Exclusions: keep companies and job titles out of every LinkedIn campaign
One exclusion list for all your LinkedIn campaigns: companies by website, customers and competitors added automatically, your own company always, and job titles that take spend without engaging.
Exclusions is one list of companies and job titles that none of your LinkedIn campaigns should reach. IntentBid writes it into every active or paused campaign in your ad account, adds new campaigns automatically and checks the list every day. Open it from LinkedIn Ads → Exclusions.
You need LinkedIn Ads connected. Until then, the page shows example exclusions.
What gets excluded automatically
| Group | Where it comes from | Can you turn it off? |
|---|---|---|
| Your own company | Your profile | No, always excluded |
| Customers | Companies with a won deal in your CRM | Yes |
| Competitors | The competitors in your profile | Yes |
Customers and competitors are on by default. To manage competitors, see Add competitors. Customers need a connected CRM; see Pipeline & revenue attribution.
Exclude companies
- Under Companies, type one or more websites, for example
acme.com, partner.io. Separate them with commas or spaces. - Click Exclude.
- IntentBid finds each company's LinkedIn page. The list shows LinkedIn page matched when it's found, or matching… while it's looking.
Use it for partners, agencies, investors, suppliers, or accounts sales has asked you not to advertise to. To bring a company back, click Include again.
You can also exclude a company from its company page or from Account engagement.
A company without a LinkedIn page can't be excluded on LinkedIn; the summary after applying tells you how many couldn't be matched.
Exclude job titles
- Under Job titles, search LinkedIn's job titles, for example Student, Recruiter or Intern.
- Click + next to the title you want.
Suggestions below the search come from your job titles report: titles that took at least 200 impressions in the last 90 days without a single click. Each shows its impressions; click it to exclude.
Before excluding a suggested title, check that it isn't on your buying committee. Economic buyers and IT or security reviewers often don't click but still matter. For a fuller method, see Job title and seniority reporting on LinkedIn.
Apply
Changes go to LinkedIn right away. To push the whole list again, click Apply to all LinkedIn campaigns now. The status line shows how many companies and job titles are excluded in how many campaigns, and when they were last applied.
IntentBid only manages the exclusions it added. Exclusions you set yourself in Campaign Manager stay as they are, and removing a company here only removes IntentBid's exclusion.
Exclusions vs. other controls
| Control | Scope | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusions | Every LinkedIn campaign | Companies and titles that should never see your ads |
| Spend Guard | One campaign | Per-campaign savers: Audience Network, expansion, juniors, schedule |
| Account caps | Every campaign that reaches the company | How many impressions a company may get per day |
A daily cap of 0 also stops ads to a company, but Exclusions makes the reason clear and applies everywhere. Use Exclusions for "never", and caps for "not too much". See Spend Guard and Set daily account caps on a list.
FAQ
Do exclusions apply to new campaigns?
Yes. The list is checked every day and written into every active or paused campaign, including new ones.
Can I exclude a company from one campaign only?
Use the campaign's own targeting in the LinkedIn campaign step, or set a cap of 0 for that company inside the campaign. Exclusions are for every campaign.
Why is a customer still seeing ads?
Customers come from won deals in your CRM, matched by website domain. If the deal's company has no domain, or the company's LinkedIn page couldn't be matched, it can't be excluded. Add it by hand with its website.
Does excluding companies shrink my audience too much?
It can on small lists. LinkedIn needs a minimum audience before a campaign can serve. If a campaign stops delivering, add job functions or seniority levels.