7 Proven Tactics to Fix Low Facebook Ad Rankings: Cut Costs & Boost Performance

Seeing “Below Average” on your Facebook ad scores—and watching your results tank?

That’s not bad luck. That’s your Facebook ad quality score waving a big red flag.

Facebook’s Ad Quality Ranking compares your ads to others targeting the same audience. When your visuals, copy, targeting, or landing page fall short, the algorithm responds with higher costs, reduced reach, and fewer conversions.

This guide shows you what's hurting your ads, how to spot the warning signs, and exactly how to fix (and prevent) low rankings.

Let’s get your ad quality ranking back on track.

TL;DR

• Check your scores: Audit your Quality, Engagement, and Conversion Rate Rankings in Ads Manager.
• Fix common issues: Avoid clickbait, spammy design, bad targeting, and misleading copy.
• Improve post-click experience: Your landing page must match the ad’s message and load fast—especially on mobile.
• Use UGC-style creatives: Real, relatable content outperforms polished, ad-like videos.
• Rotate and test often: High-frequency ads get ignored. Keep it fresh with A/B testing and creative swaps.
• Segment smart: Cold, warm, and hot audiences need different messages. Don’t treat them the same.
• Monitor and adapt weekly: Read the data, listen to user feedback, and cut underperformers before they tank your account.

What is Facebook Ad Quality Ranking?

Facebook Ad Quality Ranking is a score that shows how your ad quality compares to others targeting the same audience. This score is divided into 3 different metrics, an effort on Facebook's part to give advertisers a better understanding of where exactly their ad is not performing. Think of it as Facebook’s way of asking, “Is this ad worth showing to people?”

Facebook's ad quality ranking system favors higher quality ads in the ad auction, leading to lower costs and better placement. A low score can mean you’ll pay more and reach fewer people, even if you’ve got a solid budget. Facebook breaks this down into three separate rankings:

1- Ad Quality Ranking

Facebook scores your ad based on how it looks, reads, and feels compared to others targeting the same audience. If your visuals are off, the copy’s confusing, or people start hiding it, your score will drop fast.

Quality Ranking tells your ad's perceived quality compared to ads competing for the same audience. Clean creatives and positive reactions keep you in the green.

2- Engagement Rate Ranking

This score reflects how interactive your ad feels compared to others. In other words, it explains how your ad's expected engagement rate (likes, comments, shares, and clicks) compares to ads competing for the same audience. If your ad boosts actual interest, something that people can’t resist sharing, it’ll rank higher than a generic post with bland copy.

3- Conversion Rate Ranking

Facebook estimates your ad's expected conversion rate. In other words, it tells you how likely your ad is to drive conversions compared to similar ads competing with the same optimization goal. It looks at your click-through rate, what happens after the click, and how past campaigns have performed.

If your ad promises something great but your landing page is a hassle, people drop off—and so does your score.

Each ranking—Quality, Engagement, and Conversion—is graded as:

• Above Average
• Average
• Below Average
• Bottom 20%, 35%, or 50%

Even one weak score can drag down your whole campaign. The good news? These rankings aren’t permanent, and with the right fixes, you can turn things around fast.

Pro tip: A determined effort to improve an ad's rankings from low to average rankings is often more impactful than moving from average to above average.

7 Reasons Your Facebook Ads Are Getting Penalized

Let’s call it like it is—most ad quality problems are self-inflicted. Below are the biggest mistakes tanking your score, and our best tips on how to fix them.

1. You're Using Clickbait (And Meta Hates It)

“Tag your friend who needs this.”

“LIKE if you agree!”

“Comment ‘YES’ to win.”

Look familiar? These are classic examples of engagement bait, and Facebook sees right through them.

Instead of boosting your ad, this kind of copy tells the algorithm you’re trying to game the system. Sure, you might get a short-term bump in engagement. But Facebook wants real interaction, not forced clicks. And when it detects bait, it quietly buries your ad.

What should you say instead? If your ad adds value or sparks interest, people will engage. That's when your ad will feel like a real conversation with your target audience. Try these CTAs:

• “Ever tried this before? Tell us below.”
• “Which one would you pick? Drop your favorite.”
• “We asked 100 people. Think you’d agree?”

2. Your Targeting Is Way Off

Even the best ad falls flat if it’s shown to the wrong crowd. Facebook might know a lot about your audience. But if you fail to set up the right target audience, your performance tanks:

• Scroll speed: If users zip past your ad, that's a negative signal.
• Time spent viewing: The longer someone pauses, the better.
• Bounce rate: They clicked and immediately left your site? Facebook takes notes.
• Hides and “I don’t want to see this” clicks: Huge red flags.

Poor signals = poor delivery. Here's how to fix that:

• Custom Audiences: Use warm traffic—people who’ve already engaged with you. They’re 3–5x more likely to interact positively.
• Layered Retargeting: Segment by intent. People who watched 75% of your video? Different message than someone who clicked but didn’t convert.
• Lookalike Audiences: Pull from your highest-quality customers, not just “all website visitors.”

Pro tip: Avoid lazy lookalikes. Quality in = quality out. Use top LTV or frequent buyers as your seed list.

3. Your Ad Looks Like Spam

Low-quality Facebook ads often use blurry product shots, ALL CAPS HEADLINES, and excessive emojis.

These ads don’t grab attention. They repel it. And once Facebook sees that people are skipping or hiding your ad, your ads begin to cost more and have a lower reach.

Red flags for “low quality” attributes:

• Generic stock photos that don’t build trust.
• Aggressive copy that feels like a scam.
• Too many emojis make your ad look shady.

How to fix it?

• Use UGC Ads: UGC (User-Generated Content) feels personal and looks natural in the feed. It creates trust.
• Keep your design clean. Simple layouts with eye-catching images perform better than cluttered ad formats.
• Blend the ad with the feed: Your ad should blend with content people already enjoy.

4. Your Copy Creates a Disconnect

“You won’t believe what happens next!”

Clickbait? Yep. And Facebook’s algorithm isn’t buying it anymore. Neither are users.

Facebook tracks what people do even after clicking your ad. And when your ad promises one thing but delivers another, people bounce fast. That means your conversion rate ranking and quality score suffer.

Red flags in ad copy:

• Vague or sensational headlines “This changed my life…” — but what exactly is "this"?
• Empty claims without proof.
• Post-click experience that doesn't match the promise. The ad offers “free download”, but the landing page asks for payment.

How to fix bad ad copy:

• Use direct call-to-action statements. “Download our 3-step guide to scale your Shopify store” works better than “You need to see this.”
• Ensure your landing page matches your Facebook ad campaign message.
• Be transparent about requirements. If there’s a cost or waitlist, mention it upfront.

Bottom line: Clear, consistent messaging builds trust, and trust drives conversions.

5. People Are Giving Negative Feedback

Facebook tracks how people react to your ad, not just how many click.
When users hide your ad, report it, or leave bad feedback, they essentially give a signal that your ad is low quality, irrelevant, or annoying. The result? Your ad rankings drop.

How to Check Your Feedback Score

Go to Ads Manager → Click on the campaign → Customize your columns or look under “Performance and Clicks” to view:

• Quality Ranking
• Engagement Rate Ranking
• Conversion Rate Ranking

Facebook doesn’t show a specific “negative feedback” score—but if your Facebook Ad Quality Ranking is low, it's usually due to poor user reactions.

Bonus Tip: Check the Page Quality tab under your Page settings. If there are any warnings or account-level issues, they’ll show up there.
How To Fix It:

• Moderate comments on your social media platforms.
• Use exclusion audiences: Build a list of users who’ve reacted negatively and exclude them from future campaigns. (Pro tip: You can also exclude poor-performing placements like Audience Network if it’s dragging you down.)
• Review your messaging and refresh your ad copy, visuals, or offer.

6. Your Landing Page Is Killing Conversions

Even the best ad can’t save a bad landing page.

Facebook doesn’t stop tracking once someone clicks your ad—it monitors what happens next. If users bounce or don’t convert immediately, it hurts your Conversion Rate Ranking, and it brings the stats below the average conversion rate of your Facebook ads.

Here are some common landing page problems:

• Slow loading: Pages that take more than 3 seconds to load lose visitors before they see your offer.
• Aggressive popups: Full-screen popups all over the landing page make your selected audience bounce right off.
• Mismatched messaging: If your ad offers a “Free Guide” but your landing page asks for a credit card or promotes something else, users bounce immediately
• Poor mobile experience: With 80–90% of Facebook traffic coming from phones, if your page isn’t mobile-optimized, you're throwing money away.

How To Fix This:

• Fast Load Times: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and aim for under 3 seconds on mobile
• Essentials Above the Fold: Show the headline, offer, and CTA right away. Users shouldn’t have to scroll just to understand what you’re offering.
• Remove Interruptions: Delay popups, shorten the forms, make your CTA easy to spot—and easier to act on.
• Match the message: If your ad promises a free checklist, your page should immediately offer it. Keep the tone, offer, and value consistent.
• One Page, One Goal: Every landing page should have a single, focused goal—whether that’s a download, purchase, or booking.
• Design for mobile-first: Thumb-friendly page, big buttons, easy navigation, and no tiny text.

Pro-tip: Load the page on your phone using mobile data—not Wi-Fi. If it’s clunky or slow for you, it’s much worse for your audience.

7. Ad Fatigue Is Kicking In

You’ve probably experienced it- seeing the same ad over and over until you start to avoid the brand or even hide the ad.

That’s ad fatigue, and Facebook tracks it closely. When your audience starts ignoring your ad, engagement drops. And when engagement drops, so do your rankings.

Warning signs that your ad is burning out:

• Click-through rate (CTR) drops
• Cost per click (CPC) goes up
• More ad hides or bad feedback

In Ads Manager, add the “Frequency” column and sort by highest. If your top-spending ad has high ad frequency and poor performance, replace it.

How To Fix It:

• Rotate Ad Creatives: Change up headlines, visuals, formats, or hooks.
• Use Dynamic Creative: Let Facebook mix and match different versions of your copy and visuals to reduce overexposure and find top performers faster.
• Build a Creative Library: Keep 3–5 ad variations ready. Swap them in weekly or bi-weekly to avoid burning out your audience.
• Segment by Funnel Stage: Use different creatives for cold, warm, and hot audiences.

Bottom line: Fresh content keeps your audience engaged and your rankings healthy.

How to Improve Your Facebook Ad Quality Ranking

Fixing low rankings isn’t guesswork—it's about analyzing your data and making smart changes based on facts. Here’s how to get started:

1. Audit Your Current Rankings

The first step is to check how your ad stacks up in Facebook's system:

How to Check Your Scores:

• Open Facebook Ads Manager
• Click into your Ad Set
• Customize columns to include:
  • Ad Quality Ranking
  • Engagement Rate Ranking
  • Conversion Rate Ranking
• Apply changes and review the data side-by-side

You’ll see how your ad compares to others ads competing for the same audience. If you’re hitting Below Average or Bottom 20%, you’re likely losing money, reach, or both.

When To Revise or Restart Your Ads

Not every low score means you need to start over. Here’s how to know what action to take:

• Revise if only one metric is underperforming (e.g. low ad quality ranking but solid engagement and conversions). Tweak that part—like your ad image or copy—and keep the rest.
• Restart if all three scores are low. That means the entire ad missed the mark. Scrap it and rebuild with a stronger hook, better creative, and tighter targeting.
• Pause and refresh if your ad started strong but performance is slipping with high ad frequency. People are seeing it too often. Update the creative and relaunch to the same audience.

Pro Tip: Benchmark every new ad against older ad campaigns with similar goals. If your new one doesn't perform well immediately, optimize or pivot.

2. Create Ads That Feel Natural

If your ad looks like an ad, people scroll right past it. But when it feels like something a friend might post, it stops the scroll.

Here's how to blend into the feed:

• UGC videos showing real people using your product
• Relatable Facebook video ads with testimonials and reviews
• Social proof - screenshots of DMs, tweets, and customer comments
• Story-driven content that hooks viewers immediately

Facebook's algorithm rewards content that keeps users engaged on the platform, and UGC ads do just that.

3. Target More Precisely

Running ads to broad audiences and hoping for the best? That's outdated.

Facebook’s algorithm is powerful, but it needs clear specifications. And the more precise your targeting, the better your results.

Boost ad relevance and ranking with segmentation:

1.Create segments for different stages of your customer journey.

2.Build lookalikes from your highest-value customers. Use seed audiences like:

• Repeat customers
• High lifetime value (LTV) buyers
• Subscribers who convert

3.Use custom audiences based on high-intent signals. Target users who:

• Watched 75% of your video
• Started checkout but didn’t finish
• Added to cart more than once

Smart Segmentation → More Relevance → Higher Rankings

Facebook rewards ads that hit the right person, at the right time, with the right message. That means more reach, lower costs, and stronger results.

The Real Costs of a Low Quality Ranking

Facebook won’t directly penalize you with a red flag, but it'll show up in your ad spend.

Here’s what a low quality score really means for your budget and results:

Higher CPMs and CPCs

When your ad ranks low in quality, it costs more to get it seen.If your ad falls in the bottom 20%, your cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and cost per click (CPC) can double compared to ads with good quality ranking. That means that you end up paying more to reach fewer people.

Decent Budget But Weak Reach

You could pump $10,000 into a campaign, but if Facebook sees your ad as low quality, it’ll limit how many people actually see it.

Meanwhile, better-scoring ads get shown more often—and for cheaper.

Lower ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

More spend and fewer results? Not a great combo.

Low-quality ads tend to drive up your costs, but not conversions, which means your ROAS tanks. Even if people click, the return just doesn’t add up.

How to Prevent Quality Drops in Future Campaigns

Fixing a low-quality score is great, but avoiding low-quality ad issues in the first place is even better.

Here’s how to keep performance strong and stay in Facebook’s good graces:

1. Schedule Creative Refreshes

• Update your visuals or messaging every 2–4 weeks
• Mix up different ad formats (carousels, video, UGC)
• Use more video ads (Video ads tend to outperform image ads in almost every respect.)
• Using high-quality creatives helps your ads stand out against the competition.
• Using less text in ad image copies can enhance the quality of your ads.
• Track performance by date to catch declining trends early

Staying on top of things beats scrambling when performance tanks.

2. Optimize for the right conversions

Conversion rate ranking is one of the key Facebook ad relevance metrics. A high conversion rate ranking indicates that your ad's expected conversion rate is higher than competing ads using the same optimization goal and targeting the same audience.

3. Set Up Weekly Check-ins

“Set it and forget it” is asking for trouble. Instead, make time every week to:

• Check key metrics like CTR, CPC, ROAS.
• Review your ad relevance diagnostics
• Read the comments. Your audience will tell you what's working (or not).

This helps you spot and pause underperforming ads before they drag down your whole account.

4. A/B Test Everything

Testing improves not just conversions but also protects your Facebook ad quality ranking.

• Change one variable at a time (copy, visuals, targeting)
• Compare how different target audiences respond
• Check expected engagement rate
• Let data decide your decisions.

Pro Tip: Use Facebook’s built-in A/B testing tool, or just duplicate your best ad and tweak one element.

A Recap on Low Quality Ranking Facebook Ads (and Fixes)

Low ad quality rankings aren’t bad luck. They’re Facebook warning signs with a clear message: something in your ad experience is off.

The platform rewards ads that feel natural, relevant, and valuable.

The great news? You’ve got full control over all of that.

If your Facebook ads are tanking, review your creatives, get smarter with targeting, and clean up your landing pages. Use the Facebook advertising features in your Ads Manager to optimize your audience targeting and improve your ad quality ranking.

Keep in mind that a ranking change from low to average makes a much bigger difference in your ad quality than it does from average to above average, so focus on improving rankings that are low rather than on improving average rankings.

If you pay attention to user signals, your scores go up—and your costs come down.

FAQ

How fast can quality rankings change?

Facebook updates ad quality rankings quickly. You’ll usually see changes within 24 to 72 hours after updating your ad, especially if you're spending enough to gather new impressions.

Should I delete low-ranking ads or let them run?

If an ad is underperforming, pause it and create a new one. Small tweaks rarely solve quality issues. It’s usually faster (and cheaper) to start fresh with better creative assets and tighter audience targeting.

Does ad account history affect ranking?

Yes, ad account history affects rankings. If your account repeatedly runs low-quality ads, Facebook will associate your page with lower-quality content by default and significantly decrease your chances in ad auctions or reject your ads altogether. To fix this, rebuild trust with a strong creative, consistent performance and positive audience feedback.

What about Facebook's relevance score?

Facebook replaced the single relevance score with three separate diagnostics that give you more specific feedback.

• Facebook Ad Quality Ranking
• Engagement Rate Ranking (how your ad's expected engagement rate compares to ads competing for the same audience)
• Conversion Rate Ranking (your ad's expected conversion rate)

These give you a clearer picture of where your ads fall short instead of guessing. That way, you can identify and fix specific problems and improve ad quality faster.