Meta has published a Business Help Center page confirming that Sales, Leads, Engagement and App promotion campaigns no longer let you pick placements manually at the ad set level. Awareness and Traffic keep manual placements. The page also lists what Meta wants you to use instead, and the rollout is gradual, so some accounts still show the old controls.
What changed
The change first showed up as an in-product notice in August. Jon Loomer captured it on August 19: excluding placements, platforms, devices and operating systems would no longer be available for affected ad sets. At the time it looked like a Sales and Leads test.
Meta's help page, flagged by trade press on October 12, now names four objectives without ad set placement selection: Sales, Leads, Engagement and App promotion. Awareness and Traffic are listed as unaffected. Meta also repeats its claim that Advantage+ placement ad sets delivered 10% lower cost per result on average in an experiment, without publishing the method or sample.
The replacements Meta points to
None of these is a one-click swap for the old checkbox list, so it is worth knowing what each one actually does.
- Placement value rules: raise or lower bids for specific placements, devices or mobile OS. They change how much Meta will pay, they do not switch a placement off.
- Account controls: exclusions that apply to every campaign in the ad account, such as Audience Network, Marketplace or the right column. Found under Advertising Settings, Account Controls, Placement Controls.
- Placement exclusions by objective: a newer account-level option that sets exclusions per objective. Meta's page does not list which placements are available.
- Per-placement creative: up to ten images or videos in one ad with assets customised by placement. Ads will not deliver where no supported asset exists, but Meta does not present this as an exclusion tool.
Who feels it most
Buyers who routinely cut Audience Network, rewarded video or desktop to protect lead quality are hit hardest, especially on lead forms where cheap, low-intent submissions tend to cluster in a few placements.
Agencies running many clients from one ad account also need care: an account-level exclusion now affects every campaign in that account, not just the one with the problem.
What to do now
Audit which live ad sets rely on manual exclusions before the change reaches them, and record their current placement breakdowns so you can compare after. For hard business or legal restrictions, set account-level or objective-level exclusions. For pure performance problems, Loomer's advice is to start with a value rule that down-weights the weak placement rather than reaching for a full block.
If you separate clients or offers by ad account, the account-level route becomes much easier to manage. Power Ads can supply additional agency accounts so a placement restriction for one offer does not spill into another.
What it means for you
- Sales, Leads, Engagement and App ad sets are losing manual placement exclusions; Awareness and Traffic keep them.
- Value rules adjust bids but cannot fully turn a placement off.
- Account-level exclusions hit every campaign in the account, so plan account structure around them.
- Snapshot placement-level results now so you can measure the impact once the change lands.
Sources
- Meta Business Help Center: What's new in placement settings in Meta Ads Manager
- Relevant Audience: Meta's replacements for ad set placement controls
- Jon Loomer: Meta Is Removing Placement Controls From Ad Sets
