  • Click on a tag to insert it, or use the + icon to see the full list.
• Formatting restrictions:
  • Emojis are not supported.
  • Hyperlinks are not supported: any pasted link will appear as plain text.

Step 4: Write and schedule follow-up messages

Follow-up messages are mandatory in this Workflow. 
If you don’t want to send follow-ups, use the LinkedIn Search to Lead Connection Workflow instead. It performs the same outreach actions but without requiring follow-up messaging.

To send follow-up messages after your connection requests are accepted:

1. Enter your message:

   • Write your message in the “Your message” field (up to 8,000 characters).
   • Click on the tags listed below the message box to insert them automatically.
   • Click the + icon to see all available tags.

   Watch the character counter in the bottom-right corner of the message box to track your usage. This helps you stay within limits and avoid your message being cut off. Keep in mind that placeholder tags also count toward the limit, so leave room for both the tag itself and the replaced text.

2. Attach files (optional)

   Add documents or images to your message:

   • Maximum combined file size = 20 MB.
   • Hyperlinks are not supported → if you paste a link, it will appear as plain text.

3. Define when to send it: 
   → Choose the delay, between 0 and 15 days (e.g. “Send 1st follow-up after at least 2 days”).

   Messages are only sent if the person accepts your connection and hasn’t replied.

4. Add more follow-ups:
   → You can schedule up to 3 follow-ups in total.
   → Each one is sent only if the previous message didn’t get a reply.

Replies after your follow-ups: 
This Workflow only checks for replies right before sending the next scheduled follow-up (via the LinkedIn Message Sender worker). If you don’t set up a second follow-up, the Workflow won’t be able to detect replies that come in after your first follow-up.

Step 5 (Optional): Advanced settings

Advanced settings are available if you want to fine-tune how your Workflow 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 Workflow.

Once it finishes:

• Invitations aren’t sent right away. The Workflow first gathers your leads from the LinkedIn search URLs you provided, then begins sending invites according to your daily limit.
• You can track progress in the Workflow's dashboard:
  • Leads tab → Shows the status of each lead being processed by the automation (e.g., Not invited yet, Invited, Accepted, Follow-up sent, Replied, or Could not invite). From here you can search, filter, and also download your results as a CSV.

  • Report tab → Displays performance metrics of your Outreach campaign, including:

    - Time saved
    - Profiles collected, invites sent, requests accepted
    - Performance progress over time (visual graph of collected vs. invited vs. accepted)
    - Message sequence performance (how your follow-ups are performing).

• The next worker agent (or Phantom) to launch is always visible in the Workflow Dashboard. 
  → Look for the line starting with “Next:” to know what’s coming up in the sequence.

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 Workflow, 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 caps → Don’t exceed 20 invites per weekday. Going over can trigger restrictions.
• Message length → Free accounts may be limited to 200 characters and 5 personalized invites per month.
• Updating inputs after launch → once a Workflow is turned on, changing the input is not recommended. This can lead to errors or disrupt the process.
  → Instead, create a new Workflow to process the new input.
• Scraping emails:
  • This Workflow does not collect professional emails.
  • Only personal emails may appear, scraped by the LinkedIn Message Sender worker (after you become 1st-degree connections).
  • If you need verified professional emails, use the LinkedIn Profile Scraper instead.
• No custom scheduling → This Workflow doesn’t have Launch settings. You can only choose between the two available options (Weekdays during working hours or Randomly throughout the day and week). It isn’t possible to set other times or frequencies.
• If the Workflow stops working:
  • Errors may not always appear in the Dashboard.
  • To check hidden errors and execution details, open the Logs section from the console page of your Phantom. For step-by-step instructions, see How to Troubleshoot Errors in Workflows.

If you run into issues

• 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

After sending outreach, you can:

• Expand into company-level research by using the LinkedIn Company Scraper. This lets you gather details about the companies your leads work at and refine your targeting.
• Use the LinkedIn Post Commenter and Liker Scraper to identify and engage with people already interacting with relevant content. This helps expand beyond cold outreach by targeting warm leads.
• If you’d like to enrich the leads you’ve already gathered from your search, run them through the LinkedIn Profile Scraper afterwards to capture additional profile data.