Should I optimize for link clicks?

Are You Optimizing for Accidental Clicks with Your Facebook Ads?

It’s astonishingly easy to optimize for accidental clicks if you’re running a Facebook traffic campaign. The Facebook default settings for traffic campaigns means that Facebook is going to be targeting the “clickiest” people.

The problem with targeting the clickiest people is that many folks click on links accidentally – especially when they are browsing Facebook on their phones. Think about how you use social media on your phone. Do you accidentally click links and then have to go back? I know that I do that and I’m extremely tech savvy.

It’s very likely that a lot of people in your audience are also accidentally clicking on your ads.

You want to avoid accidental clicks because it’s a waste of your advertising budget. When you eliminate the accidental clicks as much as possible your cost per click can go up a bit, but your overall quality of clicks and spend should go down for the same or similar results.

How To Avoid Accidental Clicks with Your Facebook Ads Campaign

If you are running a conversion campaign then you don’t need to worry about optimizing so that you don’t get accidental clicks because you are optimizing for conversions, but if you are running a traffic campaign then this should be something that you pay attention to.

It’s better to run a conversion campaign if you can, but if you can’t run a conversion campaign then there are a few tweaks you should make to your traffic campaign in order to make sure you aren’t getting accidental clicks.

Remember that Facebook takes you literally when you set up your campaign goals. If you are asking for traffic, they are going to try and deliver you traffic. That means that Facebook is going to get you as many clicks as possible on your traffic campaign – whether they are accidental or not.

There have even been some studies done on accidental clicks and they show that as many as 25% to 30% of the clicks on Facebook and Instagram are accidental. You won’t be able to avoid EVERY accidental click, but you can set up your campaign in a way that minimizes them and that can make a big difference.

Change Your Placement Options

The first thing to do in a traffic campaign to start eliminating accidental clicks is to change your placement options from automatic to manual.

You want to limit the placements to the feeds and stories on Facebook and Instagram.

Change Your Optimization and Delivery

The next thing you should do is change your optimization and delivery. The default setting that Facebook is currently using for traffic campaigns is link clicks. The problem is that the measurement of link clicks is links clicked on the Facebook platform – which includes all the accidental clicks.

When someone clicks and then hits the back button to go directly back to Facebook that click will count just as much as click that goes to your landing page and waits for it to load.

A better setting for optimization and delivery is to use a pixel and landing page views. Landing page views help to reduce the amount of accidental clicks Facebook is optimized for because your landing page will need to load in order to count toward the goal.

Resource: If you need help installing the pixel on your website, please see my comprehensive article here: How to Install the Facebook Pixel on a Website (Including WordPress).

Optimize for People Who Scroll Halfway Down Your Page

This is a little more of an advanced technique and it would apply to a conversion campaign rather than a traffic campaign, but it can be a very powerful technique in scenarios where you are sending traffic to a landing page and then onto a third party platform like Eventbrite or Amazon where you can’t place a pixel.

To set this up you need to set up a custom conversion event and target people who scroll a certain way through your page.

This can help to optimize the Facebook campaign to be more likely to go after people who’ve shown a real interest in what you are promoting, rather than just casual clickers.

Resource: If you need help creating a Facebook custom conversion see the article here: How to Create a Facebook Custom Conversion

More FREE Facebook Ads Training

There is nothing I like better than to see business owners increase their ROI with Facebook Ads. In order to help business owners succeed with Facebook ads I’ve created a FREE webinar training that you can register for here.

When you attend this webinar you’ll learn:

• 3 different Facebook ad strategies that we use every day. These strategies have generated millions of dollars in revenue and are tried and proven to work.
• How to customize the Facebook ads strategy to your particular business. There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach to Facebook ads.
• How Facebook and Instagram have changed and how to adjust your ad strategy to what works in 2021.

Video Tutorial on Reducing Accidental Clicks in Facebook

In this tutorial I show you two simple and one advanced strategy for reducing accidental clicks in Facebook ad campaigns.

The Bottom Line on Accidental Clicks in Facebook Ad Campaigns

Accidental clicks can happen in Facebook ad campaigns. If you are using the traffic objecting you are likely to get A LOT of accidental clicks unless you make a few tweaks. The three things that work the best to reduce optimizing for accidental clicks are:

1. Change your placements to just feeds and stories.
2. Change your optimization and delivery to landing page views.
3. Set up a conversion campaign that targets people who scroll halfway down your page.

When you set up your ad campaigns on Facebook you need to be aware of what you are asking Facebook to optimize for and make sure it aligns with the goals of your ad campaign.

When should you optimize link clicks?

Should I optimize for link clicks or landing page views?

What is link click optimization?

Which buying method is best to get clicks traffic?