The Complete LinkedIn Industry List (+ Linked Ads Categories)

There are 416 industry labels to choose from to categorize a company page. However, LinkedIn Ads only allows advertisers to target based on 20 industry segments. Each of these 416 industry labels belongs to one of these 20 industry segments. That discrepancy amounts to a big problem for advertisers who want to run highly targeted account-based campaigns for a specific ideal customer profile (ICP). 

A poignant example of this is demonstrated by the different labels between two well-known brands: Nike and Adidas. As you can see on their company pages, Nike has chosen a sensible category, “Retail,” which rolls up predictably into the “Retail” industry segment.

On the other hand, Adidas has chosen to label itself as a “Sporting Goods Manufacturer,” which, unfortunately for advertisers, rolls up into the “Manufacturing” industry segment.

Of course, both of these labels make sense for each of the brands, but it makes it impossible to target both brands in the same campaign with only one target industry! You could either choose to target the Retail segment and capture Nike along with everybody from Ralphs Grocery to IKEA or the Manufacturing segment, which encompasses everyone from 3M to the Willamette Valley Wineries Association!

How could two big brands that are so similar be categorized so differently? That’s what this post is meant to help you understand! In the tables below, you can see how much granularity is lost in Linkedin Ads industry targeting, so you can improve your targeting decisions going forward.

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LinkedIn Ads Industry List for Account Targeting

Here are the 20 industry segments that advertisers can target with Linkedin Ads. The columns show how many Linkedin Company page industry labels and NAICS codes roll up into each industry segment. As you can see, there is a big difference between the homogeneity of the  Holding Companies industry segment (with just a single industry label) and the Manufacturing industry segment, which encompasses 84 industry labels!

As you can tell, the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System), which the Linkedin industry taxonomy closely mirrors, is far more specific than the Linkedin Industry classifications. It goes without saying most advertisers are better off targeting an exhaustive list of companies within a specific NAICS classification than rolling the dice with Linkedin industry targeting.

The Complete LinkedIn Company Industry List

You’re probably wondering how each of these industry labels fits within an industry category and how watered-down these industry categories are. Look no further.

LinkedIn has categories and recategorized industries (as of 2023, the industry system is currently in v2) loosely along the NAICS system. In fact, their industry ID system resembles the NAICS’ hierarchical numbering system with a little bit less specificity. The LinkedIn industry categorization system has three levels of hierarchy and groups many NAICS codes together within the second or third level of the hierarchy.

From a LinkedIn Ads targeting perspective, only the top level of the hierarchy matters, but when labeling a company page, you can choose a label from any of the three levels depending on the level of specificity needed to categorize a company.

Here is how the complete industry taxonomy breaks down.

A note on LinkedIn Ads industry targeting

While it’s useful to understand how company industry labels roll up into industry segments, it also shows how vague industry targeting is on Linkedin. 

This lack of control is great for Linkedin—less granularity means more ad spend to find your target audience, but it’s bad news for advertisers. Most businesses are far better off identifying a handful of specific NAICS codes that cover their specific market than using Linkedin targeting to spray and pray. 

Advertisers will always run into the tradeoff between coverage and assurance that you’ll hit your entire market vs. wasting ad dollars targeting companies who aren’t in a market.

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