Yesterday, you were on a roll: sending out connection requests, firing off messages, and growing your LinkedIn network non-stop. But today, you may log in and, instead of seeing new opportunities, get the following unwelcome message:
Unpleasant, disappointing, alarming…
But we can look at the situation another way. LinkedIn restrictions happen to the most active users 🙂, especially when you push the limits (literally).
So, how can an active user like you solve the problem? First of all, take a deep breath. Secondly, consider what actions may cause this, how you can recover your account, and, crucially, how to avoid ever seeing that dreaded message again.
In this post, we’ll answer all these questions so you can get back to your LinkedIn activity as soon as possible.
Outline
- What does “LinkedIn account restricted” mean?
- What happens when your LinkedIn account is blocked?
- Why is your LinkedIn account temporarily restricted?
- What are the steps to recover your restricted LinkedIn account?
- How to avoid getting your LinkedIn account restricted: 6 best practices for safe performance
- Key takeaways
What does “LinkedIn account restricted” mean?
When LinkedIn restricts your account, it puts you in a time-out. You lose access to critical features like sending messages and connecting with new people, sometimes even logging in. As a sales rep, you know what that means: missed opportunities and wasted hours.
The restrictions can range from a temporary block to a permanent ban. It all depends on how serious your violation is.
A temporary restriction is the mildest form of punishment. Your LinkedIn account might be banned for a short period, typically lasting from a few hours to a few days. During this time, you won’t be able to send invitations to connect and message users. Neither will you be able to view profiles outside your current connections.
It’s not recommended to create a new LinkedIn account if your current one is blocked. Doing so can result in being flagged for fraudulent activity and, if multiple restrictions occur, a permanent ban.
What happens when your LinkedIn account is blocked?
While logging in, you receive a message saying that your account has been restricted. It informs that the platform has detected some behavior in your account that violates its Terms of Service.
In the User Agreement, LinkedIn explains that by restricting suspicious accounts, it protects users’ integrity from spammy or malicious behavior. The hidden reason behind this is that the platform wants to save its own sales opportunities. Unfortunately, at the cost of your sales opportunities.
Why is your LinkedIn account temporarily restricted?
Behind hundreds of sobbing, “LinkedIn restricted my account for no reason,” there may be real causes why the block occurs:
- #1. You’ve created a fake LinkedIn profile
- #2. You’ve been sending too many connection requests
- #3. Your acceptance rate is very low
- #4. You’ve been using unsafe LinkedIn automation tools
# 1. You’ve created a fake LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn takes authenticity very seriously, protecting its users from potential threats. These may include identity theft, phishing scams, and spammy practices. So, if LinkedIn suspects that your account is fake, your account could be permanently banned.
No jokes here! Always use real information in your profile, and focus on building genuine connections to avoid these risks.
→ Learn how to optimize your LinkedIn profile to make it more credible from a detailed Snov.io guide.
#2. You’ve been sending too many connection requests
Before October 2023, sending hundreds of invitations to connect was a common daily practice. But, the professional platform changed the rules, introducing stricter limits to control spam. Now, sending too many invites can result in temporarily getting your LinkedIn account restricted.
You’re allowed to send 10-25 daily invitations for established accounts and just 5 per week for new ones. If you do not exceed, your account will be okay.
|
EXAMPLE: John, a sales pro, used to send 200 invitations to connect daily. After the platform had updated its policies, John continued his routine, only to find that his LinkedIn account was temporarily banned. What should John do? John needs to pause all LinkedIn activities and wait out the restriction. Once getting back, he should reduce connection invites to the recommended limits and personalize his outreach to avoid further issues. |
#3. Your acceptance rate is very low
If you’ve got too many pending connection requests, LinkedIn might interpret this as spammy behavior. When recipients ignore your invitations, they may mark them as ‘I don’t know this person.’ Accumulating too many of these responses damages your Social Selling Index and overall reputation on LinkedIn and may quickly lead to being blocked.
|
Emma sent out dozens of generic invites to connect with people outside her industry. After several ‘I don’t know this person’ responses, her account was flagged and temporarily banned. She learned the hard way that quality matters more than quantity. What should Emma do?
|
EXAMPLE:
#4. You’ve been using unsafe LinkedIn automation tools
The professional platform strictly prohibits using tools that scrape data, bypass LinkedIn’s security measures, or automate too many actions in a row. This can result in severe penalties, and getting your LinkedIn account temporarily restricted is one of them. And if you don’t take measures, the platform may ban you for good.
Never do this!
So, if you’re using (or about to use) a tool that automates networking and lead generation on Linkedin, be cautious! Search for tools that can help you stay compliant while efficiently managing your outreach.
|
EXPLORE THE SECURE TOOL FOR AUTOMATED ACTIVITY ON LINKEDIN: Snov.io LinkedIn Automation Tool is tailored to comply with LinkedIn’s rules.
|
What are the steps to recover your restricted LinkedIn account?
So, you’ve got your LinkedIn account restricted. You’re making big round eyes and asking in frustration: “How can I reopen my restricted LinkedIn account?”
No need to get depressed – it’s not the end of the world. There are some steps you can and need to take:
- Understand the reasons
- Contact LinkedIn support
- Verify your identity promptly
- Wait patiently and check your status
- Analyze your recent activity and learn
Understand the reasons
Check your email. As a rule, you get a message explaining why your LinkedIn account was restricted from the platform. That will be your first clue to understanding what went wrong. Then, follow LinkedIn’s on-screen instructions to log in, including further steps.
Contact LinkedIn support
No email from LinkedIn? Use its Help Center to submit a request, explaining your situation politely and clearly.
If the cause remains unclear and you need further assistance, contact the LinkedIn support team.
Verify your identity promptly
Typically, the platform may ask you to confirm your phone number or email address. You’ll also probably have to upload an ID or other verification documents to prove you are a legitimate account owner.
Wait patiently and check your status
Restrictions can last a few hours to several days, depending on your violation. While waiting, don’t take any action that could make things even worse — DO NOT create a new account!
Just keep a watchful eye on the situation, and if you don’t hear back within a stated time, follow up with LinkedIn support. Find out if your request is being processed and ask how long the resolution will take.
Analyze your recent activity and learn
Reflect on your recent actions that may have triggered the restriction. What did you do wrong? Were you sending too many invites to connect or using non-compliant tools? Identifying why you’ve been blocked helps avoid repeating the mistake.
|
👀 Pro-tip: HOW CAN YOU VIEW YOUR LINKEDIN STATISTICS? Snov.io gives you detailed reports to help you analyze your outreach performance. You can filter the data to view only email campaigns’ results, only LinkedIn, or view combined results by going to the General tab.
|
Use this pause to study LinkedIn’s guidelines and see if your actions align with them. Review their Community Policies to better understand the dos and don’ts.
→ We’ve collected a list of 35 LinkedIn automation tools so you can choose yours.
How to avoid getting your LinkedIn account restricted: 6 best practices for safe performance
Here are a few tips to stay on LinkedIn’s good side and avoid those pesky restrictions:
- Respect the Terms of Use
- Use a safe LinkedIn automation tool
- Choose relevant connections
- Customize connection requests
- Share content and interact with others’ posts
- Schedule your activity
1. Respect the Terms of Use
It might sound trivial, but our first advice is to read and follow the LinkedIn User Agreement attentively. Following the authorized practices will most likely save you from the headache of having your LinkedIn account restricted.
2. Use a safe LinkedIn automation tool
If you’ve faced a restriction, it’s time to switch to tools that align with LinkedIn’s policies. Snov.io is a superb choice. All its tools and features are designed to enhance your outreach efforts by offering exceptional opportunities, such as collaborative lead generation with LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
You’ll be able to gather more leads that match your ideal customer profile and convert them faster with multichannel campaigns.
Plus, Snov.io’s robust integration capabilities make it easy to connect with other services, all while complying with LinkedIn’s guidelines. Therefore, your account remains secure.
3. Choose relevant connections
It’s natural that you’d like to get as many LinkedIn contacts as possible, but it may be counterproductive – and risky. Imagine you’re selling SaaS products. Are there any reasons to connect with someone like a fashion or travel blogger? While they might be influential in their fields, do they need your product indeed?
Well, our John is already more experienced in LinkedIn outreach. He understands that sending connections to irrelevant prospects won’t advance your sales goals. Instead, your efforts should be better put into connecting with IT managers, CTOs, or business development professionals. These roles are more prone to making tech-related purchasing decisions.
→ Learn how to write connection requests that will be accepted by LinkedIn users.
4. Customize connection requests
Our Emma has also optimized her approach to sending invites to connect on LinkedIn. Now she knows the key rule: personalization!
Personalization is vital. A tailored message increases the chances of your invitation being accepted and reduces the likelihood of your LinkedIn account being restricted.
It’s understandable that manual personalization in bulky outreach campaigns seems daunting and requires too much effort. However, tools that automate LinkedIn outreach can eliminate this problem.
|
👀 Pro-tip: HOW TO PERSONALIZE AUTOMATED MESSAGES WITH SNOV.IO? Snov.io offers personalization variables to make your messages unique. With their help, you can adjust messages to each prospect based on information you’ve gathered about them. Advanced Dynamic content variables automatically create message variations based on the recipient’s information. This way, you can send targeted messages in bulk to different segments of your audience.
To make your automated activity safe and unsuspicious, you can apply the Spintax feature. Simply provide several variants for message parts, and Snov.io will randomly choose alternatives for each sent message:
|
5. Share content and interact with other posts
A strong LinkedIn presence means contributing to the community. The more actively you engage on LinkedIn, the more users will consider you a trusted voice in the industry. This will boost your Social Selling Index (SSI) and signal to LinkedIn’s algorithms that your account is trustworthy, risk-free, and popular.
Invest time into liking and commenting on other’s posts. Also, remember to share insightful content that would interest your audience and provide real value. These can be industry news, thought leadership, or helpful tips.
6. Schedule your activity
“I use a reliable LinkedIn tool, but why does my LinkedIn account keep getting restricted?” a sales rep, Gina, asks.
She doesn’t yet grasp what Emma and John are already confident about. They know that even the best LinkedIn solution for automated outreach may send messages excessively outside regular business hours. Such an activity may become a red flag for LinkedIn algorithms.
A way out? Gina (and you) should schedule your automated activity so your tool engages on LinkedIn just like you would. Not on Saturday at 9 p.m. Not during a Christmas Eve festivity.
Your well-timed activity shows LinkedIn that you’re a real user, which prevents you from having your LinkedIn account restricted. It also makes sense practically, as your messages will reach prospects when they’re most likely to be online.
→ Read more about how to automate LinkedIn messages safely in our blog post.
Key takeaways
We can’t deny it—speed is crucial for successful sales. Losing momentum during the outreach phase can seriously impact your campaign’s success. And surely, the last thing you want after you’ve kickstarted your LinkedIn cold outreach campaign is an unexpected roadblock. But it can happen sometimes.
In this post, we’ve tried our best to prove that getting a LinkedIn account restricted isn’t a catastrophe. With the tips we’ve provided above, we hope you’ll generate leads faster than ever.
So, bring your passion to LinkedIn, tackle the platform’s challenges head-on, and use safe LinkedIn practices to power through your cold outreach. With the right approach, you’ll be generating leads faster than ever!
And may Snov.io become a reliable companion on your way to your automated outreach!
