Are LinkedIn Ads worth it for B2B in 2025? It’s a fair question, and judging by some recent Reddit threads, it’s one a lot of advertisers are still wrestling with.

There are stories of budgets running out before campaigns hit their stride. Boosted posts are getting engagement, but not always translating to leads. Reporting can make it tricky to pinpoint what actually drove results.

But one thing’s clear across nearly every thread: with LinkedIn, your ads are showing up in front of exactly who you want to reach. Zoom out, and some consistent patterns start to emerge.

LinkedIn Ads tend to shine when deal sizes justify higher CPCs, targeting is dialed in, and campaigns are thoughtfully built in Campaign Manager, not just boosted on the fly.

And for advertisers who like LinkedIn’s audience signals but need a more cost-conscious option, Microsoft Ads with LinkedIn profile targeting is quietly proving itself as a viable complement.

Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Why Microsoft Ads + LinkedIn targeting keeps coming up

The frustration in that Reddit thread follows a familiar pattern:

• Somebody wanted to reach decision-makers.
• But LinkedIn CPCs climbed fast, often with little room to test.
• So they looked for a lower-risk way to use the same professional signals.
• Then Microsoft Ads with LinkedIn targeting became the alternative worth testing.

Microsoft owns LinkedIn. That means advertisers on Microsoft Ads can apply LinkedIn profile data, such as industry, company, and job function, as bid adjustments to search campaigns. Ads still run on Microsoft’s search inventory (Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc.), with LinkedIn providing context for bidding.

The real challenge: setting this up at scale

In theory, LinkedIn profile targeting inside Microsoft Ads is straightforward. In reality, it’s easy to miss:

• Campaigns and ad groups running without any LinkedIn profile targeting applied
• Inconsistent audience choices across otherwise similar ad groups
• Overly narrow initial setups (like tight keywords, locations, or budgets) that limit volume before you learn whether LinkedIn profile segments actually perform

This is where most tests fail, not because the channel doesn’t work, but because the setup makes learning expensive.

How LinkedIn targeting optimization works inside Optmyzr Express

The LinkedIn ads targeting for MS ads in Optmyzr Express is designed to surface exactly those gaps.

Instead of manually auditing campaigns, the optimization:

• Identifies campaigns and ad groups in Microsoft Ads that don’t yet use LinkedIn audience targeting
• Flags them as opportunities, not errors
• Lets you add LinkedIn audiences directly from one interface

Optmyzr Express highlighting ad groups without LinkedIn audience targeting

From the optimization view, clicking “Add” opens a side tray where you can choose targeting details.

Side tray showing LinkedIn audience targeting details and bid adjustment options

Choosing your LinkedIn audience type

When setting up a campaign in LinkedIn’s side tray, you’ll select one of three audience types:

• Industry: Targets people based on the industry they work in. These categories are informed in part by your account’s IAB classification.
• Company: Enables account-level targeting by reaching people who work at specific companies. Ideal for campaigns built around a target account list.
• Job Function: Focuses on the general responsibilities of a role, like IT, Finance, or Operations, regardless of title or seniority.

💡Also Read: How to Run High-Performing B2B Ad Campaigns on LinkedIn

Bid adjustments: how LinkedIn audience layers work in Microsoft Ads

After selecting a LinkedIn audience, you can adjust bids, either increasing or decreasing them by a percentage, based on how valuable that audience is to your business.

Then, you choose how tightly to apply that targeting:

1. Bid Only

With Bid Only, your ads still show to all users who meet your existing campaign criteria. The LinkedIn audience simply adjusts bids when a user matches that professional segment.

Why this matters:

• You preserve volume
• You get clean comparison data
• You can answer a simple question: Do LinkedIn segments actually perform better here?

For example, you might discover that users in the “Software” industry convert at a lower CPA, without excluding everyone else upfront.

2. Target and bid

Your ads are shown only to users who match the selected LinkedIn segment—like a specific industry, company, or job function.

You can still apply bid adjustments within that audience to prioritize key sub-groups.

This is best used when you want to focus exclusively on a defined professional audience.

Example: If you set “Industry = Finance” with Target and Bid, only professionals in Finance will see your ads. From there, you can boost bids for companies or roles that matter most.

What to do next

If you’re already running Microsoft Ads, start by identifying:

• Which campaigns and ad groups lack LinkedIn audience layers
• Where Bid Only testing makes sense before restricting delivery
• Which professional segments you can validate with data instead of assumptions

That’s exactly the gap the LinkedIn Targeting Optimization in Optmyzr Express is built to expose, turning “Should we try this?” into a measurable, reversible test.

Want to see how it works? Start your 14-day free trial with us today!