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LinkedIn API

LinkedIn API Search people by Keyword: Find Professionals Programmatically

Learn how to search LinkedIn profiles by keyword using our API without OAuth authentication. Access comprehensive professional data with simple REST calls.

LinkedIn API Search people by Keyword: Find Professionals Programmatically

LinkedIn API Search by Keyword: Find Professionals Programmatically

Searching for professionals on LinkedIn programmatically has traditionally required complex OAuth authentication and approval processes. Our Fresh LinkedIn Scraper API on RapidAPI solves this challenge by providing a simple endpoint to search LinkedIn profiles by keyword without authentication barriers.

Table of Contents

How LinkedIn API Search Works

The people search endpoint allows you to programmatically find LinkedIn profiles using keywords, similar to LinkedIn's own search functionality. The API returns structured data about professionals matching your search criteria, including their names, titles, locations, and profile URLs.

Unlike LinkedIn's official API, our solution:

  • Requires no OAuth authentication
  • Needs no application approval process
  • Has no complex implementation requirements
  • Provides immediate access through RapidAPI

Making Your First API Call

Here's how to search for LinkedIn profiles using the API:

curl --request GET \
  --url https://fresh-linkedin-scraper-api.p.rapidapi.com/api/v1/search/people \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-host: fresh-linkedin-scraper-api.p.rapidapi.com'

For JavaScript users:

const axios = require("axios");

const options = {
  method: "GET",
  url: "https://fresh-linkedin-scraper-api.p.rapidapi.com/api/v1/search/people",
  params: {
    keyword: "software engineer",
    location: "San Francisco",
    page: 1,
  },
  headers: {
    "x-rapidapi-key": "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY",
    "x-rapidapi-host": "fresh-linkedin-scraper-api.p.rapidapi.com",
  },
};

async function searchLinkedIn() {
  try {
    const response = await axios.request(options);
    console.log(response.data);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
}

searchLinkedIn();

Python example:

import requests

url = "https://fresh-linkedin-scraper-api.p.rapidapi.com/api/v1/search/people"

querystring = {"keyword":"software engineer","location":"San Francisco","page":"1"}

headers = {
    "x-rapidapi-key": "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY",
    "x-rapidapi-host": "fresh-linkedin-scraper-api.p.rapidapi.com"
}

response = requests.request("GET", url, headers=headers, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Understanding the Response

The API returns a JSON response with detailed information about matching profiles. Here's a sample response structure:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "success",
  "process_time": 884,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "478387397",
      "urn": "ACoAAByDnMUBr75NmvcrLQrNyMolO141Kg7TD_I",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-heyer-685264114",
      "public_identifier": "john-heyer-685264114",
      "full_name": "John Heyer",
      "title": "ML @ depthfirst | ex Scale / Amazon / MIT",
      "location": "Boston, MA",
      "is_premium": false,
      "avatar": [
        {
          "width": 100,
          "height": 100,
          "url": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4E03AQE8eMECAnAnsQ/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/B4EZZzcHPtHQAU-/0/1745693473268?e=1752105600&v=beta&t=HqBFLGFBqPhhxdOy3onmu2SWKID67f968T3eCDeCR0Y",
          "expires_at": 1752105600000
        }
      ],
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "426203025",
      "urn": "ACoAABlnV5EBp1Z8-e9CYtCdibCRxSLDC5WdF6M",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-finberg",
      "public_identifier": "john-finberg",
      "full_name": "John Finberg",
      "title": "CS Master’s @ Brown | Former YC Founder",
      "location": "San Francisco, CA",
      "is_premium": false,
      "avatar": [
        {
          "width": 100,
          "height": 100,
          "url": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/C4E03AQGDnhjuGakKdA/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/0/1639869205597?e=1752105600&v=beta&t=xofAYNOu0PPgN97GVVT3owO7cHd6w3RB3BkZWb-tupo",
          "expires_at": 1752105600000
        }
      ],
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "154775889",
      "urn": "ACoAAAk5sVEB_0ZXturWkcXeMZwFynw9fSqvklg",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-platt-469a0143",
      "public_identifier": "john-platt-469a0143",
      "full_name": "John Platt",
      "title": "Google Fellow",
      "location": "Bellevue, WA",
      "is_premium": false,
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "4367693",
      "urn": "ACoAAABCpU0B49A2UNk2hsPq6lad5uXjAGzXSho",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/foxjohnj",
      "public_identifier": "foxjohnj",
      "full_name": "John Fox",
      "title": "Data Science at Bain",
      "location": "North Andover, MA",
      "is_premium": false,
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "783805919",
      "urn": "ACoAAC637d8BkepqdLZSRJUKhGQz2md2cHrt8xY",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-duan",
      "public_identifier": "john-duan",
      "full_name": "John Duan",
      "title": "SWE @ Amazon | Engineering @ USC | Prev @ WeRide",
      "location": "San Francisco Bay Area",
      "is_premium": false,
      "avatar": [
        {
          "width": 100,
          "height": 100,
          "url": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D5603AQF74XID5N8VEw/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/B56ZS.sdakGQAY-/0/1738366114356?e=1752105600&v=beta&t=J3fqoTHLNNaIqxpb1tUZj9fB-n7FeYrbXViH846oXRY",
          "expires_at": 1752105600000
        }
      ],
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "15635850",
      "urn": "ACoAAADulYoBbEEduiKcOIzWLwhtjQKVLQw3rMw",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnboris",
      "public_identifier": "johnboris",
      "full_name": "John Boris",
      "title": "CEO | Executive Chairman | CGO/CMO | Board Member | Strategic Advisor (USA & Australia)",
      "location": "San Francisco Bay Area",
      "is_premium": true,
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "216259993",
      "urn": "ACoAAAzj3ZkBJcNY0npJAYK0O0BXHKRMn93bUhI",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdeniston",
      "public_identifier": "jdeniston",
      "full_name": "John Deniston",
      "title": "Accelerating Innovation + Operational Impact | Stanford MBA | Military Veteran",
      "location": "United States",
      "is_premium": false,
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "299716348",
      "urn": "ACoAABHdTvwBcKoMds2sIhJE3rLOaBm8jzhKmzE",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jchirik",
      "public_identifier": "jchirik",
      "full_name": "John Chirikjian",
      "title": "Building Hire.inc & Robotics | 2x YC Founder",
      "location": "Cairo, Egypt",
      "is_premium": false,
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "560384183",
      "urn": "ACoAACFmyLcBmAN6aYTLxG2ZBicZaC-RMoak7DE",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-w-wang",
      "public_identifier": "john-w-wang",
      "full_name": "John W.",
      "title": "CS @ Harvard",
      "location": "Cambridge, MA",
      "is_premium": false,
      "avatar": [
        {
          "width": 100,
          "height": 100,
          "url": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D5603AQHkoh4xxOFutA/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/0/1711941029424?e=1752105600&v=beta&t=zm0aU1ttqkPAaexvFoFsOYvuq6G3YzvGoZo5vmlfYi0",
          "expires_at": 1752105600000
        }
      ],
      "services": []
    },
    {
      "id": "984193999",
      "urn": "ACoAADqpm88Byyqn2QRA7bixFJQ7gfsWbR7LPno",
      "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntrinhvu",
      "public_identifier": "johntrinhvu",
      "full_name": "John Vu",
      "title": "Incoming @ Meta | SWE @ UC Irvine",
      "location": "Los Angeles Metropolitan Area",
      "is_premium": false,
      "avatar": [
        {
          "width": 100,
          "height": 100,
          "url": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D5603AQFQoDXH3qVaFQ/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100/0/1725589583154?e=1752105600&v=beta&t=sEZf_o-dD2u53iv2zv-E_R9lUyRRfC6BPX3SODzAQ4c",
          "expires_at": 1752105600000
        }
      ],
      "services": []
    }
  ],
  "cost": 1,
  "page": 1,
  "total": 2173900,
  "has_more": true
}

Key response fields:

Field Description
success Boolean indicating if the request was successful
data Array of LinkedIn profile objects
id LinkedIn profile ID
urn Unique resource identifier for the profile
url Direct link to the LinkedIn profile
public_identifier Profile username in URL
full_name Person's full name
title Professional headline
location Geographic location
is_premium Whether the profile has LinkedIn Premium
avatar Profile picture details
total Total number of results available
has_more Whether more pages of results exist

Advanced Search Options

The API supports various search parameters to refine your results:

Parameter Description Example
keyword Main search term "software engineer"
location Geographic filter "San Francisco"
industry Industry filter "Software Development"
company Company name filter "Google"
school Education institution filter "Stanford"
page Result page number 1
limit Results per page (max 10) 10

Use Cases

This API enables numerous applications:

  1. Talent Acquisition

    • Sourcing candidates with specific skills
    • Building talent pipelines for technical roles
    • Finding professionals with targeted experience

  2. Sales Prospecting

    • Identifying potential clients by job title
    • Building industry-specific lead lists
    • Finding decision-makers at target companies

  3. Market Research

    • Analyzing professional distribution by keyword
    • Tracking talent migration trends
    • Conducting competitive intelligence

  4. Networking

    • Finding professionals with complementary skills
    • Building targeted connection lists
    • Identifying industry experts and thought leaders

Getting Started

To start using the LinkedIn API Search functionality:

  1. Sign up on RapidAPI (no credit card required)
  2. Subscribe to the Fresh LinkedIn Scraper API free tier
  3. Get your API key from the RapidAPI dashboard
  4. Make your first API call using the examples above

The free plan includes:

  • 50 requests per month
  • Rate limit: 1000 requests per hour
  • Access to all endpoints including people search

Get Started with Fresh LinkedIn Scraper API Now →

FAQ

How accurate are the search results? The API returns results similar to what you would see when searching on LinkedIn directly, with matching based on keywords in profiles.

Can I search for connections of a specific profile? No, the API currently only supports keyword-based people search across the entire LinkedIn platform.

Does this API access private profile information? No, the API only accesses publicly available information that is visible to any LinkedIn user.

How can I get more specific results? Use multiple parameters together (keyword, location, company, etc.) to narrow your search results to more relevant profiles.

What happens if my search returns no results? The API will return an empty data array but still indicate success. Try broadening your search terms or removing some filters.

Is there a limit to how many profiles I can retrieve? Yes, results are paginated with a maximum of 10 profiles per request. Use the page parameter to navigate through results.