The strategy of “seasoning the pixel” goes back several years. But, does it have any validity?
How it Works
The argument behind the need to season the pixel often goes like this…
You have a new pixel and Meta doesn’t have historical data on your website visitors. Without that data, it can’t properly optimize. So instead of optimizing for conversions, you should optimize for link clicks or landing page views or something further up the funnel.
This approach, according to the strategy, feeds the pixel the necessary data it needs for a certain amount of time before you optimize for conversions. So it helps you get better results when you ultimately optimize for conversions, though it’s not clear how long this “seasoning” should last.
Is it Valid?
The concept sounds reasonable. It attempts to solve a problem we assume exists (a lack of pixel data preventing you from getting good results). But is it actually beneficial, or is it a waste of time and money?
To be clear, Meta has never used the phrase “season the pixel” in any of their documentation (that I’m aware of, at least). Maybe an ad rep here or there has said it, but I doubt that comes from official documentation. This was thought up by advertisers.
Sure, a new pixel is probably at a disadvantage. If you compare the results of one campaign optimized for conversions where there have been a million visitors in a year vs. another that is brand new, you’ll probably see a difference. But, that may also be due to brand visibility and reputation.
My issue with optimizing for link clicks or landing page views as the solution is that it’s likely to send low-quality traffic to your website. It’s why I generally don’t recommend this type of optimization in the first place, seasoning or not.
If you’re sending low-quality clicks during this stage, you’re seasoning the pixel with bad traffic. I can’t imagine that this is going to help.
What to Do
What should you do instead? If it were me, I’d optimize for conversions from the start.
It may take a while to get good results, but you aren’t wasting money on low quality traffic. And you’re more likely to be “seasoning the pixel” (if that is actually a thing) with higher-quality data.
Do you do this?
