LinkedIn X-ray search, and what Google can still see
A LinkedIn X-ray search, also written linkedin xray, is a Google query restricted to one site with the site: operator, so you get public profile pages instead of the whole web. It starts with site:linkedin.com/in/ and your terms. It is free, and it sees only what Google has indexed.
What is X-ray search?
X-ray search A search-engine query aimed at one website instead of the whole web. Google's site: operator does the aiming, and it accepts a URL path prefix, not only a domain, so you can point it at profile pages.
You type it into an ordinary Google box with no account and no seat: site:linkedin.com/in/ "backend engineer" "Berlin". The results are public profile pages. Sourcers have called this an x-ray search for decades; the mechanism is just one Google operator.
A LinkedIn X-ray search string you can copy
THE SKELETON
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("TITLE" OR "TITLE VARIANT") ("SKILL" OR "SYNONYM") "CITY" -jobs -directory
FILLED IN
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("backend engineer" OR "software engineer") ("Go" OR "Golang") "Berlin" -jobs -directory
SCOPED TO ONE COUNTRY
site:uk.linkedin.com/in/ ("registered nurse" OR "staff nurse") "theatre" "Manchester"
4 NOTES ON FILLING IT IN
1. No space after the colon. Google's help page states plainly that site:nytimes.com works and site: nytimes.com does not. Every character after the colon is part of the operator.
2. Quote anything that is more than one word. Quotes force an exact match on the phrase, which is what a job title is.
3. OR belongs in capitals, and you do not need AND. A space between terms already narrows the search, so writing AND into a Google query adds nothing.
4. Add the minus exclusions last, after the first run. Write the string, look at what the noise actually is, then subtract that. Subtracting words you guessed at removes people you wanted.
One linkedin x ray search per role. Change one thing between runs so you can tell what the change did.
Google X-ray search operators, and which ones Google documents
| Operator | What it does | In an X-ray string | On Google's list? |
|---|---|---|---|
| site: | Restricts results to one site, domain or URL path prefix | site:linkedin.com/in/ | Yes, on the search operator help page and in Search Central |
| Quotation marks | Forces an exact match on the word or phrase inside them | "product designer" | Yes, help page |
| Minus sign | Leaves a word out of the results | -jobs -recruiter | Yes, help page. Google uses a minus, not the word NOT |
| OR | Returns pages matching any of the alternatives you list | ("SRE" OR "site reliability engineer") | On the Advanced Search form, not the operator help page |
| filetype: | Limits results to one file type | filetype:pdf resume "data engineer" | Yes, help page |
| before: and after: | Limits results by date, taking a year or a full date | after:2024 "portfolio" "UX researcher" | Yes, help page |
| 2 periods | Sets a numeric range between 2 numbers | "years of experience" 5..10 | On the Advanced Search form |
| intitle: and inurl: | Widely taught as a way to target the page title or address | intitle:resume "account manager" | Not on Google's current operator help page. Test before you rely on one |
How to run a LinkedIn X-ray search in 5 steps
- Aim site: at the profile path Type site:linkedin.com/in/ with nothing between the colon and the domain. The /in/ path is what makes it an xray linkedin search for people rather than for company pages and job ads. site:linkedin.com/in/
- Add the titles people actually use Write 2 or 3 title variants, each in quotes, joined by OR in capitals and wrapped in brackets. One job title finds one spelling of one job. ("data engineer" OR "analytics engineer" OR "ETL developer")
- Add one skill and the location One skill, quoted. One city or region, quoted. Adding a fourth and fifth requirement here is the most common reason a first run returns almost nothing. "dbt" "Amsterdam"
- Run it, then subtract the noise Read the first page of results. Whatever keeps appearing that you do not want, exclude it with a leading minus sign. Recruiter and agency pages are usually the first thing to go. -jobs -directory -"jobs at" -recruiter
- Change one thing and run it again Swap in one more title variant, or drop the location, or ease the skill. Change 2 things at once and you will not know which one moved the results. Keep a note of each run. The variant list is the reusable part, not the string.
What Google can and cannot see on a LinkedIn profile
A linkedin x-ray search does not read a LinkedIn profile. A linked in xray run reads the public version of one, and LinkedIn states that the public profile is a simplified version of the full profile, and that not all sections can be displayed publicly. The thing you search is smaller than the thing the member filled in.
The member decides how much smaller. LinkedIn's help explains that a member can adjust which sections are eligible to be shown publicly, and can disable the public profile entirely, which hides it from search tool results. LinkedIn also says search engines can take several weeks or months to detect changes and refresh, and that it does not control that process.
Google adds its own limit. Search Central says site: does not necessarily return all the URLs indexed under the prefix you give it, and that operators are bound by indexing and retrieval limits. A results count is therefore a count of what one operator surfaced on one day. It is not a measure of how many people exist.
Does it still work?
LinkedIn's robots.txt still lets Googlebot reach public profile pages, though it blocks various sub-paths, and its notice says LinkedIn may permit automated access for approved publicly available search engines. What changed is how much of a profile is public.
9 rules that decide whether an X-ray search returns people
- No space after site: or any other colon operator
- Point at /in/ so you get profiles, not company pages or job ads
- Drop AND entirely, because a space already narrows the search
- Write OR in capitals, and bracket the group it applies to
- Exclude with a leading minus sign, not with the word NOT
- Quote every multi-word title, skill and city name
- Test intitle: and inurl: yourself; neither is on Google's current list
- Use a country subdomain such as uk.linkedin.com/in/ to hold a region
- Start with 3 requirements. Each one you add removes people silently
X-ray search strings by role and by site
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("backend engineer" OR "software engineer") ("Go" OR "Golang") "payments" "Berlin" -jobs
Public profiles that carry a backend title, a Go mention and payments work, in one city. A google x ray search linkedin run of this shape is the standard opening move.
Drop "payments" first. A domain word is the requirement fewest people actually wrote down.
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("registered nurse" OR "RN") ("ICU" OR "intensive care") "Phoenix" -jobs -hiring
The same pattern outside technology. Licences and unit names are written on public profiles far more consistently than soft skills are.
Swap the city for the state, or try the metro area. Clinical staff commute further than the profile city suggests.
site:github.com "machine learning" "PyTorch" "Toronto" -tutorial -awesome
Repositories, profiles and READMEs on one domain. Excluding tutorial and awesome removes the link-list repositories that dominate any skill keyword.
Use GitHub's own search instead. It is built for this, and the next card shows how.
type:user location:toronto language:python followers:>20
GitHub documents these user qualifiers itself, along with repos:, created: and fullname:. A leading hyphen excludes any qualifier, and multi-word values need quotes.
Note what language: means: the languages of repositories the user owns, not a skill they declared.
("resume" OR "curriculum vitae") "supply chain" "SAP" filetype:pdf after:2024
Published resume files rather than profile pages. filetype: and after: are both on Google's operator help page, so this one is fully documented syntax.
Try filetype:doc and filetype:docx as separate runs, and widen the date.
X-ray LinkedIn, or use LinkedIn's own search bar?
There is an unglamorous reason sourcers x ray linkedin at all. LinkedIn applies a commercial use limit to free accounts, telling members their activity indicates they are likely using LinkedIn for commercial use such as hiring or prospecting. That allowance resets at midnight PST on the 1st of each month, and LinkedIn says it cannot display how many searches you have left.
LinkedIn's own search bar is a different instrument. It takes AND, OR and NOT in uppercase, quotation marks and parentheses, with a stated precedence order, and it does not support wildcards, braces, brackets or angle brackets. Plus and minus may appear to work but LinkedIn says they are not officially supported. Our Boolean search page has those fundamentals and a free generator.
Is a LinkedIn X-ray search allowed? Not legal advice
Do
- Run the query by hand in your own browser and read the results
- Read the public page the member chose to publish
- Note where each profile came from and the date you saw it
- Read LinkedIn's User Agreement yourself, and ask your own counsel
Do not
- Software, scripts, robots, crawlers or browser plugins used to scrape or copy the Services
- Bots or other unauthorised automated methods used to access the Services
- Copying or distributing information obtained through search tools or data aggregators without the owner's consent
- Treating anything Google surfaced as yours to redistribute
Where X-ray sourcing stops
- It searches words written on a page, not what a person can actually do.
- Every quoted phrase is another gate, so one extra word silently deletes people.
- It cannot separate the person's own skill from their employer's stack.
- It ends at a profile page, and you still have to find a way to reach them.
The same control, without the syntax
An example: each requirement set to Must have, Prioritise or Preferred, and the pool re-ranked in place.
The Cognitive parses one line of plain English into structured filters, grouped by what the person knows and what their current employer does. Results come back ranked, and strong ones carry a Strong match label. There is no string to write, and none to debug when it returns nothing.
An X-ray string or a plain-English brief
| What you are doing | Google X-ray search | The Cognitive |
|---|---|---|
| What you write | An operator string you debug by hand between runs | One line of plain English, parsed into structured filters |
| Where it searches | What Google has indexed of the public pages on one site | A profile pool of ~900M, which is a different pool, not a fresher copy of Google's |
| Optional requirements | There are none. Every quoted phrase is effectively a gate | Must have gates; Prioritise and Preferred only change the order |
| Person or employer | A keyword on a page cannot tell the 2 apart | Filters split into what the person knows and what their employer does |
| When results are thin | You rewrite the string and run it again | The search relaxes its softest filters itself and says what it broadened |
| Getting in touch | You leave Google and go looking for an address | Identities stay masked until you reveal a contact, charged only on success |
Keep going
Boolean search operators and a free generator · AI sourcing tool · Free resume search databases · How to source candidates · What is candidate sourcing?
Frequently asked questions
What is X-ray search?
An x-ray search is a Google query restricted to one website with the site: operator, so the results are pages from that site instead of the whole web. Google documents that site: takes a URL path prefix as well as a domain, which is what lets you aim it at profile pages. Sourcers use the term for people search, but the operator is ordinary Google syntax.
What is a LinkedIn X-ray search?
A linkedin x-ray search is that same Google query aimed at LinkedIn's public profile path: site:linkedin.com/in/ followed by your titles, skills and location in quotes. You get public profile pages, not LinkedIn search results, and you need no LinkedIn account to run it. What comes back is limited to what Google has indexed.
How do I do a Google X-ray search?
Type site: with no space after the colon, then the site or path, then your terms. Quote anything longer than one word, put OR in capitals between alternatives, and exclude with a leading minus sign. You do not need AND, because a space between terms already narrows a Google search. Run it, see what the noise is, then subtract that.
Does LinkedIn X-ray search still work?
Yes. LinkedIn's robots.txt still lets Googlebot reach public profile pages, though it blocks a number of sub-paths, and LinkedIn states there that it may permit automated access for including content in approved publicly available search engines. What limits your results is the profile itself. LinkedIn says the public profile is a simplified version, members choose which sections show publicly, and search engines take weeks or months to refresh.
Is LinkedIn X-ray search allowed?
This is not legal advice. LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits using software, scripts, robots, crawlers or browser plugins to scrape or copy the Services, and bots or other unauthorised automated access. It also addresses copying or distributing information obtained through search tools or data aggregators without the content owner's consent. Running a query by hand and reading a public page is ordinary searching. Read the agreement yourself.
Why does my X-ray search show an old job title?
Because you are reading Google's copy, not LinkedIn's. LinkedIn states that search tools such as Google, Yahoo and Bing can take several weeks or months to detect changes and refresh, and that LinkedIn does not control that process. The public profile is also a simplified version of the full one, so some sections were never there to begin with. Confirm the current role before you write to anyone.
How many LinkedIn profiles can Google see?
Nobody can tell you, including Google. Search Central states that site: does not necessarily return all the URLs indexed under the prefix you specify, and that search operators are bound by indexing and retrieval limits. The number on your results page is an estimate of what one operator surfaced that day. Treat any published figure for indexed profiles as a guess.
What is the difference between linkedin xray and Boolean search?
Boolean search is the logic itself, AND, OR and NOT with quotes and brackets, and it works in many search boxes including LinkedIn's own. X-ray search is one specific technique: a Google query pointed at a single site with site:. They overlap because a good X-ray string uses Boolean thinking, but Google's syntax differs. Our Boolean search page covers the operators and has a free generator.
Can I X-ray search GitHub?
You can, with site:github.com plus your terms, but GitHub's own user search is usually better. GitHub documents qualifiers including type:user, location:, language:, followers:, repos: and created:, excludes any qualifier with a leading hyphen, and needs quotes around multi-word values. One nuance: language: reflects the languages of repositories the user owns, not a skill they wrote on their profile.
What is an x ray search engine?
There is no dedicated x-ray search engine. X-ray is a technique run on an ordinary general search engine, and Google is the one most sourcers use because its site: operator accepts a URL path prefix. Any engine with a site restriction can do the same job. The phrase describes what you are doing, not a product you sign up for.
Explore: Boolean search operators and generator · AI sourcing tool · Free resume search databases · What is candidate sourcing? · How to source candidates