blog post

How to import LinkedIn Ads data to Looker Studio ?

Johan Chemin
April 9, 2023
How to import LinkedIn Ads data to Looker Studio ?

LinkedIn Ad is a great way to advertise all professionals in the world! It's the number one social media for companies and freelancers. 

Looker Studio is a free dashboarding tool provided by Google that allows you to create fantastic reports based on data from multiple platforms. LinkedIn Ads included.

In this tutorial, we will see how to import your LinkedIn Ads data into Looker Studio and how to create your first report with it.

How to create a data source LinkedIn Ads on Looker Studio?

We first need to connect your LinkedIn Ads account and Looker Studio. To do so, we will use our LinkedIn Ads Looker Studio connector. It will create a data source for Looker Studio, a data source that we will use in a report to display charts with your data.

To do so:

Great, you just created your first LinkedIn Ads data source! Now let's use it in a report.

(If you want to know more about Looker Studio data sources, check this article).

Before creating the report:

You'll find the blank template report to copy and follow this tutorial with on this link.

If you already know how to create a report, you can find the complete template here and instructions on how to copy it with your data source at the end of this article.

How to create a report with my LinkedIn Ads data source?

You have 2 options here. You can take the blank template link and follow the tutorial with it. Or create your own report from scratch.

To do so: click the Create report button at the top right from the data source previously created. Looker Studio now creates a report where you are the owner and contains your data source. You'll find more information about the report interface on this page.

Metrics and dimensions

Now, I need to choose the essential KPIs. On my LinkedIn Ads, I'm primarily interested in the leads to my website. I want to know how many people saw one of my ads and became a visitor and how much it cost me.

Here's the list of metrics I will use:

  • Cost in Local currency -> What does it cost me?
  • Impressions -> How many times were my ads shown?
  • Approximative unique impressions -> How many people see one of my ads? (the equivalent of reach in LinkedIn Ads).
  • Click -> How many clicks on my ads?
  • One Click Leads -> How many leads were generated?
  • Landing Pages Views -> Number of times someone visits my website.
  • Cost per Lead -> What a single lead costs me?
  • Lead Conversion rate -> What percentage of people clicked on ads and became a lead?

And the breakdown I want to see:

  • Campaign -> to have the performance of the campaign.
  • Ad Creative -> to check what are the best-performing ads.
  • Job Seniority -> to know where people come from.
  • And by date -> to study the overall evolution.

How to place scorecards with my metrics?

Now that we have the metrics and dimensions list let's place them in the report.

Click on Add a chart, then Scorecard. Next, click in canvas to place this scorecard, and change the metric in the configuration panel to Impressions.

Add impression Scorecard on Looker Studio
Add impression Scorecard on Looker Studio

Add a bit of style to this scorecard:

  • Increase font size.
  • Change the color label to white
  • Center the title, value, and comparison.
  • Show a 0 with empty data.
Style a scorecard in Looker Studio
Style a scorecard in Looker Studio

Now that we set up the style for one scorecard, copy and paste it. You will keep the style with the copy and must only change the metric in the configuration panel.

Copy Scorecard and set up other metrics.

I will create calculated fields for the Cost per Lead and Leads Conversion Rate like this : 

  • Go to change the metric for a scorecard.
  • Instead of selecting a metric, click Add a calculated field.
  • Enter the formula.

Formula for Cost per Lead: "SUM(cost in local currency)/SUM( One Click Leads)

Formula for Lead Conversion Rate: "SUM(One Click Leads)/sum(Clicks)"

Create a calculated field in Looker Studio
Create a calculated field in Looker Studio

And to finish this section, we will align and rename the scorecard so it looks good:

  • Place the 2 top scorecards where you want them, horizontally align. Same with the 2 bottom cards.
  • Select the four left metrics and Right-clicks on it, then Vertical Align -> and left or right. Then Distribute -> Vertically.
  • Repeat for the right column.
Align scorecard in Looker Studio
Align scorecard in Looker Studio

And rename some of the metrics, so the name fits better :

Rename metrics name in Looker Studio.
Rename metrics name in Looker Studio.


How to use breakdown dimensions?

Campaign breakdown in a table:

We placed scorecards with the overall metrics. Now it's time to add more charts with our chosen dimensions.

At first, I want a simple table by campaigns with my metrics. To do so:

  • Click on Add a chart, then Table. Place the table on the canvas.
Create a table in Looker Studio
Create a table in Looker Studio
  • Choose Campaign Name for dimension in the configuration panel, and add the metrics.
Choose dimension and metrics in a table
Choose dimension and metric in a table

Add all the metrics to the table.

And finally, we will modify the style of the table:

  • Remove header background
  • Increase font size.
  • Add borders
  • And resize columns.
Add style to the table
Add style to the table

Member Seniority breakdown in pie charts:

Let's look at audiences now. A great way to display such information is a pie chart. You can quickly identify big and small audiences.

We will use the Member Seniority dimension to know the age range of our audience:

  • In Add a chart, select a pie chart and place it in the canvas.
  • In dimension, select Member Seniority. In metrics, select One-click Leads.
Add a pie chart to your report
Add a pie chart to your report

And we can modify the style easily by copying the table and pasting only the style:

Copy the style from the table
Copy the style from the table

Pie-chart does not have an automatic title. We can add one : 

Add a title to the pie chart.
Add a title to the pie chart.


Ads creative breakdown performance:

A great way to know which ads work better is to see which creative generates the most leads. Now, we already have a table for the campaign. We can re-use it:

Copy and paste the campaign table.

Change the dimension to Creative Ad Thumbnail and keep only Leads metrics.

Copy a table and add creative image
Copy a table and add creative image

Finally, change the type of the Creative Ad Thumbnail to images to display images in your report.

Change field type to URL -> Image
Change field type to URL -> Image


Add control field in the report:

Looker Studio displays the last 28 days of data in your report by default. But you can use a Date range control to modify it live:

  • Click Add a control, then Date Range Control. Place it on the canvas.
  • Modify the color of the font.
Add a date range control in your report.
Add a date range control in your report.

You can also add a selector to help viewers to filter the data. For example, a simple selector on the Campaign Type Objective can easily focus the report.

To do so: 

  • Click Add a control, then Date Range Control. Place it on the canvas.
Use a control field on your report
Use a control field on your report


Template link and copy instructions.

You can find the complete template here.

You can quickly copy it like this:

  • Clicks on the three dots at the top right, then Make a copy.
  • If you followed this tutorial, you created a LinkedIn Ads data source with our connector. Select this data source, then click copy.
Copy and use the template with your data source
Copy and use the template with your data source

And you are ready to go!

Quicksteps to create a LinkedIn Ads report in Looker Studio:

  • Use our LinkedIn Ads connector to create a new LinkedIn Ads data source.
  • Authorize Catchr and Looker Studio to fetch your data.
  • Then, select your account in the list.
  • Click Create report at the top right once your data source is created.
  • And you create a new blank report to work on.

If you need help using our connector or creating a report on Looker Studio, don't hesitate to contact us anytime on our chat!

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