Linkedin Ads Company Targeting Options and Statistics for 2023

Company targeting is one of the most unique advertising features of Linkedin Ads. No other advertising platform has access to such an extensive and up-to-date employer-employee data set. For that reason, no other platform can natively support targeting audiences based on their employer. This makes Linkedin Ads an indispensable platform for B2B marketers and the only platform designed for ABM (Account-Based Marketing).

It’s a powerful feature, but you have to be careful! Linkedin Ads Manager allows you to target companies based on company segments that are frequently less granular than you’d like. Additionally, there is no way of knowing precisely what companies you’re targeting. There is nothing worse than setting up targeting a lead gen campaign with the expectation that you’ll generate leads from a specific set of companies and seeing the leads come in from anything other than what you’d expect!

It’s also important to know exactly what your chosen targeting criteria are actually targeting. For instance, “Company Growth Rate” refers to the growth in the number of employees who claim that the company is an employer on Linkedin, not revenue growth. (Though it’d be nice!) But don’t worry. That’s why I put this page together for reference.

Want better company targeting on Linkedin?

Connect with me on Linkedin if you’d like to create a transparent and targeted named account list from a database of nearly 12 million companies worldwide. Get company lists with corresponding firmographic data starting at $100.

Linkedin Ads Company Targeting Options List

Learn about what each targeting criterion means and see the complete list of options listed below: 

• Company Names
• Company Revenue
• Company Size
• Company Industries
• Company Connections
• Company Follower of
• Company Growth Rate
• Company Category

Company Names

Reach members based on the organization(s) a member has listed as their employer(s). Examples of this would be names like Stripe, Walmart, or Tiffanys.

Company Revenue

Reach members based on their company’s earned revenue (in USD) in the previous year.

Company Size

Reach members based on the size of the organization they work for. Company size is determined by the number of employees listed on the organization’s Company Page.

Company Industries

I go into much more detail about LinkedIn industry categories in the complete Linkedin industry list post, but here is the short version…

Reach members within specific industries by using the primary industry of the company the member is employed. Note that these Industry segments are less granular than the category found on a company’s profile page. 

In the example above, Adidas is listed as “Sporting Goods Manufacturing,” whereas its counterpart Nike is listed as “Retail.” This means that Nike would be found in the “Retail” industry category while Adidas would be found in the “Manufacturing” industry category. A little counterintuitive!

Company Growth Rate

Reach members based on the year-over-year employee growth rate associated with their company. The growth rate for a company is determined by comparing the recent total employee count vs. one year prior.

Company Connections

Reach the 1st-degree connections of employees at the companies you select. Companies will be available if they have over 500 employees.

Company Follower of

Reach followers of your Company Page. To utilize this facet, your Ads account must be associated with your Company Page.

Company Category

Reach members based on the category their company falls into. Company categories are defined based on publications and industry lists that group companies into specific market segments.

Getting started with the Company targeting feature in Linkedin Ads Manager

With the “Company” targeting feature, you can ensure that your ads are only shown to users who work at the companies you’ve selected. This targeting method can also be used for exclusions.

Here’s how to use the “Company” targeting feature:

• Go to the LinkedIn Ads dashboard and click on the “Create” button to create a new ad campaign.
• In the “Targeting” section,  choose “Audience Attributes” and select the “Company” tab.
• Select any combination of the targeting criteria listed above.
• Click “Save” to apply your targeting and continue setting up your ad campaign.

Ready to get started? Save yourself time and money by building a transparent account list. Contact me on Linkedin to get started. You’ll save a lot of wasted ad spend by starting with a target company upload rather than targeting according to company criteria.