LinkedIn Profile Scraper

Extract comprehensive LinkedIn profile data including experience, education, skills, and contact information in structured JSON format.

Features ✨

• Complete Profile Data: Scrape full names, headlines, locations, about sections, and more
• Work Experience: Detailed employment history with company names, roles, dates, and locations
• Contact Information: Email addresses and personal websites
• Network Stats: Follower counts and connection counts
• Company Logos: Direct URLs to company logo images
• Fast & Reliable: Optimized scraping with minimal API calls
• Structured Output: Clean JSON format ready for analysis or integration

What You Get 📊

For each LinkedIn profile, the scraper extracts:

Basic Information

• Full name (first name + last name)
• Professional headline
• Location (city, country, country code)
• About/bio section
• Profile URL and public identifier
• Premium status
• Creator mode status
• "Open to work" status

Contact Details

• Email address (if publicly available)
• Personal websites and social links

Network Information

• Total connections
• Follower count

Work Experience

For each position:

• Job title
• Company name
• Employment type (Full-time, Part-time, Contract, etc.)
• Work arrangement (Remote, Hybrid, On-site)
• Location
• Start and end dates (with month/year breakdown)
• Duration
• Current position indicator
• Company LinkedIn URL
• Company logo URL
• Company ID

How to Use 🚀

1. Get Your LinkedIn Cookies

You need valid LinkedIn session cookies to use this scraper:

1. Log into LinkedIn in your browser
2. Open Developer Tools (F12)
3. Go to Application > Cookies > https://www.linkedin.com
4. Copy the entire cookie string or at minimum these two cookies:
   • li_at (your session token)
   • JSESSIONID (session ID)

Example cookie format:

li_at=YOUR_TOKEN_HERE; JSESSIONID=ajax:1234567890; bcookie=v=2&abc123...

⚠️ Important: Keep your cookies private! They provide access to your LinkedIn account.

2. Prepare Profile List

Add the LinkedIn profiles you want to scrape. You can use:

• Usernames: williamhgates
• Profile URLs: https://linkedin.com/in/williamhgates
• Mix of both

Example input:

{
  "profiles": [
    "williamhgates",
    "satyanadella",
    "https://linkedin.com/in/jeff-weiner"
  ],
  "cookies": "li_at=YOUR_COOKIE_HERE; JSESSIONID=ajax:123456789"
}

3. Run the Actor

Click "Start" and wait for the scraper to collect all profile data. Results are saved to the dataset in JSON format.

Output Format 📝

{
  "basic_info": {
    "fullname": "Bill Gates",
    "first_name": "Bill",
    "last_name": "Gates",
    "headline": "Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation",
    "public_identifier": "williamhgates",
    "profile_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/williamhgates",
    "about": "Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation...",
    "location": {
      "country": "United States",
      "full": "Seattle, Washington, United States",
      "city": "Seattle, Washington",
      "country_code": "US"
    },
    "is_creator": false,
    "is_premium": true,
    "open_to_work": false,
    "is_remembrance": false,
    "urn": "ACoAAAB1234",
    "follower_count": 37500000,
    "connection_count": 500,
    "email": "info@gatesventuresllc.com",
    "websites": [
      "https://www.gatesnotes.com",
      "https://www.gatesfoundation.org"
    ]
  },
  "experience": [
    {
      "title": "Co-chair",
      "company": "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation",
      "employment_type": "Full-time",
      "location": "Seattle, Washington",
      "work_type": "On-site",
      "duration": "Jan 2000 - Present · 25 yrs",
      "start_date": {
        "year": 2000,
        "month": 1
      },
      "is_current": true,
      "company_linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/bill-&-melinda-gates-foundation",
      "company_logo_url": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/.../logo.png",
      "company_id": "12345"
    }
  ],
  "scraped_at": "2024-02-15T10:30:00.000Z",
  "scrape_status": "success"
}

Use Cases 💼

• Recruitment: Find and evaluate potential candidates
• Lead Generation: Build targeted prospect lists for B2B sales
• Market Research: Analyze industry professionals and trends
• Competitive Intelligence: Research competitors' team composition
• Network Analysis: Study professional networks and connections
• Data Enrichment: Enhance CRM records with LinkedIn data
• Academic Research: Study career patterns and professional mobility

Pricing 💰

This actor charges based on compute units used. Typically:

• ~0.001-0.003 compute units per profile
• 1,000 profiles ≈ $0.25-$0.75 USD

Exact cost depends on profile complexity and network conditions.

Important Notes ⚠️

Legal & Ethical Considerations

• LinkedIn Terms of Service: Web scraping may violate LinkedIn's Terms of Service. Use at your own risk.
• Rate Limits: Don't scrape too aggressively. LinkedIn may block your account.
• Personal Data: Respect privacy. Only scrape public information.
• Cookie Security: Never share your LinkedIn cookies publicly.
• Commercial Use: Check local laws regarding commercial use of scraped data.

Best Practices

1. Start Small: Test with 5-10 profiles first
2. Use Proxy: Consider using Apify proxy to avoid detection
3. Rotate Cookies: Use different accounts if scraping large volumes
4. Respect Privacy: Only use data ethically and legally
5. Fresh Cookies: Cookies expire - update them regularly

Limitations

• Requires valid LinkedIn session cookies
• Can only access public profile information
• Cannot scrape profiles you don't have permission to view
• LinkedIn may rate-limit or block suspicious activity
• Skills, education, certifications require additional API calls (coming in v2.0)

Troubleshooting 🔧

"Failed to fetch LinkedIn data"

• Your cookies may have expired - get fresh cookies
• LinkedIn may have detected scraping activity
• Profile may be private or restricted

"Could not extract FSD profile ID"

• Profile username may be incorrect
• Profile may not exist
• Cookies may be invalid

No email or websites returned

• These fields are only available if the user has made them public
• Check the profile manually to verify visibility

Support 📧

Need help? Found a bug? Have a feature request?

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Contact us through Apify support
• Check the Apify community forum

Changelog 📅

v1.0.0 (February 2024)

• Initial release
• Extract basic profile information
• Extract work experience with full details
• Contact information scraping
• Company logo URLs

Roadmap 🗺️

Planned features for future versions:

• Education history
• Skills and endorsements
• Certifications and licenses
• Recommendations
• Publications and patents
• Volunteer experience
• Languages
• Honors and awards

FAQ ❓

Q: Is this legal? A: Web scraping exists in a legal gray area. LinkedIn's ToS prohibits automated scraping, but public data scraping may be protected in some jurisdictions. Consult a lawyer for your specific use case.

Q: Can I scrape private profiles? A: No, you can only scrape profiles that are publicly visible with your LinkedIn account.

Q: How do I get more data like education and skills? A: These features are coming in version 2.0. Subscribe to updates!

Q: Can I use this for commercial purposes? A: Check your local laws and LinkedIn's ToS. We don't provide legal advice.

Q: Will this get my LinkedIn account banned? A: There's always a risk with scraping. Use responsibly, don't scrape aggressively, and consider using dedicated accounts.

License 📄

This actor is provided as-is without warranty. Use at your own risk.

---

Developed with ❤️ for the Apify community

Last updated: February 2024