How to Use the LinkedIn Ad Library for Competitor Research

The LinkedIn Ad Library is a publicly available, searchable database that provides transparency into all the active ads being run by any company on the LinkedIn platform. For marketers, it is a powerful competitive intelligence tool that offers a direct, unfiltered look into the advertising strategies, messaging, and creative approaches of competitors and industry leaders.

Key Takeaways

• The LinkedIn Ad Library is far more than a simple “swipe file”; it is a strategic tool for deep competitive analysis, market research, and creative inspiration.
• Most marketers only scratch the surface by searching for direct competitors. The real value lies in using unconventional search methods to uncover insights into personalization tactics, international strategies, and funnel-based offers.
• Advanced techniques include searching by dynamic text parameters to analyze conversational ad copy and filtering by country to identify a competitor’s localization and market expansion efforts.
• By analyzing a competitor’s offers (like discounts or free trials) and creative concepts, you can deconstruct their entire marketing funnel and inform your own creative strategy.
• The analysis should not stop at the ad itself. A critical final step is to study the post-click landing page experience to understand how a competitor is converting the traffic they are paying for.

The B2B Marketer’s Secret Weapon: Unlocking Competitive Insights

In the high-stakes world of B2B marketing, intelligence is everything. Understanding your competitors’ strategies—what they’re saying, who they’re saying it to, and how they’re saying it—is a critical component of building a winning plan. For years, much of this information was a black box, especially in the realm of paid advertising. But that has changed. The introduction of transparency tools like the LinkedIn Ad Library has pulled back the curtain, giving savvy marketers an unprecedented look into the competitive landscape.

Most advertisers know the library exists. They know the basics: you can go there, type in a competitor’s name, and see the ads they are currently running. But this is just scratching the surface. This basic approach is like using a powerful telescope to look at your own shoes. The true power of the LinkedIn Ad Library is unlocked when you move beyond the obvious and start using it as a deep strategic research tool.

This guide is designed for B2B marketers who want to gain a real competitive edge. We will move beyond the basics and teach you five unconventional, expert-level ways to use this platform to uncover a wealth of insights and inspiration. As a leading B2B online marketing company, this is not just a tool we use; it is a central part of the intelligence-gathering process that fuels our clients’ success.

Way #1: Finding and Analyzing Conversational Ad Copy

One of the most powerful trends in modern marketing is personalization. The days of generic, one-size-fits-all ad copy are over. To cut through the noise, you need to speak directly to the individual. LinkedIn’s “Conversation Ads” are a prime example of this, and the library has a hidden feature that allows you to find and study them at scale.

The Unconventional Technique

Instead of searching for a company name, you can search for the dynamic text parameters that LinkedIn uses to personalize ads. The most common of these is the first name parameter.

How to do it:

1. Go to the LinkedIn Ad Library.
2. In the “Search by keyword” bar, type: %FIRSTNAME%
3. Hit “Search.”

This will instantly show you a feed of all the ads currently running on the platform that are using this dynamic first-name personalization.

The Strategic Business Benefit

This technique provides a masterclass in modern conversational writing for a B2B audience. By analyzing these results, you can learn:

• How top brands are initiating a dialogue: You can see the exact opening lines and hooks that companies like HubSpot are using to start a personal conversation with their prospects.
• The context of personalization: You can see how they are combining the user’s first name with other relevant information to make the message feel tailored and relevant.
• Effective calls-to-action in a conversational context: You can study the language they use to move a user from a friendly message to a business action.

For example, by layering this search with a specific advertiser like “HubSpot,” you can see exactly how they are using personalization in their lead nurturing and prospecting campaigns. This insight is invaluable for improving the quality and effectiveness of your own ad copy. Crafting this kind of persuasive, personalized copy is a specialized skill. Our professional copywriting services are built on these principles of direct and engaging communication.

Way #2: Identifying and Understanding Localization Campaigns

For businesses with global ambitions, one of the biggest questions is where to expand next and how to do it effectively. The LinkedIn Ad Library can provide powerful clues about your competitors’ international strategies.

The Unconventional Technique

This involves using the country filter in a strategic way to see where your competitors are advertising outside of their primary English-speaking markets.

How to do it:

1. Search for a major competitor (e.g., HubSpot).
2. Click on the “Country” filter.
3. Click “Select all” and then manually deselect the major English-speaking markets (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, etc.).
4. Hit “Done” and run the search.

This will show you all the ads that your competitor is running in non-English-speaking countries.

The Strategic Business Benefit

This analysis is a powerful tool for international market research.

• Identify New Market Opportunities: If you see a competitor investing heavily in running ads in a specific country, like France or Germany, it’s a strong signal that they have identified that region as a high-growth market. This can help you prioritize your own expansion efforts.
• Understand Localization Strategy: By looking at the ads themselves, you can see their approach to localization. Are they simply translating their English ads, or are they creating unique, culturally adapted creative? As you can see with the HubSpot example for Spain, they are not just translating the language; they are creating a fully localized experience. This is a core principle of effective multilingual digital marketing.
• Assess the Competitive Landscape: This technique allows you to gauge the level of competition in a potential new market before you invest a single dollar.

Way #3: Studying Competitive Offers and Funnel Stages

An ad is not just a creative; it is an offer. The type of offer a competitor is promoting is a direct window into their marketing funnel and their overall business strategy.

The Unconventional Technique

Instead of searching for a competitor, you can search the LinkedIn Ad Library by the type of offer you are interested in.

How to do it:

1. Go to the “Search by keyword” bar.
2. Type in a specific offer-related keyword, such as “discount,” “free trial,” “webinar,” “e-book,” or “report.”
3. Run the search.

This will show you all the ads that contain that specific offer in their copy or creative.

The Strategic Business Benefit

This is one of the most powerful Google Ads competitor analysis techniques, and it works just as well for LinkedIn.

• Deconstruct Your Competitors’ Funnels: By searching for “e-book” or “webinar,” you can analyze your competitors’ top-of-funnel lead magnets. By searching for “discount” or “demo,” you can see their bottom-of-funnel conversion offers. For example, a search for “discount” reveals how companies like XCCommerce are structuring their promotional messaging.
• Get Inspiration for Your Own Offers: This is a fantastic way to brainstorm ideas for your own lead magnets and offers. You can see what is currently working in the market and identify gaps where you can provide something even more valuable.
• Analyze Offer Messaging: You can study the specific language that different companies use to frame their offers, helping you to refine your own value propositions and calls-to-action.

Way #4: Creative Concept Discovery

Ad fatigue is a real problem. Running the same type of ad creative over and over will lead to diminishing returns. You need a constant stream of fresh creative concepts to keep your audience engaged. The LinkedIn Ad Library is a visual goldmine for this kind of inspiration.

The Unconventional Technique

This involves scrolling through your competitors’ ads not to read the copy, but to categorize their visual approaches.

How to do it:

1. Search for an innovative, high-volume advertiser in your space.
2. Scroll through their ads and start to classify the type of creative you are seeing.

Look for patterns. Are they using:

• Typography-led concepts: Ads where the main visual is a bold, well-designed text statement.
• Meme-based concepts: Using popular internet meme formats in a B2B context.
• Quote or Testimonial concepts: Featuring a customer quote as the primary visual.
• Product-in-action concepts: Using video to show their software or product being used. The ads from Google Workspace, for example, often fall into this powerful category.
• “Us vs. Them” or “Before and After” concepts: Visually comparing the old way of doing things with the new, better way that their product enables.

The Strategic Business Benefit

• Fuel Your Creative Brainstorming: This process will give your creative team a huge library of proven concepts to test and adapt for your own brand.
• Identify Competitor Testing Patterns: If you notice that a competitor is running multiple variations of the same creative concept, it’s a strong signal that this concept is a top performer for them.
• Understand Visual Trends: It helps you get a feel for the current visual trends in B2B advertising, ensuring that your own creative doesn’t look dated.

A strong visual strategy is essential. Our graphic design and video production teams use this kind of research to create high-performing ad creative for our clients.

Way #5: Deep-Dive Landing Page Teardowns

The ad is only the first half of the equation. The post-click landing page is where the conversion happens. A brilliant ad that leads to a terrible landing page is a complete waste of money. The LinkedIn Ad Library allows you to analyze your competitors’ entire funnel, from the ad to the page it links to.

The Unconventional Technique

This is the final and most critical step of your analysis. For any ad that catches your attention, you must click through to the landing page and perform a detailed teardown.

How to do it:

1. Find a compelling ad from a competitor.
2. Click the call-to-action button to open their landing page.
3. Systematically analyze the entire post-click experience.

Your Landing Page Checklist:

• Message Match: Does the headline on the landing page perfectly match the promise made in the ad? A strong message match is the most important element for a low bounce rate.
• User Experience (UX): Is the page clean, uncluttered, and easy to navigate? As you can see from HubSpot’s Spanish landing page, the design is simple and focused on a single action.
• Social Proof: Are they using testimonials, customer logos, or case studies to build trust?
• The Form: How many fields are they asking for? A shorter form generally leads to a higher conversion rate.
• The Call-to-Action (CTA): Is the CTA button clear, compelling, and high-contrast?

The Strategic Business Benefit

This is one of the highest-ROI research activities you can perform.

• Identify Your Competitors’ Conversion Strategies: It allows you to deconstruct the exact process your competitors are using to turn paid traffic into leads.
• Find Optimization Opportunities for Your Own Pages: By seeing what your competitors are doing well (and what they are doing poorly), you can get a wealth of ideas for improving your own landing pages.
• Benchmark Your User Experience: It provides a direct comparison of your post-click experience versus your competitors’.

Building high-performance landing pages is a science. Our landing page design services are built on a foundation of data-driven best practices discovered through this type of deep analysis.

How We Integrate This Intelligence into Your Campaigns

At The Designs Firm, a deep dive into the LinkedIn Ad Library is a mandatory first step before we launch any new campaign for a client. We don’t just look at our clients’ direct competitors; we analyze the “best in class” advertisers across their entire industry.

Our process involves using these five unconventional techniques to build a complete “Competitive Intelligence Dossier.” This dossier informs every aspect of our campaign development, from the copy we write and the offers we promote to the creative concepts we design and the landing pages we build. This intelligence-led approach is how we ensure that our clients’ campaigns are not just launched into the market, but are engineered to win. This is at the very core of our philosophy as a top-tier LinkedIn marketing agency.

Conclusion

The LinkedIn Ad Library is one of the most powerful, free competitive intelligence tools available to B2B marketers today. By moving beyond a superficial search for your direct competitors and embracing these five unconventional strategies, you can unlock a treasure trove of strategic insights. You can learn how to personalize your copy, identify new markets, deconstruct your competitors’ funnels, and get a masterclass in creative and landing page strategy. In the competitive arena of paid social, the brands that learn the fastest are the ones that win, and the LinkedIn Ad Library is your ultimate classroom.