LinkedIn's targeting capabilities set it apart from every other advertising platform. While other networks rely on interests and behaviors, LinkedIn lets you reach professionals based on verified data: their actual job titles, employers, industries, and seniority levels.
This precision targeting is why LinkedIn ad budgets increased by 31.7% in the past year. No other platform reliably lets you target "Chief Financial Officers at SaaS companies with 500-1,000 employees." This guide covers every LinkedIn targeting option and how to use them effectively.
LinkedIn organizes targeting options into several categories:
| Category | Options |
|---|---|
| Location | Countries, states/regions, cities |
| Company | Name, industry, size, growth rate, connections, followers |
| Job | Title, function, seniority, years of experience |
| Demographics | Age, gender |
| Education | Schools, degrees, fields of study |
| Interests & Traits | Member interests, groups, skills |
| Matched Audiences | Website retargeting, contact lists, company lists, lookalikes |
Let's examine each category in detail.
Location is required for every LinkedIn campaign. You can target by:
Company-based targeting is one of LinkedIn's most powerful features for B2B advertisers.
Target employees of specific companies by name. This is essential for:
You can upload lists of up to 300,000 company names or select companies manually.
Target all companies within specific industries. LinkedIn offers 148 industry categories, including:
Target based on employee count:
| Size Category | Employee Count |
|---|---|
| Self-employed | 1 |
| 2-10 employees | Small |
| 11-50 employees | Small |
| 51-200 employees | Medium |
| 201-500 employees | Medium |
| 501-1,000 employees | Large |
| 1,001-5,000 employees | Large |
| 5,001-10,000 employees | Enterprise |
| 10,001+ employees | Enterprise |
Target companies based on year-over-year employee growth:
This is valuable for targeting companies likely expanding budgets or those potentially looking to cut costs.
Target people connected to employees of specific companies. Useful for reaching networks of your customers or partners.
Target people who follow specific LinkedIn company pages—a strong intent signal.
Job targeting lets you reach the exact decision-makers and influencers relevant to your offering.
Target specific job titles like "Vice President of Sales," "Marketing Director," or "Chief Technology Officer."
Important considerations:
According to targeting experts, job titles alone can miss prospects because of title variations. Add job function or seniority filters for better coverage.
Target broad functional areas regardless of specific title:
| Job Function | Examples |
|---|---|
| Sales | AE, BDR, VP Sales |
| Marketing | CMO, Demand Gen, Content |
| Finance | CFO, Controller, Analyst |
| Engineering | CTO, Developer, Architect |
| Operations | COO, Supply Chain, Logistics |
| Human Resources | CHRO, Recruiter, L&D |
Job function is LinkedIn-inferred based on profile data and activity, providing broader reach than exact job titles.
Target by organizational level:
| Seniority | Description |
|---|---|
| Entry | Individual contributors, early career |
| Senior | Experienced individual contributors |
| Manager | First-line management |
| Director | Department heads |
| VP | Vice Presidents |
| CXO | C-suite executives |
| Owner | Business owners, partners |
Pro tip: Combine job function with seniority for precise targeting. "Marketing + Director/VP/CXO" reaches marketing leaders without specifying exact titles.
Target based on total professional experience:
Useful for reaching either emerging professionals or seasoned decision-makers.
Target members based on skills listed on their profiles. Skills indicate:
Examples:
Skills targeting works well for reaching professionals with specific technical expertise that job titles alone might miss.
Target based on topics members engage with on LinkedIn:
Interest targeting is best for:
Target members of specific LinkedIn Groups. Groups indicate:
Best for: Niche B2B audiences who self-select into professional communities.
Target based on educational background:
Target alumni of specific universities or institutions. Useful for:
Target by degree type:
Target by academic major:
LinkedIn offers limited demographic targeting:
Target age ranges (18-24, 25-34, 35-54, 55+). Less precise than other platforms due to LinkedIn's professional focus.
Target by gender when relevant to your offering. Use thoughtfully to avoid unnecessary limitations.
Matched Audiences let you target using your own data—essential for retargeting and ABM strategies.
Target people who've visited your website:
Use cases:
Upload email lists to target known contacts:
Use cases:
Upload lists of target companies for ABM:
Use cases:
Create audiences similar to your best customers:
Best practices:
LinkedIn's AI-powered audience creation:
Predictive audiences use LinkedIn's machine learning to find prospects most likely to take action based on your historical campaign performance.
Enable audience expansion to let LinkedIn extend your targeting to similar professionals:
Pros:
Cons:
Recommendation: Test with expansion off first, then enable and compare performance.
LinkedIn provides pre-built audience templates for common B2B segments:
Templates provide starting points you can customize with additions or exclusions.
Begin with precise targeting to validate messaging and offers. Expand audience size once you've proven results.
Don't rely on single criteria. Combine:
Exclude:
LinkedIn recommends:
Smaller audiences increase CPCs and may limit delivery.
Create separate campaigns for different audience hypotheses:
Let data guide where to focus spend.
Account-based marketing requires specific targeting approaches. According to ABM research, 72% of marketers report substantial engagement boosts from ABM strategies.
Adding too many criteria shrinks audiences to unusable sizes. If your audience is under 20,000, remove criteria.
Targeting "all marketers" wastes budget on irrelevant prospects. Add company size, seniority, or industry filters.
Failing to exclude your own employees, competitors, or wrong-fit companies inflates reach without value.
Job titles vary wildly. "Head of Marketing" might be a VP at one company and a manager at another. Add seniority filters.
Running a single audience indefinitely leaves performance gains on the table. Test variations regularly.
LinkedIn recommends a minimum of 50,000 members for most campaign objectives. For optimal delivery, aim for 300,000+ for Sponsored Content campaigns. Smaller audiences can work but may see limited delivery and higher costs.
Use both strategically. Job titles are more precise but may miss variations. Job function is broader and catches more relevant people. For best results, combine job function with seniority level rather than relying on exact titles alone.
LinkedIn's company data is generally accurate because it's member-reported and verified against company pages. However, company size may lag recent changes, and some employees at large companies may be miscategorized to subsidiaries or parent companies.
LinkedIn offers company size by employee count, not revenue. For revenue-based targeting, use third-party data enrichment to build company lists of revenue-qualified accounts, then upload as a matched audience.
Need help building high-performing LinkedIn audiences? Our team specializes in LinkedIn advertising strategy and can help you reach your ideal B2B prospects with precision targeting. Contact us | Get a free consultation
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