Summary: Meta's definition of a Link Click includes not just clicks but also taps and swipes on ad elements, leading to potential discrepancies in performance metrics for Carousel ads.
How does Meta define a Link Click?
Have you been struggling with Facebook/Meta metric’s definitions? I certainly have. That’s because they tend to change this from time to time and some definitions are a bit ambiguous or just don’t make sense.
The definition from Facebook is “The number of clicks on links within the ad that led to advertiser-specified destinations, on or off Meta technologies.”
Simple? Let’s dive into it.
Carousel – What actions are considered Link Clicks?
Now if we take a Carousel ad, what actions should be considered Link Clicks? In my opinion, it should only be those Clicks where the link takes you to the advertiser-specified destination…website visits in our case.
And that’s what we’ve been thinking until recently. However, while analysing a client account, we discovered discrepancies and additional information from Meta/Facebook:
“This metric counts link clicks, taps or swipes on the ad's text, media or call-to-action, that link to destinations or experiences specified by the advertiser. This metric excludes clicks on content or links in the comments section of a post.”
Wait a minute…swipes?
Is Meta counting Carousel swipes as Link Clicks?
That got me thinking – does Link Clicks count ‘swipes’ in?
We were running a campaign where we had multiple carousels and single images running at the same time and Meta understood Carousels as the best performing and started prioritising them.
Carousels were outperforming Single Images but, is it because people swiping shows an interaction that Single Image is just lacking? Or are users clicking on the webpage link more from Carousel than from Single Image?
Discrepancies between Meta-metrics
If it wasn’t confusing enough, now the report is telling us that Link Clicks are higher than Clicks (all)?
And if Link Clicks are the same as Outbound Clicks and Post Engagements, then where is Meta counting ‘swipes’?
Something is not right, and Meta needs to work a bit harder on their reporting.
Conclusion?
Based on the information available and seeing that Link Clicks are the same number as Outbound Clicks, we assume it is safe to continue thinking that Link Clicks are not measuring ‘swipes’ interactions into the mix. But Meta should optimise their metric definitions and clarify post interactions a bit further.
We are in ongoing conversations with Meta, so if you’d like to stay up to date on the subject make sure to follow 7DOTS or myself to get the latest news.
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