How to Connect LinkedIn Ads to Looker Studio
Trying to show the value of your LinkedIn campaigns often means spending too much time exporting CSV files from Campaign Manager. If you want to build a truly useful marketing dashboard, you need to pull that data into a tool like Google’s Looker Studio. This article covers three practical methods for connecting your LinkedIn Ads account to Looker Studio so you can start building reports that actually tell a story.
We’ll walk through using a third-party connector, the manual CSV upload process, and a middle-ground approach using Google Sheets. Each method has its own pros and cons, from fully automated (but paid) to completely free (but time-consuming).
Why Connect LinkedIn Ads to Looker Studio?
Before jumping into the “how,” it’s worth quickly touching on the “why.” The native analytics inside LinkedIn Campaign Manager are decent for a quick check-in, but they have limitations. Your campaign data lives in a silo, separate from your other marketing channels.
Pulling your LinkedIn Ads data into Looker Studio unlocks a few key benefits:
Unified Dashboards: Combine LinkedIn performance metrics with data from Google Analytics, Google Ads, your CRM, and other channels. This gives you a complete, cross-channel view of your marketing funnel.
Custom Visualizations: Go beyond the standard charts offered by LinkedIn. In Looker Studio, you can create custom tables, scorecards, time series charts, and calculated fields tailored to your specific campaign KPIs.
Automated &, Shareable Reports: Once set up (especially with a connector), your dashboards refresh automatically. This saves you from the weekly grind of manually pulling reports. You can easily share a live dashboard link with stakeholders, ensuring everyone is looking at the same up-to-date information.
The Challenge: No Native Connector
If you head to the Looker Studio connector gallery looking for a direct "LinkedIn Ads" connector provided by Google, you won't find one. Unlike Google's own products (Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console), most third-party platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram require a go-between to get their data into Looker Studio.
This means we need to get a little creative. Luckily, there are a few well-established ways to bridge this gap.
Method 1: Using a Third-Party Connector (The Easiest Way)
The most straightforward and reliable way to connect LinkedIn Ads to Looker Studio is by using a third-party connector, often called a "partner connector." These are services built specifically to pull data from platforms like LinkedIn and pipe it directly into Looker Studio.
Companies like Supermetrics, Power My Analytics, and Funnel.io offer robust connectors that handle all the technical heavy lifting for you. While they typically require a paid subscription, the time you save often justifies the cost.
Step-by-Step Guide:
Choose a Connector: In a new Looker Studio report, click "Add data." In the search bar at the top of the connector gallery, type "LinkedIn Ads." You'll see several options from different partner developers. Do a little research to find one that fits your budget and feature needs.
Authorize Your Accounts: Once you select a connector, you'll be prompted to authorize two things. First, you'll need to grant it access to your LinkedIn Ads account by logging in with your LinkedIn credentials. Second, you’ll need to authorize it with the Google account you use for Looker Studio.
Configure Your Data Source: After authentication, the connector will present you with configuration options. You can usually select:
The specific Ad Accounts you want to pull data from.
The fields (metrics and dimensions) you need for your report, such as Spend, Clicks, Impressions, Conversions, Campaign Name, Date, etc.
Other options like conversion windows or report settings.
Connect and Create: Once you've configured your settings, click the "Connect" button in the top right corner. Looker Studio will then show you a screen with all the fields available from your connection. Click "Create Report" to add this new data source to your dashboard and start building charts.
Pros and Cons
Pros: Fully automated, requires no manual work after initial setup, pulls data in near real-time, very reliable.
Cons: Requires a paid subscription, which might not be justifiable for very small businesses or single-user needs.
Method 2: Manual CSV Upload (The Free But Tedious Way)
If you’re on a tight budget or only need to create a one-off report, you can always handle the process manually. This involves exporting your data from LinkedIn Campaign Manager as a CSV file and then uploading it directly to Looker Studio using its "File Upload" connector. It’s free but requires you to repeat the process every time you want to update your data.
Step-by-Step Guide:
Export from LinkedIn Campaign Manager: Log in to your LinkedIn advertising account. Navigate to the campaigns, ads, or specific breakdown you want to analyze. Be sure to select the correct date range and configure the columns to include all the metrics (Spend, Impressions, Clicks) and dimensions (Campaign Name, Ad Group Name) you'll need.
Click the 'Export' Button: Once your view is set up, click "Export" and choose to download it as a CSV file. Save it somewhere easy to find on your computer.
Use the File Upload Connector: In Looker Studio, choose "Add data" and search for the "File Upload" connector.
Upload Your CSV: Click "Click to upload files" and select the CSV you just downloaded from LinkedIn. Looker Studio will process the file, and once the status shows as "Uploaded," click "Connect" in the top right.
Check Your Fields: On the next screen, Looker Studio will show you the fields it found in your file. Take a moment to verify the data types are correct. For example, ensure that Spend is recognized as a Currency, Date is a Date, and metrics like Clicks and Impressions are Numbers. Adjust if necessary.
Add to Your Report: Once you're happy, click "Add to Report" to begin using the data.
Pros and Cons
Pros: Completely free, requires no extra tools or subscriptions, gives you full control over what data is exported.
Cons: Highly manual and time-consuming, dashboard is not 'live' (it's a static snapshot), prone to human error, impossible to blend with live data from other sources.
Method 3: Using Google Sheets as an Intermediary (A Smart Middle Ground)
This hybrid approach offers a great balance between automation and cost. Instead of a direct Looker Studio connector, you use an Add-on within Google Sheets to pull in your LinkedIn Ads data. Then, you connect Looker Studio to that Google Sheet.
The benefit here is that many connector tools offer Google Sheets add-ons with more generous free tiers or lower-priced plans than their direct Looker Studio connectors. The sheet can be set to refresh automatically, giving you a pseudo-live data source without the higher cost.
Step-by-Step Guide:
Install a Google Sheets Add-on: Open a new Google Sheet. Go to Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons. Search for a tool that can connect to LinkedIn Ads (Supermetrics is a popular choice here). Install it for your Google account.
Pull Your Data into the Sheet: Once installed, launch the add-on from the Extensions menu. A sidebar will typically appear. Follow the prompts to connect and authorize your LinkedIn Ads account.
Build Your Query: Select your account, choose your date range, and pick the metrics and dimensions you want to pull. Execute the query, and the add-on will populate your spreadsheet with the data.
Schedule an Automatic Refresh: The best part of this method is automation. In the add-on's settings, look for an option to "Schedule refresh." You can set it to update the data daily or even hourly, keeping your Google Sheet continuously current.
Connect Looker Studio to Google Sheets: Now, go back to Looker Studio and add a new data source. This time, choose the "Google Sheets" connector.
Select Your Spreadsheet: Find the Google Sheet you just created. Choose the correct worksheet within the file. Make sure to check the option to "Use first row as headers."
Connect and Build: Click "Connect" to finish the setup. Your Looker Studio report is now powered by an auto-refreshing Google Sheet, giving you a nearly live dashboard without the high cost of a direct connector.
Pros and Cons
Pros: More affordable than direct connectors, automated data refreshing, allows you to clean or manipulate data in the Google Sheet before it reaches your dashboard.
Cons: A bit more complex to set up initially, adds another layer (the spreadsheet) that could potentially have issues, data refresh might not be as instant as a direct connection.
Getting Started with Your LinkedIn Ads Dashboard
Once your data is flowing into Looker Studio, the fun begins. Here are a few ideas to get your dashboard started:
High-Level KPIs: Start with scorecards at the top of your report for key metrics like Total Spend, Total Impressions, Clicks, Click-Through Rate (CTR), and Cost Per Result.
Performance Over Time: Use a time series chart to track performance week-over-week or month-over-month. You can plot metrics like clicks and spend on the same chart to spot trends.
Campaign and Ad Breakdowns: A simple table is often the most effective way to see exactly which campaigns or ads are performing best. Sort it by your most important metric, like Cost Per Conversion or CPA, to see your winners and losers at a glance.
Use Blended Data: If you have other data sources like Google Analytics 4 connected, create a blended data source to see how LinkedIn traffic behaves on your website and track its path to conversion.
Don't be afraid to experiment. The whole point of getting your data into a tool like Looker Studio is to make it easier to explore and find insights you'd miss in the native platform.
Final Thoughts
Connecting your LinkedIn Ads data to Looker Studio transforms your reporting from a boring manual chore into an automated, insightful process. Whether you opt for a premium third-party connector, the free manual CSV upload, or the clever Google Sheets method, you can build a centralized dashboard that reveals the true impact of your campaigns.
Of course, there’s an even simpler way. Instead of piecing together reports in Looker Studio, we designed Graphed to do the heavy lifting for you. You can connect your LinkedIn Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify, and dozens of other sources in just a few clicks. Then, just ask questions in plain English, like "Show me my best performing LinkedIn campaigns last month," and Graphed instantly builds the dashboard for you, keeping everything updated in real-time.