Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
LinkedIn can shadow ban your account without telling you. Your engagement tanks, your connection limits drop, and your posts stop showing up in feeds. You just have to figure it out on your own.
I wrote about this recently after helping a founder recover from exactly this situation. This is the full playbook: every limit I could find, what triggers restrictions, and how to stay visible without getting burned.
LinkedIn doesn't officially disclose their limits. But we know what the guardrails actually are.
| Account Type | Weekly Limit | Daily Safe Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ~100/week | 15-20/day |
| Premium | ~100/week | 20-25/day |
| Sales Navigator | 100-200/week | 25-40/day |
| Recruiter | 150-200/week | 30-50/day |
Critical detail: These limits reset on a rolling 7-day window from when you sent each request. Send 80 requests on Tuesday, and you won't get that capacity back until the following Tuesday.
Most guides miss this part. Engagement activity can flag you too.
| Activity | Free Account | Premium/Sales Nav |
|---|---|---|
| Likes | 20-40/day | 20-40/day |
| Profile views | 60-80/day | 100-250/day |
| Messages to connections | ~20/day | ~30/day |
| Total actions | <100/day | <250/day |
Safety margin: Stay 30-40% below these limits. If the ceiling is 100 actions, cap yourself at 60-70. LinkedIn's detection isn't precise, and you don't want to be near the edge.
LinkedIn caps your pending (unanswered) connection requests at around 500. Most people don't realize this until they hit it.
500 pending requests tells LinkedIn you're targeting people who don't want to connect. That's a spam signal. That's when limits start dropping.
The fix: withdraw requests that have been pending for 2-4 weeks. LinkedIn doesn't notify the other person, and you can try again later with a better message.
A shadow ban is LinkedIn's way of punishing you without telling you. Your account looks normal. You can still post and message. But your content barely shows in feeds, your messages may not deliver, and your connection requests disappear into the void.
| Sign | How to Check |
|---|---|
| Sudden engagement drop | Compare impressions week-over-week |
| Profile views tanked | Check LinkedIn analytics |
| Can't find yourself in search | Search your name from a colleague's account |
| "Follow" button shows "unavailable" | Check your profile while logged out |
The hardest part about shadow bans is that LinkedIn never confirms them. You're left guessing. The best diagnostic: ask a colleague (not a connection) to search for your name and check if your recent posts appear in their feed.
Recovery takes weeks, but it's straightforward if you're patient. These timelines are based on practitioner experience, not official LinkedIn guidance:
| Phase | Duration | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Cool-off | 48-72 hours | Zero activity. Don't even check if the ban lifted. |
| Ramp-up | 2-4 weeks | 10-20 connections/day max. Comments only, no outreach. |
| Full recovery | 4-6 weeks total | Gradual return to normal limits. |
During recovery, keep your activity well below normal:
Even after you recover, you're on thin ice.
Accounts that have been flagged once are monitored more closely. The escalation pattern:
Play conservatively for 4-8 weeks after recovery. Re-triggering restrictions is easier after a first offense.
If you're using Apollo, Seamless, or similar prospecting tools, you should know: LinkedIn banned both Apollo and Seamless in 2025. Deleted their company pages. Blocked their extensions from accessing LinkedIn data.
The extensions still exist in the Chrome store, but using them on LinkedIn now carries real risk.
| Tool | Status | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|
| Apollo | Banned (2025) | High |
| Seamless.ai | Banned (2025) | High |
| Kaspr | On blacklist, still operating | High |
| Evaboot | Removed (2025) | High |
| RocketReach | On blacklist | Medium-High |
| Lusha | Monitored, not banned | Medium-High |
| ZoomInfo | Not banned | Lower |
| Hunter.io | Proactively disabled LinkedIn features | Low |
LinkedIn uses multiple detection methods:
Web-accessible resource detection: Extensions expose resources with unique IDs. LinkedIn probes for these to detect specific tools installed in your browser.
Browser fingerprinting: LinkedIn analyzes dozens of browser characteristics to create unique fingerprints. Extensions often leave detectable signatures.
DOM scanning: Extensions inject scripts that modify the page. LinkedIn scans for these abnormalities.
Behavioral analysis: Unnatural clicking precision, impossible speeds, patterns that don't match human behavior.
LinkedIn maintains a watchlist of 461+ extensions they actively monitor.
Why did ZoomInfo survive while Apollo got banned?
Scraping tools (Apollo, Seamless, Kaspr) extract data directly from LinkedIn profiles. This violates LinkedIn's terms.
Enrichment tools (ZoomInfo) overlay data they already have from other sources. No scraping involved.
If you're using any LinkedIn prospecting extension, understand which category it falls into. Scraping tools are getting shut down. Enrichment tools that use external data sources are safer.
The "right" way to use LinkedIn (spread activity across days, engage consistently) is the opposite of how busy people actually work.
Nobody has two hours every morning for LinkedIn. But batching everything into one Friday afternoon session is exactly what gets you flagged.
10-15 minutes daily, split into focused blocks.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 3 min | Clear notifications, respond to engagement on your posts |
| 2 min | Accept/decline connection requests (quick profile scan first) |
| 5-7 min | Leave 3-5 meaningful comments on relevant posts (15+ words each) |
| 2-3 min | Send 3-5 personalized connection requests |
That's it. 12-15 minutes. Spread across the day if possible, or as a single morning block.
The LinkedIn algorithm now weights meaningful engagement heavily. A like from someone who immediately scrolled past is worth almost nothing. A thoughtful comment that generates replies signals real engagement.
Ratio to aim for: For every connection request you send, generate 2-3 engagement actions (likes, comments, shares). This signals to LinkedIn that you're building genuine relationships.
If you stick to the daily routine:
Stay within these ranges and you'll never trigger LinkedIn's detection systems.
LinkedIn's Social Selling Index (SSI) is a 0-100 score that measures how effectively you use the platform. Most people have never checked it.
Check yours at: linkedin.com/sales/ssi
Your SSI directly affects your limits.
| SSI Score | Estimated Weekly Connection Limit |
|---|---|
| Below 40 | ~50-75/week |
| 40-70 | ~80-100/week |
| 70+ | 150-200/week |
Important caveat: LinkedIn doesn't officially confirm this. It's practitioner observation from thousands of accounts. And it's a gradient, not a hard switch at 70.
| Component | Weight | How to Improve |
|---|---|---|
| Establish professional brand | 25% | Complete profile, post content regularly |
| Find the right people | 25% | Use search filters, save leads in Sales Nav |
| Engage with insights | 25% | Comment on posts (15+ words), share content |
| Build relationships | 25% | Personalized outreach, nurturing connections |
The average SSI is 40-50. Get to 70+ and you're in the top tier, with connection limits to match.
Personalized connection requests consistently outperform generic ones. Practitioners report roughly 3x the acceptance rate just by writing a real message.
Good personalization goes beyond first names.
| Element | Impact |
|---|---|
| Reference their specific content | Highest impact |
| Mention mutual connection | Significant trust boost |
| Note shared alma mater | Higher acceptance rates |
| Acknowledge recent job change | Great conversation starter |
Keep it under 300 characters. Structure:
Example:
Hi Sarah, saw your post on Scope 3 reporting challenges. We're working on similar data gaps at XYZ. Would love to connect and follow your work.
That's 168 characters. Specific. Relevant. No pitch.
Most people batch their prospecting, hit limits, trigger flags, and watch their accounts slowly suffocate without knowing why.
The infrastructure isn't glamorous: daily routines, limit awareness, pending request hygiene. But it's what separates accounts that work from accounts that slowly die.
Check your SSI score: linkedin.com/sales/ssi
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