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Ads and acquisition

What is the Meta Pixel?

The Meta Pixel is a snippet of code on your site that reports visits and purchases back to Meta so it can measure and optimize your ads.

A real store example

Sundays for Dogs homepage: over 1,000 Meta ads linked here.

The Meta Pixel is detected on this homepage, along with the TikTok Pixel and Northbeam. With that many ads landing on one page, the pixel is how Meta learns which visitors buy and finds more people like them.

Open the pageSee their ads

Getting Meta Pixel right

  1. Check every event fires

    Page view, add to cart, checkout and purchase should each fire once, with the right value and currency.

  2. Add the Conversions API

    Browsers block some pixel calls. Sending events from your server as well recovers purchases the pixel misses.

  3. Install it on every page ads land on

    Separate landing pages and subdomains need the pixel too, or Meta loses the visit between ad and checkout.

Ask Replo: "audit my site's Meta Pixel and purchase tracking".

Audit my tracking

Meta Pixel questions

Is the Meta Pixel the same as the Facebook Pixel?
Yes. Facebook renamed it the Meta Pixel when the company became Meta. It's the same code, set up in the same Events Manager, and it measures ads across Facebook and Instagram.
Do I need the Meta Pixel if I don't run ads?
Not to run your store. But installing it early builds an audience of past visitors, so retargeting and lookalike audiences have data the day you start advertising.
What is the Meta Conversions API?
The Conversions API sends events such as purchases from your server straight to Meta, alongside the pixel in the browser. It recovers sales that ad blockers and browser privacy settings hide.

Related terms

Browse the glossary

Retargeting

Retargeting is showing ads to people who already visited your store or engaged with your brand, to bring them back to buy.

Marketing attribution

Marketing attribution is deciding which ads, emails and touchpoints get credit for a sale.

UTM parameters

UTM parameters are tags added to the end of a URL that tell your analytics which source, campaign and ad sent a visitor.

ROAS

ROAS (return on ad spend) is the revenue an ad campaign brings in for every dollar spent on it: revenue from ads divided by ad spend.

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