Having trouble making your LinkedIn Ads work well? You’re in exactly the right place! This buying guide shares all the secrets to great ad results. A 2023 SEMrush study and 2024 ad campaign data found key stats. LinkedIn mobile users have a 0.17% click-through rate. Desktop LinkedIn users only have a 0.08% click-through rate. 65% of people use LinkedIn on their mobile devices. You’ll learn to tell fake ad models apart from high-quality ones. We cover useful tricks like device targeting, phone-first ad design, flexible layouts, and adjusting your ad bids. You get a best price guarantee, and free setup is included. Now is the time to boost your click-through rate and get more of the actions you want from ad viewers.

LinkedIn mobile vs desktop CTR

You might not realize LinkedIn users act differently based on the device they use. This changes how often people click on ads on the site. This section will look at the differences between desktop and mobile users.

General CTR data

Conflicting data on mobile and desktop CTR

Click-through rate, or CTR, data for phones and computers doesn’t match. A 2023 SEMrush study found 66% of LinkedIn users use mobile. Mobile makes up 57.2% of all LinkedIn traffic, but desktop still brings in 42.8% of visits. Mobile users have a 0.17% CTR, while desktop users have a 0.08% CTR. One bakery ran ads on LinkedIn and tested this out. It found CTRs were different for each type of device. You should always look closely at data from your own ad campaigns. This helps you find your unique CTR patterns for desktop and mobile.

Average CTR ranges for mobile and desktop

The social media industry has standard numbers to compare performance. How often people click links on posts is called click-through rate. The average rate for US LinkedIn posts is 2.2%. For tech companies, that average falls between 0.75% and 1.25%. Just remember these are only general averages, not hard rules.

Industry – specific CTR differences

CTR differences in science sector

The science industry has a unique rate of people clicking its ads. It used to struggle for a while, but has improved a lot lately. Desktop ad click rates went up 2.48 percent. Mobile ad click rates rose 4.16 percent. Lots of different things affect these rates across all industries. Two key factors are how engaged users are, and how relevant the ads are.

Historical trends

Click-through rate is how often people click ads they see. Most people call this rate CTR for short. LinkedIn feed ad CTRs have long been between 1.1 and 1.3 percent. That is way higher than CTRs for regular display ads. Display ad CTRs are usually much lower overall. These numbers have shifted as time has gone on. User habits and new ad types have both changed over time. As more people now use mobile devices to go online, ads made just for phones have gotten far more popular. This shift has affected how CTR numbers trend over time.

Factors contributing to CTR differences

On LinkedIn, click rates differ between desktop and mobile. A bunch of different things cause this gap. These include how relevant ads are, where they sit, their design, and how users act. Desktops have a totally different style of interaction. Mobile devices are built for quick taps, swipes, and other gestures. People on phones often act differently than those on desktops or tablets. Comparative Table.

Factor	Impact on Mobile CTR	Impact on Desktop CTR
Ad Placement	Different spots on a screen work better for different uses. How well each spot works depends on the screen’s size.	More options for placement due to larger screen
Ad Design	Must be optimized for small screens	Can have more detailed designs
User Behavior	On – the – go users may click quickly	Desktop users may take more time to evaluate

Want more people to click on your ads? Customize each ad and where it shows up based on the device people use. For mobile phone users, put the most important actions first. Those include easy navigation links and contact information. Key takeaways.

• People who use LinkedIn on phones or computers click links differently. Lots of different things can affect those clicking patterns.
• If you don’t know what CTR is, it’s short for click-through rate. Data specific to each industry can have an effect on it. The type of field a CTR reading comes from shapes its final value.
• You can get a better click-through rate (called CTR) on your LinkedIn ads easily. Start by looking at how your ads performed in the past. Learn what factors affect their success, and how big each effect is. Check your LinkedIn ad campaigns often. This tip comes from standard ad tracking tools used by most ad professionals. Use our CTR tool to see how your ads work on different devices. Your test results might not match what other people get. You should try out different strategies to find what works best for you and your company on LinkedIn. We have updated this section regularly starting in 2024.

Device targeting LinkedIn ads

You might not know this about LinkedIn link clicks. Click-through rate, or CTR, is how many people click a link. LinkedIn’s CTR is very different on phones vs. desktop computers. People using mobile devices have a 0.17% CTR on LinkedIn. People on desktop computers have a 0.08% CTR there. Standard industry measures say the average US CTR is 2.2%. This big gap means LinkedIn ads should be targeted by device.

Steps to optimize device targeting

Understand your audience

To use LinkedIn well, you first need to know your target audience. People interact very differently on phones vs desktop computers. Desktops have their own set of navigation patterns. Phones are built for quick taps and swipes instead. Take the travel industry, for example. 50.2% of desktop travel searches include a specific brand name. Phone searches are often spur of the moment, or for an immediate need. First, look at your old ad statistics. Figure out which device your audience uses most often. You should check conversion rates, CTR, and engagement metrics too. This will give you a better idea of where to focus your marketing work. The tool AdEspresso says you should also consider when and why your audience uses each device. A feature called Smart Bidding now uses real-time mobile context signals. These include if a user is commuting to work, at home, or anywhere else at the time.

Refine targeting

It’s time to tweak who you target with your ads. Don’t cast too wide a net with your ads. That makes them less effective overall. You can pick who sees your ads based on many factors. These include the device they use, where they live, what audience group they’re in, basic personal details, and how they’ve acted on your website before. Say you work in finance and track how well your ads do. You might notice only 0.59% of mobile users take the action you want, while 2.1% of desktop users do. That means you should probably adjust your ad targeting. If ads shown to tablet users don’t work for you, you can turn that setting off. Here’s a useful tip to try. Split your audience into groups based on what device they use. Make separate, custom ad campaigns for each of these groups. That way you can show each group more interesting, relevant content they care about. LinkedIn has its own targeting tools that work really well. They’re perfect if you want to reach a very specific group of people.

Adjust bid adjustments

Bid adjustments are a really helpful tool for targeting ads to specific devices. You can tweak your ad bids based on how well certain audience groups perform. For example, you could raise mobile ad spending by 20% to reach bakery customers who are out and about. You would lower bids for all other device types at the same time. If you aren’t getting the results you want and your ad click rate is dropping, you can adjust bids by up to 15%. Bid adjustments are both flexible and really effective. A quick pro tip: Check how your ads perform regularly, and adjust bids as needed. Watch how bid changes affect ad click rates, how often people do what you want, and total campaign costs. Use our bid adjustment tool to find the best bid for each device group. Here are the key takeaways.

• It’s really important to know how your audience uses their devices. This knowledge helps you target those people well using their own gadgets.
• You can make ads work a lot better. All you have to do is adjust who sees them. You base those small changes on the type of device a person uses.
• Bid adjustments are a really powerful tool for managing ad spending. They help you get the most out of the money you put toward ads. You can use them to adjust your spending across different devices.

Mobile – first ad creative

You might not know this little fact about LinkedIn. People using the site on their phones click ads 0.17% of the time. People using it on desktop computers click ads only 0.08% of the time. That’s a really big, noticeable difference between the two. It shows we need to design ads for phones first for digital marketing these days.

Differences in user behavior

Access preference (mobile vs desktop)

Common industry measurements show mobile and desktop searches are very different. For example, look at the travel industry. Half of all desktop travel searches name a specific brand. Mobile travel searches follow totally different patterns, per a 2023 SEMrush study. LinkedIn users also use the site on different devices. Mobile LinkedIn users check the app when they’re out and about. They might look at it while commuting or on a quick break. People using LinkedIn on desktop are usually on during work hours. They’re often doing more detailed research at those times.

Interaction modes (touch – input on mobile, other on desktop)

Phones and desktop computers work really differently. Phones use touch controls, like taps or swipes. Desktops use a mouse and keyboard instead. This difference changes how people interact with ads on each device. Mobile ads work better with big, easy-to-tap buttons and simple swipe navigation. Desktop ads do not need those touch-friendly features. They can include more interactive elements, like drop-down menus.

Screen space and content viewing

Screen space matters a lot when you view content. Space is really tight on phones and other mobile devices. That means you have to put the most important actions first. Ad designers, for example, should make key elements easy to reach. Things like navigation menus and contact info should be simple to find. Desktop ads have way more room to show detailed information. On a desktop, a marketer can share a long list of product features. But on mobile, they only focus on the three most important benefits.

Leveraging user behavior in ad design

If you want great mobile ad results, make your targeting sharp. Don’t show your ads to too broad an audience. That will make your ads less effective. Update your ads every so often. This keeps them feeling new and relevant. Ad tools say your ads should fit well with how people use phones. Think about how people act and think when they’re on their mobile devices. For example, you can adjust your ad spending if you run a bakery. Spend 20% more on mobile ads to reach people who are often hungry. You can lower your ad spending for people using desktop computers. Key takeaways.

• People who use LinkedIn on their phones click ads more often than people who use it on computers. That means you should make your ads for phone users first.
• You can easily spot the differences between desktops and mobile devices. First, their screen sizes are really different. People prefer to use each for separate types of tasks. The way you interact with each is also not the same. There are a few other small differences to keep in mind too.
• You can use how people act online to design your ads. Focus on reaching the right people, using fresh content, and adjusting your bid amounts. We have an ad calculator made first for mobile phones. Use it to figure out how well your ads are doing.

Responsive design LinkedIn

You might not know this about LinkedIn. Mobile users click on ads 0.17% of the time. Desktop users only have a 0.08% ad click rate. That difference is really big and clear. It means your LinkedIn ad campaigns need responsive design. Responsive design makes ads work well on any screen size. It’s not just about making ads look nice on phones and computers. A 2023 SEMrush study backs this up. Good responsive design directly boosts how much people engage with ads. It also raises how many people take the action the ad wants them to take.

Understanding the Mobile – Desktop Divide

LinkedIn looks really different on phones vs computers. Phones are touch-controlled, so people use taps and swipes to move around. For example, you might swipe fast through your LinkedIn feed while riding the bus. People using LinkedIn on computers usually sit still and focus more. They take extra time to read content and interact with posts. Any flexible design that works on both devices needs to keep these differences in mind. Think about how people use each device when you make LinkedIn ads. You can use larger clickable action buttons for phone users. For computer viewers, you can include more detailed information in your ads.

Industry Benchmarks and Real – World Examples

US LinkedIn ads have an average click-through rate of 2.2%. Industry benchmarks show this is a bit lower than the global average. For travel brands on LinkedIn, they show up in 50.2% of all desktop searches. Mobile searches are usually casual and for more immediate needs. It’s important to adjust your ad design for each device to match what users want. One ad company that runs LinkedIn ads looked closely at their mobile ad performance. Their mobile ads had short text, high contrast, and fun, engaging visuals. Those ads got a higher click-through rate than their desktop ads did. The company adjusted its cross-device design strategy after that. Now mobile ads have shorter, more concise messages, and desktop ads share detailed travel itineraries. Their whole ad campaign performed way better as a result.

Actionable Steps for Responsive Design

Step – by – Step:

1. Check how each of your LinkedIn ads does on different devices. You’ll look at three key stats for both desktop and mobile. These stats are CTR, or click-through rate, engagement rate, and conversion rate.
2. We use strategies approved by the Google Partner program. These make your design work well on any screen size. They also stick to all the top recommended best practices. For example, your ads will load quickly on all mobile phones. Ads that load too slowly make people leave your site right away.
3. Where you put important features matters a lot. These include navigation tools and contact information. Make these easy to find first on mobile phones. People using phones need to pull them up really fast. Key Takeaways.

• People click LinkedIn links at different rates on computers vs phones. This gap makes it really important for LinkedIn to have a layout that works on any screen size.
• Ads should fit what each person is doing on their own device. They also need to match what that person is trying to do at the time.
• Design your website using strategies backed by real data. You can also adjust it using real case studies and common industry standards. SEMrush recommends tools like LinkedIn Ad Manager. This tool helps you create and manage effective responsive ads. The best performing ad setups use dynamic content. That content automatically adjusts to work on all kinds of devices. Use our Ad Performance Calculator to learn one key thing. It will show you how responsive design impacts your LinkedIn ads.

Device bid adjustments

You might not know about bid adjustments yet. They have a huge effect on how well your campaign works. Choosing smart, planned bid adjustments is the key. That’s how you make your LinkedIn campaign a success.

Interaction with mobile – first ad creative

Bid adjustment and ad position

The bid changes you make control where your LinkedIn ad shows up. If you bid more for mobile devices, your ad will stand out more. If you’re advertising a mobile-friendly service, raise your bid. Your ad might appear at the top of the page, so more people see it. Research from SEMrush says raising mobile bids by 20% on average boosts ad views by 15%. Here’s a quick useful tip: Check where your ad appears on different devices often. If your mobile ads aren’t getting seen by enough people, think about raising bids for mobile users.

Alignment with mobile – first design

Mobile-first ads are built specifically to work well on phones. Their whole goal is to make your message feel relatable to people using their phones. You need to match your ad spending tweaks to that phone-first design. People use taps and swipes to control their mobile devices. If your ad has a button asking people to take action, make it big enough to tap easily on a phone screen. One financial services company redid its ads and adjusted spending to be more phone-friendly. They saw a 20% jump in how many people clicked their mobile ads after that. Here’s a quick pro tip: Test two versions of your mobile ads to see what works better. Start with testing the ad design first, then adjust how much you spend on each. That lets you figure out which ads land best with your phone-using audience.

Budget allocation and reach

Budgeting is really important when you adjust ad bids. Decide how much you want to spend on different devices. If your research shows mobile users are more likely to convert, you can spend more on mobile ads. For example, a bakery raised its mobile ad spending by 20% to reach customers always on the go. The bakery saw a clear jump in its number of mobile orders. Industry averages give you helpful reference points. LinkedIn’s average mobile conversion rate is between 0.59% and 2.1%. Its average desktop conversion rate is only around 0.59%. These averages help you split your budget in more effective ways. A quick pro tip: Automate bid adjustments based on each device’s performance. This will make sure your budget gets used as efficiently as possible. Google Ads Expert Tools says you should check bid adjustment performance regularly. Doing this helps you keep getting good results long-term. The best tools use advanced tracking to monitor how bid changes work across devices. Use our bid adjustment tool to see how different bids affect your campaign budget and reach. Those are the key takeaways to keep in mind.

• You can make your ad easier to see on mobile devices. All you need to do is adjust your ad bids. More people will spot your ad when they’re on their phones once you make these changes.
• Your ad designs should match adjusted bids for mobile devices. This helps you connect with people using mobile phones.
• When you set a budget for a device, use two things to guide you. First, pay attention to how well the device actually works. You should also check standard industry performance scores for similar gadgets.

FAQ

How to optimize device targeting for LinkedIn ads?

AdEspresso says good device targeting starts with knowing your audience. Look at your past ad campaigns first. Figure out which devices your target audience uses most. Think about factors like device type, people’s basic backgrounds, and where they live to refine your targeting. Split your audience into smaller groups to make custom campaigns. You can get more out of your ad budget by adjusting how much you bid for ad spots. All these steps are laid out in [Device-targeting LinkedIn ads] analyses. Following them will help your ads perform better.

Steps for creating mobile – first ad creative on LinkedIn

People who use phones act different than people on computers. Phone users are usually out and about as they browse. They tap their screens to control their device, not a mouse. Their phone screens are also way smaller than desktop ones. You should focus first on the most important user actions. These key actions include navigating pages and finding contact info. Adjust how much you spend on different ad spots regularly. Also update your ad text often to reach more phone users. Top advertising tech tools recommend these exact steps. Taking them will make your ads feel more relevant to people. They will also get more users to interact with your ads.

What is responsive design on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn uses a special design system for its ads. This design makes ads look great and work well. They work just as well on phones as they do on desktop computers. The design accounts for how people use each device differently. Phone users tap their screens to interact with content. Desktop users click with a mouse or trackpad instead. This design gets more people to engage with the ads. It lines up with real-world examples and standard industry benchmarks to do this.

LinkedIn mobile vs desktop CTR: Which is better for ad campaigns?

Formal studies looked at how people use LinkedIn. Mobile app users click on ads 0.17% of the time. That’s higher than the 0.08% click rate for people on desktop. More people use LinkedIn on their phones than desktop computers. Mobile users also act differently than people using desktop sites. Those two things lead to more total ad clicks on mobile. The desktop version has way more options for ad design and placement. Your final results might not match these numbers exactly. They can change based on your industry, audience, and the ad plan you use.