Stop Blaming Andromeda for Your Results

So if you've spent any time in advertising circles lately, you've probably heard it. Andromeda killed my results.

There's a lot of confusion and misinformation right now, and honestly, I get it. That's partly Meta's fault. When you see performance drop and things feel different, the easiest explanation is to point at the newest shiny thing and say, that's the reason.

It also helps when there's a whole lot of mystery about what that new shiny thing actually is. But let's be clear about something. The problem isn't Andromeda. The problem is that most advertisers don't even understand what Andromeda is. They've built this myth around it, like it's a completely new algorithm out to destroy results. It's not. And really, that gives Andromeda way too much credit.

So this is where the confusion starts. At its core, Andromeda is ad retrieval. Repeat it to yourself if you have to. Andromeda is ad retrieval.

The upgrade to Andromeda was necessary because of how many variations advertisers can generate from a single ad now. Advantage Plus creative enhancements, text variations, AI generated creative, and more. The prior retrieval system couldn't handle all of those variations at scale. It created a bottleneck.

So Andromeda was the solution, both for now and the future as more variations come with new enhancements and AI. Andromeda is the new ad retrieval engine. That's all it is. It helps find the right ads for the right people, and it does it more efficiently than the old system.

Because advertisers misunderstand what Andromeda is, it leads to all kinds of misinformation. They blame it for their results, and I see this kind of statement all the time. Andromeda killed my results. Spend some time on Reddit and you'll see it.

When you understand what Andromeda is, you realize this statement doesn't make any sense. They assume that because they were getting results before and everything suddenly tanked this year, the correlation must mean causation. That assumption requires believing Andromeda is something different than it actually is.

But there are countless factors that impact the performance of your ads. Your strategy, creative, budget, offer, seasonality, competition. Instead of looking at those things, advertisers blame Andromeda like it's the boogeyman. They can't explain what it did wrong, but they're certain it's the problem.

Then the misunderstanding spills over into creative diversification. This is the newest buzz phrase that even Meta is using over and over. Yes, Andromeda can handle more creative variations more efficiently. And yes, that's why Meta removed the old guidance about a six ad limit. But some advertisers took that to mean they should create 25 or 50 ads.

That might make sense for huge brands with creative teams and big budgets, but it's not a requirement. You won't get better results simply because you created more ads.

Creative diversification isn't about volume. It's about providing variety. Quality options that allow Meta to match the right message and format to the right person.

That could mean images, videos, and a carousel. Different aspect ratios. Visually unique creative. Five primary text and headline options with meaningfully different angles. Different creative for different customer types. But you don't have to do all of these things.

These are just options. It doesn't require a ton of ads. You can create a single ad that reflects the spirit of creative diversification. I'm doing this right now.

With one ad, you could use different aspect ratios across placements. Videos in some placements, images in others. A 30 second nine by sixteen video in Stories and Reels and a longer version in Feed. Five text options and five headlines. Even AI text variations, edited to match your voice.

Use format and display options to generate a carousel or collection. Related media. AI backgrounds. Advantage Plus creative enhancements. Do all of that and you've created thousands of potential combinations from a single ad.

I highly doubt that creating 25 or 50 ads helps most small or medium sized advertisers. It's a massive time commitment. It can get expensive. And more often than not, more ads means worse ads because if you need to create more, you're going to cut corners.

Here's the bottom of the glass.

Embrace Andromeda for what it is, but nothing more. It's the ad retrieval engine. It can handle more creative variation, which means you can diversify, but you don't need to drown yourself in work.

There isn't a magic number of ads. There isn't a secret method or hidden formula to please Andromeda. Andromeda is not here to kill your results. It's simply helping Meta find the best creative faster.

Lean into creative diversification, but start small. Create one ad with true variety built in. Use text variations and Advantage Plus creative smart enhancements.

Andromeda will not kill your results. It's not the boogeyman, but it also won't save bad ads. Great creative still wins. And now Meta is simply better at finding it.