---
title: "Match quality troubleshooting | Cometly Academy"
description: "Match quality is what separates 'pixel installed' from 'pixel actually working.' If Meta or LinkedIn is showing scores in the 4–6 range, your Conversion API is probably missing identifiers, sending stale data, or firing on the wrong events. This lesson walks through the diagnosis and the fix."
source: "https://www.cometly.com/academy/match-quality-troubleshooting"
---

# Match quality troubleshooting

Going from 4 / 10 to 9.3 / 10 — the practical checklist.

- Module 04: Ad Platform Optimization
- Lesson: 4.5
- Track: Both
- Format: Playbook
- Read time: 8 min

Match quality is what separates 'pixel installed' from 'pixel actually working.' If Meta or LinkedIn is showing scores in the 4–6 range, your Conversion API is probably missing identifiers, sending stale data, or firing on the wrong events. This lesson walks through the diagnosis and the fix.

## Key takeaways

- Check that hashed email is being sent on every event — not just Purchase
- Add hashed phone, IP, and user agent as additional matchers
- Capture the click ID (`fbclid`, `gclid`, `li_fat_id`) on landing and pass it through to the conversion event
- Send events server-side via Conversion API, not browser-only
- Push deeper-funnel events (Demo Booked, New Customer) — they carry more identifying info than Lead events

Most teams ship a CAPI integration, see a match quality of 5/10, and assume that’s normal. It isn’t. Cometly customers typically run 8.5–9.3 across Meta, Google, and LinkedIn — and the gap between 5 and 9 is roughly a 2x difference in audience quality. This lesson is the practical checklist for closing the gap.

## Why it matters

Match quality directly determines how well the platforms’ algorithms can identify the people you’re telling them to find more of. A 5/10 match score means the algorithm is effectively guessing about half of every audience and lookalike. A 9/10 means it has clean signal almost every time.

## The diagnosis checklist

Walk through these in order. Stop when you find the issue and re-measure match quality after each change.

- Hashed email on every event (not just Purchase) — check Cometly Event Manager
- Hashed phone on every event where collected — check the form schema
- IP + user agent — should be automatic via Cometly server-side
- Click ID (`fbclid`, `gclid`, `li_fat_id`) captured at landing as hidden form field
- Click ID forwarded to the conversion event payload — verify in CAPI logs
- Events sent server-side via CAPI, not browser-only
- Deduplication key (event_id) shared between Pixel and CAPI
- Deeper-funnel events (Demo Booked, New Customer) being sent — they carry richer payloads than Lead

## Per-platform quirks

Meta scores match quality 0–10. Below 7 is poor; 8.5+ is excellent. Most issues come from missing fbclid or hashed phone.

Google rates Enhanced Conversions as 'Poor / Good / Excellent.' OCI shows match rate as a percentage. Most issues come from missing GCLID at landing.

LinkedIn shows match rate per audience and event. Most issues come from missing hashed email or li_fat_id.

## Common pitfalls

### Treating match quality as a fixed number

It can be moved with configuration changes. If yours is below 8, there’s usually a specific identifier missing.

### Sending only browser-side events

iOS, ITP, and ad blockers all reduce browser-side match quality. CAPI is the durable layer.

### Forgetting click ID capture

Without fbclid/gclid/li_fat_id on the conversion event, the platforms can’t connect the conversion to a specific click. Capture as hidden fields on every landing form.