Find people faster with LinkedIn’s new faceted search

Here at LinkedIn, we believe that people search is one of the most valuable new areas of search technology. Late last year, we announced the launch of the new people search platform, rebuilt from the ground up. Since that launch, I'm happy to report that the enhancements have resulted in nearly doubling overall search activity on LinkedIn. Thanks for tons of great feedback you provided since we launched that has helped spur these numerous improvements.

Today, I am excited to announce the release of another huge improvement to LinkedIn’s People Search experience: “Faceted Search”.

“Faceted Search” offers dynamic filters that are automatically generated based on your actual query results. These filters let you quickly and easily hone your query over 50 million LinkedIn profiles based on 8 facets: current company, past company, location, relationship, location, industry, school, and profile languages.

A new module titled “Refine By” will include a list of the most relevant facets, based on the actual results of your original query.


The filters are generated in real time for every query by parsing all matching results and extracting the most important attributes. We then present those to you in an intuitive interface that lets you select one or multiple filters per facet. You can refine, expand or stumble upon insightful information by simply clicking on the search options that matter to you.

Faceted Search offers the following benefits to your search experience on LinkedIn:

  • Enables True Guided Navigation: A list of filters are generated dynamically for every search in order to guide you through the optimal path to find the most relevant people
  • Provides Intuitive Interface: Refining your search is easier than ever with an intuitive user interface that allows you to slice and dice search results by 8 facets
  • Improves Precision: As LinkedIn continues to grow by the millions, increasing search space requires increased precision to help you find exactly the right people
  • Increases Efficiency: Find talent, business partners, customers or a former colleague faster than ever before.
  • Reduces Need for Complex Queries: It significantly reduces the need for complex Boolean queries. This was a particular need we heard from many of our power users.

Here is a quick video that highlights the key elements of Faceted Search:

We believe these improvements will help augment your productivity and we’d love to hear your feedback, questions and suggestions.