Problems with landing pages are the biggest reasons your Facebook ads get rejected during the approval process.
A lot of users are all too familiar with Facebook’s long list of guidelines and rules, but not all of them realize that when their ads send users to a landing page, that landing page has to follow these rules and even has rules all of its own.
Getting your landing page Facebook ready is one of the most important parts of the process to make sure that your ad gets approved. There’s a list of important rules Facebook has set for their landing pages, but there are 5 common missteps that happen more than anything else. Avoiding these is the first step towards getting your ad approved, every time.
1. It doesn’t match your ad
This is probably the biggest issue that we see, and it can often happen unintentionally. A lot of time advertisers will create ads just for the purpose of getting the click, and the offer or information on the landing page ends up being very different from the initial impression on the ad. If you’re offering a sale, your ad shouldn’t send users to a landing page that showcases something else.
Make sure that what you’re advertising on your ad matches what you’re presenting on your landing page, and you’re already ahead of a lot of other advertisers.
2. It has automatic downloads
Whether these downloads are malware, spyware, or something completely innocent that the user even came there to get, your landing page cannot have automatic downloads of any kind—even if the users are notified that it’s happening.
Even if users come to your landing page for that download (for example, I managed an ad campaigns where a free e-book was given on the landing page), it cannot download automatically. They need to have the option to click on it, or to click away.
There are of course plenty of sites that have tried to install malware, spyware, or some sort of shady-at-best tracking software on users’ computers without their knowledge. This is banned for obvious reasons, and actually runs the risk of having your account shut down faster than most other broken rules.
3. It doesn’t work reliably
This can mean error pages. It can mean that your landing page is under construction. It can even mean that your landing page doesn’t function in all (or at least the most frequently used) internet browsers.
If your landing page doesn’t work reliably, which isn’t necessarily something you know about (except for the under construction situation), it’s never going to get approved.
Make sure you work out the glitches before you run an ad campaign—or that you pause the campaign until they get fixed—and that you test it on all the major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). Bonus points if your landing page is mobile-optimized.
4. It has banned content
As mentioned in the beginning, all of the rules and guidelines Facebook has set for their ads apply to the landing pages those ads lead to. This includes legal restrictions as well as restrictions Facebook has set—like how prescription medicines can’t be advertised on Facebook ads.
This is where a lot of users in some of those restricted fields get into some trouble. They don’t realize they can’t advertise these banned or restricted products or services on their landing page, so they make sure their ad will pass but ignore their landing page and get confused when the ad is rejected. Facebook has a long list of restrictions and banned content depending on industry, so make sure you take a look at them if you’re ads are coming back denied.
5. It’s misleading
If your landing page is in any way misleading, deceptive, or even lacking in spelling out the fine print, it will probably not get past Facebook’s Ad approval team.
One thing that I’ve seen happen a lot is that the landing page lacks some pretty important details that users should have been made aware of. After all, the ad is like the teaser to a movie; it’s just there to catch your attention. The landing page is full synopsis of the movie, parental viewing guidelines included. It needs to have all of the information necessary.
If, for example, to claim whatever you’re advertising as a special offer, there’s strings attached—say a required purchase of some sort—this needs to be spelled out somewhere on your landing page. If you don’t, even if it’s missed at first, users will get angry, and nothing motivates people more than anger.
Facebook checks landing pages just as thoroughly as they check ads when going through the approval process. There’s no sneaking things past them.
Have you had trouble getting your landing pages approved on Facebook Ads? Leave us a comment and let us know!
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