Facebook has introduced a new paid social advertising tool for businesses to “reach and connect with audiences” who are in the “discovery mindset,” according to a company release. Ads in Facebook Search Results will display when users search for products in Marketplace, Facebook’s platform for buying and selling items in your area, and in general search results.

A full rollout of this ad placement type has been a long time coming. Facebook began testing paid social search ads with select advertisers in early 2019 before expanding the test in late July. Search Engine Land called the full rollout “a boon for any advertiser running a product sales or conversion-focused campaign.”

Search results ads will be automatically included in new campaigns that use Facebook’s Automatic Placements tool; advertisers that don’t use Automatic Placements can manually select or de-select the option.

“Internal Facebook research showed that opting-in to Facebook News Feed and Marketplace generally results in a lower cost per incremental lift for mid-funnel brand metrics than News Feed alone,” Facebook said in its release. “This research also showed that consumers’ perceptions of brand favorability and brand quality remained neutral or positive.”

As Search Engine Land’s Amy Gesenhues noted in an October 18 article, the new placement option also creates opportunities for businesses that are new to Facebook advertising.

“As Facebook’s ad inventory becomes even more saturated,” she wrote, “new ad placement options – such as search – give advertisers an upper hand by allowing them to run their ads in areas of the platform not yet overrun with competitor advertising.”

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