# How to see a competitor's LinkedIn ads

> LinkedIn's free Ad Library shows ads any company has run. How to search it, what you can see and how B2B teams use it for research.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-10-22
- **Category**: Competitor research
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-guides/how-to-see-competitor-ads-on-linkedin

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LinkedIn has a free Ad Library that lists ads companies have run on LinkedIn. Search a company or a keyword, and open any ad to see its text, image or video and its details.

## Steps

1. Go to [linkedin.com/ad-library](https://www.linkedin.com/ad-library).
2. Search by **company or advertiser**, by **payer** or by a **keyword** that appears in ads.
3. Narrow by **country** and **date** if you want a specific market or period.
4. Click an ad to open its detail view.

## What you can see

- The ad itself: copy, headline, image or video, and call to action
- The advertiser and who paid for it
- For ads targeted to the EU, extra detail: the dates the ad ran, estimated impressions and the main targeting parameters

## What B2B teams learn from it

| Look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Offers | Demo, free trial, report download, webinar |
| Message themes | Cost savings, risk, speed, compliance |
| Formats | Document ads, video, single image, thought leader ads |
| Repeats | Ads that run for months are likely working (run dates show only for EU-targeted ads) |

## A worked example

You sell payroll software in India. You search three rivals. Two run "free payroll audit" offers with document ads. The third runs only brand videos. You test a document ad with a checklist download, an offer two of three rivals already back.

## Limits

- Outside the EU, there are no run dates, impressions or targeting details.
- Ads stay listed for one year after their last impression, and the library only holds ads that ran after 1 June 2023 (LinkedIn's help page, checked 2026-10-20).

## FAQ

### Is the LinkedIn Ad Library free?

Yes. LinkedIn says anyone can explore it, with or without a LinkedIn account (checked 2026-10-20).

### Can I see who an ad targeted?

Only partly, and only for ads targeted to the EU. Elsewhere, targeting is not shown.

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- [More Competitor research articles](https://marxx.ai/library-guides/category/competitor-research)
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