Don’t worry; it’s not a ban or limitation put on your LinkedIn account by the platform. If you can’t see the connect button on LinkedIn, there are three reasons for that. The issue has been clearly addressed in the LinkedIn help center:
Users won’t see the Connect button on a member’s profile if:
- They’re already connected to that member
- They’ve already sent the member a connection request
- The member is outside their network. Instead, they’ll have the option to send an InMail.
Note: InMail allows users to send a direct message to a member that isn’t connected to them. If the Linkedin account is a Basic (free) one, it must get upgraded to a Premium account so that the InMail credits become available. If you have a Premium account and want more InMail credits than the number allotted, purchase up to 10 more.
Learn more about the differences between Basic and Premium subscriptions.
As stated above, you won’t be able to see the connect button on someone’s LinkedIn profile if:
- The person is already connected with you:
If this is the case, you will be able to direct message this member for free. Because you are already connected, LinkedIn hides the connect button from you on the profile of the intended user, and shows the “message” and “more” buttons, instead:
- A connect request has already sent to that user:
If a user has already sent another LinkedIn user a connect request, the button’s status turns from “connect” to “pending”:
- The person isn’t a 1st or 2nd circle of connections
Users can only send connect requests to people who are in their 2nd circle of connection, provided that the user has not sent them a request yet. 3rd circle people are those who are not connected with you in anyways. In other words, you and those users have no LinkedIn members as your mutual connections. If this is the case, the Connect button will not be displayed, and you can only InMail (LinkedIn Direct Message) them, which is not free.
As it is obvious in the photo, there is a lock sign on the message button. It means that this option is not available until the promotion of the LinkedIn account. Upgrading the account has many other advantages besides giving you permission to message people out of your circle. However, even if upgraded, you will be able to send messages to people only up to a limited count and to be able to message more people, a payment is needed.
To wrap up
LinkedIn has a great mechanism as a job finding and résumé building platform, and they are doing great in this area. To professional people, their LinkedIn accounts are as important as their jobs, and if they can’t see the connect button on LinkedIn, they might get shocked at first. But keep calm, because contrary to what you think your LinkedIn account is not banned. It is only a typical mechanism of LinkedIn!
Source: https://inosocial.com/blog/connect-button-on-linkedin/