If a member's ad settings allow us to serve them ads off LinkedIn, that will require we collect personal data from others in order to “find” the member on third-party sites and apps and serve them a personalized ad. To do this we work with these eight ad exchanges (as of December 2024):
Types of other parties and data they provide:
| Source | Data | Use | Retention by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions | Related LinkedIn Ad Setting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ad exchanges | Ad bid request data (“RTB” data), including IP, device information, time, cookie or mobile ad id, publisher info Ad view and click data | To “find” the relevant LinkedIn member on the sites and apps of others To determine our bid for the ad auction | 90 days | Ads off LinkedIn |
| Data provider (outside the Designated Countries) | User identifiers (e.g., IP, user agent, cookie or mobile advertising IDs) | To infer the presence of relevant LinkedIn members on sites and apps of others To serve ads off of LinkedIn To measure, report and improve ads effectiveness | 90 days | Ads off LinkedIn Advertiser Data for Ads - for retargeting Measure Ad Success - for conversion tracking |
If your settings allow us, we will use data received from advertisers and try to compare it with data that LinkedIn has about its members in order to find a “match.” If we are able to find a match, and if your settings allow, we will use that match to show you an ad from that advertiser (retargeting) and/or calculate whether an ad that LinkedIn showed you resulted in a measure of success with that advertiser (e.g., you bought a product, or attended their event, etc.).
| Data Type | Description and Use | Retention by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions | Related LinkedIn Ad Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn Insight Tag | The LinkedIn Insight Tag refers to a small piece of code (JavaScript) that LinkedIn makes available to its advertisers to add to their websites. Subject to the members’ ad preferences, LinkedIn uses this data: • To measure and report on the effectiveness of ads • For retargeting campaigns for that specific advertiser • To improve LinkedIn models that optimize ad performance | LinkedIn removes members’ direct identifiers within seven days to make the data stored by LinkedIn pseudonymous. This remaining pseudonymized data is then deleted within 180 days. | Advertiser Data for Ads - for retargeting
Measure Ad Success - for conversion tracking |
| Contact Lists | LinkedIn advertisers can send lists of hashed emails, names or mobile ad IDs to LinkedIn, directly or through an authorized third-party acting on their behalf. Subject to the members’ ad preferences, LinkedIn uses this data to show that advertiser’s ads to the members it matches to the list. | 30 days with respect to contact lists (e.g., hashed emails), rolling 90 days for audiences created based on the contact lists (if not actively used by the customer) | Advertiser Data for Ads - for retargeting |
| LinkedIn Conversions API | Using our Conversions API, LinkedIn advertisers can send their marketing data (user identifiers such as hashed email addresses or other contact list information) to LinkedIn, directly or through an authorized third-party acting on their behalf. Subject to the members’ ad preferences, LinkedIn uses this data: • To measure and report on the effectiveness of ads • For retargeting campaigns for that specific advertiser • To improve LinkedIn models that optimize ad performance | Email addresses are hashed; data is deleted within 180 days. | Advertiser Data for Ads - for retargeting
Measure Ad Success - for conversion tracking |
| CRM data | Advertisers, whether directly or through an authorized third-party acting on their behalf, can also share their customer relationship management (CRM) or equivalent data with LinkedIn. Subject to the members’ ad preferences, LinkedIn uses this data: • To measure and report on the effectiveness of ads • For retargeting campaigns for that specific advertiser • To improve LinkedIn models that optimize ad performance | CRM data is automatically purged within 30 days of CRM sync disconnection or connection failure. Data is deleted within 12 months, unless it is modified by the advertiser. | Advertiser Data for Ads - for retargeting
Measure Ad Success - for conversion tracking |
Advertisers may also provide this data to LinkedIn as a “seed” and ask us to create an ad audience of LinkedIn members that have similar professional attributes and/or engaged in similar ways (e.g., clicked on the ads and/or “converted” by visiting the advertiser site or making a purchase from the advertiser after seeing their ad) with similar ad campaigns to the members in the seed audience. Depending on the similarities sought by advertisers, these lookalike audiences may be called predictive audiences or audience expansion. The “Advertiser Data for Ads” setting controls our use of the seed data from advertisers, and the respective first party data settings (e.g. “LinkedIn activity data”, “Job Information”, “Employer”, etc.) or third party conversion setting (“Measure ad success”) control the use of similar attributes or activity to add lookalike members to the audience.
For LinkedIn members in the Designated Countries, seed data from advertisers is processed by LinkedIn under the GDPR legal basis of consent which can be controlled by the “Advertiser Data for Ads” setting. The “LinkedIn activity data” and “Measure ad success” settings also rely on members’ consent and profile data (e.g. “Job Information”, “Employer” etc.) is processed under the GDPR legal basis of legitimate interests.
You can access your ad settings to review and control LinkedIn’s use of this data for personalized ads at any time.
