🚀 LinkedIn Sales Navigator Scraper

Extract professional profiles and company data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with full authentication, proxy support, and anti-detection features.

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✨ Features

• ✅ People & Company Searches - Scrape any Sales Navigator search
• ✅ Automatic Pagination - Get hundreds of results automatically
• ✅ Deep Scraping - Optional detailed profile information (email, phone, etc.)
• ✅ Stealth Mode - Advanced anti-bot detection bypass
• ✅ Residential Proxies - Built-in proxy support for maximum success
• ✅ Export Formats - JSON, CSV, or Excel

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🚀 Quick Start (3 Steps)

Step 1: Export Your LinkedIn Cookies 🍪

Install Cookie-Editor Extension:

• Chrome: Cookie-Editor Extension

Export Your Cookies:

1. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/sales (must be logged in!)
2. Click the Cookie-Editor icon (🍪) in your browser toolbar
3. Click "Export" button at the bottom
4. Select "JSON" format
5. Copy the entire JSON output

Example output:

[
  {"name":"li_at","value":"AQEDAT...","domain":".www.linkedin.com"},
  {"name":"JSESSIONID","value":"ajax:123...","domain":".www.linkedin.com"},
  {"name":"li_ep_auth_context","value":"AHRh...","domain":".www.linkedin.com"},
  ...20+ more cookies
]

⚠️ Important: You need ALL cookies (20-25 of them), not just li_at!

Step 2: Get Your Search URL 🔍

1. Go to LinkedIn Sales Navigator
2. Perform your search (add filters, keywords, etc.)
3. Copy the entire URL from your browser address bar

Example:

https://www.linkedin.com/sales/search/people?query=(keywords%3Afounder)

Step 3: Configure & Run ⚙️

Paste your cookies and URL into the Actor:

{
  "cookieString": "[paste your JSON cookies here]",
  "searchUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/sales/search/people?query=...",
  "totalRecords": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}

Click Start! 🎉

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📋 Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
cookieString	String	✅ YES	ALL LinkedIn cookies in JSON format from Cookie-Editor
searchUrl	String	✅ YES	LinkedIn Sales Navigator search URL from your browser
totalRecords	Number	No	Maximum profiles to scrape (default: 25)
deepScrape	Boolean	No	Visit each profile for detailed info (default: false)
minWaitDuration	Number	No	Min delay between requests in seconds (default: 5)
maxWaitDuration	Number	No	Max delay between requests in seconds (default: 30)
startPage	Number	No	Page number to start from (default: 1)
proxyConfiguration	Object	Recommended	Apify Proxy settings (residential recommended)

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📊 Output Format

{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "title": "CEO & Founder",
  "company": "Acme Corp",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/sales/lead/...",
  "avatar": "https://media.licdn.com/...",
  "headline": "Helping companies grow faster",
  "connectionDegree": "2nd",
  "industry": "Technology",
  "companySize": "11-50 employees"
}

With Deep Scraping enabled, you also get:

• Email addresses (when available)
• Phone numbers (when available)
• Full work experience
• Education history
• Skills and endorsements

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🎯 Success Tips

Tip	Why It Matters
✅ Use ALL cookies (20-25)	Single cookie authentication often gets blocked
✅ Enable residential proxies	LinkedIn blocks datacenter IPs aggressively
✅ Fresh cookies	Re-export cookies weekly or when you see errors
✅ Start small	Test with 5-10 records before large scrapes
✅ Match geography	Use proxies from your LinkedIn account's country

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🔧 Common Issues & Solutions

❌ "cookieString is REQUIRED" error

Problem: You didn't provide cookies.

Solution:

1. Install Cookie-Editor Chrome extension
2. Go to linkedin.com/sales (logged in)
3. Export → JSON → Copy all
4. Paste into cookieString field

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❌ "Authentication failed" error

Problem: Cookies are expired, incomplete, or invalid.

Solution:

1. Re-export fresh cookies from Cookie-Editor
2. Make sure you're on linkedin.com/sales when exporting
3. Verify the JSON has 20-25 cookies (not just 1-2)
4. Check that li_at and li_ep_auth_context cookies are included

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❌ "Page appears to be blank" error

Problem: LinkedIn is blocking your IP address.

Solution:

1. Enable residential proxies:

   {
     "proxyConfiguration": {
       "useApifyProxy": true,
       "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
       "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
     }
   }
   

2. Wait 15-30 minutes between attempts
3. Try a different proxy country

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❌ "Search results did not load" error

Problem: Invalid URL or LinkedIn is blocking.

Solution:

1. Test your search URL in a browser first
2. Make sure cookies are fresh (exported today)
3. Enable residential proxies if not already
4. Reduce totalRecords to 10-25 for testing

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❌ Rate limit / Too many requests

Problem: Making requests too quickly.

Solution:

1. Increase wait times:

   {
     "minWaitDuration": 10,
     "maxWaitDuration": 20
   }
   

2. Disable deepScrape for faster scraping
3. Reduce totalRecords
4. Run smaller batches over time

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🍪 Why Do I Need ALL Cookies?

Just li_at Cookie (❌ Often Fails):

LinkedIn sees:
- ✅ Valid authentication
- ❌ Missing JSESSIONID
- ❌ Missing session cookies
- ❌ Suspicious pattern
Result: BLOCKED!

ALL Cookies (✅ High Success Rate):

LinkedIn sees:
- ✅ Valid authentication (li_at)
- ✅ Valid session (JSESSIONID)
- ✅ Sales Navigator context (li_ep_auth_context)
- ✅ All session cookies present
Result: Looks legitimate!

Success rate: 90%+ with all cookies vs 20-30% with just li_at

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📚 Cookie Export - Detailed Steps

For Cookie-Editor Extension:

1. Install: Cookie-Editor for Chrome

2. Navigate to Sales Navigator: https://www.linkedin.com/sales (must be logged in)

3. Click Extension Icon: Look for the 🍪 icon in your browser toolbar

4. Export:

   • Click the "Export" button at the bottom
   • Select "JSON" from the format dropdown
   • The cookies are now in your clipboard!

5. Paste: Into the Actor's cookieString input field

That's it! You should see a JSON array with 20-25 cookies.

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💡 Best Practices

1. Always test first: Run 5-10 records before large scrapes
2. Use residential proxies: Required for consistent success
3. Fresh cookies: Export right before scraping
4. Respect limits: Don't scrape thousands at once
5. Monitor logs: Check for warnings or errors
6. Weekly refresh: Re-export cookies every 7 days

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⚠️ Important Notes

LinkedIn Terms of Service: This Actor is for educational and research purposes. Make sure you comply with LinkedIn's Terms of Service and applicable laws.

Cookie Security:

• 🔒 Never share cookies publicly
• 🔒 Cookies provide full access to your LinkedIn account
• 🔒 Re-export fresh cookies regularly
• 🔒 Use Apify's secret input feature

Rate Limiting: LinkedIn actively monitors scraping activity. Use appropriate delays and proxies to avoid account restrictions.

Proxy Requirement: Residential proxies are strongly recommended. LinkedIn actively blocks datacenter IPs and proxies.

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🆘 Need Help?

1. Check your cookies: Make sure you have 20-25 cookies, not just 1
2. Enable proxies: Residential proxies are essential
3. Test your URL: Verify it works in your browser first
4. Fresh cookies: Export new cookies if you see auth errors
5. Start small: Test with 5 records before scaling up

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📊 Example Successful Run

✅ Successfully set 22 cookies
✅ Using proxy: 10.0.35.159:8011 (US residential)
✅ Page loaded successfully
✅ Authentication successful!
✅ Found 25 results
✅ Extracted 25 profiles
✅ Saved to dataset
✅ Scraping complete!

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Happy Scraping! 🎉

Having issues? Make sure you exported ALL cookies (not just li_at) and enabled residential proxies!