The LinkedIn Conversions API lets your website's server send conversions to LinkedIn, alongside the Insight Tag that runs in your visitor's browser. When the Insight Tag gets blocked, the server copy still reaches LinkedIn, so the lead or sale still counts toward the campaign that earned it.
Most of what you'll find about the LinkedIn Conversions API is written for CRMs and data tools, where the conversions come from a sales system after the fact. On a WordPress site, the conversion usually happens right on the site (a form entry, a booking, a checkout), so your site can send it the moment it happens. I built this into Conversion Bridge for 1.17, and LinkedIn has a few rules you won't run into with Meta or Google Ads, so the LinkedIn Conversions API setup works a little differently.
What the LinkedIn Conversions API does
The Insight Tag is LinkedIn's browser code. It loads on your pages and reports conversions from the visitor's browser. That works until an ad blocker, a browser privacy setting, or a company firewall stops it, and LinkedIn is the platform where that last one comes up most, since a lot of your audience is browsing from a work laptop on a work network.
The Conversions API is the server version (I wrote a plain-language explainer on what a Conversions API is if you want the background for every platform). When someone fills out your form, your site sends that conversion to LinkedIn directly, with a few details LinkedIn uses to match it to the person who clicked your ad.
In LinkedIn's Conversions API beta study of 829 campaigns, advertisers saw 31% more attributed conversions and a 20% lower cost per action. That's LinkedIn reporting on its own product, so I'd treat it as a sign of direction more than a promise, but the reason behind it is real: LinkedIn can only optimize toward conversions it hears about.
Conversion Bridge sends LinkedIn conversions from any of its 76 WordPress plugin integrations, including form plugins, booking plugins and stores. See the LinkedIn Ads page for the full picture, or server-side tracking for every platform Conversion Bridge sends from the server.
Why it matters most for B2B lead gen sites
LinkedIn ads tend to run to lead gen sites: agencies, software companies, consultants and B2B services, where the conversion is a demo request, a quote form or a booked call. Those conversions are fewer and worth more than a typical store sale, so each one that goes missing has a bigger effect on what LinkedIn's bidding learns.
If you build sites for clients who run LinkedIn ads, this is one of the easier wins to add to a site. The form is already there, and the conversion is already being tracked in the browser. The server copy just makes sure LinkedIn hears about it.
Getting a LinkedIn Conversions API access token
The first thing you need is an access token, which is the password your site uses to send conversions to your LinkedIn ad account. LinkedIn lets you create one right in Campaign Manager without building a developer app:
- In Campaign Manager, go to Signals manager, then Direct API.
- Generate an access token for your ad account.
- Paste it into the Conversions API Access Token field in Conversion Bridge's LinkedIn settings and save.
I went with a pasted token instead of a "Connect to LinkedIn" button on purpose. LinkedIn's sign-in tokens for apps expire after 60 days, and only approved partners get a way to renew them automatically, which would mean your tracking stops every couple of months until you reconnect. The Direct API tokens from Campaign Manager don't have that problem.
If your token can see more than one ad account, fill in the Ad Account ID too. Otherwise Conversion Bridge fills it in for you the first time you use it.
LinkedIn wants two conversions for every action
LinkedIn wants one conversion rule per source, which is where it works differently from Meta or Google Ads, where the browser and server copies report to the same conversion. The Insight Tag reports to one conversion in Campaign Manager, and the Conversions API reports to a separate conversion created for the API. So a "Demo request" on your site needs two conversions in LinkedIn: the one your Insight Tag already uses, and a server-side twin.
That's easy to get wrong by hand, so Conversion Bridge does it for you. Once your access token is saved, every LinkedIn Conversion ID field gets a Choose from LinkedIn link, including the fields inside supported form plugins and page builders:
- Pick an existing conversion and Conversion Bridge creates its server-side twin, named the same with "(server)" on the end, and attaches it to the same campaigns.
- Create a new conversion and Conversion Bridge creates both at once. By default they're attached to all your campaigns (LinkedIn caps this at 200), or you can untick that and attach them yourself.
The campaign part matters because a LinkedIn conversion only counts toward campaigns it's attached to. A server-side twin that isn't attached to your campaign would record conversions that never show up in that campaign's results.
One rule to know: a conversion is only sent server-side when it has a twin, and the twin can only be set up through Choose from LinkedIn. If you have a conversion you created by hand and never picked through Conversion Bridge, it keeps working through the Insight Tag, and it just isn't sent from the server.
How LinkedIn avoids counting a conversion twice
When both the Insight Tag and your server report the same conversion, LinkedIn matches them on an event ID and counts it once. When both arrive, LinkedIn keeps the Insight Tag's copy and drops the server copy. When only the server copy arrives (because the tag was blocked), it counts on its own.
Conversion Bridge gives both copies the same event ID. For an order, it's built from the order number. For a form entry or any other conversion, it's a unique ID created for that event in the browser, which the server copy carries too.
What your site sends to LinkedIn
LinkedIn has to match each server-side conversion to a LinkedIn member, so every event carries something to match on:
- The LinkedIn click ID (li_fat_id) from the ad the visitor clicked, when there is one. Conversion Bridge saves it in the visitor's conversion journey, which keeps it for up to a year, longer than LinkedIn's own 30-day cookie.
- The visitor's IP address. LinkedIn hashes this itself, and it only accepts IPv4 addresses.
- With Enhanced Conversions turned on, the visitor's email address and name, hashed on your server before they're sent. LinkedIn only uses the name when it has both a first and last name.
- The conversion's value and currency, when it has one.
If a conversion has nothing LinkedIn could match on (no click ID, no email or name, and an IPv6 address), Conversion Bridge skips it and writes a note to its log, rather than sending something LinkedIn would reject.
It's also worth turning on Enhanced conversion tracking for your Insight Tag in Campaign Manager (it's under Signals manager → Insight Tag settings, and it's on by default for new tags). That lets the tag save the click ID in a first-party cookie on your site. The LinkedIn Ads doc has the steps.
Consent and cookie banners
If you use a supported cookie banner, the server copy only goes to LinkedIn after the visitor accepts marketing cookiesA small piece of data stored in a user’s browser that helps websites remember user activity, preferences, or sessions across visits., or LinkedIn on its own if your banner lists it separately. Sending from the server isn't a way around a visitor who said no.
Checking that it works
LinkedIn's Conversions API doesn't have a test mode, so every conversion you send while testing is real. A few ways to check it:
- In Campaign Manager, look at the server-side twin conversion. Its status changes once LinkedIn starts receiving events for it.
- The Health screen under Settings → Conversion Bridge → Tools shows any event LinkedIn rejected, with the reason.
- The Pixel Helper & Tag Inspector Chrome extension shows the server-side sends next to the Insight Tag while you test your own forms.
Keep in mind that LinkedIn only counts conversions from people it can tie to an ad click or view, so a test from your own browser without clicking an ad may not show up in campaign results even when the send worked.
Is the LinkedIn Conversions API worth it?
If you run LinkedIn ads to a WordPress site, I think it is. The setup is a token and a few clicks per conversion, and the server copy only fills in for conversions the Insight Tag misses, so there's no downside to running both. For lead gen sites, where every demo request counts, it's one of the more useful things you can add.
The LinkedIn Conversions API is part of Conversion Bridge 1.17, alongside the Insight Tag and Enhanced ConversionsEnhanced conversions send customer details, like email and name, usually hashed, so ad platforms can match more conversions to the people who saw your ads.. Read the LinkedIn Ads setup guide.
Happy tracking!
