LinkedIn Ads Targeting by Company Size
Filter your audience by employee count to reach companies that actually match your ideal customer profile.
What is Company Sizes targeting on LinkedIn?
Company size targeting on LinkedIn lets you filter audiences by the number of employees at a member's company. For B2B SaaS advertisers, this is arguably the single most important targeting layer because company size is a strong proxy for budget, buying process complexity, and product fit. A 20-person startup and a 20,000-person enterprise have fundamentally different needs, sales cycles, and willingness to pay — and your campaigns should reflect that.
How company sizes targeting works
LinkedIn determines company size by counting the number of LinkedIn members who list that company as their current employer. This is not the same as the company's actual headcount — it is the number of employees who have LinkedIn profiles and have linked them to the company page. For large companies, this is usually close to actual headcount. For smaller companies, especially those in industries with low LinkedIn adoption, the LinkedIn count can be significantly lower than reality. A 100-person manufacturing company might show as "51-200" on LinkedIn because only 60 employees have profiles.
You cannot enter custom company size ranges in Campaign Manager. LinkedIn provides fixed brackets: 1, 2-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 501-1000, 1001-5000, 5001-10000, and 10001+. These brackets are not evenly distributed and they do not perfectly match common B2B segmentation. Most B2B SaaS companies define "mid-market" as 100-1000 employees, but LinkedIn forces you to use 51-200, 201-500, and 501-1000 — which includes companies as small as 51 employees in your mid-market segment. Keep these bracket boundaries in mind when designing campaigns.
When you target "201-500 employees," every single person at every company in that size range becomes part of your potential audience (subject to other targeting layers). The intern and the CEO are both included. This is why company size targeting is almost always used in combination with other dimensions like job title, seniority, or job function — company size alone tells you nothing about whether the individual is a relevant buyer.
Effective targeting combinations
This combination is the foundation of most high-performing B2B LinkedIn campaigns. Company size ensures the company can afford your product, and seniority ensures the individual has authority to buy it. For mid-market SaaS (ACV $20K-$100K), target 201-1000 employees with Director and VP seniority. For enterprise SaaS (ACV $100K+), target 1001+ employees with VP and C-suite seniority. This two-layer approach dramatically reduces wasted spend on people who will never become customers.
When you know your product sells best to mid-market SaaS companies or enterprise healthcare organizations, combine company size with industry to define precise market segments. This lets you build segment-specific campaigns with tailored messaging. "Compliance automation for healthcare organizations with 500+ employees" is a much more compelling message than generic product marketing. Create a campaign matrix with your top 3 industries and top 2 company size ranges for 6 highly targeted campaign sets.
For account-based marketing approaches on LinkedIn, combine specific job titles with company size to approximate your buyer persona. "Head of Security" at companies with 1001-5000 employees is a much more defined persona than either dimension alone. You can write ad copy that speaks directly to the challenges of leading security at a company of that scale — managing a growing team, justifying budget to the C-suite, dealing with compliance requirements that kick in at that company size. This specificity drives significantly higher engagement rates.
- Align Company Size Brackets with Your Pricing and Sales Motion: Your company size targeting should reflect how your company actually sells and prices. If you have a self-serve product for SMBs (under 200 employees) and an enterprise sales motion for larger companies, run separate campaigns for each segment with different CTAs. The SMB campaign might drive to a free trial, while the enterprise campaign drives to a demo request. Mixing these segments in one campaign forces a generic CTA that underperforms for both audiences.
- Use Company Size to Control Lead Quality: If your sales team consistently disqualifies leads from companies that are too small, add a company size minimum to your targeting. This is often the single fastest way to improve lead quality in LinkedIn Ads. If your ACV requires companies with at least 200 employees to justify the cost, exclude the 1, 2-10, 11-50, and 51-200 brackets entirely. Yes, your CPL will increase because you are targeting a smaller audience — but your SQL rate and pipeline value will improve dramatically.
- Test the 51-200 Bracket Separately: The 51-200 bracket is where most B2B SaaS advertisers see the most variability in lead quality. A 55-person company and a 195-person company are very different buyers, but LinkedIn groups them together. Run this bracket as its own campaign so you can monitor performance independently. If SQL rates from this bracket are poor, you can pause it without affecting your 201-500 and 501-1000 campaigns. If it performs well, you have data to justify the spend.
- Exclude the Smallest Brackets by Default: Unless you specifically sell to solopreneurs and micro-businesses, exclude the "1" and "2-10" employee brackets from every campaign. These brackets are filled with freelancers, consultants, inactive companies, and people who created a company page for a side project. The lead quality from these brackets is almost universally poor for B2B SaaS. Adding these exclusions takes 10 seconds and can save you thousands of dollars in wasted spend over a quarter.
Common mistakes to avoid
Treating LinkedIn Employee Count as Actual Headcount
LinkedIn's company size is based on linked profiles, not real headcount. A 500-person company where most employees are warehouse workers without LinkedIn profiles might show up in the 51-200 bracket. Conversely, a consulting firm where every employee has a polished LinkedIn presence might appear larger than it actually is. For industries with low LinkedIn adoption (manufacturing, construction, hospitality), expect the LinkedIn count to underrepresent true company size by 20-40 percent. Adjust your bracket selections accordingly.
Using Company Size as the Only Targeting Dimension
Company size alone is far too broad. Targeting "501-1000 employees" without any other filters gives you every person at every mid-size company — from the receptionist to the CFO, across every industry and function. Your ads will be served to an overwhelmingly irrelevant audience, driving up costs and producing unqualified leads. Company size should always be combined with at least one person-level dimension like job function, seniority, or job title.
Selecting Too Many Size Brackets in One Campaign
Some advertisers select brackets from 11-50 all the way to 10001+ in a single campaign to maximize reach. This is a mistake because LinkedIn's algorithm will optimize delivery toward whichever segment is cheapest to serve — usually smaller companies with less auction competition. Your budget ends up disproportionately spent on the smallest companies in your selection, which are often the lowest quality. Split your brackets across separate campaigns so each segment gets its fair share of budget and you can evaluate performance independently.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is LinkedIn's company size data?
LinkedIn's company size data is directionally accurate but not precise. For large companies (1000+ employees) with strong LinkedIn adoption, the employee count is usually within 10-20 percent of actual headcount. For smaller companies or companies in industries with low LinkedIn penetration, the count can be off by 30-50 percent. LinkedIn counts profiles linked to the company page, not actual employees. Companies that actively encourage employees to update their LinkedIn profiles will appear closer to their real size. The practical implication is that you should think of company size brackets as approximate ranges, not exact filters.
What are the company size bracket options in LinkedIn Campaign Manager?
LinkedIn offers these fixed company size brackets: Myself Only (1), 2-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-5,000, 5,001-10,000, and 10,001+. You cannot create custom ranges. If your ICP is "100-500 employees," you will need to select both the 51-200 and 201-500 brackets, knowing that you are including companies as small as 51 and as large as 500. The inability to set custom ranges is one of the most common complaints from B2B advertisers on the platform.
Should I target small companies (under 50 employees) on LinkedIn Ads?
It depends on your product and sales motion. If you sell a low-ACV product with a self-serve signup (under $5K per year), small companies can be viable LinkedIn targets — though you will likely get better unit economics from Google Ads or Meta for this segment. If your ACV requires $10K+ and involves a sales process, targeting under 50 employees on LinkedIn is usually unprofitable. Small companies have small budgets, short decision cycles that do not need LinkedIn nurturing, and the cost per lead on LinkedIn is too high relative to the deal size. Most B2B SaaS advertisers on LinkedIn see the best ROI starting at the 51-200 or 201-500 bracket.