Targeting options for LinkedIn Ads

Last updated: 3 days ago
Get your message in front of the right people when they’re most engaged by targeting your ideal audience with LinkedIn advertising. Choose targeting options from:
  • Locations
  • Audience attributes such as company, job experience, education, demographics, interests and traits
  • Custom audiences you’ve created using Matched Audiences
Learn more about the options available to you in the sections below.

Important to know

Reach for some attributes or audiences may be limited when targeting within the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. Learn more about our best practices for LinkedIn Ads ad targeting.

Locations (required)

Reach member accounts based on where they live or visit by searching for locations. Geographic location is based on the permanent or long-term location specified by the member account in their profile and/or by their IP address for short-term visits. Learn more about setting up campaign targeting.

For the location attribute, keep in mind:

  • Message ad campaigns target by permanent, long-term locations only.
  • Certain countries are part of a prohibited list and won’t be available for targeting selections.

This attribute may be limited when targeting within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Learn more about our best practices for LinkedIn Ads ad targeting.

Profile language

You must also select one of the 21 profile languages for your target audience. Keep in mind:

  • When you select English, your campaign will target all member accounts in the location your campaign is targeting, regardless of the language member accounts have selected on their profiles. Please note, this doesn’t apply to Sponsored Messaging.  
  • When you select any language other than English, your ads will appear to member accounts that meet your target audience criteria and match your language selection.

For Sponsored Messaging campaigns: 

  • When you select any language, your ads will appear to member accounts that meet your target audience criteria and match your language selection.

We recommend your ad copy be in the language you selected. Once you select a language and add an ad, your language selection can't be changed. Learn more about supported languages for LinkedIn Ad campaigns.

Audience attributes

Company

  • Company Category - Allows you to target companies by custom segments such as S&P 500.

  • Company Connections - Allows you to reach the 1st-degree connections of employees at companies you select. This is only available for companies with more than 500 employees.

  • Company Followers - Allows you to target your own LinkedIn Page followers. To use this targeting facet, your Ads account must be associated with your LinkedIn Page. When not utilizing this facet, by default your campaigns may reach both followers and non-followers.

  • Company Growth Rate - Allows you to target companies by their rate of growth year over year, determined by factors such as employee growth or inferred data from other similar companies within the same location and industry.

  • Company Industry - The primary industry of the company where the member is employed, as stated by the company. Additional industries may be inferred about the company and included for targeting.

  • Company Name - The organization a member lists as his or her employer. These are based on LinkedIn Pages, which are maintained by company employees.

  • Company Revenue - Allows you to target companies by their estimated annual revenue. 

  • Company Size - Allows you to reach members based on the size of the organization where they work. Company size is determined by the number of employees listed on the organization's LinkedIn Page.

Here's a tip

We can’t use Showcase Pages as part of our attribute targeting. Showcase Pages are extensions of a LinkedIn Page, designed for spotlighting a brand, business unit, or initiative.

Demographics

  • Member Age - An estimation of how old a member is based on their profile information.

  • Member Gender - Determination of whether a member is female or male is inferred, based on their profile information.

This attribute may be limited when targeting within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Learn more about our best practices for LinkedIn Ads ad targeting.

Education

  • Degrees - Recognized ranks granted by a college, university, or other learning institution.

  • Fields of Study - The major or area of study within a member's degree. Standardized from member-entered degrees.

  • Member Schools - The school, college, university, or other learning institution where a member completed a course.

Job Experience

  • Job Function - Based on standardized groupings of the job titles entered by LinkedIn members.

  • Job Seniority - Describes the rank and influence of a member's current role in their organization.

  • Job Title - When members update their LinkedIn profiles with new roles, these job titles are grouped by LinkedIn's algorithms and organized into standardized titles.

  • Member Skills - Highly relevant keywords found within a member's profile and skills section that indicate expertise in a particular area. Member-entered skills in the Skills & Endorsements section on their profile, skills mentioned in their profile text, or inferred skills based on their listed skills.

  • Years of Experience - Reach a target audience based on the years of professional experience they've accumulated. We exclude any gaps in experience and don’t double-count overlapping positions.

Interests and Traits

  • Member Groups - LinkedIn Groups where members who share interests or professional associations can gather, discover new information, and ask questions.

    Please note, LinkedIn prohibits targeting sensitive categories, please visit our ads policy to learn more. To prevent ad targeting discrimination based on protected characteristics, Member Groups may not be used in an exclusionary manner.

    Important to know

    As of May 15, 2024, Member Groups are no longer available as a targeting attribute for the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. For more information, please review our best practices for LinkedIn Ads audience targeting.

  • Member Interests - Interest categories identified by and inferred from member actions and engagement with content on LinkedIn. Learn more about interest targeting options.

  • Member Traits - Direct and inferred traits of members based on actions they take on LinkedIn, their LinkedIn profile, device preferences, and/or general (coarse, not precise) location. Learn more about member trait targeting options.

LinkedIn’s targeting solutions may not be used to target sensitive categories nor to discriminate based on protected personal characteristics like gender, age, or actual or perceived race/ethnicity. If an ad is flagged as discriminatory it will be immediately taken down. Learn more about about sensitive categories and discrimination in our ads policy and please visit our ad targeting discrimination page to learn what customers must certify when applying certain targeting choices.

When choosing audience attributes, keep in mind:

  • A maximum of 100 selections are permitted for demographic-based targeting options.
  • If your targeting selections severely limit your reach, you will be notified with an Audience Too Narrow message which prevents you from saving your targeting and moving to the next step. Increase your audience size in order to save your changes.

  • Please note, LinkedIn disables targeted advertising to members in the European Union that may be under the age of 18.

Predictive audiences

Predictive audiences help expand your campaign’s reach by creating an audience of people with similar characteristics to your existing data source who are more likely to convert. To create a predictive audience, we apply LinkedIn’s AI to your data to automatically generate a new custom audience to use in your campaigns.

The data sources you choose in Campaign Manager should align to the specific result you’d like to accomplish. You can create a predictive audience from one of the following: 

Matched Audiences

LinkedIn Matched Audiences are custom audience segments you can use as targeting selections in your advertising campaigns. With Matched Audiences, you can:

  • Upload a list of companies or contacts

  • Retarget member accounts that:

    • Visited a page on your website
    • Engaged with your single image ad
    • Engaged with your document ad 
    • Viewed your video ad
    • Opened or submitted your Lead Gen Form
    • Opened a conversation or clicked on any conversation ad call-to-action (CTA) 
    • Engaged with your company Page
    • Responded to your LinkedIn Event

  • Integrate contacts from a third-party system

Matched Audiences created from Events or company Pages may be limited when targeting within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Learn more about our best practices for LinkedIn Ads ad targeting.

Here's a tip

To select a Matched Audience when setting up targeting on a new campaign, you’ll need to use Advanced Mode.

Audience size

As you select your targeting options, we show you an estimate of the audience size you'll be able to reach on the right side of the page. The minimum audience size required to run an advertising campaign is 300 member accounts. Learn more about target audience size best practices.

Learn more

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