What are Meta ad placements, and should I choose them manually?
Placements are the places your Meta ads can appear: depending on your objective, that's Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Threads and Meta Audience Network, plus spots inside them like Feed, Stories and Reels. Meta recommends leaving Advantage+ placements on and choosing manually only when you have a clear reason.
ShoaibUpdated 3 min read
What does Advantage+ placements do?
Meta's help centre says Advantage+ placements (still the name in Ads Manager, Oct 2026) looks across all available placements to find the most cost-effective opportunity for each impression. Meta reports that in its own experiment, ad sets using Advantage+ placements had an 11.7% lower cost per action on average than ad sets with manual placements. That's Meta's figure, not a guarantee for your account.
When does choosing manually make sense?
| Situation | Why manual might fit |
|---|---|
| Your creative only works in one shape (e.g. a vertical Reel) | Stops it being cropped badly elsewhere |
| Your business can only advertise in certain places | Meta suggests account controls, which apply even with Advantage+ on |
| Brand-safety concerns about partner content | You can exclude specific placements or partner live streams |
These are illustrative situations, not rules.
What does Meta warn about manual placements?
- If you go manual, select several placements to give the delivery system flexibility.
- A placement with a higher cost per result isn't automatically less effective, Meta notes.
- For sales, leads and app objectives, excluding any placement switches Advantage+ off.
How do I change placements?
In Ads Manager, go to the ad set's Placements section, hover over Advantage+ placements, click Edit and choose Manual placements. For a walkthrough of the tool, see how to use Meta Ads Manager, and make sure your creative fits each spot with Instagram ad sizes and Meta ad formats.
Want placements and creative matched properly as part of your digital marketing? See our Meta Ads service.