LinkedIn Ad Sizes and Specifications for 2024 [+ Expert Tips]

LinkedIn is one of the best-evolving social media platforms – not only can members use the platform as an extremely targeted recruitment site / search for their next role, but brands can use it for advertising their products / services to the ideal audience.

When it comes to advertising – aesthetic is everything. You need a killer image that stands out amongst everything else that saturates our feeds and grabs the reader’s attention. It’s the image that can often make or break the success of a marketing campaign. And this includes LinkedIn ad types and format.

If you want to be sure you’re getting the visual side of your LinkedIn ad campaign bang on the money, our LinkedIn ads agency will take you through how to do just that.

1 – The Different LinkedIn Ads Specs

For those relatively new to the world of marketing on LinkedIn, there is more than one type of ad spec to choose from, and the right one depends on your campaign’s objective. Here is a list of what’s available to you.

1.1 – Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is native marketing on LinkedIn that allows you to reach a selected target audience that has yet to be acquainted with your brand. Because sponsored content on LinkedIn is labelled as sponsored content, whatever ad format you choose, it will still be obvious to a user that what they’re seeing is an advertisement.

Creating sponsored content on LinkedIn gives you the flexibility to create a campaign with a CTA (call-to-action), that may lead to something like a lead gen form, meaning the user effectively signs up to learn more about your brand, or to interact with your brand directly.

Sponsored content works well if your objective is lead generation or building brand awareness.

Ad Spec Recommendations for Single image

File Requirements:

Supported File Types: JPG, PNG, GIF
Maximum File Size: 5 MB

Image Specifications:

Horizontal / Landscape Images

Delivery: Suitable for both desktop and mobile devices
Minimum Dimensions: 640 x 360 pixels
Maximum Dimensions: 7680 x 4320 pixels
Recommended Aspect Ratio & Size: 1.91:1 (1200 x 628 pixels)

Expert Tip: Avoid horizontals at all costs. Horizontal images are so small on mobile that you almost can’t read the image text. On the desktop, it is still the same feed column with lots of white space on the sides. Horizontal ads give you no advantage there either.

Square Images

Delivery: Ideal for both desktop and mobile devices
Minimum Dimensions: 360 x 360 pixels
Maximum Dimensions: 4320 x 4320 pixels
Recommended Aspect Ratio & Size: 1:1 (1200 x 1200 pixels)

Expert Tip: From my experience squares are the best format – enough space for the visuals, placement across desktop and mobile, the best CTR on desktop. You should always start with square ads.

Vertical Images

Delivery: Optimized for mobile devices (Note: Vertical images are not delivered on desktop)
Minimum Dimensions: 360 x 640 pixels
Maximum Dimensions: 2430 x 4320 pixels
Recommended Aspect Ratios & Sizes:
- 1:1.91 (628 x 1200 pixels)
- 2:3 (600 x 900 pixels)
- 4:5 (720 x 900 pixels) — Recommended to avoid borders on vertical images

Expert Tip: I don’t recommend Vertical ads format. They are mobile-only and you will get better engagement on mobile but desktop traffic converts and consumes content much better.

Text Recommendations:

Headlines: Should be short, concise, and should convey the overall ad message. You will only have 150 characters (including spaces) to work with here.
Introductory Text: 150 max characters for mobile (desktop max of 600 characters).
Description: 70 characters or less (including spaces) to avoid truncation on mobile devices (maximum of 200 characters).

URL Requirements:

URL prefix: http:// or https://
URL characters: 2000 characters for destination field URL

Video Ads

Video advertising is an increasingly popular and successful way for brands to market themselves on LinkedIn, as they make it easy for a user to consume information quickly and effortlessly.

Ad Spec Recommendations for Video Ads

File Requirements:

File type: MP4
Max file size: 200 MB
Frame rate: Less than 30 FPS (frames per second)
Video Duration: 3 seconds – 30 minutes
Video Captions: Optional
Video Sound Rate: Less than 64 KHz

Video Dimensions:

Vertical (4:5): Min 360 x 450 pixels, Max 1080 x 1350 pixels
Vertical (9:16): Min 360 x 640 pixels, Max 1080 x 1920 pixels
Landscape (16:9): Min 640 x 360 pixels, Max 1920 x 1080 pixels
Square (1:1): Min 360 x 360 pixels, Max 1920 x 1920 pixels
Aspect ratio tolerance: 5%

Video resolutions

Recommended Horizontal/Landscape: 1920 x 1080 px.
Recommended Square: 1920 x 1920 px
Recommended Vertical: 1080 x 1920 px

Text Recommendations:

Headlines: You will only have 200 characters maximum (including spaces).
Introductory Text: 150 max characters for mobile (desktop max of 600 characters).

URL Requirements:

URL prefix: http:// or https://
URL characters: 2000 characters for destination field URL

Document Ads

Ad Spec Recommendations for Document Ads

File Requirements:

Supported File Types: PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX
Aspects: Vertical, Horizontal, Square
Maximum File Size: 100 MB
Number of pages: under 10 pages (300 pages maximum or 1 MM words)

Text Recommendations:

Headline: 70 characters maximum
Introductory text: 150 characters maximum

Expert Tip: Document Ads are ideal for eBooks, guides, data sheets, reports, infographics, and other visually engaging content.Ensure that the first few pages of your PDF are captivating and visually appealing. First impressions are crucial. Make those opening pages intriguing.

1.2 – Sponsored Messaging

Sponsored messaging is LinkedIn’s way of allowing you to personalise your messaging to make it look like a DM (direct message). LinkedIn is pro at collecting the right data for you to market your campaign with and personalise your message as best as possible.

This format is also native and will only pop up in your audiences’ LinkedIn mail box – and it will only do so when your target is actively on LinkedIn, enhancing the chance of them opening the ad and (hopefully) converting.

The two formats you have here are Message Ads and Conversation Ads.

Message Ads are a more sophisticated version of email marketing, allowing you to create a personalised ad that is short and sweet, and has a clear CTA. These are great if lead generation is your focal point.

Case Study: How We Helped a Security Analytics Software Company Generate 42% More SQLs Using LinkedIn Ads

Conversation Ads are designed to direct engagement, and have more than one option for the lead to view to then discuss directly with your brand. For maximum success, it is best that you keep your ad tone warm, friendly and inviting.

Please note: with Sponsored Messaging, the ad must come from a member of your team – it’s not possible to send it from your company’s page, so when setting up the ad campaign, choose the right team member for the job (CEO, marketing manager, HR manager – whoever best suits the actual purpose of the ad) – and make sure they have a great LinkedIn profile with plenty of information and a good profile picture.

Ad Specs for Sponsored Messaging

Images dimensions:

Banner image: 300 x 250 pixels (recommended size), in JPG, GIF (non-animated) or PNG format and should include a click-through URL
Maximum size: 2 MB
Message Ads limit: Up to 1500 characters, but try to keep it short and sweet for maximum click-through rate (CTR). The recommended number is three links in your message to provide engagement variety

Text Recommendations:

Message ad

Use up to 1,500 characters, including spaces and punctuation. You can use up to 10 emojis in a message ad.
Rich text options like bulleting, italics, and bolding are available.
Clickable links: Use up to three links.

Hyperlinked text in message: Use up to 70 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Custom footer & Terms & Conditions: Use up to 20,000 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Call-to-action: Use up to 20 characters, including spaces for the text you’d like for your call-to-action button.

Expert Tip: Make it personal. Make sure your ad greets them with their first name, so that it looks more like a direct message designed exclusively for them, and not a spammy generic ad. Make your ad go live on Tuesdays / Wednesdays / Thursdays. As specified by LinkedIn’s big brains’ themselves these are the days prospects are most likely to engage and convert.

Conversation ad

Up to 8,000 characters to craft your message, including spaces, punctuation, and up to 10 emojis.
Rich text options such as bullet points, italics, and bolding are available, but we recommend keeping your message simple and conversational for the best results.
The Message field is automatically populated with a sample message. The Insert Customer Fields dropdown lists the available macros, which makes it easier and quicker for you to create a custom message.

Custom footer & Terms & Conditions: Use up to 20,000 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Call-to-action: Use up to 25 characters, including spaces for the text you’d like for your call-to-action button.

Expert Tip: Conversation Ads make your campaigns feel more personal by adding a face and allowing you to customize the message. Instead of sending a generic message to everyone, you can include the prospect’s first name, company, and job title. This makes the message feel like it was created just for them.

1.3 – Text Ads

The simplest form of advertising. Can be used to market a new product or service, or inform leads about a new company development, etc.

Image size: 100 x 100 pixels in JPG or PNG format
File size: 2 MB
Headline: 25 characters or less
Description: 75 characters or less

1.4 – Dynamic Ads

Like Sponsored Messaging ads, Dynamic Ads also go for a personal approach, but instead of landing in a LinkedIn user’s direct messages, they will appear as a banner (usually) on the top right of the lead’s feed.

By using member data, a Dynamic Ad will feature the name and profile picture of the lead, making it instantly eye-grabbing to them. Dynamic Ads offer several formats (follower ads, spotlight ads, and content / text ads, and more), all of which allows you to include a CTA.

Purposes & Ad Specs for Dynamic Ads

Follower Ads

These encourage your audience to follow your company’s page on LinkedIn.

Design Recommendations:

Logo size: 100 x 100 pixels in JPG or PNG format.
Use a square image, otherwise it will be reduced to fit, which may cut off vital parts of the image / logo.

Text Recommendations:

Headline: 50 characters
Description: 70 characters
Company Name: 25 characters

Description Options (Examples):

Receive daily or weekly organization updates
Stay informed on industry news and trends
Visit the careers page for IBM!
Visit the company for IBM
Visit the organization page for IBM!
You’ve got the skills, IMB has the opportunities!
You’ve got the skills, we’ve got the opportunities!

Call-To-Action Options:

Visit careers
Visit company
Visit jobs
Visit life

Headline Options (Examples):

JESS, IBM is hiring!
JESS, keep up with relevant opportunities at IBM
JESS, keep up with the latest insights from IBM
JESS, ready for your dream job?
JESS, you might like to follow IBM
Grow your business with insights and news from IBM

Expert Tip: Ensure your company page has a least one valuable post pinned. Visitors will follow your company’s page if they feel it’s worth following with valuable content.

Spotlight Ads

These encourage your audience to visit a landing page or website.

Design Recommendations:

Logo size: 100 x 100 pixels in JPG or PNG format. Use a square image, otherwise it will be reduced to fit.
Background image size (optional): 300 x 250 pixels.
File Size: 2 MB

Text Recommendations:

Headline: 50 characters
Description: 70 characters
Company Name: 25 characters
Call-to-Action: 18 characters

Expert Tip: Spotlight Ads work best for retargeting campaigns on desktops. You’ll benefit from free impressions and low-cost clicks, helping reduce your acquisition costs. However, be ready for a lower overall click-through rate.

Job Ads

A way to promote one or more job opportunities within your company.

Job Ad Specs:

Company logo size: 100 x 100 px minimum
Company name: Use up to 25 characters, including spaces.
Ad headline: Choose from one of the suggested options or write your own custom text using up to 70 characters, including spaces.

Content Ads

Lead generation-focused marketing that encourages a lead to do something specific (i.e.: download an eBook, sign up for a monthly newsletter, etc).

1.5 – Display Ads

These are generally image-based ads which will appear to the right of a user’s feed. They serve to build brand awareness and company presence on LinkedIn.

Case Study: How We Helped Kodo Survey Increase Demos by 167% Using LinkedIn Ads

2- LinkedIn Ads: The Best Practices

Here is how to make your ads as top-level as possible:

– Keep your copy short and simple. You don’t have much flexibility here, so make sure you get to the point.

– Make the best part of the ad (limited-time offer, free sign-up, etc) the highlight of the ad.

– Target your audience well – and tailor your content to it speaks to them on more than a one-dimensional level. Make them feel like your brand knows and understands them as a person and what they need.

– Be generous with your CTAs. You will have an opportunity to include multiple CTAs, so do so, and make them clear and easy to understand. Make it extremely easy for a lead to convert.

– Look into multiple campaigns. Creating more than one ad allows you to target your audience in more than one way.

– A/B testing. It is important to test the success of your campaigns to optimise your budget spend and make any necessary amendments to the campaign if need be.

Conclusion

So, there you have everything you need to know about the specifics and purposes behind the various ad formats on LinkedIn. With the above information, you can create a highly targeted and aesthetically appealing ad to generate and convert leads and see a great ROI.

If you’d like to learn more about how we help B2B SaaS and Tech companies grow their MRR through LinkedIn advertising, contact us online or send us an email today at info@getuplead.com to speak with someone on our team.

LinkedIn Ad Sizes and Specifications for 2024 [+ Expert Tips]

1 – The Different LinkedIn Ads Specs

1.1 – Sponsored Content

Ad Spec Recommendations for Single image

File Requirements:

Image Specifications:

Text Recommendations:

URL Requirements:

Video Ads

Ad Spec Recommendations for Video Ads

File Requirements:

Video Dimensions:

Video resolutions

Text Recommendations:

URL Requirements:

Sponsored Content – Carousel Ads

Ad Spec Recommendations for Carousel Ads

File Requirements:

Images dimensions:

Text Recommendations:

URL Requirements

Document Ads

Ad Spec Recommendations for Document Ads

File Requirements:

Text Recommendations:

1.2 – Sponsored Messaging

Ad Specs for Sponsored Messaging

Images dimensions:

Text Recommendations:

Conversation ad

1.3 – Text Ads

1.4 – Dynamic Ads

Purposes & Ad Specs for Dynamic Ads

Follower Ads

Design Recommendations:

Text Recommendations:

Description Options (Examples):

Call-To-Action Options:

Headline Options (Examples):

Spotlight Ads

Design Recommendations:

Text Recommendations:

Job Ads

Job Ad Specs:

Content Ads

1.5 – Display Ads

2- LinkedIn Ads: The Best Practices

Conclusion