Strategic Decision-Making in Destination URLs: How It Impacts the Performance of Your Advertising Campaigns

The destination of an advertisement is an element that often goes unnoticed but has a significant impact on the performance of advertising campaigns. What happens when you change the destination URL or decide to send users to a different page? The answer depends on several factors, such as the relevance of the new page’s content, loading speed, mobile usability, and how well it aligns with the expectations created by the ad.

Changing an ad’s destination can profoundly affect conversion rates and user behaviour. Every time the landing page is modified, it impacts the user experience. For example, if the new page takes longer to load or is not mobile-friendly, users may leave before completing the desired action. If the new page does not align with the expectations set by the ad, performance may drop significantly. For instance, if the ad promises a specific offer and the landing page doesn’t clearly display it, users may feel frustrated and abandon the site. Consistency between the ad’s message and the landing page experience is crucial to maximising performance.

The new page must be optimised and aligned with the specific goals of the campaign. For example, if the focus is on lead generation, the landing page should facilitate conversion with simple forms, clear CTAs, and a seamless mobile experience. Additionally, technical aspects such as loading speed and proper structure for Google’s ad rank remain fundamental.

Another important point is that when you change an ad’s destination, advertising platforms often need time to readjust. The algorithm may need to recalibrate conversion patterns, which can temporarily affect performance. If the new page serves a similar purpose to the old one, this impact can be minimised. However, if it differs significantly, there might be a learning phase that negatively affects results for a period.

Such changes can also influence how users perceive the brand’s credibility. Each transition between ads and pages involves a fraction of a second in which the user evaluates whether the presented content remains relevant and whether it meets the expectation created. Maintaining the initial expectation can make the difference between a wasted click and a conversion.

This is why I always recommend approaching ad destination changes as a strategic decision. It is essential to analyse factors such as user intent, the technical aspects of the page (loading time, structure, metadata, keywords, mobile version), and historical performance data of the old page before making decisions. Before changing the URL, ensure that the new destination is optimised for the objective and enhances the user experience. If it does, it could lead to a considerable performance improvement. But if it’s just a change without a clear improvement in experience, it may harm the campaign’s efficiency without a valid reason.

What has been your experience when changing the destination URL in major campaigns? Has it affected your campaign performance? Let me know in the comments.

Occasions when it's better not to use Audience Network

Audience Network is a channel within the ad set section.

Our ad, if enabled, would be displayed on external websites and applications, i.e. outside of Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.

There would be several locations where our ad would be displayed on these external sites, either in banner or video format, etc.

One of the problems with Audience Network is that it tends to deliver a lot of low quality clicks and traffic, where low quality clicks and traffic are understood as clicks that have been made by bots rather than real users, or even clicks from competitors.

All this does is waste the advertiser's money inefficiently.

However, the biggest problem with the Audience Network is that many of the clicks that are generated from the Audience Network are accidental. This is because Audience Network ads are going to appear on these types of web pages where there is an excess of ads everywhere, and therefore there is a high probability that these accidental clicks will be generated, especially if we are talking about mobile devices that have small screens.

If one chooses to make the decision not to show ads through the Audience Network, I don't see how that will cause any problems.

There are occasions where using the Audience Network may be acceptable, in general it will depend on the objective of the campaign, in campaigns with traffic, reach or engagement objectives, I would exclude Audience Network. However, with conversion campaigns I would see it valid, putting it in automatic locations, because if you generate low quality clicks that do not convert, Meta will automatically not put resources there (it is quite common for this to happen).

In short, if you want users to take an action beyond the ad in your campaign, it would be best to exclude the Audience Network.

My LinkedIn Profile