5 Signs Your LinkedIn Account Is at Risk of Restriction (And How to Fix It)

If you frequently use LinkedIn for outreach, a restriction notice may seem unexpected. You are messaging leads and submitting connection requests as usual one morning. 

Next, your account is unusually quiet, or you're locked out, and you're wondering what went wrong. In actuality, a LinkedIn account restriction seldom occurs unexpectedly. 

As a matter of fact, LinkedIn's community now spans over 1.3 billion members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. 

Almost always, there are warning signs, such as minor changes in how your account functions or in LinkedIn's response. The issue is that most people don't notice these indicators until it's too late. 

This post explains the five most prevalent warning signs, their typical causes, how to resolve a restricted account, and how to create a safer LinkedIn outreach procedure moving forward, including the role that tools like Flowkon play. 

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What Leads to a LinkedIn Account Limitation? 

Understanding why LinkedIn restricts accounts in the first place is helpful before moving on to the warning signs. Limitations aren't arbitrary. They are LinkedIn's method of defending the site against actions that appear automated, spammy, or dangerous. 

Too much activity: Sending excessive numbers of connection requests, sending a lot of messages, or abruptly increasing activity after a period of low usage are all warning signs. There is an explanation for why LinkedIn restricts outreach, and continuously breaching those limits can get your account in trouble.

Repetitive or spammy outreach: The LinkedIn system (along with its users) will notice if you reach hundreds of individuals with the same messages without adding any personal touch. The fastest way to get reported on LinkedIn is through copy-and-paste outreach.

Poorly configured automation can increase account risk: There are nuances to LinkedIn automation. Even if you didn't break any rules, your account can get limited because of incorrectly set up tools, which work at an odd speed or don't take into account the LinkedIn outreach limits. 

LinkedIn's own Help Center states plainly that members may not "develop, support, or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes to scrape the Services or otherwise copy profiles and other data" and separately may not use bots or automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, or send or redirect messages. The Help Center adds that anyone using such tools violates the User Agreement and risks having their LinkedIn account restricted or shut down. 

Issues with security or verification: Outreach is not always the main problem. In some cases, LinkedIn will ask you to verify your account to continue what you are doing in case of weird login behavior, a new device, or a location change.

It is easier to notice the signals before a total restriction occurs.

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Five Signs that LinkedIn will Restrict your Account

1. Your activity on LinkedIn is near the limits

LinkedIn places limits on the number of connection requests and messages allowed to accounts that are not Sales Navigator or Premium accounts, but they are not giving out specific numbers. 

You are already pushing the boundaries of LinkedIn outreach if you make dozens of connection requests per day or if you suddenly increase your messaging activity compared to usual. 

Using LinkedIn as a numbers game is one of the most frequent mistakes. No, it's not really, although more requests should lead to more leads. But after some time, LinkedIn interprets high activity as a threat, not engagement. 

You should lower down your daily activity and concentrate more on its quality rather than quantity. Instead of mass outreach, fewer but more concentrated connection requests are always better.

2. LinkedIn is asking for identity verification from you

Do not ignore the sudden verification requests from LinkedIn for your phone number, uploading your ID, or identity verification. 

This is one of the first signs that you will see on LinkedIn that your account is under review. Whenever there is a login from an unknown location or device, or when there is anything abnormal about your account activities, verification of identity is usually sought.

This is because failure to adhere to this request will lead to yet more limitations placed on your account. It doesn’t, however, mean that your account has been marked for suspicious activities. Solve this problem by verifying your account upon receipt of the request.

3. Your approach is apparently too automated

This problem is rather common among recruiters and salespeople. The thing is, the approach may be too automated even if there is nothing unlawful about it, since sending identical messages to multiple recipients, sending connection requests always at the same exact time, and having bursts of activity followed by long intervals of time may look automated. 

This all happens as a consequence of LinkedIn automation restrictions coming into action. However, you may try to do it, but your account will get penalized if the automation process does not take into consideration any variations. LinkedIn tries to find and block all tools that act as bots. 

_{Solution: Individualize messages, vary the time of sending, and send them in normal quantities daily. Find out whether the tool you use takes into consideration the LinkedIn restrictions.}

4. We are either ignoring or reporting your connection requests or messages

Besides being a problem related to marketing, a low acceptance rate and message reply rate are also signals for LinkedIn's security system. Gradually, the reputation of your account suffers from the fact that many of your connection requests are ignored or even marked as spam. 

The main rule here is the targeting rule. The probability of getting your outreach reported as unwanted by someone will grow when you send requests to those who have nothing to do with your offer or send messages to those without personalizing your message. Be sure to personalize it based on something special about your recipient.

5. You received a LinkedIn restriction alert

This sign is more explicit than others. Soft notifications (“We've noticed unusual activity”), temporary restrictions of certain functionalities, or full restriction of your account are different types of LinkedIn restriction notifications. 

The main thing is to understand the difference between these types. LinkedIn will flag your account but not disable its functionality. You will receive a warning to decrease the pace of your activity. Certain activities like sending a message or making connection requests will be limited or prohibited for some time. 

Full restriction or suspension: Your access to the account is significantly restricted or completely blocked and needs to be resolved through the appeal procedure. 

Solution: Immediately stop all risky actions. Analyze your recent activity within the last several days or weeks, and follow any recommendations from LinkedIn. You have the right to make an appeal if you consider that your account was incorrectly flagged.

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How to Unrestrict a LinkedIn Profile

This is an effective method for removing a restriction on your LinkedIn account if your account has already received a notification.

Step 1: Stop engaging in risky behavior

Turn off any Linkedin automation tool and cease aggressive outreach immediately. In most cases, the restriction is usually extended because of engaging in the same behavior that caused it. 

Step 2: Check for identity verification requests

Log in to your account and see whether there are identity verification requests from LinkedIn. Complete them before moving on. 

Step 3: Review your recent activity

Review your login information, messages, and connection requests. Identify what has led to the restriction, for example, aggressive automation settings, repetition, and volume. 

Step 4: Submit a dispute against a LinkedIn restriction

LinkedIn allows users to submit a dispute if one believes that the restriction was unfair or if the issue causing the restriction has been fixed. Be honest and specific when describing the situation; generic disputes do not get resolved as quickly as disputes containing specific facts. 

It should be noted that recovering a LinkedIn account is not guaranteed and takes time. Prevention is always preferable to treatment because of this.

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How to Prevent Future LinkedIn Account Limitations 

Now the goal is to make sure you do not end up here again when your account is up and running again. 

Do not exceed your limits

Do not go for quantity, but look at your LinkedIn outreach as a tool of relationship-building. Sudden outbursts of aggressive activity are less safe than moderate ones. 

Personalization is the key

Regardless of whether you use templates to write your messages, every message should be personalized for each person. 

Never launch any sudden bursts of activity

Gradually grow your outreach if you do that. The quickest way to get into trouble is to suddenly start sending 80 connection requests per day while sending 10 previously. 

Keep monitoring your outreach

Track the whole picture of your activities, response rate, and connection acceptance rate. The very first sign of something wrong is usually a drop in acceptance or growth in reports. 

Use LinkedIn automation reasonably 

There is nothing bad about automation. It is not the tool itself that is bad but rather its incorrect usage, neglecting LinkedIn outreach security. The way to apply automation is to help human processes and not substitute them completely.

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The Reasons why Flowkon makes LinkedIn Automation Safer

If you have read this much, there is a great possibility that you have already come across at least one warning sign mentioned above, or you are trying to avoid them as much as possible. This is the exact problem that Flowkon was developed to solve. 

• Automate without considering volume as your primary goal. The idea behind sustainable outreach patterns rather than the amount of activity is what Flowkon was based on. Dialogues are the key here, not activity. 
• Be more personal in your advertising campaigns. The help of Flowkon can help you create outreach which would really represent your target audience and not simply spam them with the same message. 
• Make sure to keep outreach systematic and continuous. Flowkon helps you organize repetitive workflows that fit LinkedIn’s standards, unlike sporadic increases of activity.
• Go for better opportunities instead of greater activity. Spreading as wide as possible should be less important than finding the right people.

Start using Flowkon if you want to automate your LinkedIn outreach safely.

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