X-Ray LinkedIn: How to Find People for Free
The economy is tight for everyone, and it seems that’s no exception for LinkedIn, as they’ve really reduced what they offer for free on their platform. Their free search is great - until it isn’t.
If you’re trying to find specific people to network with but keep hitting limits, Google X-Ray searches let you search the public web for LinkedIn profiles with surgical precision.
Today, I want to show you some X-ray techniques that recruiters have used for years to build targeted networking lists for yourself. No scraping, no shady tricks, just a smarter way to find people on the internet.
What Is An X-Ray Search?
Most people have probably never heard the term before, and that’s okay. An x-ray is a boolean code essentially that you use in search engines like Google to find profiles on a specific site. It has uses well beyond finding people on LinkedIn, but that’s the focus for today.
X-rays work really well on LinkedIn because many profiles are indexed by Google if they are public. And, yes, if you’re wondering… It’s perfectly legal to search public pages using Google.
The Basics of X-Ray Searches
Think of X-ray searches like codes that you can string together to tell Google what you’re looking for. The logic is really quite simple. Here’s a list of some common codes you’re likely to use.
site:
When you type in the search bar site:linkedin.com/in, this tells Google you only want to see profile results from LinkedIn. Not jobs, not content, but profiles.
intitle:
Typing intitle: followed by a job title will show you profiles with a certain title listed in their page title. It’s also worth noting that you can use any keyword after the code. It doesn’t have to be a job title, but job titles are probably the most useful way to use this.
For example, you’re search my look like this:
intitle:controller
That would show me people who have controller listed in their page title.
inurl:
I don’t use this very often, but it’s useful to know. This code will help you find specific keywords within the URL of the web address. As a recruiter, I sometimes use it with inurl:resume to show me pages where the work resume appears in the URL.
““
The quotations are one of my most used tools. Quotated phrases will show you exact matches to what you put in quotations. It’s very useful for multiple words that you want strung together. For example, if I wanted to see Accounting Managers, I would put it in quotations like this: “Accounting Manager”. That would show me only profiles that have that exact phrase in them.
OR, AND
This combines results. Let’s say I wanted to see both CFOs and CEOs. I might say something like this: (“CFO” OR “Chief Financial Officer” OR “CEO” OR “Chief Executive Officer”). This string would show me profiles that have any of those keywords listed. Notice I used the abbreviated and the full version of both to capture a wider search, depending on whether people abbreviated their titles or not.
-
The minus sign tells the algorithm not to include something. You can put it in front of anything. For example, if I wanted to exclude Controller, I could type in -intitle:controller.
Useful X-Ray Search Examples
Let’s put it all together now with some practical examples that you can copy and paste.
Find People by Job Title and Location
site:linkedin.com/in “Controller” “Riverside, CA” OR “Ontario, CA”
This would show you profiles of Controllers that are listed in Riverside or Ontario. And you can change the job title and locations as you need to. You can also use states instead of cities by changing the search to “California” OR “CA”.
This is a good search to find networking partners in your local area. If you were a Staff Accountant, this could be a good way to find Controllers to add to your network - people who could hire you someday.
Find People With a Skill and Industry
site:linkedin.com/in “indirect tax” “construction” - jobs
This search could help you find other individuals who specialize in a skill that you have or want to obtain. It could help you find a mentor. It’s also useful for professionals in a very niche field to find others who do similar work.
In this example, it will show you others who do indirect tax work and work in the construction industry.
I added the -jobs to remove any job postings that sometimes appear.
Search for People Who Work at a Specific Company
site:linkedin.com/in “Sales Manager” “Acme Corp” OR “Acme Manufacturing”
If you have a shortlist of companies that you’d like to work for, you may be interested in finding people who work at those organizations to network with. This search string will show you individuals with a specific job title who work at the companies listed.
You can add more companies by using the quotations and OR code, too.
Broaden With Synonymous Titles
site:linkedin.com/in (Controller OR “Financial Controller” OR “Accounting Manager) “Riverside, CA”
Sometimes it helps to broaden the search because people type their job titles in different ways. One company may list the same job duties as a Controller and another as an Accounting Manager. Some people may list their job as Financial Controller, and others simply as Controller. Using a search string like this will capture any of those job titles.
In this example, I also added a location parameter at the end.
Find Other Job Seekers
site:linkedin.com/in “open to new opportunities” OR “seeking”
Sometimes we’re not looking to network with hiring managers but with other job seekers during our search. Having a community of support is really important in today’s modern job search environment.
I know many job seekers who have found online groups of people who share job leads, tips, and provide a safe place to vent frustrations. If you’re looking for other people who can help support you in the form of peer job seekers, this is one way to find them.
You can also add job titles and other criteria, such as location or industry, to tailor this search string to your needs.
Turning Results Into an Outreach List
So now you’ve got some search strings to get started, and you can play around with manipulating them to your needs, but what do you do with it all? I’m glad you asked.
I would open each profile and see if it matches your goals. Do they still work at the company you’re targeting? Are they still job searching if you’re looking for peers? Double check and make sure the search string provided you with the right people. If not, tweak it a bit.
If the profile looks like someone you would network with, I would add them to a spreadsheet to keep track of it all.
That spreadsheet might include Name, Title, Company, Location, Why you wanted to connect, and the date you contacted them. Also, copy the url to their profile.
I recommend this because LinkedIn has a cap on how many people you can connect with each month. If you hit your cap, you can revisit your list when your credits renew. This will ensure you don’t lose your hard work of finding people.
You can prioritize them by mutual connections, recent activity, and relevance to your goals.
If you send them a connection request on LinkedIn, you have the option to include a message. In my experience, connection requests without messages are accepted more often. I know that’s counterintuitive, but I’m not the only one who has observed this.
Ethics
X-ray searches simply find publicly indexed pages, and that’s perfectly ethical. But don’t try to use X-rays to access private content behind logins, circumvent paywalls, or automate scraping. Those items all violate LinkedIn’s terms of service and can result in your profile being banned.
Don’t create fake accounts or abuse connection requests either. LinkedIn will know and they’ll take action. Given that LinkedIn can be such a valuable tool in your job search arsenal, you don’t want to lose it.
Advanced X-Ray Tips
Here are some other things you can do with X-rays to help maximize your success.
Use variations of locations. Try using the county, metro names, or state to catch different profile wording.
Combine company + former roles to find ex-employees.
If you’re finding search results that don’t make sense, use the negative symbol (it looks like this: -) to remove those results from the search.
Try using X-rays to find jobs by typing a career site, job title, and locations like this. site:pepsicojobs.com/main “Food Safety” “California”
Try It Yourself
If you’ve run out of free searches on LinkedIn, try some of these X-Ray searches and leave me a comment about what worked for you or what didn’t work. There’s no need to pay LinkedIn to search for profiles.
Other Articles In This Edition
Inside the Recruiter’s Inbox: What Happens After You Apply?
How to Be Thankful at Work (Even If You’re Ready to Quit)
What Recruiters Are Looking for Right Now (Before Year-End)
Fall Hiring Trends 2025: Which Industries Are Still Adding Jobs?
More LinkedIn Articles
Cole Sperry has been a recruiter and resume writer since 2015, working with tens of thousands of job seekers, and hundreds of employers. Today Cole runs a boutique advisory firm consulting with dozens of recruiting firms and is the Managing Editor at OptimCareers.com.
