How To Use Meta Pixel To Track And Retarget Audiences

Meta description: Discover the importance of the Meta (Facebook Pixel) in tracking and retargeting website visitors for follow up.

How to create and install the Meta Pixel.

Here's how the Meta Pixel  generally works:

1. Install the Meta Pixel: You place a small piece of code (the Meta Pixel) on your website.² This pixel then tracks various actions and behaviors of visitors on your site.³

2. Track User Behavior: The Pixel collects data on what users do on your website, such as:

   • Which pages they visit

   • How long they spend on certain pages

   • Whether they view specific products

   • If they add items to their cart

   • If they initiate checkout

   • If they make a purchase

3. Create Custom Audiences: In Facebook Ads Manager, you can use this Pixel data to create "Custom Audiences."⁴ These audiences are segments of your website visitors based on their actions.⁵ For example, you can create an audience of:

   • All website visitors in the last 30, 95, or 180 days.⁶

   • People who visited a specific product page but didn't buy.⁷

   • Users who added items to their cart but abandoned the purchase.⁸

   • People who spent a significant amount of time on your site.⁹

4. Run Retargeting Campaigns: Once you have your Custom Audiences, you can then create Facebook/Instagram ad campaigns specifically targeting these groups. The ads you show can be highly personalized based on their previous actions.¹⁰ For example:

   • For cart abandoners, you can show an ad reminding them about their unpurchased items, perhaps with a small discount.

   • For people who viewed a specific product, you can show an ad featuring that product or related items.¹¹

   • For general website visitors, you can show ads promoting your brand or popular products.

Benefits of Retargeting with the Meta Pixel:

• Higher Conversion Rates: You're targeting people who have already shown some interest in your brand, making them more likely to convert.¹²

• Better ROI: Your ad spend is more efficient because you're reaching a "warmer" audience.¹³

• Personalized Ads: You can create highly relevant ads based on specific user behavior.¹⁴

• Brand Recall: It keeps your brand top-of-mind for potential customers.¹⁵

• Upselling/Cross-selling: You can target existing customers with ads for complementary products or upgrades.

While recent privacy updates (like Apple's iOS 14 changes) have impacted the breadth of data the Pixel can collect for some users, retargeting website visitors remains a very effective strategy for businesses using Facebook Ads. It's a crucial component of a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.

Retargeting is fundamentally a marketing function.

Here's why:

• Core Goal: Retargeting's primary purpose is to re-engage users who have already shown interest in your brand, products, or services with the ultimate goal of driving conversions (sales, leads, sign-ups, etc.). This aligns directly with the objectives of marketing, which is about attracting, engaging, and converting customers.¹

• Paid Channels: Retargeting predominantly operates through paid advertising channels like:

  • Display Ad Networks: (e.g., Google Display Network)

  • Social Media Platforms: (e.g., Meta Ads for Facebook/Instagram, LinkedIn Ads)

  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM): (e.g., Remarketing Lists for Search Ads - RLSAs on Google Ads)2

    These are all components of a broader paid media or digital advertising strategy, which falls under the marketing umbrella.

• Strategy and Tactics: Developing retargeting campaigns involves marketing strategies such as audience segmentation, crafting compelling ad creatives, setting up bids, managing ad placements, and analyzing performance metrics like conversion rates and ROI – all typical marketing activities.

How retargeting relates to SEO (but isn't SEO itself):

While retargeting is a marketing function, it can have indirect benefits for SEO:

• Increased Brand Awareness & Engagement: By keeping your brand top-of-mind, retargeting can lead to more direct/branded searches for your company.³ Search engines increasingly value brand signals and user engagement, which can indirectly contribute to better organic visibility.⁴

• Increased Website Traffic: Successful retargeting campaigns drive previous visitors back to your site.⁵ An influx of returning traffic and longer dwell times (if the content is engaging) can signal to search engines that your site is valuable and relevant, potentially improving organic rankings over time.

• Improved Conversion Rates: Higher conversion rates from retargeting campaigns can indirectly signal to search engines that your website is relevant and authoritative for specific queries, potentially boosting SEO.⁶

• Data for Content Strategy: Insights gathered from retargeting (e.g., which products were viewed, which content was engaged with) can inform your SEO content strategy, helping you create more relevant content that attracts organic traffic.

In summary, retargeting is a powerful digital marketing tactic that uses paid advertising to convert warm audiences.⁷ While it can positively influence SEO metrics and contribute to a holistic online presence, it is distinctly separate from the core functions of SEO, which primarily focus on organic search visibility and rankings.