LinkedIn People Discovery Scraper 👥

Overview

This Actor allows you to discover public LinkedIn profiles by providing only the first and last names. It returns detailed structured data about the identified user, including current company, certifications, recommendations, volunteer experience, honors, and more. No LinkedIn session cookies or proxies required.

Why choose this actor? 🔍

Unlike most scrapers, this tool simplifies the discovery phase by allowing a quick look-up of any public LinkedIn user without requiring a direct profile URL. Ideal for lead generation, talent sourcing, or competitor research — all starting from just a name. Plus, it’s proxy-free and delivers clean structured JSON ready for automation.

⚠️ SPECIAL CASES:

• PROXIES ARE NOT USED.
• FREE USERS RECEIVE ONLY THE FIRST 10 RESULTS.
• THE max_results FIELD IS ALWAYS ROUNDED UP TO THE NEXT MULTIPLE OF 10.

Use Cases

• Lead generation from LinkedIn without full URLs
• Market and competitor analysis
• HR and talent search automation
• Academic or nonprofit research based on public bios
• Automated resume parsing

Key Features

• Discover profiles with just name input
• Returns a wide variety of profile fields: company, certifications, connections, and more
• Includes “People also viewed” and “Similar profiles”
• Structured JSON for easy integration
• No authentication or cookies required

How It Works

You provide a list of first and last names. The actor searches LinkedIn and scrapes relevant public data from the top profiles matching those names.

Input Parameters

Field	Type	Description	Example
names	Array	List of name objects with first_name and last_name	[{ "first_name": "John", "last_name": "Doe" }]

Output (Full Example)

{
  "id": "jsmithcloud",
  "name": "James Smith",
  "city": "Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom",
  "country_code": "GB",
  "about": "We reimagine cloud operations for the next generation of coders. Critical Cloud…",
  "current_company": {
    "link": "https://uk.linkedin.com/company/critical-cloud?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company",
    "name": "Critical Cloud",
    "company_id": "critical-cloud",
    "location": null
  },
  "experience": null,
  "url": "https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jsmithcloud",
  "people_also_viewed": [
    {
      "profile_link": "https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardelastacloud?trk=public_profile_browsemap-profile",
      "name": "Richard Conway",
      "about": null,
      "location": "London"
    }
  ],
  "education": null,
  "recommendations_count": 21,
  "avatar": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4E03AQE73LRDe8jkjg/profile-displayphoto-shrink_200_200/B4EZdY387cHYAY-/0/1749542752676?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=hASwJRaz8dn8ePoG7tkE0K71lcCP-MGsktahW296t6Y",
  "certifications": [
    {
      "meta": "Issued Jun 2025 See credential",
      "subtitle": "Amazon Web Services (AWS)",
      "title": "AWS Partner: Cloud Economics Essentials",
      "credential_url": "https://www.credly.com/badges/7db9af84-e5a7-4f5f-a56d-24e12a305af5/linked_in_profile?trk=public_profile_see-credential",
      "credential_id": null
    }
  ],
  "volunteer_experience": [
    {
      "cause": "Science and Technology",
      "duration": "Oct 2018 - Present · 6 years 10 months",
      "subtitle": "Institute of Coding",
      "title": "Industrial Advisor"
    }
  ],
  "followers": 6192,
  "connections": 500,
  "location": "Cardiff",
  "linkedin_id": "jsmithcloud",
  "linkedin_num_id": "88650015",
  "banner_image": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4E16AQERcRjM5hxHYA/profile-displaybackgroundimage-shrink_200_800/B4EZb0avnqHkAU-/0/1747857374145?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=AjYRQI0fZm8PCKor1PePmYUlHxxR4Sm8vWWxYxo-VRA",
  "honors_and_awards": [
    {
      "title": "Director of the Year - SME - Wales",
      "publication": "Institute of Directors (IOD)",
      "description": "https://businessnewswales.com/fourteen-of-wales-top-directors-named-at-iod-wales-director-of-the-year-awards/"
    }
  ],
  "input": {
    "url": "https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jsmithcloud"
  },
  "discovery_input": {
    "first_name": "James",
    "last_name": "Smith"
  }
}

Pricing 💸

Plan	Price per 1,000 results
Free user	First 10 results only
Pay-as-you-go	$3.50 / 1,000 results

Legal Disclaimer

This actor is intended for lawful use only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of the data is compliant with all applicable laws, including data privacy and LinkedIn’s Terms of Service. The developer assumes no liability for misuse.

Update Policy

This actor is maintained and actively updated to accommodate changes in the structure of LinkedIn’s public profiles. For feature requests or bugs, please open an issue on the Apify platform.

FAQ

Can I use this actor without a LinkedIn account?
Yes. It does not require login or cookies.

Does it support bulk discovery?
Yes. Simply provide an array of name objects in the input.

Can I get more than 10 results?
Yes. On the paid plan, max_results can be increased (rounded to the next multiple of 10).