How to Use the LinkedIn Search Export

Before you start

• If you want to export results from Sales Navigator, use the Sales Navigator Search Export Phantom instead.
• Awareness of LinkedIn’s safety limits:
  • Maximum ~1,000 results per working day (up to 2,500/day with Sales Navigator).

LinkedIn only displays the first 1,000 results of any search. To go beyond this, break your search into smaller queries (by city, connection degree, etc.).

Step 1: Provide the searches you want to export

You can provide your LinkedIn search in three ways:

1. Paste a single search URL directly from LinkedIn. 
   The LinkedIn Search Export supports search result pages created on regular LinkedIn, including:
   • People searches
   • Job searches

   • Content searches

     Example of a valid job search URL: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search-results/?keywords=accounting

     → LinkedIn sometimes introduces new URL formats. In rare cases, a valid search URL may be temporarily rejected by the Phantom. If this happens, use the Keywords input as a workaround.

2. Enter keywords to search for directly in the setup (e.g., CEO, Paris, Fintech).

   • You can enter one or multiple keywords in the same field. Commas are optional, and LinkedIn Search Export will interpret your keywords either way.

     Example: Accountant, San Francisco
     → Use specific city names. Broader areas like Bay Area may not return accurate results.

   • Then define the following:
     • Search category: like People or Job (optional).
     • Connection degree: limit searches to 1st, 2nd, or 3rd+ degree connections.
3. Provide multiple searches via Google Sheets or CSV (CSV upload is available on paid plans only):
   • Provide a Google Sheet with your LinkedIn search URLs (make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link”).

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

     → If you want the Phantom to use a different column, enter that column’s header name in the field “Name of column containing searches” in the setup.

   • You can also choose:
     • Search category: like People or Job (optional).
     • Connection degree: limit searches to 1st, 2nd, or 3rd+ degree connections.

Step 2: 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.

Using multiple LinkedIn accounts

This Phantom supports connecting and running with multiple LinkedIn accounts at the same time. This lets you:

• Safely extract more results per day (e.g., 3 accounts = 3,000 results).
• Scale without duplicating automations.
• Keep everything in a single result file.

→ See our full guide: Use Multiple LinkedIn or Sales Navigator Accounts to Extract more Leads in one Automation.

Step 3: Configure your export settings

Before adjusting your settings, keep in mind:

• We recommend processing a maximum of 1,000 results per day (or 2,500 per day if you have a Sales Navigator account).
• LinkedIn only displays the first 1,000 results for any search. To go beyond this, create multiple search queries with different filters.

Here’s what you can configure:

1. Results to export per launch (optional)
   • Set how many results to extract each time the Phantom runs.
   • Maximum: 1,000 (2,500 with Sales Navigator).
2. Results to export per search URL (optional)
   • Limit how many results to extract per search query.
   • Maximum: 1,000 per URL.
3. Rows in your spreadsheet to process per launch (optional)
   • Choose how many different search URLs (rows) to process during one run.
   • If left empty, the Phantom will try to process all your searches in a single launch: this is not recommended if you have many rows or if you’re running other LinkedIn Phantoms at the same time.
     → To stay safe, we recommend setting a small number here (for example, 1 per launch) so your activity is spread out over multiple runs.

Advanced settings (dropdown in setup)

1. Remove duplicate profiles between different searches (optional)
   • Ensures the same LinkedIn profile isn’t exported more than once.
   • Learn more in our guide: Avoid and remove duplicates from your Phantom results.
2. Enrich leads (optional)
   • Adds extra details from each lead’s LinkedIn profile (e.g., job title, company, location).
3. Include reposts in search results (optional)
   • By default, the Phantom only exports original posts and skips reposted/shared content.
   • Enable this option if you also want reposts included in your results.

Result file settings (dropdown in setup)

1. Name your results file (optional)

   • You can customize the file name.

     If you rename the file between launches, the Phantom will create a new results file and start processing inputs from scratch.

2. Fields to keep (optional)
   • Export only the fields you care about by listing them (comma-separated).
     Example: profileUrl, job, location.
   • This generates a second CSV file with just those fields.
   • Learn more in our guide: Customize how your Phantom results files are saved.

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.

To keep your LinkedIn account safe:

• Schedule runs during weekday business hours to mimic normal usage patterns.
• Stay within recommended limits: ~1,000 results/day (2,500/day with Sales Navigator).
• If you’re chaining Phantoms, space them so one finishes cleanly before the next starts. Learn more in our guide on chaining Phantoms.

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:

1. Click Launch to start your Phantom.
2. Once it finishes, open the Results tab in the Phantom console to see the data collected.
3. 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

• Forgetting to connect your LinkedIn account.
• Browser not updated → outdated user agents cause cookies to expire quickly.
• Using the wrong input type/URL → this Phantom only accepts LinkedIn Search URLs (not Sales Navigator, not Recruiter).
• Getting “This is not a LinkedIn Search URL” even though the URL works on LinkedIn → This can happen when LinkedIn introduces a new search URL format. Use the Keywords input instead, or rebuild the search directly on LinkedIn and copy the fresh URL.
• Expecting full data from search results → LinkedIn search exports only basic information (e.g. profile URL, name, headline). To get more details (company, full job history, posts, etc.), you need to run a Phantom like LinkedIn Profile Scraper on the exported leads.
• Using a private spreadsheet (make sure it’s set to “Anyone with the link”).
• Expecting more than 1,000 results from a single search (LinkedIn’s limit).
• To maximize your reach, split large searches into smaller categories such as location, connection degree, or industry.

If your Phantom feels slower than before: this is expected. Each LinkedIn search page now takes around 12 seconds to scrape due to changes in how LinkedIn delivers search results. For reference: 10 pages ≈ 2 minutes, 40 pages ≈ 8 minutes.

If you run into errors or account 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

Once you’ve exported your leads from a LinkedIn search, here are the next steps you can take:

• Enrich your leads with more details using the LinkedIn Profile Scraper.
• Engage your leads using the LinkedIn Outreach.
• Try a prebuilt Workflow that combines extraction → enrichment → outreach to save setup time.