If you've heard whispers (or panicked threads) about Meta changing how advertisers can target audiences - you're not imagining things. Meta has officially shifted its ads algorithm to favour broader targeting.

Gone are the glory days days of micro-slicing your audience into hyper-specific interest groups. Meta now wants you to cast a wider net and let their algorithm do the heavy lifting when it comes to finding the right people.

So… what’s actually changed?

Detailed targeting exclusions have been removed. You can no longer fine-tune your audience by excluding specific demographics, interests, or behaviours.
Advantage Detailed Targeting is now automatically switched on for many campaign types - which means Meta may go outside your selected audience if the algorithm thinks it’ll get better results.
The overall push? Less manual tweaking. More machine learning.

What do you need to do?

Focus on your copy and creative to target your ads to the right people.
Ensure you are making the most of placement options (where your ads appear across Meta products).
Double check that your conversion tracking is working correctly.

This isn’t new news to us…

At Clever Digital, we’ve been testing this long before it became the default.

For the past 6+ years, we’ve run split tests comparing hyper-targeted versus broad audiences - and in many cases, broader won. Especially with strong creative and solid conversion tracking in place.

If you’ve ever sat down with us to talk about your Meta ads performance you’ll have heard one of us say “if targeting isn’t working, we go broad”. And that has been a widely understood strategy amongst ads experts for years.

This change might feel like a big leap if you've been clinging to detailed targeting as your safety net. But for us? It’s business as usual.

We already know when to trust the algorithm - and when to rein it in. That’s the power of having an experienced Meta Ads strategist in your corner.

So if you're feeling lost in the updates - don’t be. We’ve got you!