proxycurl 404 profile not found linkedin person moved
Handles Proxycurl 404 when the LinkedIn person moved or the profile is gone: stale URLs, re-resolution, and fallback identifiers. Use when a previously good profile URL now 404s. Not for 401 auth errors.
TL;DR
A 404 on a profile that used to resolve usually means the person changed their LinkedIn URL slug, made the profile private, or deleted it. Re-resolve the person from a fresh identifier (current work email or name plus company) instead of replaying the stale URL. If the fresh lookup also 404s, the profile is genuinely unreachable and you record that, not retry it forever.
proxycurl 404 profile not found linkedin person movedUse this when
- A stored LinkedIn URL that once enriched now returns 404.
- The person changed jobs recently.
- Bulk enrichment shows a growing 404 rate on old URLs.
Not for this skill when
- The error is 401. That is auth, unrelated to the profile.
- The URL never worked. That is a bad identifier, not a move.
Steps
- Confirm the profile is actually gone: open the LinkedIn URL in a browser (logged out is fine). Verify: LinkedIn itself shows the profile as unavailable or redirected.
- Re-resolve from a fresh identifier: run the lookup with the person's current work email or name plus current company. Verify: the fresh query returns the new profile URL.
- Update your stored record with the new URL and a resolved-at timestamp. Verify: the next enrichment uses the fresh URL.
- For bulk lists, re-resolve anything older than 90 days before enriching. Verify: the 404 rate drops on the next run.
- If the fresh lookup also 404s, mark the person unreachable and move on. Verify: the record is flagged, not retried daily.
Variant phrasings
proxycurl linkedin url 404
The URL-shaped search, same re-resolution fix.
profile not found after job change
Cause phrasing, points at step 2.
proxycurl stale profile url
Age phrasing, lands on the 90-day rule.
Compatibility: Proxycurl person lookup. LinkedIn URL slugs change when people edit their public profile; old slugs die.
Why it happens
Proxycurl resolves the exact URL you give it. LinkedIn lets people change their vanity URL slug, and job changes often trigger profile edits, privacy changes, or deletions. Your database holds the old slug, Proxycurl looks it up faithfully, and LinkedIn answers 404. The data pipeline problem is stale identifiers, not the API.
Edge cases / pitfalls
- Do not guess new slugs by editing the URL. Re-resolve through the API.
- A 404 on a private profile is not a bug; private means private.
- Bulk re-resolution costs credits. Budget it as maintenance, not as a surprise.
- Keep the old URL in history. People sometimes revert slugs, and the history explains the gap.
Provenance
Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_ssIDuzf0WFbfz6FcUGL5aQ