Facebook Ad Limits Per Page
According to Facebook, “running too many ads at once can hurt performance”. Generally, when a Page runs too many ads at the same time, fewer ads exit the learning phase and more budget is spent before the delivery system has an optimized performance. To clarify, “learning phase” is the stage where the delivery system is exploring the best way to deliver your ad set. And your ads need to exit this learning phase to amplify results for your desired objectives.
Based on Facebook’s internal study, they found out that each ad doesn’t produce good results when an advertiser runs too many ads at once. This is why the social media giant implemented an ad limit per Page on running ads and ads in review. The new rule aims to maximize ad performance, which is excellent for both advertisers and Facebook.
When an advertiser creates so many ad versions for a single product, only a few of them pass through the learning phase, and the rest go live before the system can optimize their performance. As a result, the advertiser spends a considerable chunk of their budget on ads that will not deliver. For Facebook, “the more, the merrier” is not efficient anymore. Ads that are not optimized don’t bring results and only clog the system.
Why Running Too Many Ads Doesn’t Work
After years of studying relevant data, Facebook found out that running too many ads simultaneously doesn’t produce the results they expect.
The number of active ads on your Page affects each ad’s performance. Each time an ad is served on the user’s end, Facebook’s delivery system learns more about the audience demographics, giving them better insight into who, where, and what time they will show your ad. When the ad is shown often, it provides the delivery system with an idea of boosting the ad’s performance.
When you create so many ads at once, it gives the delivery system not enough time to evaluate them before they are shown on the platform. Ads that are not optimized may perform poorly, which leaves a bad experience for both advertisers and Facebook users.
Facebook found out that 4 out of 10 running ads fail to exit the learning phase, a stage where the delivery system is still examining the ad. This issue happens when an advertiser runs too many ads simultaneously.
Allocation
With the new ad limit policy in place, Facebook aims to improve ad performance. The number of ads allocated per Page depends on the Page’s average ad spending.
Advertiser Size Ad Limits Per Page
| Small to medium sized Pages
(advertising <$100K in their highest spending month*) |
250 ads
|
| Medium to large sized Pages
(advertising $100K to $1M in their highest spending month*) |
1,000 ads
|
| Larger Pages
(advertising $1M to $10M in their highest spending month*) |
5,000 ads
|
| Largest Pages
(advertising >$10M in their highest spending month*) |
20,000 ads
|
* Since September 2019. (Updated on 25 January 2021 to reflect changes we’ve made to ad limit tiering date ranges.)
Since its rollout, Facebook advertisers already notice the new policy’s positive impact. To check for your ad limit, you can go to your Ads Manager account.
Best Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Ads
Testing new creatives is a critical marketing strategy for any business. However, it would help if you found the balance between quantity and quality to ensure that Facebook’s delivery system will have enough time to evaluate each ad.
Reducing ad volume is better than running thousands of low-quality ads at once. To get the most from the allocated ad volume, follow these simple tips:
1. Combine ad sets. Combining ad sets can help get your ads to exit the learning phase sooner.
- Combine ad sets and use Breakdowns to report on results for each audience.
- Combine ad sets into larger geographical areas if you target small geographic regions.
- Combine ad sets and set multiple languages in a single ad set if you’re creating separate ad sets for different languages.
- Use Segment Asset Customization (currently in beta with API support only) if advertising with unique creative per location.
- Combine ad sets and use automatic placements and asset customization if creating different ad sets for different placements.
2. Decrease ads per ad set. Testing which ads perform better is a good move. However, it will be best to do this in replicable and more effective ways.
- Use a split test to determine which ad performs better before you scale. The split test is more accurate in weighing future performance than scaling.
- Limit the number of creatives to a maximum of 6 per ad set.
- Use multiple text optimization for testing multiple text variants. Facebook found out one ad with numerous text optimization is more effective than numerous ads without multiple text optimization.
- Use dynamic creative for testing multiple creative variants.
- Use dynamic formats for testing multiple formats.
3. Use Facebook Business solutions for high ad volume. These solutions use fewer ads while promoting the entire product catalog.
- Use store traffic objective to drive your customers to various physical store locations.
- Use dynamic ads if advertising many products to the same audience.
- Use real estate ads for advertising real estate properties.
- Use automotive inventory ads to promote the cars you sell.
4. Turn off ads that don’t perform. Ads that are not doing well still count against your ad limits.
How Does Facebook Ad Limit Affect Your Business?
If the number of ads you do per month is just within the threshold, this new policy will not impact you negatively. In fact, you should see increased results if you follow best practices.
However, if you love creating so many ads without considering their performance, now is the time to be more cautious on how to spend your ad limit. Your goal is to create just enough ads that can pass through the learning phase of the delivery system of Facebook. If you do this, you have nothing to worry about.