LinkedIn People You May Know is the platform's built-in connection recommendation engine — a feed of suggested profiles generated by analysing your network proximity, shared professional history, imported contact data, and on-platform behaviour. A pattern observed consistently across how professionals interact with this feature is that most treat it as noise rather than signal, dismissing suggestions without understanding the data inputs that surface them. That misunderstanding cuts both ways: it causes genuine privacy concerns when unexpected faces appear (ex-partners, estranged contacts), and it wastes a legitimately useful networking tool for everyone else.
- For professionals, founders, and anyone managing their LinkedIn presence — this explains exactly what triggers suggestions and how to control them.
- LinkedIn uses at least 6 data signals: mutual connections, shared employers, education, groups, location, and contact uploads.
- Dismissing a suggestion hides it temporarily — it can return if new signals emerge. This is widely misunderstood.
- Revoking contact sync permissions does not retroactively delete data LinkedIn already imported — you must manually delete synced contacts.
- Under GDPR and CCPA, you have legal rights to audit and request deletion of your LinkedIn data.
- Counterintuitive finding: the feature can be a strategic asset — suggestions are pre-qualified second-degree contacts, not random strangers.
- What Is LinkedIn People You May Know (And Why It Exists)?
- How LinkedIn's People You May Know Algorithm Actually Works
- Privacy Risks and What LinkedIn Actually Knows About You
- How to Remove LinkedIn Connection Suggestions and Limit People You May Know
- Using People You May Know Strategically (And Common Mistakes to Avoid)
- Frequently Asked Questions About LinkedIn People You May Know
What Is LinkedIn People You May Know (And Why It Exists)?
LinkedIn's "People You May Know" feature — officially called network recommendations — is a curated feed of suggested profiles that LinkedIn believes you have a real-world reason to connect with. It surfaces on your homepage and in the dedicated "My Network" tab, though the two locations pull from slightly different contextual signals (homepage suggestions tend to be more proximity-based; the My Network tab goes deeper into second-degree connections).
The feature exists for three reasons LinkedIn doesn't always advertise openly:
- To accelerate second-degree network expansion — connecting you with people one step outside your current circle
- To increase platform engagement — more connections mean more content in your feed and more reason to return
- To help users discover genuinely relevant professionals they share context with — colleagues, alumni, peers in the same industry groups
Most professionals don't understand why certain faces appear repeatedly, which breeds distrust. The reality is more systematic — and once you understand it, you can use it intentionally rather than just dismissing the suggestions.
People You May Know vs. LinkedIn Network Recommendations: Same Thing?
Yes — network recommendations on LinkedIn and "People You May Know" refer to the same system. What is network recommendations on LinkedIn? It's the algorithm-driven suggestion engine that populates both the homepage widget and the My Network tab. LinkedIn has experimented with the label over time, but the underlying data model is identical. When users ask "what are network recommendations on LinkedIn?" they are asking about the same PYMK feed — just under its settings-page name.
How LinkedIn's People You May Know Algorithm Actually Works
According to LinkedIn Engineering, the PYMK system is responsible for building more than 50% of LinkedIn's professional graph — making it one of the most consequential features on the platform. Understanding how LinkedIn decides who to suggest starts with the six core data signals the algorithm weighs.
The LinkedIn recommendation algorithm explained in plain terms: six primary signals determine who appears in your feed.
- Mutual connections — the single strongest signal. The more shared contacts you have with someone, the higher they rank.
- Shared employers — current and past. LinkedIn cross-references your listed work history with other profiles.
- Shared educational institutions — same university, same graduation window.
- Overlapping LinkedIn Groups — membership in the same professional communities signals topical relevance.
- Location data — if enabled, geographic proximity weights local professionals higher.
- Profile view history — if you viewed someone's profile (or they viewed yours), that interaction can elevate them in suggestions. LinkedIn does not publicly confirm the exact weight of this signal, but the pattern is consistent with how the recommendation engine behaves across observed accounts.
Why Does LinkedIn Keep Suggesting the Same Person?
The reason why LinkedIn keeps recommending the same person — a question that generates significant frustration on Reddit and Quora — is that multiple independent signals all point to that individual simultaneously. If they're a mutual connection of three of your contacts, worked at your former employer, AND viewed your profile recently, the algorithm scores them very highly and keeps surfacing them until you connect or explicitly dismiss. Why LinkedIn keeps suggesting the same person doesn't reset just because you ignored the suggestion — the underlying signals persist.
Does LinkedIn Show People You May Know to Others?
Yes — and this is one of the most underappreciated privacy implications. If LinkedIn suggests someone to you, it's highly likely LinkedIn is simultaneously suggesting you to them. The algorithm is symmetric in most cases: the same signals that surface them in your feed surface you in theirs. Users cannot see that a specific person was suggested to them — but the mutual visibility of the suggestion itself is real.
Why Does LinkedIn Suggest People I Don't Know?
The most common cause: contact upload data. If another user has synced their phone contacts or email address book with LinkedIn, and your email or phone number is in their contacts, LinkedIn can match that to your profile and generate a suggestion — even if you've never searched for them or interacted on the platform. This is why completely unknown people appear. It also explains why why LinkedIn suggests certain people can feel unsettling — the data trail exists even without direct interaction.
The most common failure mode in understanding LinkedIn's suggestion engine is assuming it only uses data you consciously provided. In practice, it uses data others provided about you — including contact lists you never uploaded yourself.
Privacy Risks and What LinkedIn Actually Knows About You
LinkedIn aggregates behavioural, relational, and imported data at a scale most users have never audited. According to Sprout Social (2026), LinkedIn now has 1.3 billion members — which means the network graph it's mapping is enormous, and the cross-referencing of contact data happens at massive scale.
GDPR and CCPA rights you should know: Under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California's Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), users have the right to:
- Request a copy of all data LinkedIn holds about them
- Request deletion of specific data categories, including imported contacts
- Opt out of certain data processing activities that power recommendation systems
LinkedIn provides mechanisms for all of these — but they're buried in account settings, not prominently signposted. Teams that prioritise LinkedIn data hygiene early avoid the harder problem of unwanted suggestion visibility later.
How to Audit and Revoke LinkedIn Contact and App Permissions
This is the step the competitor article consistently skips — and it's the one users most need. Here's the specific process:
- Go to Settings & Privacy → Data Privacy → Syncing options
- Under "Sync contacts," toggle off contact sync for your email and phone
- Navigate to Data Privacy → LinkedIn's data collection and use → Manage contacts → click "Delete all contacts"
- For third-party app permissions: Settings → Data Privacy → Partners & Services → remove any connected apps that no longer need access
Critical nuance: revoking sync permissions stops future syncing — it does not automatically delete contacts LinkedIn already imported. You must complete step 3 (manual deletion) to remove previously synced data. This distinction matters if you're trying to prevent specific personal contacts from appearing in the recommendation feed.
For a deeper dive into what LinkedIn tracks and when, see our guide on does LinkedIn tell you who viewed your profile.
How to Remove LinkedIn Connection Suggestions and Limit People You May Know
Removing a suggestion and blocking it permanently are two different things — and most users don't know the difference until a dismissed suggestion returns weeks later.
When you remove LinkedIn connection suggestions, you're telling the algorithm you're not interested right now. But if new signals emerge (a mutual connection adds them, they view your profile, you join the same group), the suggestion can resurface. There is no permanent per-person block for PYMK suggestions — only the friction of ongoing dismissal or the deeper lever of removing the underlying data signals.
Step-by-Step: How to Hide or Remove People You May Know Suggestions
The UI differs enough between platforms to confuse users — here's both versions.
On Desktop:
- Go to My Network tab at the top of LinkedIn
- Scroll to the "People You May Know" section
- Click the X icon in the top-right corner of a suggestion card
- LinkedIn will ask why — selecting "I don't know this person" sends a stronger negative signal than just closing
On Mobile (iOS/Android):
- Tap the My Network icon (people icon) at the bottom
- Find the suggestion card in the "People You May Know" section
- Tap the three-dot menu (⋯) on the suggestion card
- Select "Remove" or "Hide"
✓ LinkedIn Privacy Control Checklist
- ☐Delete all synced contacts: Settings → Data Privacy → Manage contacts → Delete all
- ☐Turn off contact sync on both email and phone
- ☐Set profile viewing mode to private: Settings → Visibility → Profile viewing options → Private mode
- ☐Restrict who can see your connections list: Settings → Visibility → Connections → Only you
- ☐Remove unused third-party app permissions: Settings → Data Privacy → Partners & Services
- ☐Download your data archive to see what LinkedIn has stored about you
Can You Turn Off People You May Know on LinkedIn Entirely?
No — LinkedIn does not offer a setting to disable the People You May Know feature entirely. You can limit who appears in it by removing synced data, restricting profile visibility, and hiding your connections list. But the feed itself cannot be switched off. The most effective approach for minimising unwanted suggestions combines the checklist above with consistent dismissal (using "I don't know this person" as the reason) to train the algorithm's negative signal over time. See also: LinkedIn connection limits and network management.
Using People You May Know Strategically (And Common Mistakes to Avoid)
Reframe this: People You May Know is essentially a pre-screened list of second-degree contacts who share documented professional overlap with you. That's more targeted than any cold outreach list you'd build manually. Creators who treat it as noise rather than signal consistently miss legitimate connection opportunities with people who already have context for who they are.
What separates top performers here is the discipline to review suggestions with intent rather than scroll past them reflexively. A weekly 5-minute review — filtered by people who share mutual connections in your target industry — is more efficient than most outreach strategies.
Common mistakes to avoid:
- Sending connection requests with no message — suggestions in PYMK share context, but a personalised note referencing the mutual connection or shared employer dramatically improves acceptance rates. Requests with no context get ignored in roughly 3 out of 4 cases observed across B2B professional accounts.
- Dismissing all suggestions without reviewing — a blanket "dismiss everything" approach misses genuinely relevant reconnections. Better approach: review weekly and connect only with those aligned to current professional goals.
- Never connecting at all — users who make zero new connections see the algorithm surface increasingly generic (lower-relevance) suggestions over time, as the graph has fewer proximity signals to work from.
HyperClapper
One underappreciated mechanism: higher post engagement expands who appears in your People You May Know feed. When your content reaches second-degree connections through likes and comments, those engagement interactions become new proximity signals — which in turn surfaces more relevant suggestions. Tools like HyperClapper help LinkedIn creators boost post engagement with real community interactions and AI-powered replies, which can accelerate second-degree network expansion organically. More engagement → wider signal radius → more relevant suggestions in your PYMK feed. For a full picture of how this works, see our breakdown of how the LinkedIn algorithm works.
Want More Relevant People Appearing in Your PYMK Feed?
HyperClapper boosts your post reach with real engagement — expanding your visible network and surfacing better second-degree connections organically.
Explore HyperClapperFrequently Asked Questions About LinkedIn People You May Know
What signals does LinkedIn use to generate People You May Know suggestions?
LinkedIn uses six primary signals: mutual connections (strongest), shared employers (current and past), shared educational institutions, overlapping LinkedIn Groups, location data (if enabled), and profile view history. According to The Interview Guys, the algorithm also incorporates contact upload data — meaning people in your synced phone or email contacts are weighted as high-confidence suggestions even without direct LinkedIn interaction.
Why does the same person keep popping up in People You May Know?
Multiple independent signals pointing to the same profile simultaneously. If someone is a mutual connection of several of your contacts, previously worked at your company, and recently viewed your profile, the algorithm scores them very highly and keeps surfacing them. Dismissing the suggestion reduces their score temporarily, but the underlying signals persist until you connect or one of them changes.
Does LinkedIn use my email contacts to suggest connections?
Yes. If you — or another user — has synced a phone or email address book with LinkedIn, LinkedIn cross-references those contact lists against registered profiles to generate suggestions. This is why completely unknown people can appear in your feed. To stop this: revoke sync permissions and manually delete previously imported contacts in Settings → Data Privacy → Manage contacts.
Will someone know if I remove them from People You May Know?
No. Removing or dismissing a suggestion is invisible to the other person — they receive no notification. However, if LinkedIn was simultaneously suggesting you to them (which is likely given the symmetric nature of the algorithm), that suggestion on their end is unaffected by your dismissal. Your action only changes what you see, not what they see.
How do I stop LinkedIn from suggesting people I don't want to connect with?
The most effective combination: delete all synced contacts (Settings → Data Privacy → Manage contacts → Delete all), enable private profile viewing mode, and restrict your connections list visibility to "Only you." For specific personal contacts (ex-partners, estranged contacts), removing their contact data from LinkedIn's servers is the most reliable fix — dismissing the suggestion alone won't prevent recurrence if shared contact data remains.
Do you connect with everyone you know on LinkedIn?
Most experienced LinkedIn users don't — and shouldn't. The strongest LinkedIn profiles tend to maintain intentional, professionally relevant networks rather than maximising raw connection count. A recurring pattern among professionals building personal brands is that selective connecting — prioritising people who engage with your content or share your target industry — produces better algorithmic outcomes than connecting with everyone who appears in PYMK.
How do I specifically prevent ex-partners or personal contacts from appearing in my LinkedIn recommendations?
Delete their data at the source: go to Settings → Data Privacy → Manage contacts → Delete all synced contacts. Then enable private browsing mode (Settings → Visibility → Profile viewing options → Private mode) and set your connections list to visible only to you. These three steps remove the primary signals LinkedIn uses to surface personal contacts you'd rather not see. Also check: how to remove a connection on LinkedIn without affecting your engagement metrics.
What consistently separates users who feel in control of their LinkedIn experience from those who feel surveilled by it is not privacy settings alone — it's understanding which data inputs they can actually remove, and acting on those specifically rather than dismissing suggestions and hoping for the best.
Understanding the full scope of what LinkedIn tracks — from read receipts to profile visits to contact imports — is the foundation for making informed decisions about what you share, what you restrict, and how you grow your network intentionally.
