Advertiser method. Meta does not publish this as a rule. The mechanics below come from Meta’s documentation; the method itself is common advertiser practice, and results vary.
Should I go broad or limit my Meta audience?
Go broad when you want new customers and only need hard limits such as location and minimum age; Meta recommends targeting as broadly as possible and treats most other settings as suggestions. Limit the audience when reaching one specific group matters more than delivery performance. Meta names retargeting as the exception to its advice to test Advantage+ audience.
Go broad when your aim is reaching new people and the only limits you truly need are things like location, language and a minimum age. Limit the audience when reaching one named group matters more than how freely Meta delivers. Retargeting is a separate case: Meta leaves it out of its advice to test Advantage+ audience. In short, the choice is how much of the “who” you hand to Meta’s delivery system and how much you keep.
Which settings are hard limits and which are suggestions?
Meta splits Advantage+ audience into two kinds of setting. Controls limit who can see your ads: locations, minimum age, custom audiences to exclude and languages. Suggestions guide delivery: age, gender, detailed targeting and custom audiences to include.
Meta says it shows ads to people matching a suggestion and to other people when that is likely to improve performance, but never outside your controls. It adds that suggestions don’t always constrain your audience. Its example: if you suggest the gender women, ads could also reach men whom Meta’s AI finds likely to respond.
When does going broad fit?
Meta’s setup page says “We recommend targeting as broadly as possible” in the location step, and that it won’t target beyond your locations unless you select reach more people likely to respond to your ads. For Advantage+ catalog ads aimed at new customers, Meta advises location and demographics, and warns that too many behavioral and interest criteria may limit reach.
Going broad suits cases where your hard limits are few: where you can sell, a legal minimum age, a language. How well it works for your account is something to test. Meta recommends A/B testing with Advantage+ audience for almost all campaign types.
When should you limit the audience instead?
Meta describes one situation directly. If reaching a specific audience is more important than getting the best performance, Meta says to select further limit your audience or further limit the reach of your ads, and use age, gender, detailed targeting and custom audience inclusions as controls. You may have to uncheck “use as a suggestion”.
Meta’s advice to A/B test Advantage+ audience covers almost all campaign types and names retargeting as the exception. The pages cited here do not say which audience settings to use for retargeting instead, so that setup is your call.
Meta says to remove a suggestion only to reflect business needs. If you uncheck suggestions, you may no longer be using Advantage+ audience, and the audience section will show Advantage+ off.
How do you keep existing customers out of a broad ad set?
Meta’s exclusion control is “exclude these custom audiences”, for example current customers. Meta says audiences you exclude can still be added as suggestions, such as in a prospecting campaign. It also says you can’t exclude lookalike audiences with Advantage+ audience, because exclusion constrains your audience and reduces delivery opportunities.
For catalog ads reaching new customers, Meta recommends excluding a catalog custom audience of people who bought in the last 10 days and avoiding excluding all of your website visitors.
What is the trade-off?
Meta’s stated reason for not allowing lookalike exclusions is that exclusion constrains your audience and reduces your delivery opportunities. By the same logic, any limit you add gives you more say over who sees the ad and leaves delivery less room. That is reasoning, not a Meta statement. Which side matters more depends on your business, so it is advertiser judgement, not a Meta rule.
How can you decide for your own campaign?
- List the limits you cannot drop: where you sell, minimum age, language, people to exclude.
- Decide whether this campaign must reach a named group, as retargeting does.
- If not, set only those hard limits and add what you know as suggestions.
- If so, move that group into controls with further limit.
- Compare the setup against your current one with an A/B test, as Meta recommends.
FAQ
Do audience suggestions limit who sees my ads?
Not always. Meta says suggestions guide delivery, and ads can also reach other people when that is likely to improve performance, though never outside your controls. Its example is a gender suggestion, where ads could still reach the other gender if Meta’s AI finds them likely to respond.
Can I exclude a lookalike audience in Advantage+ audience?
No. Meta says it is not possible to exclude lookalike audiences using Advantage+ audience, because exclusion constrains your audience and reduces your delivery opportunities. You can still exclude custom audiences as a control, for example current customers.
What happens if I turn a suggestion into a limit?
Meta says that unchecking “use as a suggestion” to remove suggestions means you may no longer be using Advantage+ audience, and the audience section will show Advantage+ off. Meta says to do this only to reflect business needs.
Sources
- Create a campaign using Advantage+ audience (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- About audience controls and audience suggestions in Advantage+ audience (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- Choose audience settings in Advantage+ campaigns (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- About Advantage+ audience (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- Best practices for reaching a broad audience with Advantage+ catalog ads (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
Drafted with AI and checked claim by claim against the pages linked under Sources. Found a mistake? Tell us via the corrections policy.