Meta Ads not converting? A 7-point tracking audit

Meta's algorithm is only as good as the data you feed it. If purchases aren't being reported back accurately, the system can't find buyers — so it spends your budget on the wrong people, conversions dry up, and it looks like the ads "stopped working." Most of the time, it's a tracking problem wearing a creative problem's costume. Run this audit first.

1. Is the Pixel firing the purchase event — with value?

Use the Meta Pixel Helper or Events Manager to confirm a Purchase event fires on your confirmation page, with the correct value and currency. A purchase event with no value can't optimise toward revenue, and a pixel that fires on a button instead of the real confirmation will count abandoned checkouts as sales.

2. Is the Conversions API (server-side) set up?

Browser tracking alone now misses a large share of events to ad blockers, iOS, and consent rejections. The Conversions API (CAPI) sends events server-to-server, so Meta still sees the purchase your browser pixel missed. Without it, your reported conversions are systematically undercounted — and the algorithm is half-blind.

3. Are pixel and CAPI events deduplicated?

Run the pixel and CAPI together without a shared event_id and Meta double-counts every purchase — inflating ROAS until you trust a number that isn't real. Confirm event deduplication is working so each conversion is counted exactly once.

An algorithm optimising on bad data doesn't fail loudly. It just quietly spends your money on the wrong people.

4. Have you verified your domain and prioritised events?

Since Apple's privacy changes, Meta limits you to a set of prioritised events per verified domain (Aggregated Event Measurement). If your domain isn't verified or Purchase isn't ranked as a top event, conversion tracking and optimisation degrade for a big chunk of your audience.

5. Are you optimising for the right event?

If your campaign is set to optimise for "Add to Cart" or "Leads" because those fire more often and look better, Meta will buy you carts and leads — not customers. Optimise toward Purchase (or your true revenue event), even though the volume looks smaller. Smaller and real beats large and hollow.

6. Do your attribution windows match reality?

Meta's default is a 7-day-click / 1-day-view window. If you compare that to a last-click model in GA4 or your backend, the numbers will never agree — and you'll "fix" campaigns that were fine. Decide on one source of truth, know which window you're reading, and compare like with like.

7. Only now, look at creative and audience

Once tracking is verified — pixel and CAPI firing, deduplicated, optimising on Purchase, sane attribution — then a drop in conversions is a real signal worth chasing with new creative or audiences. Do it in that order and you'll stop rebuilding campaigns that were never broken.