What Is a Lookalike Audience? Modelled on Your Best Customers
DICTIONARY · META ADS

What Is a Lookalike Audience?

A lookalike audience is an audience modelled on characteristics of an existing audience.

In plain English

Meta takes a source audience and finds people who resemble it. The percentage setting controls how close the resemblance is: one percent is tightest, ten percent is broadest.

The seed decides the quality. A lookalike built from all website visitors is much weaker than one built from your highest-value customers, however good the modelling.

What to know

Modelled from a seed
Which determines the quality.
Percentage sets breadth
One percent tightest, ten broadest.
Best seed is best customers
Not all visitors.
Needs a minimum seed size
Usually a thousand or more.

Why it matters

A lookalike from your top customers is the highest-performing prospecting audience most accounts can build. It costs nothing beyond exporting a list you already hold.

Common mistakes

×Seeding from all visitors rather than buyers.
×Seeds too small to model reliably.
×Using one percent only, without testing broader.
×Not excluding the seed audience from the campaign.

FAQs

What percentage should I use?

Start at one to three percent. Broader can work with strong creative.

What makes the best seed?

Your highest-value customers, ideally several hundred at minimum.

WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM
Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.

I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.

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