How to Spy on Competitor LinkedIn Ads

Last month, I discovered a competitor was stealing our best customers with LinkedIn ads that looked suspiciously similar to ours. Turns out, they’d been watching our campaigns for months. Here’s how to flip the script and spy on competitor LinkedIn ads so thoroughly that you’ll know their strategy better than they do.

By analyzing their sponsored content, you can gain insights into their messaging, creative approach, and target audience, which is essential for refining your own LinkedIn advertising tactics.

Why Spying on Competitor LinkedIn Ads Gives You an Unfair Advantage

There are several ways to find and analyze your competitors’ ads. The primary method involves using LinkedIn’s own Ad Library, but you can also use other techniques for a more comprehensive view.

Method 1: LinkedIn Ad Library (Free and Surprisingly Powerful)

The LinkedIn Ad Library isn’t just transparent—it’s a goldmine that most marketers completely underestimate. It allows anyone to view and study a company’s ads, even without a LinkedIn account.

Step-by-Step: How to Use LinkedIn Ad Library Like a Pro

1. Access the Library: Navigate directly to the LinkedIn Ad Library website.

2. Search for a Competitor: In the search bar, enter the name of the competitor you want to analyze.

3. Apply Filters: Refine your search using the available filters. You can filter by:

• Keywords: To find ads on specific content themes or messages.
• Country: To narrow results to a particular geographic region.
• Timeframe: To view ads from a specific period, such as the “Last 30 days”.

4. Analyze Ad Details: Click “View details” on individual ads to examine their content, format (e.g., single image, video, carousel), and audience engagement.

Alternative Methods for Competitor Ad Analysis

While the LinkedIn Ad Library provides a powerful and convenient way to see a company’s ads, there are other effective methods to gather ad intelligence. These approaches can offer different perspectives or provide a more complete view of a competitor’s strategy.

Method 2: Company Page Ad Stalking (The Lazy Person’s Approach)

This method is a simple and free way to find a company’s ads directly on LinkedIn.

Steps to view ads on a company page:

Method 3: Third-Party Ad Spy Tools (When You Want the Full Picture)

For a more in-depth and automated analysis, third-party ad spy and analytics tools are an excellent resource. These platforms often track ads across multiple channels and provide advanced insights that go beyond what is publicly available on LinkedIn.

Some popular tools include:

• PowerAdSpy: This tool is known for its ability to analyze competitor ad copies, targeting options, and engagement metrics. It helps marketers craft highly optimized ads and can even sort ads based on likes and comments to find top-performing content.
• AdSpyder: This tool provides a multi-platform ad search and allows you to access a rich archive of real-time ad creatives. It offers features like domain-based filtering and competitor ad tracking.
• Semrush & SpyFu: While primarily known for SEO and PPC research, these tools have ad spying features that can track competitor PPC campaigns, keywords they are bidding on, and their ad performance.
• Vaizle: This free tool allows you to search for ads on Meta, Google, and LinkedIn in a single dashboard. It provides insights into recent ad creatives and can help you compare ad designs from different brands side-by-side.

What to Look for When Analyzing Competitor Ads

When you find a competitor’s ad, go beyond simply looking at the creative. Analyze these key elements to gain a competitive edge:

• Ad Formats: Are they using single images, carousels, or videos? The ad format can give you a clue about their campaign objective (e.g., video for brand awareness, carousel for product showcases).
• Ad Copy: Examine the headline, introductory text, and overall tone. Pay attention to how they address their target audience’s pain points and what call-to-action (CTA) they use.
• Targeting Clues: While you can’t see the exact targeting settings, you can infer their audience by analyzing the ad copy and visuals. Look for mentions of specific job titles, industries, or company types.
• Offers and Landing Pages: What are they offering in the ad (e.g., a free guide, a demo, a discount)? Click on the CTA to see where it leads and analyze the landing page to understand their full marketing funnel.
• Frequency and Engagement: While LinkedIn’s Ad Library doesn’t show public engagement metrics, you can infer an ad’s effectiveness by how long it’s been running. Consistent, long-running ads often indicate a successful campaign.

Common Mistakes When Analyzing Competitor LinkedIn Ads (And How to Avoid Them)

Most marketers make the same three mistakes when spying on competitor LinkedIn ads, and it costs them real money.

• Mistake #1: Copying creative without understanding the funnel. That brilliant ad might be targeting warm leads from a webinar you can’t see. Always click through to the landing page and sign up for their email sequence to understand the full customer journey.
• Mistake #2: Assuming long-running ads are successful. Sometimes companies forget to turn off campaigns. Look for ads with multiple variations or recent creative refreshes—these indicate active optimization.
• Mistake #3: Ignoring seasonal patterns. That high-performing Q4 ad promoting year-end discounts won’t work in February. Use the timeframe filter to analyze campaigns during similar periods to when you’ll launch.

The fix? Create a simple spreadsheet tracking competitor ads over 90 days. Note changes, new creatives, and landing page updates. This longitudinal view reveals their actual strategy, not just their current tactics.

How to Turn Competitor Research Into Your Own Winning LinkedIn Ad Strategy

Collecting competitor intelligence is worthless unless you actually use it. Here’s how to transform your research into campaigns that outperform.

Start with the 80/20 analysis. Identify which 20% of competitor messaging appears most frequently across their campaigns. This reveals their core value proposition and likely their highest-converting angle. Test a variation that addresses the same pain point but from a different perspective.

Next, analyze their creative evolution. Screenshot their ads weekly and look for patterns. Are they moving from static images to video? From feature-focused to outcome-focused copy? These shifts indicate what’s working for them.

Finally, reverse-engineer their targeting. If they consistently mention ‘VP of Sales’ in ad copy, they’re clearly targeting that persona. But instead of copying their approach, target the same persona with messaging about problems the competitor isn’t addressing.

The goal isn’t to copy—it’s to compete smarter by filling gaps they’ve left open.

Beyond LinkedIn: Spying on Competitor Ads Across All Platforms

To gain a complete view of your competitors’ advertising strategy, you must look beyond a single platform. Fortunately, major ad networks and specialized tools offer ways to find and analyze ads across various channels.

• Google Ads: You can find competitor ads on Google’s network (Search, Display, and YouTube) using the Google Ads Transparency Center, which is a free tool. You can search by advertiser name or website to view their active and recent ads.
• Facebook Ads: You can use the Facebook Ad Library, a free, public database that provides transparency into competitor ads on facebook running across all of its technologies, including Facebook and Instagram. The library lets you search for ads of a specific competitor by name or keyword.
• Reddit Ads: You can get inspiration from top-performing ads in the Reddit Ads Inspiration Library. It showcases successful active ads from the past year, and you can filter them by industry, format, or objective.

In today’s competitive landscape, understanding what your rivals are doing in their advertising efforts can give you a significant edge. By exploring their sponsored content ads, you can analyze their messaging, target audience, and overall approach.

This knowledge is essential for B2B marketers looking to refine their advertising tactics, allowing you to avoid pitfalls and capitalize on successful strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

The companies winning on LinkedIn aren’t just running better ads—they’re running smarter research. Start with the LinkedIn Ad Library this week, pick three competitors, and track their campaigns for 30 days. You’ll be shocked what you discover about their strategy (and your own blind spots).