This article will explain Meta's 20% rule regarding image advertisements.
The 20% Rule
Meta's rule states that 20% of your image ad cannot be covered with text.
If your image ad has more than 20% of text cover any images, your ad may be rejected by Meta's review team.
Why Does This Happen?
Meta has done research and found that advertisements with more text will be less likely to be noticed by the audience; ads with less text tend to perform better
Meta wants your advertisements to blend in with your newsfeeds, thus having minimal text on your advertisements will create a more natural feel
Users will spend more time looking at the advertisement, which could lead to a higher conversion rate
All you need to do is upload your image and Meta will tell you whether your image ad will be approved. The following Image Text Ratings will tell you whether or not your advertisement will be approved by Meta.
Numbers, text-based logos, and watermarks are also considered as text, so be wary of what your advertisement is displaying.
You should avoid spreading the text all over the image. If there is text displayed in various locations on the advertisement, it will most likely get rejected by Meta's team.
Avoid placing text on the image that you are advertising. Instead, place text below or around the image for the best audience interactions. Meta wants your advertising to look clean and natural to a user scrolling on their news feed.
When the text is too large, it will not be approved by Meta. The following images will show examples of how Meta will react to certain text sizes.
Even though your advertisement may pass Meta's 20% standards, you may not get the views and clicks that you desire because it is less likely to appeal to your audience.
Advertisements with more text look like an advertisement, so users may choose to ignore it instead of interacting with it
Although your advertisement may meet Meta's requirements, it will not be as desirable to your audience (as shown in the image above).
Notes
Meta uses its computerized tool to approve the advertisements. The response from the tool will not be perfect, and sometimes there will be flaws.
We were given a rating of "high" image text without the brick background (below), but after adding the brick background, we were approved for the advertisement.
This is an example of how hit-or-miss the Meta image advertising system can be. If this does occur for you, please understand that it is a common occurrence.
You may need to adjust your image advertisement so that Meta will approve your advertisement.
