You should turn off PAV….now.
What’s PAV?
‘People Also Viewed’, it’s a list of 10 seemingly random people LinkedIn shows each and every browser who comes to your Profile.
Oh. I never realized I could turn it off.
Well maybe you should.
Is it a big deal if I leave it on?
It depends. If it’s populated with people you’d rather not be associated with, then yes, turn it off.
Gotchya. Why are those folks appearing on my profile page anyway?
Mainly to encourage users to continue to browse and explore.
Just checked – those folks in my PAV have nothing to do with me!
You’re a puppet on a string, you don’t have any control over who appears in your PAV.
Why is it called ‘Viewers of this profile also viewed’ and not ‘People Also Viewed’ in Settings?
To confuse you some more. I don’t know, sometimes LinkedIn just likes to mess with you.
Though the above conversation is fictional, I’ve had real life variations of it many times. I tell my clients to turn off PAV. Why? Because (1) it changes all the time (2) you have no control over the information (3) displayed very prominently next to your professional brand and (4) do you really need a fourth reason?
PAV is mysterious, confusing and downright weird. Is it compiled by people you view? Or by people who view you? Or by people who view people like you? Do colleagues automatically appear? When does it change and why? Can it be gamed?
“The People Also Viewed feature is a box that shows some of the other LinkedIn member profiles that viewers of your profile have also looked at. The information in the People Also Viewed feature doesn’t reveal any individual’s browsing history, including your own. If the profiles listed in the box are the same as the LinkedIn member profiles you’ve viewed, that’s just a coincidence. The People Also Viewed feature is updated multiple times each month, and shows a maximum of 10 profiles that viewers of your profile have also viewed. The member at the top of the box has had the most views by people who have also looked at your profile. In order for someone else to appear in this list, they’d have to be viewed more times than the people already shown in the box.” LinkedIn Help Center (Nov 2017):
Ok, so LinkedIn are telling us that PAV is supposedly made up of profiles that our browsers have also looked at. We don’t know who those mystery browsers are and it does not apparently “reveal” your or anyone else’s browsing history. The person in pole position of PAV is the person who’s been browsed the most out of all of the 10 people presented. So it’s kind of like a competitive mystery browser history section. Updates “multiple” times every month.
Still weird. Still potentially damaging. We’ve all seen the pervert’s paradise PAV (see below), visual proof, if you needed it, that a lot of guys use LinkedIn to try and hook up with women.
“If one of your goals on LinkedIn is to increase your visibility, this feature can significantly increase the likelihood that your profile will be discovered and viewed by other members.” LinkedIn Help Center (Nov 2017):
One of my goals on LinkedIn is to increase my visibility – but I’d like to do that in a way that I control. Besides, I don’t accept the premise that PAV increases my visibility at all. I’m also guessing that PAV can be gamed because bots and fake profiles.
To hide PAV on your profile : go to ‘Me’ > ‘Settings & Privacy’ > ‘Privacy’ tab, 5th option down “Viewers of this profile also viewed”, click on ‘change’ and slide to grey ‘No’.
But, if your PAV is comprised of professional celebs and people you’re impressed by, and you’re happy to bask in the glow, don’t change a thing. If on the other hand your PAV is full of competitors, odd choices, people you may not want to be associated with or don’t know, turn that sucker off. I personally prefer to have browsers land on my LinkedIn page consuming my info and focused entirely on me for the longest time, without any distractions or opportunity to bounce. I’m selfish that way.
I CAN HELP YOU WITH LINKEDIN
If you liked this article, you’ll love my LinkedIn coaching and advice. I can write your Summary, improve your entire Profile and help you to fully leverage LinkedIn. Contact me now: andy@linkedinsights.com to learn more.
By Andy Foote
Andy, LMAO on the comment about the consultant you tried to help. I’ve had the same experience. Some people just don’t want to be helped, right? 🙂 Your sentiments on the PAV echo mine – it’s almost always a list of competitors, so why give them any additional screen time with YOUR customers?
Good post, my friend.
Thanks Victoria. Yes I was somewhat taken aback by the “Social Media” consultant’s reaction – what could have happened to her for her to react in this uber aggressive, totally unnecessary way?
Who knows? I’ve sent emails to people when I’ve noticed typos in their website content, but they are very rarely grateful for my note. People are strange:)
Indeed they are. I blame their parents 😉
Thanks Andy.
1) each one can view this on his profile, without asking to friends. Just click on the “view profile as” blue box at the top or your profile.
2) If you chose to delete it on your profile, you won’t appear anymore on “people also viewed on other profiles”. So there are 2 possibilities :
– You keep it on your profile and you appear in “people also viewed on other profiles”.
– You don’t keep it on your profile and you appear ont other people profiles.
Thank you Cyril.
(1) I know – but this is complicated to explain to people who don’t use LinkedIn much. I prefer an easy method which has the bonus of added engagement (i.e asking a friend).
(2) Not true – I tested this again today. I have removed PAV and still appear in other’s PAV results.
2) might be new or a bug. I had deleted it from my profile last year and then put it back just for this.
I recommend this to all my private marketing coaching clients, Andy…excellent point!
Thanks Christine. A quick cursory check of some of my esteemed LinkedIn coaching colleagues shows that almost all of them choose not to show PAV. I expect that they follow their own teachings 🙂
Who knew? Well, besides experts like you, Andy. 😉 Thanks for the info.
Thanks Cathy!
Another winning post, Andy. Heading now for the turnoff switch.
Thanks bud!
Andy:
I do enjoy your comments and usually agree wholeheartedly with your conclusions. However, I’d like to give you another perspective on this one. In our situation, I recently found the PAV to be extremely helpful.
To summarize, we were in a competitive bidding process for a very important contract. From an initial pool of over 100, the finalists went down to 20, then 10, 3 and then only two of us remained. I knew the choice was being made by a vote of over 30 individuals. Many were checking my LinkedIn profile. By looking at the PAV, I was instantly able to ascertain who the other finalist was, something I otherwise would have had no idea about. Granted, there was nothing I could do about it at that point. However, I was able to do research the other individual and that did provide some additional confidence during the waiting period.
I can also see where the PAV is helpful in a more general sense to understand where prospective clients are looking, in which firms THEY considered to be our “competitors.” This, of course, is far more important than who I consider to be our competitors.
Just another perspective.
Keep up the good work.
Steve
Thanks Steve. You’ve given an example of how you were able to use your PAV and ultimately benefit from that seemingly random list of LinkedIn users and that’s great. Most people don’t get that lucky or don’t know how to leverage PAV. You could have gotten that information by turning PAV on and then turning it off again, which reduces the chance of anyone else seeing/benefiting from or using that information to compete with/against you. I personally have used PAV many times in the way you have, I always thought that leaving organizational/competitive info like that ‘lying around’ was a mistake.
Great article. Time and again, when visiting the profile of a female connection, I’ve seen the People Also Viewed section filled with very racy photographs and have always wondered why that is. Well, that’s not right – I did know why that is and it’s pretty creepy. I plan on forwarding your article to the victims of this I come across.
I agree Andy, PAV is mostly useless information. However, my recruiter friends say they will look at the list to see if another potential candidate is in the list.
I turned it off because I do not need a list of my peers showing up on my own profile page. As much as I like you guys, my LinkedIn Profile needs to be all about me.
BTW, I’ve not heard that my profile has shown up in the middle of a PAV list of adult entertainers. This hurts. (LOL)
Andy,
Great post.
Can you remove the PAV feature on a company page ?
This is equally stupid… it promotes your competitors
Hi Andy, just found and been browsing your excellent blog. Decided to turn off PAV, but the way the account details is laid out seems to have changed since your post. Can you let me know how to access and switch off PAV now? Thanks
Go to ‘Me’ (top right) then click on ‘Settings & Privacy’ then click on ‘Privacy’ then click on ‘Viewers of this profile also viewed’, switch the toggle to ‘No’.
I was shocked that your PAV example all looked like women on my neighborhood. 😙
I was too!