Definition
What is professional profile targeting?
Professional profile targeting is a Microsoft Advertising option that adjusts the bid on an ad according to the company, industry or job function a person has declared on their LinkedIn profile. It removes no one from delivery: you pay more when the profile matches your buyer. It thereby crosses the intent expressed in a search with the declared professional identity.
Three dimensions and a bid adjustment
Microsoft's documentation describes three dimensions drawn from the LinkedIn profile:
- the company, such as a specific organization name;
- the industry, such as finance or media;
- the job function, such as sales, accounting or purchasing.
The targeting is set at the campaign or ad group level, on Search, Dynamic Search, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max campaigns. Each target carries a bid adjustment. Reach stays broad: the budget shifts, within the same volume, toward people whose profile matches.
Microsoft states that it is the only advertising platform, outside LinkedIn, to offer this targeting.
What a market test gains
On a search engine without this reading, a market test tells you how many people searched for your category in a territory. With professional profile targeting, it can tell you whether those people are buyers, engineers, students or competitors. That is the difference between a volume and a signal.
Microsoft's lower search volume then becomes an advantage for testing: advertising competition is less dense, and the cost of a click is generally lower for the same query.
The limits to know
- The lists are not exhaustive. Not every company, industry and job function is available. Check in your account before building a plan.
- 10,000 companies per list. Since September 30, 2026, a targeting or exclusion list accepts up to 10,000 companies, up from 1,000.
- Europe is excluded. LinkedIn data does not cover users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. A test in France or Switzerland cannot rely on this targeting.
- The function, not the title. You reach purchasing, not the purchasing director. The missing precision is made up through keywords and the message.
Fictional example: an industrial parts manufacturer tests Ontario on Microsoft Advertising. It first notes the buyer's job function in its last twenty won deals: purchasing comes up most often. It sets a single dimension, the purchasing function, with an upward bid adjustment.
After six weeks, it reads the results by function rather than as an average. Enquiries from purchasing cost more per click, but they lead to quotes. Those from engineering cost less and produce none. The average would have hidden that gap.
We first list the industries and job functions in your last twenty won deals. That definition of the buyer already exists in your sales system, and it is worth more than a persona drafted in a workshop.
We then set a single dimension at the start (job function or industry), with location targeting set to presence. We read results by dimension: an average cost per enquiry does not tell you whether the market contains your buyers.
Not to be confused with
- Declared targeting
- Declared targeting is the general principle: choosing an audience from what people have declared, as in LinkedIn Ads, where the ad is shown only to the chosen audience. Professional profile targeting applies that principle to Microsoft Advertising search ads: the query triggers the ad and the profile only adjusts the bid.
- Interest targeting
- Interest targeting rests on observed behaviour. Professional profile targeting rests on an attribute the person declared themselves.
Related concepts
- Declared targeting
- Microsoft Advertising
- LinkedIn Ads
- Presence targeting
- First market signal
- Floor budget of a market test
- B2B buying group
- Performance Max
Further reading
- Microsoft Ads for B2B: how to test a new market
- LinkedIn marketing: when should you invest in content and ads?
- Google Ads location targeting: setting up a market test
- How much advertising budget do you need to test a new market?
- How to generate B2B leads in a new market
Related services
Frequently asked questions
Can we target a specific job title?
No. The targeting works on job function, not title: you reach purchasing rather than the purchasing director. The missing precision is made up through keyword choice and the ad's message.
Does this targeting reduce the number of people who see our ads?
No. Each target carries a bid adjustment: your budget shifts toward people whose profile matches, within the same search volume. Others can still see the ad.
Does it work for a test in France or Switzerland?
No. Microsoft states that LinkedIn data excludes users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. A test in those markets has to rely on other signals.
