In October 2026, Meta clarified its rules for selecting ad placements. For campaigns with the Sales, Leads, Engagement, and App promotion objectives, the option to manually select placements at the ad set level is gradually being removed. For Awareness and Traffic, however, this option remains available for now.
The change is being rolled out in stages, so available settings may differ between ad accounts. Meta has not announced a final date for completing the transition.
Can You Completely Disable an Unwanted Placement?
Meta offers Placement Value Rules, which let advertisers increase or decrease bids for specific placements. According to descriptions of the available settings, the reduction can be as high as 90%.
But reducing a bid by 90% does not mean impressions will fall by 90%. This adjusts the economic value of a placement for the algorithm; it does not guarantee that the placement will be excluded entirely.
Some strict restrictions remain available through Account Controls. In particular, Meta describes exclusions for certain Audience Network formats, Facebook Marketplace, and the Facebook right column. These settings apply at the ad account level rather than to an individual ad set.
What Should Advertisers Do?
Before making changes to campaigns, it is worth checking which placements receive budget and how they affect final conversions. Cheaper impressions on Facebook or Audience Network do not necessarily translate into more cost-effective sales or higher-quality leads.
For campaigns subject to business or legal restrictions, advertisers should check Account Controls. To optimize performance, they should test Placement Value Rules and adapt creatives to different formats.
At the same time, Meta cites its own experiment in which Advantage+ placements delivered an average 10% lower cost per result compared with manual placements. The company did not provide enough details about the test to apply that figure to every ad account or treat it as a guarantee of higher-quality conversions.
Sources for Verification
Sources for Verification
Meta Business Help Center. Official placement selection rules, exceptions for Awareness and Traffic, and alternative settings.
What Changed in Meta Ads Placement Settings
Social Media Today, October 12, 2026. An independent overview of Meta’s new documentation and alternatives to manually selecting placements.
Overview of the New Meta Ads Rules
