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How bidding works

Space for advertising is limited, so marketers compete in ad auctions by bidding. You compete against other advertisers targeting the same audience. Based on demand for your target audience, you may pay less, but never more than the bid amount you set.

When you create a campaign in Campaign Manager, the advertising platform on LinkedIn, you’ll choose your bid type and set your maximum bid.

Why bidding matters

If your bids are too low, your ads will not get delivered and the audience you want to reach won’t see your ads.

You can’t bid “too high” because LinkedIn runs a second-price auction, which means you only pay the minimum needed to win the auction, not your maximum bid. However, smart bid management will improve your ROI and ensure you’re spending your marketing budget where it matters most to your business.

Types of bids

Sponsored InMail bids are cost per send (CPS), which means you pay for each sent message if you win the auction.

Maximum Bid - You set the bid yourself. Our system will not charge higher than the bid you set. We recommend using this option if you want the most control over your cost per result.
Types: cost per click (CPC), cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), or cost per view (CPV)

Automated Bid - Our system uses historical campaign data and member information to automatically set the right bid. We recommend using this option to get more results for your budget, but your cost (e.g. CPC) may be higher than Maximum Bid. Note: This option charges by impression, or every time your ad is served.

For Text Ads and Dynamic Ads, you can only use Maximum Bid.
Sponsored InMail bids are Maximum cost per send (CPS), which means you pay for each sent message if you win the auction.

How to choose the right bid type

If you’re running a Sponsored InMail campaign, you can only make CPS bids, so skip ahead to bidding best practices.

How do I pick between Maximum Bid versus Automated Bid?If your primary goal is to get more result for your budget (e.g. the most clicks(, select “Automated bid”. Note: Your cost per result may increase. If your primary goal is to have the most control over your cost per result (e.g. keep your CPCs under $10), select “Maximum cost bid”.

For Sponsored Content and Text Ads, consider the objective of your campaign:

•  If you're just starting out, Maximum CPC Bid tends to be the easiest bid type to understand and optimize for. So use it if you plan to test and develop your own strategy. You can also have more control over your costs.

•  If you’re driving leads or content downloads, start with CPC bids. You’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

•  If you're focused on thought leadership and branding, impressions of your ads might be more important than clicks, so try Maximum CPM bids.

•  If you are focused on getting the most results (e.g. more clicks or conversions) for your budget, try using Automated Bid. Our system will set the bid for you to get more results for your budget, but note your costs may rise as spend increases.

•  If you are focused on delivering all of your daily budget (e.g. more clicks or conversions) to get you the most amount of results, use Automated Bid. Remember: Your costs may rise as bids may be higher or lower.

Here’s one easy test to compare pricing models:

    1. Create two campaigns with the same ad creative and target audience.

    2. Select CPC bidding on one, and CPM on the other.

    3. Run both and compare results when you have enough data.

Maximum Bid best practices

When you create a campaign in Campaign Manager, you can set your bid, budget, and scheduling. Use these tips to get started with a smart bidding strategy:

•  Bids and budgets work together to support campaign performance. Learn the best ways to get started with your budget.

•  Start at the high end of the recommended range. Campaign Manager will suggest a bid range that makes your ad content most likely to be seen. For a strong start, bid toward the top of that range.

•  If your campaign is not winning auctions, your ads are not being seen. Try bidding one or two dollars above the suggested range to increase chance of winning. You will only pay the minimum needed to win, not your maximum.

Automated Bid Best Practices

•  Turn on Automated Bid on campaigns that are spending 90% of their daily budget with Maximum Bid. In Campaign Manager, check out the “Avg. Daily Spend” in the “Budget & Bid” column and compare it to your “Daily Budget”. Is the percentage of spend around 90% of its daily budget? If yes, it will be a good campaign to consider automated bidding.

•  High costs? Lower the campaign’s daily budget to the actual spend level. For example, if the daily budget is set to $200, but you're spending only $100 per day, lower the daily budget to $100 to see lower costs. You can check daily spend via the “Avg. Daily Spend” column.

•  Use forecasting toolbox to compare Maximum Bid and Automated Bid. When setting up a campaign in Campaign Manager, the forecasting tool can dynamically estimate performance for your budget. Pick the option that works better for your goals.

Optimize your bidding strategy

Optimizing your bids means getting the strongest results for every dollar of ad spend. Try these tips, build on the tactics that work for you, and create a strategy that’s unique to your business.

•  Access your campaign insights to understand how your ads are performing and get recommendations to improve bids and budgets.

•  Try reducing your bid slowly to find your ideal level. Monitor campaign performance and stop lowering the bid amount if you see a dip in key metrics (like impressions, clicks, or conversions).

•  Experiment with changing your bid type to see how it affects the delivery and performance of your campaign. For example, if you’re bidding by cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), you could change the pace of your ad spend by switching to cost per click (CPC).

•  Select Audience Expansion to reach more people who are similar to your target audience. This increases the number of people seeing and clicking on your content, which generally decreases the bid needed to win.

For Sponsored Content, here are some additional tips:

•  LinkedIn assigns a relevance score to all Sponsored Content based on indicators that LinkedIn members find the ads interesting (like clicks, comments, and shares).

•  It’s possible to win with a lower bid if you have a high relevance score, so focus on the quality of your ad creative with the goal of improving your click-through rates on every ad.

•  Bid high at the start of a campaign to get traction. This helps boost your relevance score.