LinkedIn is the undisputed king of professional networking platforms, hence it’s important to have a practical know-how of how it works.
Making connections is the lifeblood of leveraging LinkedIn to build your personal brand, generate leads, recruit talent and advance your career.
However, LinkedIn imposes weekly limits on how many connection requests you can send. This is an effort to curb spammy behavior and bot accounts.
Exceed LinkedIn’s connection request limit too frequently, and your account faces restrictions or even permanent suspension.
With this guide, you’ll learn proven strategies to maximize your outreach, boost acceptance rates, and continue growing your network without triggering the much dreaded LinkedIn connection request limits.
Let’s get started!
An In-Depth Breakdown of LinkedIn’s Connection Request Limits
The Default Weekly LinkedIn Connection Request Limit
- Most accounts are limited to 100 requests per week.
- Limit can fluctuate above/below 100 based on profile strength.
- New accounts with incomplete profiles may get 50 requests per week.
- 100 per week is standard for average users.
Top Performers Can Send 200+ Weekly Requests
- Optimized, authoritative profiles can get 200+ request limit.
- LinkedIn checks profile, acceptance rate, SSI, sharing activity.
- Appearing credible earns higher limits, some up to 300 per week.
New Accounts Are Restricted to Around 20 Requests per Week
- Brand new accounts limited to ~20 requests per week.
- Stops spammers from easily creating lots of new accounts.
- Limit increased over 2-3 months as you build profile.
The Limit Resets Precisely Every 7 Days
- Limit resets 7 days after sending your first invite that week.
Pending Connection Invites Count Against You
- Pending invites (not yet accepted) count against your limit.
- Prune pending invites monthly to avoid raising flags.
Consequences of Exceeding Weekly LinkedIn Connection Request Limits
- Exceeding limits leads to temporary account restrictions.
- Continuing to exceed limits risks full account suspension.
- Restrictions escalate gradually to allow correcting behavior.
Now that we’ve dissected LinkedIn’s connection limit rules in detail, let’s move on to…
Strategies to Maximize Your LinkedIn Connection Requests While Avoiding Limits
While LinkedIn’s connection request limits aim to reduce spam and abuse, there are many legitimate strategies savvy networkers employ to maximize connection requests while safely flying under LinkedIn’s radar.
#1: Optimize Your Profile to Boost Acceptance Rates
As mentioned earlier, the healthier LinkedIn’s algorithm considers your account, the higher your chances of earning an increased weekly request allowance.
The #1 factor LinkedIn analyzes is your acceptance rate – the percentage of your connection requests that get accepted by recipients.
A high acceptance rate signals your invitations are welcomed, not considered spammy.
- Completely Fill Out All Profile Sections – Leave no section blank. Fully complete your professional summary, work experience, education, skills, recommendations and more. Profiles with any empty sections appear suspicious.
- Highlight Relevant Skills & Achievements – Don’t simply list job titles and generic duties. Elaborate on your specialized skills, biggest achievements, awards and unique value you provide. This establishes trust and authority.
- Add a Profile Photo – A high-quality headshot where you look friendly, approachable and trustworthy makes your invitations feel more human and personalized. Avoid avatars or branding images.
- Custom LinkedIn URL – Claim a custom URL like Linkedin.com/YourName. Default profile links look less professional and established.
- Background Photo – Add a branded or relevant background image to your profile. Choose visually appealing images that align with your industry. Avoid defaults.
- Write a Compelling, Benefit-Driven Headline – Craft a headline that communicates the value you provide, not just job titles. Include keywords that your target audience searches for.
#2: Purchase Connections from Reputable Providers
While it’s ideal to grow all connections 100% organically through networking, buying LinkedIn connections from selective high-quality providers can complement your efforts.
Top providers like SocialPlug sell connections only from real, active LinkedIn members.
Used strategically and ethically, even purchasing a small number of connections (such as 500) from established professionals can significantly increase your visibility and demonstrate authority on LinkedIn.
The key is vetting providers thoroughly and integrating purchased connections through organic relationship building too. Avoid any service offering fake or inactive accounts.
#3: Personalize Your Connection Requests
In addition to having an optimized profile, it’s crucial to customize your connection invitation messages. Never send generic copy-pasted invites en masse. Here are tips for personalizing:
- Mention Any Common Connections – If you and the recipient share connections, mention this in your invite as it establishes credibility.
- Reference Their Company or Work – Compliment their business or an achievement of theirs you admire. Shows you did your homework on them.
- Share Common Interests – If you’re both members of the same LinkedIn groups or went to the same university, mention these similarities.
- Explain Why You’d Like to Connect – Share why you admire their work and how connecting could be mutually beneficial.
#4: Sync Your Email Contacts
Another way to avoid LinkedIn’s connection request limits is syncing your email contacts with LinkedIn. Any connection invites sent through contact info syncing do not count towards your weekly cap.
Here are the steps:
- Manually compile a list of the prospects’ emails you wish to invite. These should match the email associated with their LinkedIn account. Personal emails often work best.
- Create a new or dedicated email contacts list just for these prospects. Don’t mix prospects and personal contacts together.
- Add the prospect emails along with first/last names to this new contacts list.
- In LinkedIn, enable the integration to access your email provider’s contacts under “Add Personal Contacts.”
- Sync your newly created prospect list to LinkedIn by allowing access when prompted.
- This will match profiles via email and allow you to send invites en masse from the synced list. These invites won’t decrement your account’s general weekly limit.
The downside is manually adding prospects’ emails and the multi-step syncing process. But for high-volume invitation needs, it’s an effective approach.
How to Avoid LinkedIn Connection Request Restrictions or Bans
Now that we’ve covered maximizing your requests while following the rules, let’s discuss precautions to avoid having your account restricted or banned by exceeding limits.
Gradually Warm Up New Accounts
As mentioned earlier, new LinkedIn accounts face the strictest connection limits starting at ~20 per week. Take it slowly when first getting started:
- Week 1: Manually send 5-10 connection requests per day
- Week 2: Increase to 10-15 requests per day
- Week 3: Ramp up to 20 requests per day
- Week 4+: Hold at ~20 requests daily
Do not blast invites from brand new accounts or try automation right away before warming up naturally to avoid LinkedIn’s connection request limit. Be patient in establishing credibility with consistent, paced growth.
Closely Monitor Warnings and Activity
Pay extremely close attention to any warning emails from LinkedIn related to reaching connection or messaging limits. If you receive warnings:
- Immediately cease sending invites and messages for 5+ days.
- After cooling off window, manually send a few test connection requests over 2-3 days.
- If tests succeed without issue, gradually resume automated inviting at a conservative pace while continuing to monitor for new warnings.
Adjust Strategies If Restricted
If your account does face temporary restrictions such as inability to message, take it seriously and adjust your strategies:
- Stop all automation activities.
- Let restrictions naturally lift over 7-14 days of inactivity.
- Once restored, focus on profile optimization and organic engagement for 1-2 months.
- When ready to resume inviting, begin manually and sparingly. No automation.
- After re-earning credibility, carefully restart automation at very low volumes.
- At first sign of new limits, stop activities and repeat organic optimization process.
The key is being proactive, not reactive. Continually push the boundaries without crossing the line into unsafe territory leading to suspensions.
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