LinkedIn Ad Library: How to See Competitors' Ads
LinkedIn has a public ad library, and it's the easiest way to see what a competitor is running on LinkedIn. Go to linkedin.com/ad-library, search a company name or a keyword, and you get their ads from roughly the last year, with the creative, copy, format and run dates, free and without any special access.
It is the B2B equivalent of the Meta Ad Library, and far fewer marketers use it. That makes it one of the cheapest competitive edges in B2B advertising: your competitors are publishing their messaging tests, and almost nobody is reading them.
Where is the LinkedIn Ad Library and how do you open it?
The direct address is linkedin.com/ad-library. You can also reach it from a company page: on many company pages there is an "Ads" tab that lists the ads that company has run, which links into the same data.
The search screen offers three ways in:
- Advertiser name: the company or showcase page that paid for the ad
- Keyword: text that appears in the ad
- Country and date range: to narrow down where and when ads ran
Keyword search is the underrated one. Search for a phrase your category uses, such as "SOC 2" or "expense management", and you get every advertiser saying it, including competitors you had not thought of.
- 1Open linkedin.com/ad-libraryWorks in any browser. Being logged in to LinkedIn helps it behave consistently.
- 2Search the company or a category phraseCompany search for known rivals, keyword search to discover new ones.
- 3Filter by country and dateMatch your market, then widen the dates to see what they tested earlier in the year.
- 4Open each ad's detailsThe detail view shows format, run dates and, for EU delivery, extra transparency data.
- 5Record what you findNote the hook, the offer and the call to action for each ad, in one place.
What does the library show for each ad?
For every ad you get the creative as users saw it: single image, video, carousel, document ads, text ads and several other formats. You also get the headline, the intro text, and the call to action.
The detail view adds:
- Who paid for the ad and on whose behalf it ran
- Run dates: first and last seen within the library's window
- Format
For ads that were shown in the EU, LinkedIn publishes more, because of European transparency rules. Expect impression ranges, the countries the ad reached, and the targeting parameters the advertiser used, such as job function or seniority. That targeting view is rare; Meta shows far less for commercial ads.
What does it not show?
It is a transparency tool, so the same gaps appear as on every platform.
No spend or results. There is no budget, cost per click or engagement data for ordinary advertisers.
A limited window. The library covers roughly the past year. Older campaigns fall out.
No way to save ads. You can view and link to an ad, but there is no download, board or export built in.
Company-name matching. Ads appear under the page that ran them. If a competitor advertises through a showcase page or a product page, a search for the parent brand can miss them. Try the product name, too.
How does it compare to the Meta Ad Library?
They are built for the same reason and work in similar ways, but with different strengths.
| LinkedIn Ad Library | Meta Ad Library | |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Ads run on LinkedIn | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network |
| Time window | Roughly the past year | Active ads (EU: inactive too) |
| Targeting detail | Shown for EU-delivered ads | Limited, EU only |
| Start date | Yes | Yes |
| Spend or engagement | No, for commercial ads | No, for commercial ads |
| Download button | No | No |
Most B2B companies of any size run both. The patterns differ in useful ways. LinkedIn ads tend to be longer and more explicit about job titles and pain points. The same company's Meta ads are usually shorter, more visual and retargeting-heavy. Reading both side by side tells you how they split the funnel. Our walkthrough on how to see competitors' Facebook ads covers the Meta side, and the Google Ads Transparency Center guide covers search and YouTube.
What should you actually look for in a competitor's LinkedIn ads?
After running this kind of review for a few B2B accounts, the most useful signals are these.
The offer ladder. LinkedIn advertisers rarely ask for a demo cold. Look at what they give away first: a report, a template, a webinar, a calculator. The mix of offers tells you what their sales team believes cold prospects will trade an email for.
Job-title language. B2B copy names its audience. "For finance leaders at scaling SaaS companies" tells you who they want, and often who they are losing to you.
Persistence. An ad that appears across many months of the date range is one they keep paying for. Longevity is a weak signal, but on a platform with expensive clicks it means something.
Format choices. Heavy use of document ads usually means a content-led strategy. Lots of short video points to brand work. A wall of single-image demo ads suggests a performance team optimising for pipeline.
Launch timing. A cluster of new ads in the same week usually marks a launch or a new positioning. Match it to their website and press activity.
For a deeper method on turning the copy into insight, see how to analyse competitor ad copy.
Can you save or download LinkedIn ads?
Not from inside the library. LinkedIn provides no download button or export.
In practice, for LinkedIn I screenshot single-image and document ads and paste them into a shared doc with the date and the ad's library link. For video, a screen recording works. It is slower than it should be, but LinkedIn libraries are usually small. A B2B competitor might have 20 to 60 ads in a year, not hundreds.
The Meta side is different, because consumer and ecommerce brands often run hundreds of ads at once. That volume is why we built our free Meta Ad Library downloader, which saves a whole Meta search as one ZIP with a searchable index. It does not work on LinkedIn; it is Meta only. The full method for Meta is in how to download Facebook Ad Library videos.
One reminder that applies to every platform: studying competitor ads is normal research, but re-using their creative as your own is not. Copy the angle, not the asset. This is not legal advice.
How often should you check it?
For most B2B teams, monthly is enough, with a quick check whenever a competitor announces something.
A simple routine that works:
- Monthly: open each of your top five competitors, filter to the last 30 days, and note any new ads.
- Quarterly: run keyword searches for your three main category phrases to spot new entrants.
- On launch news: check the competitor the same week; launch ads show their new positioning before the website fully does.
Keep the notes in one running document or spreadsheet. The value of competitor research compounds when you can look back six months and see how someone's message changed. Our ad library competitive intelligence post shows how to structure that log.
FAQ
Does LinkedIn have an ad library?
Yes. LinkedIn's Ad Library at linkedin.com/ad-library is free and public. It lets anyone search ads by advertiser, keyword, country and date range.
Can I see my competitors' LinkedIn ads?
Yes. Search their company name in the Ad Library or open the Ads tab on their company page. You will see the ads they have run over roughly the past year, including creative, copy and format.
Does the LinkedIn Ad Library show spend?
No. For normal commercial advertisers there is no spend, click or engagement data. Ads shown in the EU do include impression ranges and targeting parameters.
How far back does the LinkedIn Ad Library go?
It covers roughly the past year of ads. Older campaigns drop out, so save anything you want to keep.
Can I download ads from the LinkedIn Ad Library?
There is no built-in download or export. Screenshots and screen recordings are the practical options, which is manageable because most B2B advertisers run a modest number of ads.
The Klipio extension adds a download button to every ad in the Meta Ad Library: one click per ad, or bulk-save a whole search as a ZIP with a searchable swipe file inside. Free, no sign-up.
Get the free extensionKlipio reads a competitor's live Meta ads, ranks them by how long they have been running — the honest signal that an ad is profitable — and turns the winning angle into on-brand creative for your own brand. 3-day free trial.
Start free — 3-day trial →
