Setting a campaign objective to 'Traffic' rather than 'Sales' will fundamentally alter what primary bidding optimization signal Meta's algorithm prioritizes, and how does this affect final campaign outcomes?

Setting a campaign objective to 'Traffic' fundamentally alters Meta's primary bidding optimization signal to focus on actions like Link Clicks or Landing Page Views. A Link Click occurs when a user taps the ad to navigate to the destination, while a Landing Page View means the user not only clicked but also successfully loaded the destination webpage. Meta's algorithm, which is its machine learning system that determines ad delivery, will prioritize showing ads to users most likely to perform these actions, based on their historical behavior across Meta platforms. The outcome is a high volume of visitors to your website or destination, but these users are optimized for clicking, not necessarily for deeper engagement or valuable business actions. They might be casual browsers, leading to lower conversion rates once on your site. Conversely, setting a campaign objective to 'Sales' (often categorized under 'Conversions' on Meta) fundamentally alters the primary bidding optimization signal to focus on specific, high-value Conversion Events, such as a 'Purchase' or 'Lead'. A Conversion Event is a defined action tracked on your website or app, like adding to cart, completing a registration, or making a purchase, using tools like the Meta Pixel or Conversions API. Here, Meta's algorithm prioritizes showing ads to users who are most likely to complete the specified conversion event, based on their past behavior and attributes similar to existing converters. The final campaign outcome is significantly different. Instead of optimizing for broad traffic, the algorithm actively seeks users with a higher propensity to perform the desired business outcome. This typically results in fewer overall clicks or landing page views but a higher proportion of those visitors performing the valuable conversion event, leading to a more efficient cost per acquisition and a better return on ad spend for direct business goals like revenue generation.