Is Your Facebook Ad Low Quality? Meta's 8 Signals
What does Meta count as a low-quality ad?
Meta lists three low-quality attributes in ad content: withholding information, sensationalized language and engagement bait. On landing pages it lists five: thin content, too many ads, disruptive pop-ups, content split across pages, and misleading product, shipping or support claims. They lower the ad's quality in the auction, so it tends to cost more and get fewer results.
Meta handles low quality in two ways. Low-quality attributes lower your ad’s standing in the auction, so it costs more and gets fewer results; an ad that breaks a policy outright is rejected instead. The first kind is the one noticed late, because the account reads it as rising competition, and a natural response, a higher bid, spends more inside a penalty nobody has diagnosed. Meta publishes what it counts as low quality, and the list fits on one screen.
For the ranking column that reports this, see how do I read Meta’s quality and engagement rankings?
Which ad and landing-page attributes does Meta list?
Meta’s list, from Best practices to improve ad quality and performance:
| Attribute (Meta’s term) | Where | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Withholding information | Ad | Leaving out context so people have to click to understand | State the offer in the ad |
| Sensationalized language | Ad | Exaggerated headlines or demanding a reaction the landing page does not match | Describe what the page delivers |
| Engagement bait | Ad | Urging people to like, comment or share in an inauthentic way | Remove the ask |
| Lack of substantive or original content | Landing page | A thin page with little of its own content | Add real product detail, sizing, shipping and returns |
| Disproportionate volume of ads | Landing page | More ads than content | Cut competing ad units |
| Pop-up or interstitial ads | Landing page | Ads that disrupt the visit. Legally required disclosures and paywall logins don’t count | Remove or delay the pop-up for paid traffic |
| Unexpected content experiences | Landing page | Content spread across several pages, such as an article split into clicks | Keep the content on one page |
| Misleading experiences | Landing page | Misrepresenting products, expected shipping times or customer support | Make the page and service match the ad |
How does Meta measure ad quality?
Through people’s reactions and its own assessments. Meta lists the signals it monitors: hiding an ad, hiding all ads from an advertiser, hiding an ad because of repetition, reporting an ad, landing-page bounce rate and landing-page dwell time (Best practices to improve ad quality and performance).
You see the result in quality ranking, one of three ad relevance diagnostics. It compares your ad’s perceived quality with ads competing for the same audience: average means the 35th to 55th percentile, and below average is split into the bottom 35%, 20% and 10% of ads (About quality ranking). The metric covers the last 35 days and is not shown for ads with fewer than 500 impressions (About ad relevance diagnostics).
Does a low-quality flag reject my ad?
Not by itself. Meta says lower-quality ads tend to cost more, which can reduce distribution and lead to fewer results (About ad quality). Rejection is for ads that violate a policy. Meta says that in certain instances it sends a notification when low-quality attributes are severely affecting an ad’s performance, and you can check ad quality in Business Support Home. If the ad was rejected rather than penalised, a policy is involved; see why was my Facebook ad rejected for unacceptable business practices?
How do I fix a low-quality ad?
- Add the quality column in Ads Manager: open the Ads tab, click Columns, then Customize columns, select Quality ranking, Engagement rate ranking and Conversion rate ranking, and click Apply.
- Check Business Support Home for any ad-quality notification on the account.
- Rewrite ads ranked below average to remove withheld information, sensational headlines and engagement asks.
- Open the landing page on a phone and remove any pop-up or interstitial that is not a legal disclosure.
- Make the page match the ad: the same product, price, shipping time and support promise.
- Give thin pages real content: product details, accurate sizes, shipping times including handling, and the returns policy.
- Compare quality ranking again once the changed ad has 500 impressions or more.
How long does recovery take?
Meta gives no timeline. It says that once low-quality attributes are removed, “over time, your ad performance should improve”, and it warns that repeatedly running policy-violating or lower-quality ads can lead its systems to treat all ads from the same Page, domain or ad account as lower quality (About ad quality). So a corrected page can keep carrying the consequence for a while, and the fix has to hold across every ad that uses the page.
Can software help?
Bach.ai connects to your Meta ad account, audits it and estimates the revenue impact of what it finds, and its audit reports disapproved ads as policy blockers separately from delivery problems. It applies changes on Meta only after you approve them. For the rest of the account, use the Meta ads audit checklist.
FAQ
Does a low-quality ad flag reject my ad?
No. Low-quality attributes lower the ad’s quality in the auction, so it tends to cost more and get fewer results while staying approved. That is what makes it expensive: the account sees rising costs and may respond by raising bids. An ad is rejected only when it also breaks a Meta policy.
What causes a low-quality ad flag on Meta?
Meta lists eight attributes: withholding information, sensationalized language and engagement bait in the ad, and thin content, too many ads, disruptive pop-ups, content split across pages and misleading product, shipping or support claims on the landing page. It also measures hides, reports, bounce rate and dwell time.
How long does it take to recover after fixing the page?
Meta gives no timeline; it says performance should improve over time once low-quality attributes are gone. Quality ranking looks at the last 35 days and needs 500 impressions, so judge the fix on a new ad or a fresh window rather than the old average.
Does a slow landing page count as low quality?
Speed is not on Meta’s list of low-quality attributes. Meta does measure landing-page bounce rate and dwell time, though, and our reading is that a page slow enough to make people leave can drag those signals down. Fix speed for conversion reasons anyway, and check the eight listed attributes first.
Sources
Sources: Meta Business Help Center, Best practices to improve ad quality and performance, About ad quality, About quality ranking and About ad relevance diagnostics (checked 1 Oct 2026).