When to Use Advantage+ Audience

So, I am generally a supporter of Advantage+ Audience. That said, I do not use it in all cases, but when I do, I am consistent. That is what I am asking you to do as well. Know why you are using it or not using it, rather than relying on general assumptions about how it works or whether it performs well.

There are weaknesses in Advantage+ Audience, and when to use it or not should depend on whether those weaknesses impact your results. To make that decision, let's first discuss how it works.

Advantage+ Audience is now the default targeting option. Any custom audiences, lookalike audiences, or detailed targeting inputs are considered targeting suggestions. Meta will supposedly look at them and prioritize them, but for the most part, you are throwing things at the wall and hoping that Meta pays attention. Even gender and age maximums are suggestions.

If you set your audience to only target men, it can still target women if the algorithm finds results there. If you set a maximum age of 54, it can go beyond that if it determines better results can be found. Additionally, the highest age minimum you can set with Advantage+ Audience is 25. Essentially, you are not really setting any guardrails.

There is minimal control when using Advantage+ Audience. Meta prioritizes conversion history, pixel data, and prior engagement with your ads, which results in a lot of built-in remarketing. This can be an advantage because it gives the algorithm flexibility to find results for you, especially when optimizing for purchases.

However, it can also be a problem. There are very few guardrails to prevent the algorithm from exploiting weaknesses to get you more results. The issue is not that Advantage+ Audience gets you fewer results, but that it gets you more results that may not be relevant. The algorithm wants to please you based on the performance goal you define, which means it will get you the action you request, regardless of quality.

Switching to original audiences does not always fix this. If you optimize for conversions, detailed targeting and lookalike audiences are automatically expanded. If you optimize for link clicks or landing page views, those detailed targeting inputs are also expanded. There is no clear evidence that your detailed targeting inputs are respected more when using original audiences if those audiences are expanded.

There are, however, specific problems that switching to original audiences can solve. If you are getting optimized actions from people outside of your preferred age limit, this could be an issue. The age maximum is a suggestion in Advantage+ Audience, but it is a fixed constraint in original audiences. Similarly, if you are getting optimized actions from people below your preferred age minimum, the highest age minimum for Advantage+ Audience is 25, whereas original audiences have no such restriction.

Another case where you might use original audiences is for retargeting. Custom audiences are only suggestions in Advantage+ Audience, but with original audiences, you can prevent expansion. While I would not recommend remarketing in the way we used to do it, I still use it sometimes and switch to original audiences when I do.

If you are optimizing for anything other than conversions, such as link clicks, landing page views, through plays, or engagement, original audiences may also be the better option. These types of optimizations tend to result in lower quality outcomes, but sometimes you have no other choice. Without guardrails, the algorithm will exploit every possible weakness to get you the action you want. These actions will often be low quality. By switching to original audiences and preventing audience expansion, you can use detailed targeting to set proper guardrails.

If you are optimizing for purchases, I encourage you to use Advantage+ Audience. While it does not guarantee great results, the problems highlighted here do not apply when optimizing for a purchase. You and the algorithm both want purchases, so it will not exploit weaknesses to get you low-quality conversions.

If you are optimizing for any other type of conversion, such as a lead or another action, the decision depends on your results. Use Advantage+ Audience, but monitor the quality of your conversions. Look at whether conversions are coming from people you cannot serve due to Advantage+ Audience issues. You can check this by breaking down results by gender or age to see if there is a concentration of results in groups that are not relevant. Then, determine if switching to original audiences would fix the issue.

If you are optimizing for anything else, such as top-of-the-funnel actions, use original audiences. Even though I do not typically recommend optimizing for these actions, if you must, treat your targeting like it is 2017. Clearly define your audience with detailed targeting, age, and gender constraints. Do not allow the algorithm to go off script.

The bottom line is to know why you are using Advantage+ Audience or original audiences and have a plan. Advantage+ Audience does not automatically lead to worse results. It should provide better results, but the question is about the quality of those results. That question only applies in certain circumstances, so have a clear reason for switching between the two approaches.