Google’s 3-Strike RAF Rule Explained: How to Protect Your AdSense RSOC Access in 2025

Most media buyers think they need to hustle harder, launch more campaigns manually, and watch Ads Manager all day. But the real pros scale by building smarter systems, not by working more hours. In this guide, we’ll break down how top affiliates structure their Meta lead gen campaigns step by step. From choosing the right networks to launching at scale and automating the entire optimization flow. Pick the Right Affiliate Network Bad networks shave conversions, ghost you and delay payments. You need affiliate networks that pays on time, have high-performing offers, and provide good support when something breaks. Here’s a short list of good networks worth working with: Wisdom Leadnomics Madrivo Leadpier A4D Pro Tip: Applying for an account out of nowhere won’t get your hands on their offers. It’s best you attend shows and meet their reps in person if you want to get access to the best ones. Use an Agency Ad Account New ad accounts on Meta are limited to $50 per day. That makes it hard to test or scale anything properly. Instead, you should opt for agency ad accounts. In exchange of a small fee you get: Higher daily spending limits Fewer account restrictions or bans Access to better support. Set Up Multiple Facebook Fan Pages Meta has a default limit of 250 active ads per page. If you reach that limit, the page may get restricted or go through manual reviews, and you cannot launch more ads. Sometimes compliance checks may trigger at a lower limit, like 200-230 active ads. Here’s why you should have multiple fan pages: Avoid hitting the active ad limits. Reduce the risks if pages get restricted. Test creatives against different pages. Make it harder for others to copy your ads. Research Your Competitors Don’t guess what’s working, look at what’s already being run by other marketers. Use free tools like Facebook Ads Library or paid ones like Adplexity Social (recommended) or Pipiads to better understand what works. Look for: Angles and headlines that keep showing up Funnels that have been live for weeks (they’re probably working) Thank-you pages and follow-up offers Use Proper Tracking Meta’s web-based Pixel alone isn’t that accurate anymore. Ad blockers and browser restrictions get in the way, ruining data accuracy and quality. Instead, use performance-based trackers like ClickFlare to send conversion data to Meta through the Conversion API. Apart from tracking conversions accurately, you’ll be able to: Split-test different landing pages and offers Filter low-quality conversions Track Zip codes for better targeting Better data = better optimization = lower CPAs. Test and Target Properly Meta’s algorithm has become quite efficient when it comes to finding the right ads for the right audience. So instead of spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars testing a small quantity of ads running ABO campaigns, switch to CBO campaigns and test tens or hundreds in one go. Try this: Budget Settings: Campaign level / $200-250/day Conversion Settings: Max Conversions / Leads Location Targeting: Exclude low-performing states Ad Structure: 1 ad per ad set Number of Ads: 50 – 150 different ads Dayparting: Check with the call center hours Setting up campaigns from Meta’s interface might take a few hours. Instead, you can use TheOptimizer’s Meta Campaign Launcher that allows you to upload hundreds of ads and restructure them in just a couple of minutes. See this case study here. Use Automation to Save Time and Money Watching Ads Manager all day long isn’t a strategy and won’t get you far. Instead, you should leverage automation to control spend, scale what’s working, and stop what’s not. Here are some scenarios you should automate and why. 1. Dayparting Campaigns Your campaigns should run only during the time call centers are able to process lead calls. So, instead of running lifetime budget campaigns in order to daypart them, run daily budget campaigns using a dayparting rule like this. This rule will start the campaign every week day at 9am US/Central and pause the campaign at 7pm US/Central. Adjust the schedule according to your offer call center hours. This rule will start the campaign every weekday at 9 am US/Central and pause the campaign at 7 pm US/Central. Adjust the schedule according to your offer call center hours. 2. Pausing Underperforming Ad Sets – Stop Loss When testing hundreds of ads in a CBO campaign with one ad in each ad set, Meta will barely spend on the obvious losers. But it can still burn budget on ads that look good at first with decent engagement but fail to convert. That’s where things go wrong. Use this rule to pause underperforming ads that haven’t converted at 1.5x the average payout. This way you’ll tell Meta that you don’t want ads that generate high CPA leads. 3. Pause Poor Performing Campaigns – Stop Loss If your campaign doesn’t shape up in the first few days or within the first week, it’s better to turn it off rather than keep spending on it. Meta usually takes around 3 to 4 days to reach break-even. Sometimes it might take a few more days, but if you’re more than a week in and none of your creatives are profitable, it’s time to shut it down. Make sure you’re giving the algorithm enough time and data to optimize. Shutting campaigns down too early often leads to wasted spend and no real results. 4. Increase Budgets – Scaling This one is straightforward. Once you have a winning campaign with stable ROI, it is time to increase the budget. But do not overdo it. Each budget increase can cause your CPA to swing for a day or two. The following rule helps you stay consistent and in control when scaling. This rule makes sure you only increase budgets when the campaign has enough conversions and has maintained a stable ROI and CPA over the past few days. That way, you avoid scaling a campaign that is already losing performance. 5. Clone Winning Ad Sets to Other Campaigns – Scaling You should be running two types of campaigns. One for testing new ads and finding winners, and another for scaling and adding those winners to. With a rule like the one below, can constantly feed your scaling campaigns with fresh winners, helping them to stay profitable for longer. As you may notice in most of the automation rules above, we use CPA and ROI based on the tracker’s reported conversions and revenue, not the traffic source’s. This ensures you are optimizing based on accurate data. The main goal of automating these optimization tasks is to save you money and time in your daily routine. That way, you can focus more on creating better creatives and testing new angles, instead of constantly refreshing your screen and checking things manually. In conclusion… Strong creatives help, but they won’t fix a bad campaign setup. Start with a solid offer, use the right ad accounts, get your tracking in place, and automate your most frequent tasks. If you follow this structure, you’ll stop wasting money and start scaling with control. Just like the top affiliate marketers do.

When testing a new traffic source, most media buyers fall into the same pattern. They throw in random budgets, overcomplicate campaign structures, and try to figure things out through trial and error. It’s expensive. It’s messy. And most of the time it does not scale. Instead of guessing, we’ll walk you through the recommended campaign structure, ideal budget setup, and the automatic optimization rules that actually work on NewsBreak. This way, you can skip the costly learning curve and start optimizing like the top spenders from day one. Campaign Structure Before you start optimizing, you need a clean structure that gives the algorithm room to learn and you enough control to scale. Most campaigns underperform not because of bad creatives, but because they’re built on messy foundations. Here’s a simple structure that keeps things efficient and easy to manage: Campaigns 1 Campaign per funnel / product / offer Ad Sets per Campaign 2 ad sets per campaign Ads per Ad Set 3 ads per ad set Creative Grouping Separate videos and images into different ad sets Aspect Ratio Group 9:16 and 16:9 creatives separately This structure makes it easier for NewsBreak’s algorithm to process performance signals and helps you identify what’s working without added noise. Recommended Budgets The fastest way to stall a campaign on NewsBreak is by underfeeding the algorithm or overextending before you have data. A well-calibrated budget gives your campaigns enough room to perform while avoiding unnecessary spend during the learning phase. Use the table below as a baseline: Campaign Type Daily Budget Ad Set Count Creative Count per Ad Set Lead Gen Less than $200/day 2 2 to 3 creatives per ad set Lead Gen More than $200/day 2 3 to 5 creatives per ad set eCommerce Less than $200/day 2 2 to 3 creatives per ad set eCommerce More than $200/day 2 3 to 5 creatives per ad set Search Arbitrage From $50/day 2 2 to 3 creatives per ad set Search Arbitrage $100 or more per day 2 to 3 3 to 5 creatives per ad set These recommendations are based on real campaign data and give you the best shot at reaching enough conversions to exit the learning phase. Aim for 30 conversions within 4-5 days. Recommended Optimization Rules Even with the right structure and budget, campaigns still need ongoing management. But constantly monitoring performance by hand is not scalable, especially if you are running multiple ad sets or spending at higher volumes. This is where automatic optimization rules come in. They help you take action quickly, without lifting a finger. Here are 7 automatic rules you can set up right away: Pause Non-Converting Campaigns This rule pauses those campaigns that spent at least $200 in the last 3 days and have not generated a single conversion. It checks the performance every 30 minutes to catch underperforming campaigns on time and prevent ad spend waste. Pro Tip: Use this rule during new launches or when testing aggressive scale campaigns. Fast feedback loops prevent overspending, especially in volatile verticals.   Pause Low-Performing Ad Set This rule targets ad sets that are statistically worse than campaign averages. It pauses ad sets that have spent over $300, generated less than 30% of the campaign total conversions. It also checks if ad the ad set has a CVR below 70% campaign average, and a CPA that’s 10% higher than your payout.   Pro Tip: Switch conditions from CPA to ROI or ROI (tracker) if you are tracking the ROI and your conversion values are not static.   Pause Low CTR Non-Converting Ads This rule catches underperforming creatives and cuts them before they affect your return on investment. The rule is looking at non-converting ads if they have spent more than 100% of the Avg. CPA, have a CTR below 1%, and are performing worse than 60% of the campaign’s average CTR. Pro Tip: Low CTR is often a creative issue, not just audience mismatch. Use this rule to eliminate weak creatives early and free up budget for ads that actually generate interest. Alert: Check Performance – Not Enough Conversions This rule flags ad sets that are burning budget without delivering sufficient conversions. It sends you an alert when an ad set has spent over $400 in the last 5 days, generated less than 20 conversions, and have a CPA greater than $50. This is a classic quality-control filter to surface low-performing ad sets before they burn through more spend. Pro Tip: Keep this rule in alert-only mode to evaluate borderline ad sets before killing them, especially when testing new audiences or creatives. Also, if needed consider switching conditions from CPA based to ROI based. Increase Ad Set Budget Twice Weekly This rule gradually increases ad set budgets twice a week by 30%, but only if performance criteria are met. It checks if over the last 8 days the ad set has spent 5x the daily budget, generated at least 50 conversions, and consistently hit over 20% ROI for three days in a row for the last three days. Pro Tip: This rule changes budgets at midnight according to the account time zone. If your account reporting is in a different time zone, switch the time zone of the “Hour of Day” condition to yours.   Alert: Switch Ad Set to tCPA This rule sends you an alert for when its best to switch your ad sets from Max Conversions to Target CPA. It compares CPA across two time frames, a prior “good” window (13–5 days ago) and a recent performance window (last 5 days). If CPA was previously under $50 and has now climbed above $50, the rule sends an alert suggesting a switch to tCPA.   Alert: Add New Ads to Good-Performing Ad Set This rule helps you to identify ad fatigue on good performing ad sets. It checks if it has a significant ad spend over the last 7 days. Compares the CVR of the last 7 days if its less than 80% of that of 14 – 8 days ago. Does the same comparison for the ROI and also checks if it has generated over 100+ conversions over the last 14 days. Pro Tip: Adjust the “Hour of Day” condition to get alerts within your daytime hours to make sure you don’t miss the chance to refresh your creatives on good ad sets.   By following the right campaign structure, setting realistic budgets, and using data-backed automatic rules, you can cut out the guesswork and scale confidently. The rules we’ve outlined here follow NewsBreak optimization best-practices and what’s actually working for high-volume media buyers on their platform right now. So instead of reacting late or manually babysitting your ads, let automation do the heavy lifting. Stop Guessing. Start Scaling. Stop relying on guesswork. Start using proven rules that drive real results. Start running NewsBreak campaigns like a pro! 👉 Get Started for Free

Scaling Meta Ads (Facebook Ads) sounds like a simple thing for most media buyers. Just increase budgets and keep adding new creatives, right? Well, you know that the very moment you touch a profitable campaign, it tanks! The challenge isn’t getting a winning campaign at low scale. It’s keeping winners profitable while you scale them. And when you’re spending serious money, every move counts. In this guide, I’ll break down the exact decisions that make or break your scaling strategy. When to start scaling a campaign and by how much? How do you know it’s the right time to clone? What should you clone: campaigns or ad sets? When does it make sense to clone across multiple ad accounts? After cloning, do you keep duplicating or scaling budgets? Let’s break it all down so you can scale more reliably. When Should I Start Scaling a Campaign and by How Much? Most media buyers either fail to scale a profitable campaign properly or make the mistake of scaling it too early. For example, even though you might be getting a good CPA within the first couple of days of your ad set or campaign running, it doesn’t mean it’s reliable enough to be scaled unless you have collected enough conversion data. According to Meta’s official documentation, ad sets and campaigns need to go through at least a full 7-day learning period and collect a minimum of 50 conversions. However, real-world results show something slightly different. If your campaign generates around 8-10 or more conversions a day consistently, you don’t necessarily need to wait a full week before starting to scale your campaign. Here’s why: . As you can see from the above graph, during the first couple of days, CPAs are fluctuating in the high range, sort of like 2x-5x your CPA goal or even higher. During this period, Meta seems to be testing different audience pools in order to find the best audience able to deliver the highest number of results for the allocated budget. By day 3, the CPA has the tendency to come closer to the desired CPA. By day 4, you might hit your desired goal, which will then continue delivering results at a similar CPA or lower. With these patterns in mind, you should give Meta at least 3-4 days with a consistent amount of generated conversions before starting to scale your campaign or ad set budget. If you do it earlier, or you have generated less than 8 conversions a day, then you’re likely playing russian roulette, and what you scaled might tank the next day. Besides the number of days running and the generated amount of conversions, how much and how often you increase your campaign or ad set budgets is quite important. Years ago, Meta used to recommend increasing the daily budget by not more than 30% at a time. This was the safe mark that helped you scale smoothly without shaking the algorithm’s learnings. These days, Meta’s official documentation is quite vague and refers to extreme budget changes like 10x the current budget without giving any percentage references. However, when looking at hundreds of thousands of campaigns and their scaling dynamics, we can confidently say that the safest approach would be to stay within the 20%-30% range for medium to high CPA campaigns. For lower CPA campaigns, you can also push it to 50% or even 100% budget increases at a time. Just make sure you have enough conversions and you don’t do it way too often. Stop wasting money: Add this stop-loss rule » How Often Should You Change Budgets? Budget change frequency is quite important too! In fact, exaggerated budget changes are counted as “significant edits” for Meta, which leads to resetting the learnings the campaign has collected so far. Too frequent budget changes continuously impact your ad set or campaign learnings, which later might lead to a fluctuating CPA that never settles. Check out the following graph: In this graph, you may notice how the CPA increases every time a budget change is applied to an ad set or campaign. In fact, every time a significant budget change is applied, the CPA tends to increase for 1-2 days, then settle back down to its optimal range. Of course, the CPA is highly influenced by the ad strength and competition, however, it’s important to consider how significant budget changes impact the stability of the ad set or campaign. As such, for more stable campaigns, it’s best to scale your budgets once every two to three days. If your CPA is low enough and you have enough margin, you can also change it more frequently in exchange for a slightly higher CPA, lower margin, but higher net profit. Grow faster: Add this budget scaling rule » When Should I Clone Ad Sets or Campaigns? Another way of scaling campaigns is to clone your best performers multiple times. This not only allows you to have more campaigns using the same winning set of creatives and funnels. It also allows you to reach a much larger audience than you couldn’t have reached through a single campaign with a limited budget. Interestingly enough, when you clone ad sets or campaigns, your likelihood of reaching a different audience pool is pretty high. For this very reason, you might notice an important performance difference between the original ad set or campaign, even after you’ve run the new one past the initial learning period. Getting back to when it’s the right time to clone… once you find a winning ad, ad set, or campaign, it’s best to start scaling it not only vertically (by increasing budgets), but horizontally too (cloning it). In a nutshell, if the ad set or campaign generates 8-10 conversions a day consistently on optimal CPA or ROI and has exited the learning phase by day 5, you are good to go. If it takes longer for the ad set or campaign to exit the learning phase, then give it enough time to collect at least 50 conversions/week on a good CPA or ROI, then go for it. What Should I Clone: Campaigns or Ad Sets? The short answer to this is both. However, there are some nuances and situations when you’d want to clone campaigns over ad sets, ad sets over campaigns, or even just ads from one campaign to another. If you are running CBO (campaign budget optimization) campaigns (currently labeled as Advantage Campaign Budget), it makes more sense to clone campaigns. Cloning ad sets inside such campaigns won’t make much sense unless you plan on changing the audience targeting, since Meta will try to focus the campaign budget on the best-performing ad set. In other words, you won’t be scaling your spend. If you are running ABO (ad set budget optimization) campaigns (meaning you’re setting the budget on the ad set level), it makes sense to clone ad sets within the same campaign. By doing so, you are leveraging campaign-level learnings that have been collected so far and utilizing them on the newly cloned ad sets to exit the learning phase faster and potentially perform very similarly to the original one. On top of it, for ABO you can also clone campaigns, and that will very quickly scale the ad spend multiple times from the current one. Pro tip: When cloning ABO campaigns, make sure you reset your scaled ad set budgets to a reasonable amount, otherwise your newly created campaign and ad sets will start spending on hefty budgets and that might not make much sense. Clone winners: Add this campaign cloning rule » Does it Make Sense to Clone Across Ad Accounts? Most new Meta ad accounts have a default spending limit that progressively increases as you build up some spending history with them. This often may prevent you from scaling winners fast and taking advantage of the momentum to generate more profits. Besides that, depending on the type of campaigns that you’re running or how aggressive your ads are, ad accounts might be at risk of getting restricted from advertising. Both these cases prevent you from scaling or squeezing any potential profits from your winning campaigns. As such, cloning campaigns across multiple ad accounts is the next level of scaling your winning campaigns. This not only allows you to multiply your current scale faster, but also helps you mitigate any potential ad account restrictions that might turn your […]