5 Easy Ways To Improve Your Facebook Ad Relevance Score in 2023

The Facebook we know and love today is more than a social network—it’s an advertising playground for brands of all sizes and advertising budgets. With its intuitive ad manager tools and over 2 billion active monthly users, Facebook provides brands an unparalleled opportunity to reel in your target audience.

But if your Facebook ads aren’t performing well, you might as well be throwing handfuls of time and money into oblivion. So in this guide, we’ll explain how to improve your Facebook ad relevance diagnostics [formerly your ad’s Facebook relevance score] with five expertly crafted tips for success.

Facebook Relevance Score replaced with Facebook Ad Relevance Diagnostics

Until 2019, you used to see something called a “Facebook Ad Relevance Score”—a single measure of how well Facebook expected your advertisement to resonate with the target audience. Your Facebook Ad Relevance Score was measured on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest rating.

There was just one problem—no one really understood what went into calculating this score. No clear criteria existed to define a four as a four or a seven as a seven. The system was murky at best, and it didn’t have the optimizing effect Facebook had hoped for (seriously, Meta loves optimizing advertisements).

Now, instead of seeing a single relevance score for your ad, Meta offers three different grades:

• Quality Ranking
• Engagement Rate Ranking
• Conversion Rate Ranking

Facebook determines these rankings by comparing your ad to those of your peers pursuing the same audience in each category.

Not only are these metrics a vital indicator of how your ad is delivered (Facebook shows low-ranking ads less often), but they also determine the price you’ll pay for the ad (well-designed ads have a lower cost per action).

How to use Facebook Ad Relevance Diagnostics

Ever since Meta decided to sunset the Facebook Relevance Score, marketers have a much better understanding of the factors that go into making a high-ranking Facebook ad.

Here’s a breakdown of each ad relevance diagnostic and how it works:

Quality ranking

Your quality ranking is arguably the most critical of the three. Each of your Facebook ads has its own unique quality ranking score, which Facebook defines using two indicators:

• how your target audience reacts to your ad
• the quality of your post-click experience

Facebook looks for audience behaviors to determine positive or negative reactions. For example:

• Do people bother to click on your ad?
• Do people opt to hide your ad?
• Is your ad clickbait?
• Do people get the post-click experience they expected?

Your quality score will fall somewhere between below average and above average. If you find yourself stuck in the “below average” category, it may be time to reassess your creative ad strategy and post-click experience.

Engagement rate ranking

An ad doesn’t do anyone much good if it doesn’t move your audience to action. Engagement refers to how likely people are to interact with your ad through actions like:

• Clicks
• Shares
• Likes
• Saves
• Comments
• Video views

But Facebook is transparent that not all actions are created equally. So, meaningful interactions, such as thoughtfully crafted comments, carry more weight than a measly little like.

If you fall into the “below average” ranking category for engagement, you’ll need to test out some new creatives or rethink your target audience.

Conversion rate ranking

Facebook’s conversion ranking metric evaluates how likely people are to take action after clicking on your ad, such as signing up for a newsletter or filling out a lead generation form. Your success in this category has a lot to do with what you’re selling, as some products and services are a harder sell than others.

If your landing page experience isn’t up to snuff or you’re not clear on your target audience’s intentions, you might be facing a buyer journey breakdown. Ensure your sales funnel is set up for success and that you understand your target audience’s needs before crafting your next ad.

5 easy ways to improve your ad relevance rankings on Facebook

If you aren’t meeting your Facebook ad campaign goals, then it’s time to audit the foundational vessel carrying your ad strategy forward for holes.

The problem could be your:

• Creative assets [ad copy, photos, videos, graphic design]
• User experience [CTA, landing page, website or app performance]
• Target audience [audience parameters, audience intentions]

These five tips are designed to tackle common problems with poorly performing Facebook ads, so get your pencils ready—you don’t want to miss this part.

1.   Respect each ad placement’s unique dimensions.

This tip is HUGE for boosting your Quality Ranking in ad relevance diagnostics.

Facebook offers several options when it comes to where your ads might appear. For example, viewers might find it on their story, in the marketplace, or on their news feed—which is bad news if you’re not optimizing your ad appropriately for each placement.

Each possible placement has different visual pixel measurements:

• Square for ads or posts (1080 x 1080 pixels)
• Landscape for link posts (1200 x 628 pixels)
• Portrait for stories (1080 x 1920 pixels)

You’re behind the ball if you aren’t already creating each ad in these three formats. Use the Facebook ad placement customization feature to create a customized version of each ad placement.

2.   Use audience insights to improve targeting accuracy.

Facebook ads offer thousands of possible audience parameters. Take advantage of these to create targeted audience segments for your ad campaigns.

For instance, you can target users based on self-reported life events. You could appeal to users one year after marriage, three months after a new purchase, or based on indicators like interest or net worth.

If you have a database of existing customers, you can upload their data to get “lookalike” audiences based on your parameters. Facebook ads also allow you to target engagement audiences, or people who have already interacted with your page for leads with a lower cost per acquisition.

Finally, consider where users are along your marketing funnel to narrow down your audience along the way. Start broad and zoom in as they get closer to the bottom of your funnel so you can increase the possibility of qualified leads.

Don’t forget to employ exclusionary audiences across ad sets to prevent users from seeing ads from a previous stage (this will save you money!)

3.   Step up your ad copy game.

No matter how eye-catching your visuals may be, your Facebook ad copy still matters. Once viewers get a taste of the small but mighty copy on your ad, it can make or break their impression of your brand.

Invest the time to craft creative and compelling copy that speaks to your target audience on an emotional level and highlights a clear value proposition. Consider what each audience segment values most and talk to them in an authentic brand voice that exemplifies your values.

But beware—don’t try to squeeze too much into one tiny ad. Instead, zoom in on one single benefit per ad and practice brevity so your readers don’t lose interest.

4.   Keep ads fresh to prevent ad fatigue.

No matter how visually stunning, witty, or unique your ads may be, people will eventually get tired of looking at them. But never fear—this presents you with a powerful opportunity to conduct a little research on your ad relevance diagnostics data.

Marketers are constantly putting on their scientist caps, and there’s no better laboratory to test ideas on your audience than Facebook. Take advantage of the need to fight ad fatigue by testing ad copy and image variations to improve relevance and engagement rates.

Do some A/B testing as you update your ads, monitor which ones perform best, and phase out low-performing ad features along the way.

5.   Rethink your call-to-action (CTA) strategy.

Your CTA tells users precisely what they should do next, whether it’s visiting your website, downloading an ebook, or watching a video. Make sure your CTA is clear and concise so it stands out against the rest of the copy.

You’ve got three different text boxes to work with when deciding where to place a CTA—your main text, headline, and link description. Use action verbs in all three places and squeeze in multiple CTAs to encourage readers to take action every step of the way.

If you include CTAs in your ad image, use contrasting colors to make your CTA button really pop off the page.

Some of our favorite short and sweet CTA formulas:

• Claim your free trial
• Sign up now
• Start free
• Download ebook
• Start saving

There’s a lot more expertise where that came from.

Facebook ads are a complex beast, but you don’t have to fight this battle alone. Enter Hey, a digital ad agency creating brands that thrive across digital platforms.

Our digital media advertising experts are fueled by the power of creativity to make meaningful connections on touchpoints like Facebook and beyond. Contact us today to talk about how we can help you exceed expectations for your next Facebook ad campaign and move your business forward.