Advertisers discover Meta counts likes and shares as clicks for conversions

Barry Hott, a business consultant focused on paid advertising, shared an observation four days ago that has sparked debate among Meta advertisers about how the platform measures click-through conversions. His LinkedIn post highlighted language in Meta's Business Help Center stating that click conversions can be counted after any click on an ad, not exclusively link clicks.

"Click-through: Counts results after any click occurred on your ad within 1-day or 7-days of an optimized conversion. Clicks may include interactions such as likes, shares and saves," Hott quoted from Meta's attribution settings documentation. The statement clarifies that engagement actions such as liking a post or saving content qualify as clicks for attribution purposes within the selected conversion window.

Jon Loomer, a Facebook Ads strategist who previously covered attribution mechanics, responded to Hott's post. "Interesting that they finally added the clarification," Loomer wrote. "That was definitely not there a few months ago when I covered this." His comment suggests the specific language about likes, shares and saves represents a recent addition to Meta's help documentation.

Dan Kerpen, Paid Social Director at Likeable Media, conducted research into the history of this attribution methodology. "I found someone on Reddit stating it 5 years ago, and I think it was maybe in the FB Developer documentation," Kerpen wrote. He noted that finding clear official statements about the practice has been "impossible - or nearly so" until the current documentation. "I can't recall when I learned this, but I'm pretty sure it was never delivered clearly in writing until recently. That is shocking, if you think about it."

The distinction matters because advertisers typically associate click-through attribution with users who click on ad content to visit a website or landing page. When likes, shares and saves count as clicks within attribution windows, conversions from users who never left Meta's platforms get credited to advertising campaigns based on engagement actions alone.

Chris Suglia, who runs marketing diagnostics consultancy services, pointed to the implications for advertisers focused on outbound traffic. "I love how all the people who don't believe in view-through conversions claiming that 'outbound clicks were the only way' now look at this," he wrote in response to Hott's post. Suglia argued that "creating an engaging ad that people actually want to see is more important than getting people off of meta as quickly as possible."

Ben Bokaie, Performance Marketing Director at Huel, raised questions about Meta's use of these engagement-based conversions. "Do you think Meta use like and comment 'conversions' as signals for the algorithm to optimise? Or purely to artificially pump their numbers?" The question reflects broader concerns within the advertising community about platform attribution methodologies and how they influence reported performance metrics.

Shashank Kakade described the revelation as "a huge gap in understanding performance attribution." The knowledge gap has significant implications because attribution settings inform ad delivery within Meta's system. With a seven-day click setting, the platform learns from conversions that happen within seven days and shows ads to people most likely to convert within that timeframe.

Philipp R., Country Director at Flow, asked Hott directly whether this attribution methodology "was always the case" or represented "recent Meta shenanigans." The question highlights uncertainty among advertisers about when this attribution behavior began and whether it changed over time.

The attribution methodology works alongside view-through and engaged-view attribution within Meta's system. View-through attribution counts results after an ad impression was counted within one day of an optimized conversion. Engaged-view attribution, designed for video content, counts results after a video was played for at least 10 seconds within one day of an optimized conversion.

When advertisers select standard attribution models at the ad set level in Meta Ads Manager, they choose from click-through windows of one day or seven days, combined with optional view-through windows. The attribution settings determine which conversions can be credited to ads and also inform how Meta's delivery system optimizes campaigns.

Meta has been expanding its attribution offerings, including the global rollout of incremental attribution that optimizes for conversions directly caused by ads rather than all conversions within attribution windows. Testing data showed advertisers using incremental attribution achieved a 46 percent increase in incremental conversions compared to standard campaigns.

For iOS 14 and above app campaigns, attribution functions through different mechanisms. App re-engagement campaigns using Meta's attribution report using one-day or seven-day click attribution based on the chosen setting. App install campaigns using SKAdNetwork have attribution reported through Apple's framework rather than Meta's standard attribution windows.

The distinction between link clicks and engagement clicks affects how advertisers interpret campaign performance. When a like or share triggers click-through attribution for a conversion that occurs hours or days later, the reported metrics may overstate the direct influence of advertising on purchase decisions.

Research on Meta attribution has shown that methodology flaws, view-through crediting, and tracking inaccuracies can artificially inflate return on ad spend metrics. The inclusion of engagement actions within click-through attribution adds another layer to this measurement complexity.

Advertisers working with Meta's platform must understand that click-through attribution encompasses more than outbound traffic. Campaign optimization decisions based on reported click conversions should account for the fact that engagement actions contribute to those metrics alongside traditional link clicks that drive users to external destinations.

Timeline

• Five years ago: Reddit users discuss attribution behavior similar to current Meta methodology
• Several months ago: Jon Loomer covers attribution mechanics without explicit documentation about engagement clicks
• Four days ago: Barry Hott shares Meta documentation stating clicks include likes, shares and saves
• February 2024: Meta launches Engaged-view attribution for video campaigns
• June 2025: Meta tests profit-based ROAS optimization and completes global rollout of Incremental Attribution
• July 2025: Meta advertising experts warn about attribution methodology inflating ROAS metrics
• September 2025: Meta campaign audit reveals attribution window misconfigurations as common mistake

Summary

Who: Barry Hott, a business consultant specializing in paid advertising growth, shared observations about Meta's click attribution methodology. Industry professionals including Jon Loomer, Dan Kerpen, Chris Suglia, Ben Bokaie, Shashank Kakade and Philipp R. responded with analysis and questions about the attribution behavior.

What: Meta's click-through attribution counts conversions after any click on an ad within one-day or seven-day windows, with clicks including interactions such as likes, shares and saves in addition to link clicks. This means engagement actions that keep users on Meta's platforms can trigger conversion attribution without users visiting advertiser websites.

When: The specific language about engagement clicks appears in current Meta Business Help Center documentation, though the exact timing of when this clarification was added remains unclear. Evidence suggests the attribution behavior existed for years, but explicit documentation emerged recently.

Where: The attribution methodology applies across Meta's advertising platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Advertisers configure these settings at the ad set level within Meta Ads Manager when creating campaigns.

Why: The clarification matters because advertisers have traditionally associated click-through attribution with link clicks that drive traffic to external destinations. Understanding that engagement actions contribute to click attribution affects campaign performance interpretation, optimization strategies, budget allocation decisions and expectations for how Meta's delivery system learns from conversion signals.