When I ran the first Supernova session on LinkedIn Settings and Privacy, I was not sure how much reaction to expect from a topic that dry.
Within ten minutes, most members had found at least one setting that was actively working against them.
Not slightly wrong. Actively costing them visibility, leads, and trust.
Here is the thing most people do not realise. LinkedIn changes settings quietly. Features get moved. Defaults get switched. New toggles appear without any notification. The settings you chose when you first set up your account, possibly years ago, might be doing the exact opposite of what you need them to do now.
The settings that catch business owners out
After 20 years of training business owners on LinkedIn, I have seen the same mistakes come up hundreds of times. These are the four that trip people up most.
Your connections list is visible to everyone.
Did you know that anyone connected to you can download your entire network as a CSV file? Names, email addresses, job titles, the lot. If your connections list is set to public, you have essentially handed your contacts over to anyone who wants them. Competitors, cold outreach merchants, data scrapers. Change this to Only You. There is no benefit to having it visible. None.
Your profile viewing is set to private.
This is one of the biggest missed opportunities I see. Every time you view someone's profile, they get a notification with your name and headline. That is free visibility. A soft touchpoint before you have even sent a message. If you have switched to private mode, you are invisible, and you have also lost the ability to see who has viewed your profile. Your entire viewer history gets erased. For business owners, keep this on your name and headline.
Your email is downloadable.
If your email visibility is set to anything other than Only Me or 1st-degree connections, your email address gets included in connection exports. Those random sales emails from people you have never spoken to? This is often exactly how they got your email.
Your data is training AI models.
LinkedIn introduced a Generative AI toggle in late 2025. It is switched on by default. That means your posts, your comments, your profile content, even your job application history, can be used to train LinkedIn's AI. Most people have no idea this exists. Go to Data Privacy, then Data for Generative AI Improvement, and turn it off.
Why this matters for your business
Your LinkedIn settings control three things: who can find you, what they see when they do, and what happens with your data behind the scenes. If any of those are wrong, it does not matter how brilliant your profile looks or how often you post. The mechanics underneath are broken.
Think of it like a shop. You can have the best window display in town, but if the front door is locked and the sign says Closed, nobody is coming in. Settings are the front door.
The five-minute fix
The good news is that most of these changes take less than five minutes. Here is what to check right now:
- Connections visibility: set to Only You
- Profile viewing: keep on Your Name and Headline
- Email visibility: Only Me or 1st-degree connections
- Profile update notifications: turn off before editing, back on after
- Public profile: make sure photo, headline, and About are visible
- Followers: set to Everyone on LinkedIn
- Active status: turn off (unless you want people knowing when you are online)
- Generative AI toggle: turn off under Data Privacy
This is what we do inside Supernova
Settings and Privacy was just the first session of Supernova, my monthly membership for business owners who want to get LinkedIn working properly.
Every week, a new recorded masterclass lands in your inbox. Each one takes a specific part of LinkedIn, breaks it down, and shows you exactly what to change and why. No vague advice. No theory. You watch it when it suits you, follow along, and leave with that part of your profile actually done.
If you have questions as you work through it, you bring them to the members-only WhatsApp group. I answer personally.
You also get access to the full session library from day one, so you can start wherever is most useful to you.
Supernova is £19 a month. Cancel any time, no questions asked.
If you want to stop guessing and start getting your LinkedIn sorted properly, come and join us. Email me at esther@onlinemediaworks.co.uk or visit onlinemediaworks.co.uk to find out more.