LinkedIn vs Indeed: Which Is Better for Your Job Search?

Where LinkedIn and Indeed get their jobs

Indeed works like a search engine for jobs. Its help page on jobs says "some employers post their jobs on Indeed" and "we take other jobs from external sources, such as the employer's website." Indeed tells employers its technology "continuously scans career sites and job boards across the web." That is why some Indeed listings send you off to the employer's own application system, and why a job posted on a company's career site, and on LinkedIn too, can appear on Indeed as well.

LinkedIn's job search sits inside a professional network. Some jobs let you apply with Easy Apply, which LinkedIn describes as a way to "submit your application without leaving LinkedIn.com"; others send you to the company's site. Our comparison of Easy Apply vs applying directly covers which to pick.

The order of results is also decided differently. Indeed's terms of service say it shows job ads "based on compensation paid by employers to Indeed, relevance (such as your search terms), and other information," so part of what you see first is paid for (see Indeed sponsored jobs). LinkedIn says it considers "your search activity on LinkedIn, the set of jobs returned by the query, and other members who have made similar searches" when it orders results, and it has paid Promoted listings of its own (see promoted jobs on LinkedIn). HideJobs hides both: the Sponsored switch on Indeed and the Promoted switch on LinkedIn.

What each site's search tools are built around

• Indeed: pay and working conditions. Indeed's search guide lists filters for pay or salary, remote and hybrid options, location and distance, job type ("such as full-time, part-time or gig work"), and shift and schedule.
• LinkedIn: competition and people. LinkedIn's filter help page lists Location, Date posted, Easy Apply, Company, Experience level, Employment type, Under 10 applicants, and In your network. Pay is not among the filters that page lists. For what each one does and where they stop, see our guide to LinkedIn job search filters.
• LinkedIn: a person to contact. On jobs with a Meet the hiring team section, LinkedIn says members "will be able to connect and message the entire team listed in this section, including the job poster." On Indeed, the messaging its help page describes is for jobs you apply to on Indeed, where you can "communicate safely with employers through your Messages."
• LinkedIn Premium: applicant numbers. LinkedIn shows the number of applicants for a job in a feature "available only to LinkedIn Premium subscribers." Our guide to whether LinkedIn Premium is worth it weighs that up.

Is LinkedIn or Indeed better for your kind of job?

Neither site publishes figures that would settle which has more or better jobs for you, so decide by what your search depends on.

• Hourly, shift, local, or part-time work: start on Indeed. Its pay, job type, shift and schedule filters let you drop jobs that do not fit before you read them, and because it collects jobs from employer career sites, it can show openings that were only posted on an employer's own site.
• Office, professional, or senior roles: start on LinkedIn. Under 10 applicants lets you apply while the pile is small, In your network filters for jobs in your network, and the hiring team section shows whom you could contact.
• A short list of target employers: use both. Use the Company filter on LinkedIn, where listings with a Meet the hiring team section name people you can contact, and search the company on Indeed to catch jobs Indeed pulls in from that company's own career site.

Whichever you start on, run the same search on the other one too. Indeed's results are partly paid placement and LinkedIn's are partly shaped by your own activity, so the two can rank the same search quite differently. In HideJobs, Search for jobs opens one search on LinkedIn and Indeed (and any other site you leave ticked) at once, each in its own tab (see below).

Applying on both: what each site keeps track of

Both sites track applications you send through them, and both lose track of the ones you finish on a company website.

• LinkedIn: Easy Apply jobs move from Saved to In Progress and Applied in your Job tracker automatically. For a job you apply to off LinkedIn, LinkedIn says you "will first need to Save that job" to track it, and jobs are removed from the Job tracker after one year. See how to view applied jobs on LinkedIn.
• Indeed: jobs you apply to on Indeed appear in My Jobs, which lists six months at a time. For jobs on the employer's site, Indeed says "you won't receive communication from Indeed about your application status" and you have to move the job from Saved to Applied yourself. See Indeed My Jobs.

If you use both, you end up with two separate lists with different time spans, neither of which includes the other site, and both miss company-site applications you forgot to move. So a few weeks later, the same job can get a second look, or a second application. With a login, HideJobs keeps both sites' applications in one job tracker and marks a card on either site when you likely applied to that job on the other (see below).

How to search both without reviewing the same jobs twice

HideJobs is a browser extension for your desktop browser. It opens in the browser's side panel and works on LinkedIn and Indeed search results.

• One search on both sites. When you open HideJobs on a page that is not a job search, it shows Search for jobs: type a job title or keyword, and Search opens it on each ticked site in its own tab (all sites start ticked; untick the ones you do not use). Indeed opens on indeed.com.
• Applied and Dismissed on LinkedIn. Applied hides jobs that carry LinkedIn's own Applied label, and Dismissed hides jobs you dismissed with the X, which LinkedIn otherwise keeps in your results. The Viewed and Promoted switches hide those jobs too.
• Applied and Dismissed on Indeed. Click Mark as Applied or Mark as Dismissed on each job you apply to or skip, and that job stays hidden while the filter is on. Your marks are saved in your browser. The Sponsored switch hides Indeed's paid listings.
• "Likely applied to this job on LinkedIn". When you are logged in, jobs you apply to through LinkedIn's own apply flow go into the HideJobs job tracker automatically, and on Indeed, Mark as Applied asks "Add to Job Tracker?". A card on either site then shows "Likely applied to this job on Indeed" or "on LinkedIn" when your tracker has an applied job with a very similar title and seniority at the same company, or a line such as "Applied to 3 jobs at this company" when it has other applied jobs there. The line is a label, so the card stays in your results. "Likely" is a guess from the job title, so open the job to confirm before you skip it.
• Companies and Keywords. Block an employer or staffing agency once, with the eye icon next to its name on a card or by adding it to the Hidden Companies list, and it is hidden on both sites. On Indeed the match is the exact company name. Keywords hides cards whose visible text, such as the title, company and location, contains your words.

Log in first: the "Likely applied" lines come from your HideJobs job tracker, and Indeed jobs you mark as applied are saved to the tracker once you log in.

On Indeed, a job you apply to on a company website reaches the tracker when you click Mark as Applied and then Add to tracker, and you can add any job by hand in the HideJobs web app, for example one LinkedIn did not record as applied. For more ways to keep agencies and employers out of both sites, see how to exclude companies from your job search.