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Estimated match in rules. What does it mean?
Estimated match in rules. What does it mean?

Learn how the filters work and affect the items matched by the rule

Aigul avatar
Written by Aigul
Updated over a week ago

What is the Estimated Match below the Filter of the rule?


When you set the Filter of the rule, it shows the estimated number of items that match the filters you selected.

This estimation is shown in real time, so the number you see might change if you check it later when there are more / less items matching the filter in the given ad account.

If you select several ad accounts in the rule, you will see a breakdown of the estimated match for each ad account upon hovering over the respective field:

❗️Important note: If you are using filter groups connected by OR in your rule, the system checks the number of items that fit each group and shows the highest number.

For example, the rule below has 2 filter groups:
Campaign objective is traffic OR Campaign objective is brand awareness


There are 89 campaigns with traffic objective in the given ad account, and 43 with brand awareness objective. In this case, the estimator shows the highest number - 89.

What is the maximum number of items in the Estimated Match?

There is a limit on the number of items checked by a rule as there are Meta API call limits for the accounts that have to been taken into account to ensure the stability of the app. The max number of items (campaigns/ ad sets/ ads) one rule can be applied to is set at 2000.

In case the number is higher, we suggest adding more filters in the scope of the rule to reduce the number of checked items. For Meta Ads, for example, you can narrow down the scope of checked items by adding filters based on items' name, status, delivery, metric or campaign objective.

❗️Important note: once the maximum number of estimated match is reached, you'll be suggested adding a metrics-based Impressions (Campaign) in the last 30 days >0 filter to help you make the rule work properly without causing too many API calls. You'll be able to edit this filter choosing another metric from the list, which includes CPM, Frequency, Lifetime spent and Reach metrics along with Impressions.

Estimated match: 0. What does this mean?


In certain cases, you might notice that the estimated match shows 0 ads/ ad sets/ campaigns. What is wrong and how can you fix this?

Reason #1
Most likely, the filters applied to your rule are off, so there are no items that match them.


Please make sure you are applying the filters at the correct level (ad, ad set, campaign) and the ads/ad sets/campaigns with the combination of properties you specified actually exist in your ad account.

Please also note that if the level the rule is applied to and in the filter are not the same, the matching principle might be different:

  • The rule is set at a higher level than the filters

    Example: the rule is set at the campaign level, the filters are at the ad set or ad level


    If the higher level contains at least one item that fits the criteria, it will be matched and checked by the rule. In this case, the rule will match all campaigns that contain at least one ad set with the "test" in the ad set name.

  • The rule is set at a lower level than the filters
    Example: the rule is set at the ad set level, and the filters are at the campaign level

All the items of the lower level that belong to the parent that fits the criteria will be matched and checked by the rule. In the example above, all the ad sets that belong to campaigns with "test" in the name will be matched.

This logic works with all filters - name, status, delivery and objective - based.


Reason #2
The filters selected in the rule might be mutually exclusive.

Please note that all filters are connected by AND by default unless you create filter groups with OR by clicking + Add filter group. For filters connected by AND, please make sure that they do not cancel out each other. A classic example would be using several objective-based filters connected by AND in Facebook Ads rules:

In this case, the rule is looking for the campaigns that fit both criteria, and since a campaign can have only one objective, it is impossible to find a campaign that meets both criteria.


❗️Important note: We do not recommend using several objective-based filters within the same rule for TikTok Ads.


Due to TikTok Ads API specifics, the rule matches the items based on the last objective-based filter and shows the estimated number of items based on the last objective-based filter that has been used. Essentially, the rule takes the last filter in the Scope and is only checking the items that fall under that. For example, the rule below will check only the campaigns with the Reach objective:


Reason #3
The connection to your ad account might be lost


To restore the connection, please check which profile is used on the Integrations page for this ad account and follow the steps below:

1. Log into the relevant Facebook or TikTok profile
2. For Meta Ads: follow this link
For TikTok Ads: follow this link

Please do not disconnect the profile by clicking Unlink in order to prevent rules from turning into drafts and ad account-related assets from being lost. Reconnection using the links above should be sufficient in this case.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team on the website 💬

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