LinkedIn Ads

Creating an Effective Bidding Strategy on LinkedIn

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The most effective LinkedIn ad campaigns are built on focused and agile bidding strategies. 

When you launch a campaign on LinkedIn, all ads enter a second-price auction system for advertisers trying to reach members visiting LinkedIn’s feed. The auction runs in the background in milliseconds, ranking bids from various advertisers competing for the same ad slot for a member. 

The bid is the maximum price you’re willing to pay for a key result, such as a click. The bid type selected should be based on your marketing objectives, such as building awareness or generating website traffic. Then a combination of relevancy (i.e., how likely a LinkedIn member will engage with your ad) and bid value determines which advertiser’s ad is shown to the member, and when.

LinkedIn offers bid types where you can choose your bid value or more automated bid types — where LinkedIn does the work for you. Advertisers may also want to move between bid types based on their changing marketing needs.

The breakdown of bid types below will help you get started, but for more guidance be sure to check out our guide, Best Practices for Bidding on LinkedIn, which is full of useful tips to help you navigate bidding with LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager tool. 

Bid Types

LinkedIn currently has 3 bid types: Maximum Delivery, Cost Cap and Manual.

  • Maximum Delivery is a fully automated bid option where LinkedIn’s system sets the bid. It is best used when you want to deliver your full budget while getting the most key results possible. (Note that Maximum Delivery was formerly known as Automated Bidding and Auto Bid.)
  • Cost Cap is a bid type offered for CPL, CPC, CPM and CPV. It is also an automated option where LinkedIn’s system sets the bid. However, it allows the advertiser to set their preferred cost per key result. LinkedIn’s system will not exceed the cost cap set by the advertiser.
  • Manual bidding is our most hands-on option for advertisers, where we recommend the campaigns be monitored regularly. However, it does offer advertisers the most control over their bids. Advertisers enter their bid value and that is exactly what is used in the ad auction.

Establish a Successful Bidding Strategy

The following tips, found in Best Practices for Bidding on LinkedIn, will also help you establish a game plan.

When should you use Cost Cap Bidding and Maximum Delivery?

Uncertain how to bid for your campaign? Don’t have time to regularly manage bidding? Cost Cap and Maximum Delivery are your best options. Manual Bidding gives you the most control over your bid values, but also requires the most oversight. We recommend choosing the bid type that best suits your campaign’s goals.

Why should you start at the high end of the recommended bid range?

Campaign Manager suggests a bid range with manual bidding, and a cost cap range with cost cap bidding, to make your ads most likely to be seen. Start at the high end of the recommended range. This will help in winning auctions.