From 28 October 2026, Meta switched product browsing on by default for existing Facebook and Instagram ads. Unless you opted out, someone who taps your ad may now land on a Meta-built product page inside the app, not on your website.
The timing wasn't kind either: one month out from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the most valuable weeks of the year for most Australian ecommerce brands. It's also a change a lot of advertisers didn't hear about. Meta sent the notice by email around 14 October, but not every account holder received it, and Meta hasn't published a Help Centre article explaining it.
The good news: you can still turn it off, ad by ad, and you can test it properly on your own data. Here's what's changed, why it matters, and what we're doing for our clients.
What is Meta product browsing?
Product browsing adds a Meta-hosted step between the ad and your website. Meta's own description is that people who tap your ad "may see an experience on Facebook or Instagram with product info and personalised suggestions".
In practice, the click journey changes like this:
|
Before |
With product browsing on |
|
|
Shopper taps the ad |
Goes straight to your landing page |
Opens a product page inside Facebook or Instagram |
|
Who builds the page |
You, on your site |
Meta, using your product catalogue |
|
What else they see |
Your site, your offer, your upsells |
"Personalised suggestions", which may include other brands' products |
|
How they reach your site |
Immediately |
Only if they tap through from Meta's page |
The feature itself isn't new. It's been available as an optional Advantage+ creative enhancement for a while. What's new is that Meta has flipped the default to on for ads that were already running.
Meta says it tested the change from 6 to 21 August 2026 across roughly 117,700 advertisers and saw 3% more conversions on average. But Meta hasn't said which conversions it counted, what attribution window it used, or what happened to cost per purchase or ROAS.
Why it matters for Australian ecommerce brands
More conversions on average doesn't mean more conversions for your store. Here's where we think the risk sits for Australian brands.
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Your landing page stops doing its job. If you've built campaign landing pages, bundles, free shipping thresholds or a gift-with-purchase, a shopper on Meta's page may never see them.
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Your catalogue becomes your landing page. Meta builds the in-app page from your product feed. Wrong prices, missing sale prices, old images or thin descriptions now show up at the moment someone is deciding to buy.
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Your reporting gets muddier. Fewer clicks reach your site, so GA4 sessions from Meta can drop while Meta reports more conversions. Without a baseline it's hard to tell whether you've gained sales or just lost visibility.
None of this means product browsing is bad. For some catalogues it will lift sales. The point is that it should be your decision, made on your data, not a default you inherited without noticing.
How to check, opt out or test product browsing
Work through these six steps now, and repeat the checks before any big sale or launch.
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Keep an eye on emails from Meta. Meta is telling the accounts it has flagged by email and through the notification bell in Ads Manager. Check every inbox tied to your business portfolio and ad accounts. If the notice is there, its "Opt out" button is the simplest way to stop the change across your existing ads.
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Check with the opt-out link as soon as you can. Didn't get an email? Check anyway. Log in to Meta Business Suite as an admin and open this link, swapping in your business portfolio ID (the number after business_id= in your Business Suite address bar): https://business.facebook.com/latest/home?business_id=YOUR_BUSINESS_ID&pb_auto_upgrade_optout=1&pb_auto_upgrade_optout_surface=email_deeplink
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If Meta has flagged your account, you'll be given the option to opt out. Take it if you'd rather keep sending clicks to your website. If you're not flagged, Meta will tell you: "Your ads aren't scheduled to get product browsing, so there's nothing to opt out of." The link only works for flagged accounts, so Meta's emails are still your main signal. Check again if one arrives later.
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Monitor your ads for shop clicks. Shop clicks in your Ads Manager results are a sign that product browsing is switched on for that ad. If you see them where you didn't expect them, open the ad's Advantage+ creative and destination settings and turn product browsing off. This is an ad-by-ad setting.
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Audit your catalogue in Commerce Manager. If you leave product browsing on anywhere, your feed is now your shopfront. Confirm prices, sale prices, stock, images and descriptions are right, and that sale pricing will flow through on the day.
What we recommend
For most Australian ecommerce brands, our advice is simple: turn product browsing off on your key ads, and test it on a small slice of spend first. Your landing page is too important to hand to a default you haven't tested, especially going into a big sale period. If the test shows a real lift in purchases and revenue on your own data, switch it on with confidence.
Meta product browsing FAQs
Can competitors' products appear when someone taps my ad?
It's possible. Meta shows "personalised suggestions" on the in-app page and advertisers can't control which products appear.
I didn't get Meta's email. Am I affected?
Possibly. Not every advertiser received the notice. Use the opt-out link in step 2 to check your business portfolio, and keep watching your ads for shop clicks.
Can I opt out after 28 October?
Yes. You can turn product browsing off on each ad at any time. Any spend that ran with it on before you switched it off has already gone through Meta's in-app experience.
Is there an account-wide opt out?
For flagged accounts, yes: the notice's "Opt out" button or the link in step 2 opts out your existing ads in one go. After that, product browsing is an ad-level setting.
Should I trust the 3% lift?
Treat it as a reason to test, not a reason to leave it on. It's an average across a lot of very different advertisers, reported by Meta.
Not sure what's switched on in your account?
We'll check your live Meta ads for product browsing and set up a clean test on your own data. Talk to Soul+Wolf about your Meta ads.
