Short answer: A custom audience reaches people who already know your business, such as website visitors or a customer list. A lookalike audience finds new people similar to them, and Advantage+ audience lets Meta’s AI find the audience for you.
The three kinds of audience
| Audience | Who it reaches | Built from |
|---|---|---|
| Custom audience | People who already interacted with your business | Your pixel, app, catalog, customer list or offline activity, or engagement on Meta |
| Lookalike audience | New people similar to a source audience | A source audience, such as your best customers |
| Advantage+ audience | The audience Meta’s AI finds for the campaign | Signals such as past conversions, Meta Pixel data and past ad interactions |
From the Meta Business Help Center, “About custom audiences”, “About lookalike audiences” and “About Advantage+ audience”, read November 2, 2026.
Custom audiences
A custom audience comes from your own data or from engagement on Meta. The Meta Pixel tracks your website visitors, and Meta matches a customer list of emails or phone numbers with its users.
It can also be built from people who watched your videos or opened your lead forms on Facebook and Instagram. Our guide to Facebook lead ads covers those forms.
The classic use is retargeting: people who visited your website in the last 30 days but haven’t converted yet. You can also build an exclusion-only list, to keep people out of an ad.
From the Meta Business Help Center, “About custom audiences” and “About website custom audiences”.
Lookalike audiences
A lookalike audience reaches new people who share characteristics with your existing customers. Meta uses the demographics, interests and behaviors of your source audience to find them.
You choose a percentage range: smaller percentages match the source more closely, larger ones make a bigger, broader audience. Meta says you may get better results with a source of your best customers than with all of them.
Lookalikes are limited or unavailable for some ads about financial products and services, employment or housing.
From the Meta Business Help Center, “About lookalike audiences”.
Advantage+ audience
With Advantage+ audience, Meta’s AI finds the audience for your campaign instead of you defining it. It looks at signals such as past conversions, Meta Pixel data and interactions with previous ads.
Meta recommends A/B testing it in almost all campaign types, but not for retargeting. It reports a 9.7% lower cost per result with the Traffic, Engagement and Leads objectives.
From the Meta Business Help Center, “About Advantage+ audience”.
How to set up your audiences
- Install the Meta Pixel before you need website audiences: our guide to the Meta Pixel and Conversions API covers it.
- Create a website custom audience of recent visitors who haven’t converted; Meta’s example uses the last 30 days.
- If you keep a customer list of emails or phone numbers, upload it as a custom audience.
- Build a lookalike audience from your best customers rather than from all of them.
- Start with a smaller percentage for a closer match, and widen it when you need more reach.
- Run an A/B test of Advantage+ audience against your own audience.
- Keep your own custom audience for retargeting, where Meta doesn’t recommend Advantage+ audience.
Who our own pixel can see
Our site loads Meta’s pixel only while Marketing is on in our banner. In the United States the banner is a notice, so Marketing is on until a visitor turns it off.
With a time zone in Europe or Brazil, nothing for marketing loads until the visitor accepts it. Marketing also stays off while the browser sends Global Privacy Control.
So a website custom audience built from our pixel only counts visitors who left Marketing on. Our cookie policy lists the rules.
Before you launch
- The Meta Pixel is on your site.
- A website custom audience for recent visitors.
- A lookalike built from your best customers.
- An A/B test of Advantage+ audience.
- Your own audience in retargeting campaigns.
- Your consent banner rules are clear on who the pixel sees.
RememberUse custom audiences for people who know you, lookalikes to find more like them, and an A/B test before you hand the audience to Advantage+.
If you want us to build and run your Meta audiences, see our Meta Ads management service.
Quick answers about Facebook ad targeting
What is a custom audience on Facebook?
An audience built from your own data or from engagement on Meta. Examples are people who visited your website, tracked by the Meta Pixel, or a customer list of emails or phone numbers matched with Meta users.
Is a lookalike audience the same as a custom audience?
No. A lookalike audience reaches new people who share characteristics with your existing customers. Meta uses demographics, interests and behaviors from your source audience to find people with similar qualities.
What lookalike percentage should I use?
It depends on your goal. Smaller percentages match your source audience more closely, and larger ones create a bigger, broader audience. Meta says a source of your best customers may get better results than all of them.
Is Advantage+ audience better than choosing my own audience?
Meta lets its AI find the audience instead of you, and recommends A/B testing it in almost all campaign types. It doesn’t recommend Advantage+ audience for retargeting campaigns.
Can I use lookalike audiences for any kind of ad?
Not always. Meta says lookalike audiences are limited or unavailable for some ads about financial products and services, employment or housing opportunities. Targeting is also limited for audiences that include people under 18, or older in some countries.
Sources
Read on November 2, 2026. Meta Business Help Center: About custom audiences, About website custom audiences, About lookalike audiences and About Advantage+ audience. Our own case: our cookie policy and privacy policy, on November 2, 2026.