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Sales Navigator6 min read

How to Save a Search in LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Use the Alert

Turn on the Save search toggle to store your filters and get a weekly email plus homepage alerts when new leads or accounts match. You can keep 50 lead searches and 50 account searches, and editing criteria saves a copy rather than overwriting the original.

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A saved search in Sales Navigator stores your filters and then emails you weekly when new leads or accounts match them, so you stop rebuilding the same list every Monday. LinkedIn states that saving a search saves "your search criteria, including keyword strings and filter refinements," and that you will "receive weekly emails and alerts on your Sales Navigator homepage when new people or companies match your search criteria" (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). Turn the save toggle on, name the search, and it becomes a standing monitor rather than a one-off list.

LinkedIn's steps are short and all happen on the Sales Navigator homepage:

  1. Sign in to Sales Navigator and click Lead filters or Account filters. You can also type a name or phrase into the search bar and press Enter.
  2. Add and remove filters. LinkedIn states the results update in real time as you adjust your criteria, so you can see the list change before you commit.
  3. Turn on the Save search to get notified of new results toggle near the top of the filters pane on the left.
  4. Optionally, click Managed Saved searches in the pop-up that appears in the lower left.
  5. To rename the search, hover over it and click the Edit icon, type a new name, and click Save.

The same flow exists on mobile, where the toggle reads Be first to know when new leads match (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

Naming is not cosmetic. Once you have several searches, the name is the only thing telling you which buyer question a match answers, so include the segment, not just the product.

Where saved searches live

Your saved searches sit under Saved Searches in the top right of the homepage, split into a Saved lead searches tab and a Saved account searches tab (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). Opening one runs it again immediately.

You can rename a search from the same window: click Saved Searches, choose the Lead or Account tab, hover the name, and click the Edit icon (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

Editing the criteria works differently, and this is the part people get wrong. LinkedIn does not overwrite the original. When you open a saved search, change the filters and click Save search, you are prompted for a new title, and LinkedIn states it "won't alter the previously saved search parameters" (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). The old search keeps running alongside the new one, which quietly eats into your allowance.

That allowance is finite: LinkedIn states you can save a total of 50 lead searches and 50 account searches (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). If you iterate by saving copies, you can reach the cap without noticing, so delete searches you have replaced.

Turning on the alert

The alert is on when the save toggle is on. After you save a search, LinkedIn sends notifications to the email address associated with your Sales Navigator account, and the same alerts appear on the Sales Navigator homepage in the All alerts tab (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

The email is a weekly digest, not a live feed. LinkedIn states that saved-search email alerts "notify you on a weekly basis when new people match your saved search criteria," and that the email states the number of new members or accounts found since the previous alert (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). Treat it as a standing review, not a real-time signal.

If the emails stop arriving, check two things. First, confirm the address on the account is the one you read; LinkedIn provides a route to change it. Second, check your notification settings: under Settings > Email notifications you can toggle which email types you receive, and under In-product notifications you can choose which alerts appear in the product (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

A worked setup (illustrative)

An agency targeting operations leaders might save one lead search for "Director or VP of Operations, SaaS, 200 to 1,000 employees, posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days" and one account search for the same company profile. The weekly digest then answers a single question — who newly fits this profile — and nothing more. Those filters are illustrative, chosen to show the pattern; the correct criteria come from your own research, and the search only fires when a lead newly matches them.

Using the alert as an ongoing task

The value is in the routine, not the search. A short weekly loop keeps it useful:

  • Open the digest, and for each new match decide in a sentence whether it is worth a look now.
  • Check the All alerts tab for anything the email did not surface.
  • Open the saved search only for the matches you flagged, and keep the rest for later.
  • Once a week, delete or retune the searches that keep returning the same people.

That last step is the one that keeps the system honest. A saved search that has not produced a useful lead in a month is usually too broad or too stale, and it is cheaper to fix the filters than to scroll past the digest.

This is also where saved searches stop and other signals begin. A saved search tells you a lead matches a profile; it does not tell you the person changed jobs. LinkedIn treats saved-search alerts as new matches for your criteria and separates them from notifications about saved leads and accounts, which you can read more about in using Sales Navigator alerts for job changes. If you have not set up the underlying search yet, the general workflow is in how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

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What the weekly alert will not catch

A saved search only reports what newly matches its filters. LinkedIn's alert is a weekly email, so it is a periodic review rather than a live feed, and a search with narrow filters can run quietly for weeks without a match. This is a monitoring habit, not a guaranteed flow of new prospects.

FAQ

How do I see my saved searches on LinkedIn?

In Sales Navigator, click Saved Searches in the top right of the homepage. LinkedIn splits them into a Saved lead searches tab and a Saved account searches tab, and clicking a name runs that search again (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

How often do saved-search alerts arrive?

Weekly. LinkedIn states the alerts notify you on a weekly basis when new people match your saved search criteria, and the email reports how many new members or accounts were found since the last alert (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

How many saved searches can I keep?

Up to 50 lead searches and 50 account searches (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

Sources

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