# Data Conventions

How Linked API represents LinkedIn data in every result: URL normalization, LinkedIn URNs, viewer state, time zones and missing values.

This page describes how results represent LinkedIn data: which URLs you get back, how LinkedIn URNs identify people and content, how your account relates to them, how times are expressed, and what a missing value looks like.

## URL normalization

Linked API normalizes all LinkedIn URLs in responses, regardless of the format provided in action parameters. Normalized URLs consistently follow these rules:

- Use `https` protocol.
- Include `www` subdomain.
- Exclude trailing slash (`/`).

For example, if action parameters include a URL like `http://linkedin.com/in/person1/`, the response will return it as `https://www.linkedin.com/in/person1`. Consider this behavior when implementing URL comparisons or storage in your integration.

## LinkedIn URNs

Alongside URLs, action results expose LinkedIn's own internal identifiers in **URN** format. A URN is permanent: it does not change when a person edits their profile address or a company renames its page, which makes it a reliable key for storing and deduplicating records on your side.

Four types of URNs are returned:

- `urn:li:member:123456789` – identifies a person.
- `urn:li:organization:1234567` – identifies a company.
- `urn:li:jobPosting:1234567890` – identifies a job posting.
- `urn:li:activity:1234567890123456789` – identifies a post. A post URN can also be `urn:li:share:<id>` or `urn:li:ugcPost:<id>`, and the same post may be identified by more than one of them.

A URN identifies the same entity regardless of where it was found. The person returned by [st.searchPeople](/docs/action-st-search-people) and the same person returned by [nv.openPersonPage](/docs/action-nv-open-person-page) carry an identical `urn`, so results of Standard and Sales Navigator actions can be matched against each other and against previously stored data.

The field is named `urn` when it identifies the entity the result is about, and receives a prefix when it points to a different entity. For example, `companyUrn` identifies the current company of a person and `personUrn` identifies the participant of a conversation.

Post URNs can also be sent back: every post action accepts `postUrn` in place of `postUrl`, so an identifier returned by one action can address the post in the next one without building a URL. See [addressing a post by URN](/docs/publishing-posts#addressing-a-post-by-urn).

> URNs are provided on a best-effort basis. LinkedIn does not expose an identifier on every page, and when an identifier is absent or ambiguous, the field is returned as `null` rather than guessed. Treat URNs as an enrichment of the existing URL fields, not as a replacement for them.

## Viewer state

Results that describe a person or a piece of content also say how the account running the workflow relates to it, in a `viewerState` object. It is read from the same page as the rest of the result, so it adds no time to the action.

- On a person – search results, employees, decision makers, a person page, and the author of a post or comment:
  - `connectionDegree` – `1st`, `2nd`, or `3rd+`, as LinkedIn shows it next to the name, or `null` when LinkedIn shows no degree, for example on your own content or on comments read in the feed or from LinkedIn's classic post layout.
- On a post or a comment:
  - `reaction` – your reaction (`like`, `celebrate`, `support`, `love`, `insightful`, `funny`), or `null` if you have not reacted or the page does not show it. Comments read in the feed or from LinkedIn's classic post layout always report `null`, so `null` alone does not prove you have not reacted.
  - `isOwn` – `true` if your account is the author, `false` if someone else is, or `null` if this cannot be told. Content published as a company page you administer counts as the company's, so it is `false`.

## Timezone normalization

All date and time values returned by Linked API are in the **UTC** **timezone**. To display these values correctly in your integration, you should apply the appropriate offset for your user's local timezone.

## Handling missing values

When certain data is unavailable on LinkedIn, some fields in action results may return as `null` or empty array (`[]`). Missing fields are always **explicitly included** in the response rather than being omitted.