LinkedIn Text Ads

This guide is built from LinkedIn's Marketing Solutions Help, starting with its Text ads overview and the pages linked in each section below. Campaign Manager's structure, objectives and conversion tracking are in our LinkedIn ads basics guide, and how each bidding strategy works is in our LinkedIn ads bidding guide. LinkedIn's help pages call the level where you choose an objective, audience and budget an "ad set", so this guide does too.

What text ads are and where they show

LinkedIn's overview says "Text ads consist of a headline, brief text, and an image." They may be placed on the right rail of a range of LinkedIn desktop pages, which LinkedIn lists as:

• the homepage
• profile pages
• search results pages
• Groups pages
• the LinkedIn inbox
• the People You May Know page
• the Who's Viewed My Profile page

The same page adds: "Right rail ads do not display on mobile." LinkedIn's ad placement page is more precise: text ads appear "Only on desktop and not on mobile or tablet devices," "Below ads that you may be interested in," and "Depending on the text ad placement, images and logos may be omitted." So your headline and description have to work on their own, without the picture.

LinkedIn's text ad tips describe the placement as "the right-hand side or top of the LinkedIn desktop feed." Its product page calls the format "A simple, cost-effective desktop format" and, in its FAQ, suggests pairing text ads with Sponsored Content or other formats that appear on both desktop and mobile if you need mobile reach.

Text ads are a separate format from Dynamic ads, which also sit in the right rail but fill in each viewer's own name, photo or company.

Text ad specs

From LinkedIn's text ad specifications (character counts include spaces):

You don't design each display size. You supply one image, headline and description, and LinkedIn fits them into whichever slot the ad is shown in. That is why the image can drop out in some placements: a 700 x 17 slot is a single line of text.

The spec page also says click tracking is supported on the destination URL, that you should not use quotation marks in URL parameters for third-party tracking, and that if special characters in the query string cause an error, you can URL-encode everything after the question mark. For parameter naming, see our UTM tracking links guide. Ads that do not meet LinkedIn's advertising guidelines can be rejected.

Objectives and bidding

LinkedIn's pages do not agree on which objectives support text ads. Here is what each one says:

Brand awareness, website visits and website conversions are safe in every version. If you plan to use engagement, check that Campaign Manager offers text ads for it before building the ad set. Website conversions also needs conversion tracking: that objective page says "Conversion tracking must be enabled to utilize this objective." Our LinkedIn ad objectives guide compares the objectives themselves.

The bidding strategies on offer depend on the objective, not on the format. From those same objective pages:

• Brand awareness lists maximum delivery, cost cap and manual bidding, with reach or impressions as the goal. "The only bidding strategy available when optimizing for reach is maximum delivery (automated)."
• Website visits lists maximum delivery, cost cap and manual bidding, with landing page clicks as the default goal.
• Website conversions lists maximum delivery and manual bidding, with website conversions as the default goal.

LinkedIn's product page describes text ad pricing as "flexible pay-per-click or cost-per-impression pricing." How maximum delivery, cost cap and manual bids are charged, and how bid suggestions and budgets work, is in our LinkedIn ads bidding guide (see what you're charged for), so we won't repeat it here.

Creating a text ad

From LinkedIn's create text ads page:

1. Permissions. "You must have creative manager access or higher on your ad account to create a text ad." Our Campaign Manager roles guide explains the levels.
2. Ad set. Create a new ad set with a supported objective, or edit an existing ad set that uses text ads.
3. Ad. On the Ads in this ad set page, click Create new ad(s), upload the image with Choose file, add an optional ad name, then the headline and description.
4. Destination. Choose either a page on your website or your LinkedIn Company Page from the dropdown.
5. Save and launch. Click Save ad, then launch the ad set. Ads are reviewed and, if approved, shown based on the ad set's settings.

One catch: "After you've added a text ad to an ad set, it can't be deleted." If you no longer want it there, LinkedIn's only way out is to delete the draft ad set and create a new one. Check the preview before you add the ad.

Variations and ad rotation

LinkedIn's ad rotation page says you can add up to 100 creatives to an ad set and recommends testing four or five variations in one ad set. For text ads, the elements you can vary are the ad image, the headline and the description. You choose between two options in the gear menu next to Ads in this ad set:

• Optimize for performance (LinkedIn's recommended option) serves creatives evenly at first, then delivers more impressions to the creatives that perform best.
• Rotate ads evenly enters each creative into the auction evenly and "doesn't consider the performance of the creative once it's in the auction."

Brand awareness ad sets can't choose: "ads in brand awareness ad sets will default to using the rotate ads evenly option."

Editing and clicks

LinkedIn's edit text ads page says you can change the ad image, ad name, headline, description and destination URL. Open the ad set, go to the Ads tab, then More > Preview and Edit and click Update. "Your changes are saved and the new version is automatically submitted for ad review." If you edit a paused ad, it goes back through review, and "Once it's approved the ad status will change from paused to active." So if you want it to stay paused, check it after approval.

On clicks, LinkedIn's chargeable clicks page for website visits lists one click type for text ads, a landing page click: clicks on the text, headline or ad image "open your creative's destination URL." Results show in the Campaign Manager dashboard like any other format. Our LinkedIn ads reporting guide covers the columns and breakdowns.

LinkedIn's creative tips

LinkedIn gives text ad advice in two places: a best practices help page and the Text Ads tips page on its business site. Where they agree:

• Write concise, benefit-led headlines and include a clear call to action, for example "Try", "Download", "Sign Up" or "Request a Quote" (help page) or "Register Now" (tips page).
• Images of people tend to do better. The tips page says to "Use a profile image if relevant. They perform better than objects or logos."
• Make the landing page match the message of the ad.
• Keep 3-4 variations running per ad set (the rotation page above says four or five), then pause the weakest and add new ones.

Where they differ:

• Refresh rate. The help page says "Rotate in new creatives at least once per month." The tips page says "Every 1-2 weeks, pause the ad with the lowest engagement and replace it with new ad creative."
• The image. The tips page says images are "optional, but they drive better results," while the spec page lists the 100 x 100 image as a requirement and the create flow starts with uploading one. Plan on supplying an image.

The help page also gives a benchmark: "If your performance KPI is CTR, use .03% as a benchmark for optimization decisions." On targeting, the tips page suggests starting with location and two other criteria, and not narrowing so far that the audience gets too small. Our LinkedIn ads targeting guide covers audience size.

When text ads fit

Going by what LinkedIn says about the format, text ads suit:

• Small or test budgets. LinkedIn's rotation page says text ads can drive brand awareness or website visits "on a budget that works for you", and the product page stresses going live in minutes.
• Desktop-heavy audiences. Office workers who use LinkedIn at a desk see the right rail. People who mostly use the app don't.
• Simple, direct offers. With 25 + 75 characters, there's room for one offer and one action, such as a demo, a download or an event sign-up.

They are a weaker fit when the message needs a large image, video or a lead form. Those belong to Sponsored Content formats such as carousel ads, video ads or document ads, which run in the feed on desktop and mobile.

How we use text ads

This is our own practice, not LinkedIn's guidance:

• We run text ads next to a feed format, not instead of one, and report them as their own ad set so desktop-only results don't blur the feed numbers.
• We write the headline and description so they make sense without the image, since some placements drop it.
• We start with four variations that each change one thing (headline, image or description), so the winner tells us something.
• Because an ad can't be removed from an ad set once added, we check the preview and the tagged URL before saving.

If you want help planning LinkedIn campaigns, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

Where do LinkedIn text ads appear?

In the right rail of LinkedIn desktop pages, including the homepage, profiles, search results, Groups, the inbox and the People You May Know and Who's Viewed My Profile pages. LinkedIn says they appear only on desktop, not on mobile or tablet.

What are the LinkedIn text ad specs?

A 100 x 100 pixel JPG or PNG image of 2 MB or less, a headline of up to 25 characters and a description of up to 75 characters, including spaces. The destination URL can be up to 500 characters and must start with http:// or https://.

Which objectives work with LinkedIn text ads?

Brand awareness, website visits and website conversions are listed on all of LinkedIn's pages. LinkedIn's create page also lists engagement, but its engagement objective page does not include text ads, so check in Campaign Manager.

Can I delete a LinkedIn text ad?

Not from an ad set once you have added it. LinkedIn suggests deleting the draft ad set and creating a new one if you don't want the ad attached. You can pause a live ad or edit its image, headline, description and URL, which sends it back to review.

Are LinkedIn text ads charged per click?

They can be. LinkedIn describes pay-per-click or cost-per-impression pricing for text ads, and the options depend on the objective and bidding strategy you pick. A click on the text, headline or image opens your destination URL.

For more on LinkedIn advertising, see our guides to LinkedIn Dynamic ads, LinkedIn carousel ads, LinkedIn matched audiences and LinkedIn ads bidding.