How to Search for Companies on LinkedIn

Looking for a specific company on LinkedIn - or a list of companies that fit a certain profile - is more than just a search function, it’s a powerful tool for your career and business. Whether you're a job seeker mapping out your next move, a salesperson building a prospect list, or a founder analyzing your competition, mastering this skill is essential. This guide will walk you through everything from basic searches to advanced filtering strategies that turn LinkedIn into your personal business intelligence platform.

Getting Started: The Basic LinkedIn Company Search

Let's start with the fundamentals. If you already know the company you're looking for, finding its page is straightforward. The real power comes from understanding what to do once you’re there.

1. Navigate to the search bar at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Type the name of the company (e.g., "Miro" or "Canva").
3. As you type, LinkedIn will suggest results. You can either click the suggestion or press Enter.
4. On the results page, click the "Companies" filter button to see only company pages that match your search.

Once you land on a company page, you have a wealth of information at your fingertips. Take a moment to look at the different tabs available:

• Home: A general overview, recent posts, and company highlights.
• About: This is where you find the company’s mission, size, headquarters, industry, and specialties. It’s perfect for getting a quick snapshot.
• Posts: A feed of all the content the company has shared. Pay attention to what they post, how often they post, and the engagement they get.
• Jobs: A list of all current job openings posted on LinkedIn. You can set up job alerts for specific companies here.
• People: An incredibly useful tab showing where employees live, where they studied, and what they do. You can see how many employees you're connected to, making it a great tool for finding an inside contact.

Unlock Pro-Level Results with Search Filters

Here’s where you go from simply finding a known company to discovering new ones. LinkedIn’s search filters let you build highly specific lists of companies based on your exact criteria. Imagine asking LinkedIn to show you "every marketing agency in London with fewer than 50 employees that’s currently hiring." You can do that.

To start, go to the search bar, enter a broad keyword related to your search (like "saas," "healthcare," or "e-commerce"), press Enter, and then click the "Companies" filter. From there, click the "All filters" button to open up a world of options.

Finding Companies by Location

Whether you're looking for a local job or targeting a regional market, the location filter is your best friend. You can search by country, state, city, or even metropolitan area.

Example Use Case: You're planning to move to Denver and want to find potential employers in the tech space. You can filter for companies in the "Denver, Colorado, United States" location to start building your target list.

Narrowing Down by Industry

This is probably the most used and most valuable filter. LinkedIn categorizes companies into dozens of industries, from "Computer Software" and "Marketing and Advertising" to "Hospital & Health Care" and "Renewable Energy."

Example Use Case: A B2B salesperson who sells compliance software to financial institutions can filter for the "Financial Services" and "Banking" industries to generate a focused list of potential customers.

Finding the Right-Sized Company

Company size tells you a lot about its culture, work environment, and potential needs. Are you looking for the agility of a startup or the structure of a large enterprise? The company size filter lets you target organizations based on their number of employees, ranging from "1-10" to "10,001+."

• 1-50 employees: Typically startups and small businesses.
• 51-500 employees: Often growth-stage companies and established small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
• 501-10,000+ employees: Mid-market and large corporations.

Example Use Case: A recent graduate interested in working for a fast-growing startup might filter for companies with "11-50 employees" to find companies that are likely expanding but still have a tight-knit culture.

Identifying Companies with Connections

A "warm" introduction is always better than a "cold" one. LinkedIn lets you filter for companies where you have 1st-degree connections (people you're directly connected to) or 2nd-degree connections (people connected to your connections). Seeing that a friend or former colleague works at a company you're interested in gives you an immediate inroad.

Example Use Case: You've identified a list of 50 target companies. Before reaching out blindly, you can apply the "1st degree" and "2nd degree" connection filters to see which ones you have networking potential with first.

From Searching to Strategy: Putting It All Together

Knowing how to use the filters is one thing, knowing why you’re using them is another. Here’s how to apply these search skills to common professional goals.

For the Savvy Job Seeker: Building Your Target Company List

Don't just browse the "Jobs" feed and wait for something to pop up. Proactively build a list of companies you’d love to work for. Define your ideal employer and use filters to find it.

Let's create a real-life example list: "I want to work as a product manager for a sustainability tech company with 50-200 employees, based in the United States, that is currently hiring."

Your search filters would look like this:

• Keywords: sustainability technology
• Industry: Renewables & Environment
• Locations: United States
• Company size: 51-200 employees
• Jobs on LinkedIn: Yes (check the box)

This search will give you a curated list of companies that match your dream job criteria. Now, you can follow each company, set job alerts for them, and start networking with their employees.

For Sales Reps and Founders: Creating a High-Quality Prospect List

For sales, the quality of your lead list determines your success. LinkedIn is the ultimate tool for building an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on firmographics.

Let’s say you sell HR software to German manufacturing companies:

• Keywords: manufacturing
• Industry: Machinery, Industrial Automation, Plastics
• Locations: Germany
• Company size: 201-1000 employees

The result is a targeted prospect list. From there, you can visit each company’s page, use the "People" tab to identify HR directors or VPs of Operations, and begin your personalized outreach. This is infinitely more effective than cold calling a generic list.

For Marketers: Sizing Up the Competition

Staying on top of what your competitors are doing is a huge part of marketing. Use the company search to perform a quick competitive analysis.

Imagine you run marketing for a B2B SaaS startup:

1. Search for your main known competitors by name and analyze their pages. What kind of content are they posting? How often? What's their messaging in their "About" section? How fast are they growing in employee headcount?
2. Use your industry keyword (e.g., "project management software") and filters to discover new or emerging competitors you weren't aware of. Follow them to keep their content in your feed.

Bonus: Power-User Tricks for Finding Companies

Ready to go even deeper? A few lesser-known techniques can refine your company searches even further.

Using Boolean Search Like an Expert

You can use logical operators directly in the main search bar to get more precise results. The most common ones are:

• Quotes " " : Use quotes to search for an exact phrase. For example, "renewable energy" will only show companies with that exact phrase.
• AND: Use AND to find results that include all of your keywords. For example, searching for "marketing" AND "automation" will find companies related to both terms.
• OR: Use OR to find results that include at least one of your keywords. For example, "startup" OR "SMB" will broaden your search.
• NOT: Use NOT to exclude a certain term. For example, "software" NOT "enterprise" will find software companies while excluding those focused on large enterprises.

You can even combine them, like this: "artificial intelligence" AND (healthcare OR fintech) NOT agency.

Finding Companies Through Hashtags and Groups

Companies often reveal themselves through the conversations they participate in.

• Follow Hashtags: Follow relevant industry hashtags like #B2BSaaS, #FinTech, or #DigitalHealth. You'll see which companies are consistently posting valuable content under these tags, helping you discover active players in your field.
• Join Groups: Find and join LinkedIn Groups related to your industry or profession. Notice which companies are frequently mentioned or have employees actively contributing to discussions. This is a very organic way to discover influential companies in a niche.

Final Thoughts

Mastering LinkedIn company search transforms the platform from a simple networking site into a dynamic database for career growth, lead generation, and market research. By moving beyond the basic search bar and leveraging specific filters, Boolean operators, and activity-based discovery, you can build hyper-targeted lists for any professional goal you have.

Once you’ve identified the companies you want to connect with or learn from, the next step is managing your own presence. Keeping a consistent and compelling content schedule is vital for building your brand. To help with that, we built Postbase to make social media management feel less chaotic. With our visual calendar and robust scheduler, you can plan, schedule, and publish all your content across LinkedIn and other major platforms from one clean dashboard, letting you focus on the strategy instead of the mess.