When launching a Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ad campaign, it’s tempting to focus on the creative — the visuals, the headline, the call-to-action. These elements feel like the star of the show.
But behind every successful ad lies a quieter, more technical force: your campaign settings.
These decisions — from budget structure and optimization goals to placements and attribution windows — quietly influence how your campaign performs. And if your metrics start shifting unexpectedly, the cause is often hiding here.
Wondering why your CPC spiked? Why conversions dipped overnight? Why one audience seems to dominate while others never get a chance?
Let’s dig into how Meta ads campaign settings shape your performance metrics and how to use them to your advantage.
The algorithm listens, but to what?
Meta’s delivery system is smart, but only as smart as the instructions you give it.
Your chosen optimization goal tells the algorithm what success looks like. That instruction sets everything else in motion.
If you're optimizing for clicks ("Learn more"), Meta will deliver your ads differently than if you were optimizing for conversions ("Shop now").
If you optimize for link clicks, Meta shows your ad to users who frequently click even if they rarely buy. If you choose conversions, it prioritizes users who have a history of completing purchases or leads.
Choosing the wrong objective can lead to impressive metrics but not the ones you actually need.
Here’s how to align your optimization with real business goals:
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Running a lead gen campaign? Optimize for completed forms, not traffic.
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Selling physical products? Go for purchase conversion, not just add-to-cart.
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Pushing awareness? Optimize for reach or video views, but track what users do after viewing.
Ask yourself: am I optimizing for what’s measurable or what truly moves the business forward?
Budget type: CBO vs. ABO can tilt the entire strategy
One of the earliest and most strategic decisions in campaign setup is how you structure your budget.
You have two choices:
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Advantage Campaign Budget or CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization): Meta distributes the budget across ad sets automatically.
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ABO (Ad Set Budget Optimization): you control the budget at the ad set level.
This choice directly impacts performance, especially during testing. Let’s say you're testing three audiences:
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Interest-based,
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Lookalike,
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Broad demographic.
If you use CBO (Advantage Campaign Budget), Meta might push 80% of your budget to the lookalike audience early on simply because it sees fast engagement there. That leaves the other two under-tested.
With ABO, each audience gets equal footing, and you gain clean data to decide which one actually converts best.
Here’s when to use each:
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Use ABO when:
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Testing new audiences or creatives,
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You want precise control over spending.
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Use CBO (Advantage Campaign Budget) when:
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Scaling a proven strategy,
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You trust Meta to optimize for cost-efficiency.
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Ask yourself these questions: could an underperforming audience just be underfunded? Could CBO be hiding potential winners?
Before you test with ABO or scale with CBO, make sure your targeting is on point. Our Facebook Ad Targeting 101 guide will help you set a strong foundation.
Attribution setting: the silent performance killer (or savior)
Attribution settings define how long after someone clicks or views an ad Meta should count a conversion as “influenced” by that ad.
The default setting is 7-day click / 1-day view, which means Meta will credit your campaign if someone clicks your ad and converts within 7 days, or views and converts within 1 day.
But here’s the kicker: this affects reporting, not actual performance.
For example, let's say someone sees your ad Monday, clicks it, but doesn’t buy. On Saturday, they return via Google and make a purchase.
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With 7-day click, your campaign gets the credit.
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With 1-day click, it doesn’t.
That same sale could show up or disappear depending on your attribution setting.
To avoid this, follow these attribution tips:
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Use 1-day click for fast-purchase, impulse buys,
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Use 7-day click for high-consideration products or services,
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Be cautious with view-through attribution — it can inflate results.
Ask yourself this: are your campaigns really underperforming, or is your attribution window hiding the truth?
Ad placements: automatic isn’t always optimal
Meta recommends Advantage+ placements (previously called automatic placements) to maximize reach at the lowest cost.
It’s true that this strategy often leads to cheaper impressions. But cheaper doesn’t always mean better.
Let’s say your ad shows heavily on Facebook Marketplace or Reels. You get lots of views, but low conversions. Meanwhile, the Instagram feed, where users actually engage and buy, gets far less exposure.
Here's a smart placement strategy:
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Start with Advantage+ placements to gather data,
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Monitor where conversions are coming from,
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Exclude poor-performing placements over time.
You can also create placement-specific creative — vertical for Stories, text-light for Reels, and strong visuals for feed placements.
Ask yourself this: could your low conversion rate be caused by placements that weren’t built for your message?
Also, if you're seeing traffic but no results, our article on Facebook ads not converting dives into common causes and solutions.
Audience expansion: magic lever or misdirection?
Meta allows Advantage+ Audience Expansion, which gives the algorithm permission to show your ad beyond your selected targeting.
It can be powerful, but risky.
Why? Let's say you carefully target a niche audience — for example, users who’ve interacted with your brand or visited your website. When you turn on expansion, Meta may include users with little relevance, purely to hit optimization goals. You’ll see more impressions and possibly a lower cost per result — but also fuzzier targeting and unpredictable results.
This is when you'd want to use audience expansion:
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Use it after proving your base audience converts,
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Avoid it during testing or high-precision targeting.
Ask yourself this: are you scaling smart, or just broadening your audience too soon?
Want tighter targeting before expanding? Learn how to reach micro-niche audiences with Facebook detailed targeting.
The settings stack adds up
Each campaign setting (budget type, optimization goal, attribution, placement, expansion) may seem like a small lever. But together, they form the infrastructure of your campaign.
When performance metrics go sideways — high costs, low conversions, or erratic results — the issue is often structural, not creative.
All of these settings can influence the metrics you see in your Facebook Ads Manager, so make sure you set them right.
Ask yourself:
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Am I optimizing for the right action?
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Does my budget structure support fair testing?
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Could attribution settings be skewing what I see?
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Are placements helping or hurting engagement?
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Is audience expansion useful here or risky?
If you’re not asking these questions regularly, you could be making decisions based on incomplete or misleading data. One setting might seem harmless in isolation, but when combined with others, it can cause your metrics to drift far from reality.
Final thoughts
Meta Ads aren’t just about your message: they’re about how you deliver it.
Smart targeting and strong visuals matter, but they rely on the foundation your settings provide. Without the right structure, your performance metrics may not reflect the true potential of your campaign.
When you understand the hidden influence of campaign settings, you stop guessing and start strategizing. You gain control over not just how your ad looks but how it actually performs.
The next time results surprise you, don’t just look at the ad. Look at how you set the rules of the game.
