What is Ad Relevance?
Ad Relevance is the platform’s internal evaluation of how well your ad matches the interests, intent, and expected behavior of the audience seeing it.
Notch - Content Team
Nov 20, 2025, 6:12 PM
Table of contents
Ad Relevance
1. What is Ad Relevance?
Ad Relevance is the platform’s internal evaluation of how well your ad matches the interests, intent, and expected behavior of the audience seeing it.
It measures how useful, appropriate, and engaging your ad is likely to be for specific users.
Ad relevance is formed from the platform’s prediction of:
How likely users are to interact with your ad
How aligned the ad content is with the audience’s interests
How positively or negatively users respond
How your creative compares to competing ads in the auction
It is one of the core components driving auction outcomes and total ad performance.
2. How does it work inside the ad platform?
Ad relevance is not one score—it’s a composite system, made up of multiple internal signals.
Platforms evaluate relevance using:
A. Predicted engagement signals
clicks
video plays
likes/comments/shares
scroll-stops
outbound link taps
B. Negative feedback indicators
hides
reports
“not interested” feedback
short video bounces
low watch times
C. Creative consistency
clarity of messaging
strength of hook
landing page relevance
absence of clickbait
compliance with ad policies
D. Comparative performance
Your ad is compared to all other ads targeting the same audience.
If your ad is expected to generate more positive outcomes, it is considered “high relevance.”
These signals are continuously recalibrated as the ad runs.
3. Why does it affect performance?
Ad relevance impacts every major performance metric because it directly shapes placement priority in auctions.
High Ad Relevance leads to:
Lower CPM (cheaper reach)
Lower CPC (cheaper clicks)
Faster Learning Phase exit
Stronger delivery priority
Better placement mix (premium placements win more)
Improved conversion likelihood
Extended creative lifespan
Low Ad Relevance leads to:
High CPM
Expensive clicks
Unstable delivery
Auction losses
Early creative fatigue
Poor conversion outcomes
Higher CPA/CAC
Reduced ROAS
Simply put:
High relevance = the algorithm wants to show your ad.
Low relevance = the algorithm avoids showing your ad.
4. When does this become important to marketers?
a) During creative testing
Relevance identifies which creatives resonate before conversions even appear.
b) At launch
New campaigns rely heavily on relevance predictions until real data arrives.
c) When diagnosing cost spikes
CPM rising suddenly often indicates a relevance drop.
d) During scaling
High relevance enables smoother scaling because the algorithm is confident in user response.
e) When delivery stalls
Low relevance causes low impression volume and delivery instability.
f) During funnel transitions
Relevance may change when moving from broad audiences to retargeting or vice versa.
5. Common pitfalls or misunderstandings
1. Confusing relevance with creative quality
A beautiful ad can still have low relevance if misaligned with the audience.
2. Believing relevance is a fixed score
Relevance changes hour-by-hour based on user behavior.
3. Assuming high relevance = conversions
High engagement does not always translate into purchases.
4. Ignoring landing page consistency
If the ad’s message doesn’t match the landing page, relevance drops sharply.
5. Using the wrong audience
Even great creative can perform poorly if the audience interest match is wrong.
6. Over-editing ads
Frequent edits can disrupt relevance predictions and reset delivery patterns.
6. What should you understand next connected to this system?
The next closely related system concept is:
Ad Quality Ranking (Quality, Engagement Rate, Conversion Rate Rankings)
Because relevance determines HOW the platform perceives your ad, while quality rankings show HOW your ad compares to others in the same auction.
Additional follow-ups:
Scroll-Stop Ratio
Estimated Action Rate