What is LinkedIn Audience Network & How to Use It for Max ROI
March 3, 2025
LinkedIn Ads are known for being one of the most expensive advertising platforms. But the reason marketers still invest heavily in them? Targeting. LinkedIn allows you to reach decision-makers, industry professionals, and high-intent B2B audiences like no other platform. However, limiting your reach to just LinkedIn’s feed can mean missing out on additional opportunities to engage your audience. That’s where LinkedIn Audience Network (LAN) comes in.
LinkedIn Audience Network extends your ads beyond LinkedIn itself, placing them on trusted third-party websites and apps that professionals use daily. But is it worth it? Can it actually improve your ROI, or is it just another way to stretch your budget?
No worries. We cover it all. This guide will walk you through what LinkedIn Audience Network is, how it works, and how to use it effectively to get the best returns.
What is LinkedIn Audience Network?
LinkedIn Audience Network is an advertising extension that allows your LinkedIn ads to appear beyond the platform, reaching your audience on thousands of trusted partner sites and mobile apps. Instead of limiting your ad reach to LinkedIn feeds alone, it places your content on websites professionals frequently visit, ensuring broader visibility without sacrificing targeting accuracy.
Here’s how it works:
- When you enable LinkedIn Audience Network, your sponsored content or video ads can be displayed across an extended network of third-party publishers.
- These publishers include industry-relevant blogs, news websites, and business-focused mobile apps.
- LinkedIn’s algorithm ensures ads are placed on brand-safe, high-quality sites to maintain professional relevance.
LinkedIn Audience Network can be particularly valuable if you want to increase impressions, drive more engagement, and scale your campaigns beyond LinkedIn’s ecosystem.
Is LinkedIn Audience Network Worth It?
Well, this depends on your goals. Here’s the thing: if you’re only looking for ultra-niche, hyper-specific targeting within LinkedIn itself, you may not need it. But if your aim is to maximize exposure while keeping targeting precise, LinkedIn Audience Network can be a great addition.
Here’s when it makes sense to use LAN:
- You want to reach professionals in different contexts beyond LinkedIn.
- Your LinkedIn Ads are performing well, and you’re looking for additional scale without significantly increasing CPCs.
- You’re running a brand awareness campaign and need to boost impressions while staying within professional circles.
- Your audience engages with industry news, research, and business tools outside of LinkedIn.
Here’s when it might not be ideal:
- You’re strictly focused on LinkedIn-only engagement and conversions.
- Your budget is tight, and every dollar needs to go toward high-intent clicks.
- You’ve tested LAN and found that placements don’t convert well for your specific industry.
LinkedIn has the guide with the best practices on when marketers should activate LinkedIn Audience Network ads.
LinkedIn Audience Network Examples
Examples of LinkedIn Audience Network placements include:
- Business and industry news websites
- Professional blogs and content platforms
- Productivity and business apps
- Third-party sites that cater to LinkedIn’s professional audience
To understand how LAN works in action, here are some real-life scenarios of where your ads might appear:
- You are a B2B SaaS company promoting a whitepaper: you get your ad placed on TechCrunch.
- You are a consulting firm running a brand awareness campaign: your video ad gets features on a Forbes app.
- You are a software startup launching a new product: your display ads get featured in a professional mobile app used for project management by your target audience.
Moreover, here are the concrete examples of LinkedIn Audience Network success cases from well-know tech and SaaS brands:
- HP engaged IT decision makers at scale. Results: HP scaled campaigns by 2-3x while reducing costs; 12x more CTO clicks, -66% in eCPMs, 107% higher viewer rate.
- Microsoft Australia achieved targeted engagement at scale and improved their budget efficiency. Results: LinkedIn Audience Network represented 9% of total campaign spend but accounted for 22% of all clicks.
- RingCentral optimized its marketing funnel with LinkedIn Audience Network. Results: 7x increase in campaign reach, 65% decrease in CPMs, 93x more CTO conversions.
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1. Test It Before Going All-In
Start with a portion of your budget allocated to LAN rather than enabling it across all campaigns. Run an A/B test comparing performance on LinkedIn-only placements vs. LinkedIn + LAN.
2. Refine Your Audience Targeting
LinkedIn offers a variety of options for identifying your ideal audience: from standard targeting parameters (such as job titles, industry, etc.) to uploading your own contact/company lists and creating remarketing audiences.
Just because your ads go beyond LinkedIn doesn’t mean you should loosen targeting. Keep the same precise filters – job titles, industries, company sizes, skills, and more – to ensure you reach the right professionals. You can learn more about LinkedIn targeting in the official LinkedIn targeting guide.
We advise running as many audience tests as you can. Don’t be afraid to experiment, as testing is another key aspect to LinkedIn ads done right.
And here’s the advanced tip from us if you are doing LinkedIn ads for SaaS or tech brand. Our practice has shown that it’s worth excluding entry-level specialists, interns, freelancers, and self-employment specialists.
Why? Entry-level specialists rarely make any decisions in companies, so there is no point spending the budget on reaching this audience. As for the self-employed, SaaS solutions are usually required by companies with at least 10 employees, so there is no sense for us to target this audience either. Even if the SaaS solution has a special freelancer plan, these are typically low-priced, and the customer acquisition cost via LinkedIn would be too high in this case.
3. Exclude Poor-Performing Placements
LinkedIn allows you to see where your ads are appearing and exclude placements that don’t perform well. Monitor your campaign data and remove any low-value sites that drive irrelevant clicks or low engagement.
4. Use High-Quality Ad Creatives
LAN placements appear in different formats across sites and apps, so your ad creative must be adaptable. Use eye-catching visuals and concise messaging to capture attention across multiple platforms.
When our clients start working with us, many are surprised to hear about an absolutely free tool that allows you to research LinkedIn ads' creatives that are currently in use by other brands (including your competition!). It’s called LinkedIn Ad Library, and it can be an invaluable resource for developing the winning creatives.
5. Monitor Metrics Beyond Clicks
Look beyond CTR to assess real impact. Focus on conversion rates, cost per lead, and post-click engagement to determine whether LAN is delivering valuable traffic or just increasing impressions.
- We always recommend tracking your full user’s journey – from first touchpoint to a sale and remarketing for a second purchase or upsell. Our PPC Growth Lead Daria Ivanchik has a useful guide on how to set up your ad campaigns for every stage of your marketing funnel.
- We also advise connecting your LinkedIn ads metrics to your business KPIs. For our clients, these are usually ROI or ROAS.
6. Optimize for Mobile
A significant portion of LAN traffic comes from mobile apps, so ensure landing pages are mobile-optimized with fast load speeds and easy navigation.
7. Align LAN with the Right Campaign Goals
LAN works best for brand awareness, consideration, and content promotion. If you’re running a hard-sell campaign focused on direct conversions, it may be less effective. Align your goals with how the network functions.
FAQ: LinkedIn Audience Network
- What types of ads can be used with LinkedIn Audience Network?
Currently, sponsored content (single-image ads, carousel ads, video ads) can be extended to LinkedIn Audience Network. Text ads and message ads are not supported.
- Can I control where my LinkedIn Audience Network ads appear?
Yes, LinkedIn provides a placement report so you can see which websites and apps are showing your ads. You can then exclude any placements that don’t align with your goals.
- Does LinkedIn Audience Network increase my cost per click (CPC)?
Not necessarily. In some cases, LAN can lower CPCs by extending your reach to slightly less competitive placements. However, performance varies based on audience and ad quality.
- How does LinkedIn ensure brand safety with Audience Network?
LinkedIn uses a vetting process for third-party publishers and allows advertisers to exclude categories or specific placements that don’t align with their brand.
- Is LinkedIn Audience Network worth it?
LinkedIn Audience Network can be highly effective if you’re looking to expand your reach beyond LinkedIn while still targeting professional audiences. By using LinkedIn’s advanced targeting capabilities, you can maintain ad relevance while gaining access to new placements. However, we recommend monitoring the performance closely to ensure that impressions and clicks align with campaign goals.
Takeaways
- LinkedIn Audience Network expands your ad reach beyond LinkedIn, placing your content on trusted third-party websites and mobile apps.
- It’s particularly useful for brand awareness and content-driven campaigns, but requires careful monitoring to ensure quality placements.
- We recommend testing performance before going all-in, optimize targeting, track key metrics, and refine placement exclusions for the best results.
At Aimers, we help SaaS and tech companies scale their LinkedIn Ads efficiently for real business growth – without wasting budget on clicks that don’t convert. If you want to fine-tune your LinkedIn campaigns for maximum ROI, get in touch with us today: aimers.io/contacts.
Ekaterina crafts engaging and strategic content to drive brand awareness and audience engagement. Her expertise in digital marketing helps the agency deliver impactful campaigns and achieve client goals.