Understanding LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters [In-Depth Guide]

LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s advanced search filters are one of the most powerful features in all of LinkedIn and easily the biggest reason sales teams upgrade from the free version.

If you’ve ever felt limited by LinkedIn’s basic search, these advanced filters change everything.

With 50+ precision filters, you can instantly find decision-makers, spot in-market accounts, uncover hidden opportunities, and build perfectly targeted lead lists in minutes. Making it ideal for sales and marketing teams looking to level up their outreach.

But here’s the catch:

Most users barely scratch the surface of what these filters can actually do. And if you don’t understand how Sales Navigator Advanced Search Filters work, you’ll miss out on the real magic:

Laser-focused prospecting, higher reply rates, and predictable outbound results.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What are LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters and how do they work?
• 5 Main types of advanced search filters
• Why you need to define your ideal customer profiles and buyer personas before using Sales Navigator
• Using ICP + BP + Sales Navigator search filters with Expandi
• 3 Real examples for using Sales Navigator advanced search filters to find your target audience

If you want to stop guessing, stop scrolling endlessly through profiles, and start finding qualified buyers on demand, this is the guide you’ve been looking for.

Key Takeaways

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters give you 50+ ways to filter both people (leads) and companies (accounts).
• The most powerful results come from layering Lead Filters + Account Filters + Spotlight Filters. This way, you’re not just targeting job titles, but also company growth, tech stack, and real buying intent.
• Your ICP (ideal customer profile) guides which account filters to use (industry, headcount, growth, technologies used), while your buyer personas guide which lead filters to use (job title, seniority, function, activity).
• Use Spotlight filters (viewed your profile, changed jobs, posted recently, following your company) to prioritize warm, high-intent prospects and boost reply rates.
• For scalable outreach, combine Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters with an automation tool like Expandi to scrape searches, build ICP-based segments, and run hyper-personalized sequences safely.

What Are LinkedIn Sales Navigator Search Filters And How Do They Work?

LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters are the backbone of its prospecting power.

Unlike LinkedIn Basic Search, which gives you limited, surface-level filtering, Sales Navigator offers precision filters that let you identify the exact people and companies that match your ICP and buyer personas.

The number of filters you get depends on your exact LinkedIn account type, but Sales Navigator offers 50+ advanced search filters, with around 30+ filters for leads and 15-20+ for accounts.

These advanced filters fall into four main categories:

1. Lead Filters (for finding specific people)

These help you target individuals based on:

• Job titles
• Seniority
• Function/department
• Experience
• Geography
• Groups and shared connections
• Activity & intent signals (posted recently, viewed your profile, following your company)
• And more

2. Account Filters (for finding the right companies)

These help you target entire organizations based on:

• Industry
• Headcount
• Growth rate (company or department)
• Annual revenue
• Funding rounds
• Technologies used
• Hiring activity
• Headquarters location
• And more

3. Spotlight filters (LinkedIn’s built-in intent signals)

These highlight leads or accounts showing high-engagement, such as:

• Viewed your profile
• Changed jobs recently
• Following your company
• Mentioned in the news
• Recently posted
• Shared experiences

According to LinkedIn, prospects in your spotlights are 64% more likely to reply to InMail messages.

4. Workflow Filters (lists, personas, CRM data)

These refine searches based on your saved or synced assets:

• Saved leads
• Saved accounts
• Account lists
• Lead lists
• Personas
• People or companies in your CRM (Advanced Plus)

Great for segmenting your existing pipeline and building highly personalized outreach sequences.

Together, these filters allow you to go from broad industry targeting to laser-focused lists of high-intent prospects.

Why these Sales Navigator filters matter

Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters help you:

• Eliminate unqualified leads quickly
• Find buyers with real intent signals (recent activity, job changes, following your company, etc.)
• Identify fast-growing companies with higher likelihood of buying
• Personalize messaging at scale
• Build smarter, more accurate outreach campaigns
• Use with LinkedIn automation tools like Expandi

Put simply:

If you want to generate a predictable pipeline from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator’s Advanced Filters are the most powerful targeting tool in your arsenal.

How LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters Work (5 Main Filter Types)

Before you start stacking filters, it’s important to understand the logic behind how Sales Navigator processes them.

Here’s a breakdown of the mechanics that influence your search results:

1. Boolean Logic: AND, OR, and NOT (even when not visible)

Sales Navigator uses a combination of AND/OR logic depending on the filter type.

AND logic (most filters)

When you select multiple filters, Sales Navigator returns leads who match all of those criteria.

Example:

• Industry = SaaS
• Seniority = Director
• Geography = United States

→ Results include ONLY U.S.-based SaaS Directors.

OR logic (specific multi-select filters)

Some filters automatically include OR logic.

Example:

• Selecting Seniority = Director + VP

→ Results include Directors OR VPs.

NOT logic (hidden but applicable)

Removing keywords or excluding industries (via “NOT”) refines results.

Example keyword search:

• “marketing” NOT “intern”

→ Targets marketing roles excluding interns.

Pro tip: You can also use the same Boolean logic search filters within the free version of LinkedIn. But naturally, Sales Navigator offers more advanced targeting.

2. Lead filters vs. account filters (two-layer filtering)

This is where many users misunderstand Sales Navigator.

Lead Filters = WHO to contact

Filters applied at the individual profile level, such as:

• Job title
• Function
• Seniority
• Years of experience
• Group membership
• Activity signals

Account Filters = WHERE to contact

Filters applied at the company level, such as:

• Headcount
• Growth
• Revenue
• Technology used
• Hiring trends

When combined, Sales Navigator filters allow you to target specific people working inside very specific types of ideal customer persona.

Example:

“Marketing Directors at SaaS companies with 20%+ annual headcount growth.”

3. Spotlight filters (high-intent signals)

Spotlights are behavioral and activity-based filters that reveal leads most likely to reply.

Examples include:

• Viewed your profile
• Changed jobs recently
• Following your company
• Posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days
• Mentioned in news
• Shared experiences

Spotlights dramatically increase response rates because you’re prioritizing warm buyers over cold contacts.

Think of them as the “ready to talk” layer of your ICP.

4. Saved lists, alerts & dynamic updating

Sales Navigator searches are dynamic, meaning:

• When a prospect switches jobs → they appear or disappear from your list.
• When a company hits a growth threshold → they get added automatically.
• When someone follows your company → they appear in Spotlight filters.

This is why Sales Navigator is far more powerful than static lead lists or basic scraping tools.

5. Filter stacking for maximum precision

High-performing Sales Navigator users stack filters such as:

• Industry + Seniority + Activity
• Company growth + Job title
• Technology + Geography + Intent signals
• Account list + Persona filter
• Group membership + Posted recently

Stacking filters trims thousands of results down to the exact 1-5% who are worth contacting.

Why You Need ICPs and Buyer Personas Before Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters

Before you jump into using Sales Navigator, it’s important to know WHO you’re targeting first.

The search filters become powerful only when you already know:

• WHO you want to target → your buyer persona.
• WHICH companies they work in → your ideal customer profile (ICP).

Without defining these first, you’re just guessing.

Here’s the difference.

A short recap on ICP and buyer persona:

ICP gives you a hypothetical description of your perfect customer and their characteristics that match up to your product/service’s use cases. 

On the other hand, buyer personas map out who your exact customers are. For example, their age range, job title, habits, location, and pain points. 

If you’re using a LinkedIn automation tool like Expandi for outreach, understanding ICP and buyer personas (BP) is essential to making the most of the tool. For example, you can run laser-focused LinkedIn and Sales Navigator search filters to scrape and reach out to the perfect prospects without second-guessing or wasting your time pursuing the wrong leads. 

Now, here’s how to use each practically speaking.

How ICPs influence Sales Navigator search filters

ICPs determine which account-level filters you should apply.

For example, if your ICP includes:

• Growing companies → Use company headcount filter
• Companies scaling GTM teams → use job opportunities (marketing, SDR, sales)
• Companies using certain software → Use technologies used.
• Companies expanding in specific regions → Use headquarters location.

Example ICP:

“Companies that grew by 15% in the last year and started recently hiring SDRs”

Sales Navigator filter stack:

• Industry = SaaS
• Headcount = 50-200
• Company headcount growth = 10-20%
• Job opportunities = sales development rep
• Headquarters = North America

How buyer personas influence Sales Navigator

Buyer personas determine which lead-level filters you should apply.

They let you filter individuals by:

• Role and function
• Seniority
• Years of experience
• Groups they’re in
• Activity signals
• Whether they’ve engaged with your brand

This enables personalization at scale, instead of sending generic, spray-and-pray messages.

Example buyer persona:

“RevOps managers who are actively posting about sales productivity.”

Filters:

• Title = Revenue Operations
• Function = Operations
• Seniority = Manager / Director
• Posted on LinkedIn = Last 30 days
• Mentioned in news = Past 90 days
• Following your company = Yes
• Geography = US / EU

Using ICP + Buyer Persona + Sales Navigator Search Filters With Expandi

Once you define ICP & BP, you can:

• → Build precise SN searches
• → Scrape them directly into Expandi
• → Run hyper-personalized campaigns automatically

Here’s what this looks like in practice:

1. Build your SN search using ICP + persona filters
2. Save and copy the search URL
3. Import it into Expandi
4. Set up a smart campaign and personalize templates based on:
   1. Company growth
   2. Job change
   3. Mutual groups
   4. Tech stack
   5. Recent posts
   6. Shared experiences

This eliminates manual guesswork and gives you a predictable system for finding AND converting prospects.

3 Real Examples of Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters (Based on ICP & Buyer Personas)

Once you’ve defined your ICP and buyer personas, LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters become a targeting superpower.

Below are practical Sales Navigator tips and tricks you can copy for different business models.

Each example shows which Advanced Filters to combine, why they work, and how to plug them into Expandi for automated outreach. Depending on who you’re trying to target.

Note that the filters will heavily depend on your target audience, offer, and overall solution. But here are some general examples.

Example #1 – lead generation agencies (finding high-intent prospects)

Lead gen agencies need decision-makers who are active, growing, and likely to invest in outbound or inbound services. Sales Navigator’s Advanced Filters make this fast and predictable.

Here’s one way to target them using LinkedIn Sales Navigator search filters.

Lead Filters

• Job titles: “Head of Growth”, “Marketing Manager”, “Demand Gen Manager”
• Seniority: Manager → VP
• Groups: growth marketing, B2B SaaS marketing, demand gen
• Posted on LinkedIn: last 30 days
• Mentioned in news: last 90 days

Account Filters

• Industry: SaaS, Professional Services, IT
• Company size: 11-200
• Headcount growth: 10-20%
• Job opportunities: SDR, Marketing
• Technologies used: HubSpot, Salesforce

Why this works:

These companies are growing, investing, and have active marketing teams – your highest-intent targets. 

That said, the final search filter might look something like this:

• Industry: SaaS / IT Services
• Company size: 11-200
• Company headcount growth: 10-20%
• Job opportunities: Marketing / SDR roles
• Titles: “Head of Growth” OR “Marketing Manager”

Example #2 – SaaS companies (targeting revenue & sales teams)

If you sell to SaaS companies, especially sales tools for revenue teams, sales ops, or SDRs, Sales Navigator’s Advanced Filters make it easy to find accounts that:

• Are actively growing
• Are hiring GTM roles
• Use the tech stack your product integrates with
• Show buying intent signals

Here’s how to build the perfect Sales Navigator search for SaaS sales teams.

Lead Filters (WHO you want inside each company)

Job Titles:

• “Revenue Operations Manager”
• “Sales Operations Manager”
• “Head of Sales Enablement”
• “Sales Manager”

Seniority:

• Manager → VP

Function:

• Operations
• Sales
• Business Development

Activity Signals:

• Posted on LinkedIn: last 30 days
• Mentioned in news: last 90 days
• Viewed your profile
• Following your company

Groups:

• RevOps Co-op
• SaaS Growth
• Sales Operations Leaders

Account Filters (WHICH SaaS companies to target)

Industry:

• Software
• Information Technology
• Internet
• Computer Software

Company Size:

• 50-500 employees (ideal for paid SaaS tools, coaching, outbound services, etc.)

Headcount Growth:

• 10-30% YoY

Technologies Used:

• Salesforce
• HubSpot
• Outreach
• Gong
• ZoomInfo

For more info on technologies used, see our full guide on AI sales tools.

Job Opportunities:

• Sales
• SDR / BDR
• RevOps
• Marketing

Headquarters/region:

• Depends on your audience. But typically English-speaking countries work best (US, UK, etc.).

Why this works:

SaaS companies with recent growth, new job openings, and modern GTM tools are the most likely to:

• Adopt new sales tech
• Add new tools for process optimization
• Or invest in outbound / lead gen services

Finally, the Sales Navigator filter stack might look something like this:

• Industry: Software, Information Technology
• Company size: 50-500
• Company headcount growth: 10-30%
• Technologies used: Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Gong
• Job opportunities: Sales, SDR, Revenue Operations
• Titles: “Revenue Operations Manager” OR “Sales Operations Manager” OR “Head of Sales Enablement”
• Seniority: Manager, Director, VP
• Posted on LinkedIn: past 30 days
• Mentioned in news: past 90 days
• Geography: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands

Example #3 – Recruitment agencies (finding companies actively hiring)

Recruiting agencies typically need companies that are actively hiring, growing, or restructuring.

Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters make these signals easy to spot. 

Especially when agencies want to reach HR teams or leadership who actually buy recruiting services.

Below is the best high-intent filter combo for recruiters.

Lead Filters (WHO inside the company makes hiring decisions)

Job Titles:

• “Talent Acquisition Manager”
• “Recruiting Manager”
• “HR Director”
• “People Operations Manager”
• “Head of Talent”

Seniority:

• Manager → Director → VP

Function:

• Human Resources
• People Operations

Activity Signals:

• Posted on LinkedIn: last 30 days
• Mentioned in news: last 90 days (awards, expansion, restructuring)
• Viewed your profile
• Following your company

Groups:

• HR Professionals Worldwide
• Talent Acquisition Leaders
• People & Culture

Account Filters (WHICH companies need hiring support right now)

Industry:

• Tech
• Healthcare
• Professional Services
• Manufacturing
• Financial Services

Company Size:

• 200-1,000 employees (mid-market companies hire often but rarely have full in-house recruiting capacity)

Headcount Growth:

• 15-40% YoY (companies that lack hiring infrastructure)

Job Opportunities:

• Engineering
• Sales
• Operations
• Customer Success
• More job openings = more recruiting pain.

Department Headcount Growth:

Target whichever roles your agency specializes in:

• Engineering
• Sales
• Marketing

Recent Activities:

• Leadership changes (new VP of HR = new hiring strategy)
• Funding raised
• M&A activity

Headquarters/region:

• US / Canada / UK / EU (ideal depending on where you place candidates)

Why this works:

Recruitment agencies perform best when they target companies experiencing fast growth, high hiring volume, and new teams being built.

These companies WANT recruiting help because internal HR teams are overwhelmed or nonexistent.

Spotlight + hiring + growth filters = predictable client pipeline. 

The final search filter here might look something like this:

• Industry: Technology, Healthcare, Professional Services
• Company size: 200-1,000
• Company headcount growth: 15-40%
• Job opportunities: Engineering, Sales, Operations
• Department headcount growth: Engineering OR Sales
• Titles: “Talent Acquisition Manager” OR “HR Director” OR “People Operations Manager”
• Seniority: Manager, Director, VP
• Recent activities: Funding, Leadership changes
• Posted on LinkedIn: last 30 days
• Geography: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany

FAQ: LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters

Wrapping up

You now have the full guide to LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Advanced Search Filters. Covering how they work, which filter types matter most, and exactly how to combine them for maximum targeting precision.

The next step?

Use these filters in a system that consistently books meetings.

This is where Expandi comes in.

With Expandi, you can:

• Scrape any Sales Navigator Advanced Search in one click
• Build dynamic ICP & persona-based segments
• Personalize outreach using job changes, tech stack, group activity & more
• Run fully automated LinkedIn sequences safely and at scale

If you want predictable results from Sales Navigator Expandi, might be the missing piece to take your outreach to the next level.

See if Expandi is right for you and claim your free, 7-day trial here!