Working in the online environment isn’t always easy. Sometimes knowing a little bit about what is happening behind the scenes can help. This is one of those instances.

When you do advanced searches on LinkedIn it actually results in a very large and complex “URL” in the search window above. This URL incorporates the advanced search settings in a complex URL that is essentially “programmed” by LinkedIn.

Pick some industries from the advanced search screen and LinkedIn converts those check boxes into URL code. Add a zip code and it gets converted to more URL code. Put in some keywords or job titles or company names and they appear in the URL code to ensure that the results are dynamic and the search is easily duplicated.

Now, if you know what these URL codes mean you can do some interesting things “”in reverse”. Create your search in Word and paste it into the URL window. This method allows you to “throttle” or filter your search results.

Throttling Search Results

What good are 1,000 search results when you can only see 100 or 300 of them? If you have a free LinkedIn account, you can only see 100 results. Paid programs start at 300. If your search results have any more than that, you won’t be able to see them.

Screenshot 2014-11-23 23.43.43

This is where you need to throttle your results back to get the numbers in line. URL Programming helps you do this. Simply split up the search into multiple searches that each have less than the maximum you can see. This URL technique below will help:

Example URL

https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?title=(VP%20OR%20%22vice%20president%22)%20AND%20sales&postalCode=80202&openAdvancedForm=true&titleScope=C&locationType=I&countryCode=us&distance=100&f_I=3,4,5&f_FG=1898033&rsid=1258411416209073995&orig=FCTD&f_N=F,S,A&openFacets=N,G,CC,FG,CS&f_CS=3,4,5,6,7,8

Title = (VP Or “Vice President”) AND Sales

Location (Postal Code) = 80202, 100 mile radius

f_CS=3,4,5,6,7,8 means companies with 51 or more employees

f_I=3,4,5 means computer hardware, computer software, computer networking

Integrate Social Event

This material, and other leading edge topics like it, is being taught at a special 2-day Integrate Social training event in Denver, CO on Dec 1-2. Learn more about the special training see how to get your sales and marketing teams aligned HERE.