Mastering LinkedIn Data: Guide to Exporting LinkedIn Search Results to Excel

Learn the latest strategies for exporting LinkedIn search results into Excel. This guide covers methods, tools, and tips for efficient data transfer and analysis.

Nandini Jain

• 6 min read
Mastering LinkedIn Data: Guide to Exporting LinkedIn Search Results to Excel

Whether you're a marketer, recruiter, sales professional, or data analyst, the ability to seamlessly transfer LinkedIn search results into Excel can significantly enhance your operational efficiency and strategic insights. This comprehensive guide is your key to unlocking the full potential of LinkedIn data, providing you with the knowledge and tools to effectively export, analyze, and utilize this information for a multitude of professional purposes.

Can You Export LinkedIn Search Results to Excel?

The short answer is yes, but not directly from LinkedIn. Despite its vast capabilities as a professional networking platform, LinkedIn does not inherently provide an option to export search results to Excel. This limitation, however, opens the door to innovative solutions through third-party tools and browser extensions.

These tools are specifically designed to bridge this gap, enabling users to extract valuable data from LinkedIn and transfer it into a more versatile and analyzable Excel format.

What Are The Benefits of Exporting LinkedIn Searches to Excel?

  1. Enhanced Data Analysis: Exporting data to Excel allows for deeper analysis using Excel's powerful tools like pivot tables, charts, and formulas. This can uncover trends and insights not immediately apparent on LinkedIn's interface.
  2. Customized Lead Lists: Sales and marketing professionals can build and segment lead lists based on specific criteria, improving targeted outreach and personalization strategies.
  3. Efficient CRM Integration: Excel data can be easily imported into most CRM systems, ensuring that customer and lead data is up-to-date and comprehensive.
  4. Recruitment and Talent Sourcing: Recruiters can organize candidate information, track application statuses, and compare qualifications more effectively in Excel.
  5. Better Networking Opportunities: By analyzing connections and industries, professionals can identify networking opportunities and strategic partnerships.
  6. Time-Saving: Manual data entry is reduced, saving significant time that can be better spent on analysis and strategy.
  7. Data Personalization and Filtering: Excel allows for personalized sorting and filtering of data to meet specific business needs, unlike the static format on LinkedIn.
  8. Historical Data Tracking: Excel can be used to track historical data changes over time, providing valuable insights into trends and patterns in your network or industry.
  9. Reporting and Presentation: Excel’s data can be transformed into professional reports and presentations, making it easier to communicate insights to stakeholders.
  10. Competitive Analysis: By exporting and analyzing competitor data, businesses can develop more informed strategies to stay competitive in their market.

Tools To Export LinkedIn Searches To Excel

Phantombuster:

  1. Create a Phantombuster Account
    • Visit the Phantombuster website and sign up for an account. They offer various plans, including a free tier.
  2. Install the Phantombuster Browser Extension
    • Download and install the Phantombuster browser extension, which is necessary for the tool to interact with LinkedIn.
  3. Set Up the LinkedIn Search Export Phantom
    • In your Phantombuster dashboard, find and set up the LinkedIn Search Export Phantom.
    • This will involve entering your LinkedIn cookie for authentication. Phantombuster provides instructions on how to retrieve this from your browser.
  4. Configure Your LinkedIn Search
    • Perform your desired search on LinkedIn.
    • Copy the URL of the search results page.
  5. Input the Search URL in Phantombuster
    • Paste the copied LinkedIn search URL into the Phantom configuration.
  6. Customize Export Settings
    • Set parameters like the number of results per launch, time intervals between page loads, and the name of the output spreadsheet.
  7. Start the Data Extraction Process
    • Execute the Phantom. It will scrape the data from the LinkedIn search results and compile it.
  8. Export the Data to Excel
    • Once the Phantom completes its run, download the scraped data, typically available in CSV format.
    • Open this CSV file in Excel for further analysis and manipulation.
  9. Regular Updates (Optional)
    • You can schedule the Phantom to run at regular intervals to keep adding new data to your list.

Sales Navigator and Evaboot:

  1. Subscribe to LinkedIn Sales Navigator
    • Firstly, obtain a subscription for LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn's premium service offering advanced search functionalities.
  2. Perform Detailed Searches on Sales Navigator
    • Use Sales Navigator's enhanced search tools to define and execute your search. You can apply filters like location, industry, company size, and more to tailor your search results.
  3. Use Evaboot for Data Scraping
    • Go to the Evaboot website and create an account.
    • Evaboot integrates with Sales Navigator and allows for the scraping of detailed search results.
  4. Set Up Evaboot for Data Extraction
    • In Evaboot, enter the details of your Sales Navigator search.
    • You may need to install the Evaboot Chrome extension or use the web interface, depending on their latest system updates.
  5. Customize Extraction Settings
    • Define the specifics of your data extraction, such as the amount of data you wish to scrape and the frequency of updates (if you need ongoing data scraping).
  6. Run Evaboot to Extract Data
    • Execute the data scraping process. Evaboot will collect data from the LinkedIn Sales Navigator search results.
  7. Download and Export Data to Excel
    • Once Evaboot completes the scraping process, you can download the results.
    • The data is typically provided in a CSV format, which can be easily imported and manipulated in Excel.
  8. Data Cleaning and Organization
    • Evaboot offers features to clean and organize the extracted data, ensuring it's ready for analysis.

Here are step-by-step details for a few browser extensions that facilitate exporting data from LinkedIn searches to Excel:

LinkedHelper:

    • Install LinkedHelper: Download and install the LinkedHelper extension from the Chrome Web Store.
    • Sign into LinkedIn: Open LinkedIn and log into your account.
    • Run LinkedHelper: Activate the extension, which will open a separate LinkedHelper panel.
    • Select the Data Extraction Feature: In LinkedHelper, select the feature that allows data extraction from LinkedIn searches.
    • Perform Your LinkedIn Search: Conduct your search on LinkedIn as usual.
    • Export Data: Use LinkedHelper to export the search results, which will be saved in a CSV file format, ready to be opened in Excel.

Dux-Soup:

    • Install Dux-Soup: Download Dux-Soup from the Chrome Web Store and install it in your browser.
    • Open LinkedIn and Dux-Soup: Access your LinkedIn account and activate the Dux-Soup extension.
    • Configure Dux-Soup for Data Scraping: Set your preferences for data scraping in the Dux-Soup options.
    • Execute LinkedIn Search: Conduct your desired LinkedIn search.
    • Use Dux-Soup to Extract Data: Activate Dux-Soup to scrape the data from your LinkedIn search results.
    • Export to Excel: Download the scraped data, which Dux-Soup provides in a CSV format, and open it in Excel for analysis.

Octopus CRM:

    • Install Octopus CRM: Add Octopus CRM to your browser from the Chrome Web Store.
    • Access LinkedIn and Octopus CRM: Log into your LinkedIn account and open Octopus CRM.
    • Set Up Data Extraction: In Octopus CRM, choose the LinkedIn data extraction feature.
    • Perform LinkedIn Search: Do a search on LinkedIn for the data you need.
    • Extract with Octopus CRM: Use Octopus CRM to extract the search results.
    • Export and Analyze Data: Download the extracted data as a CSV file and import it into Excel.

Even with multiple tools to export LinkedIn searches, there are multiple limitations that can come in the way, let's understand them better 👇

LinkedIn Search Export Limitations

1. The commercial use limit

The commercial use limit is a restriction set for people who utilize LinkedIn for business purposes.

The maximum number of searches one can make on the free LinkedIn search engine is around 300 per month

If you exceed this limit, you will see a message saying "You’ve reached the commercial use limit on search" This means that you will not be able to export any more search results until the next month.

2. The daily export limit

So first, you are limited on the number of search you can make and export.

Additionally, LinkedIn also has a daily limit on how many profiles you can export per day. This limit depends on your LinkedIn subscription.

If you have a free LinkedIn account, you can only extract ~80 profiles per day.

If you have a Sales Navigator account, you can export ~150 profiles per day.

3. The search results limit

LinkedIn also has a limit on how many search results it displays for each search query - 100 pages of 10 results meaning 1000 search results maximum.

If you can't access them, it means you can’t export them either. That is clearly limiting your access to good leads or candidates profiles.

To go beyond LinkedIn's search limitations, especially the cap on the number of profiles you can view and export, you can use the following methods 👇

How To Beat LinkedIn Search Export Limits?

  1. Refine Your Search Criteria: Use more specific filters to narrow down your search. This can help in segmenting the data into smaller, more manageable chunks, each falling under the limit.
  2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: This premium version of LinkedIn offers more advanced search capabilities and higher limits compared to the free version. It can display more search results (up to 2500) for each query.
  3. Multiple Accounts: Using different LinkedIn accounts (if available) to perform searches can help bypass the limit on a single account. However, this should be done cautiously and ethically to comply with LinkedIn's policies.
  4. Automated Tools and Bots: Tools like Evaboot, when used with Sales Navigator, can scrape larger amounts of data. Be mindful of LinkedIn's terms of service when using such tools, as overuse might lead to account restrictions.
  5. Time-Staggered Searches: Spread out your searches over different days or weeks. This method takes longer but can be effective in staying within the daily and monthly search limits set by LinkedIn.

Each of these methods has its advantages and potential risks, especially concerning compliance with LinkedIn's terms of service. It's crucial to use these methods responsibly to avoid the risk of your LinkedIn account being penalized or restricted.

We hope this article provides you with a detailed overview on how exporting LinkedIn searches can help you with your business goals along with different techniques to achieve the same.

If you're looking to automate your LinkedIn scraping and outbound efforts, feel free to reach out to us.