How to Install the New Facebook Pixel

Facebook has offered the conversion tracking pixel since 2013. By February 15, 2017, however, the conversion tracking pixel will no longer be available and will be replaced with the new Facebook pixel. All accounts using the conversion tracking pixel need to be transitioned before February 2017.

If you’re already using the conversion tracking pixel, you’ll need to transition your ads to the new Facebook pixel in order to continue tracking. This post will cover how to migrate from the conversion tracking pixel to the Facebook pixel. This process involves the following three steps:

1. Installing the Facebook pixel base and event code on your website.
2. Transitioning ads to the new Facebook pixel.
3. Removing the old conversion pixel code.

How to create and update your code

If you’ve already created a Facebook pixel, you won’t see the Create Pixel button, and you can skip to step two in this section. If you haven’t created a Facebook pixel yet, start at step one.

Step 1: Create your Facebook pixel code.

1. Go to your Facebook Pixel tab in Ads Manager.

2. Click Create a Pixel.
3. Enter a name for your pixel. You can only have one pixel per ad account, but you have the option to later change the name of the pixel in the Facebook Pixel tab.
4. Check the box to accept.
5. Click Create Pixel.

Step 2: Install the Facebook pixel base and event code

The Facebook pixel code has two main components: pixel base code and event code. The pixel base code tracks activity on your website and should be installed on every page of your website. The event code tracks events (or actions) that happen on your website.

There are two types of events you can choose from: standard and custom. Standard events are predefined and include events like purchase, lead, and add to cart. Facebook is able to track and optimize your ads for these events without any additional actions from you.

Custom events are actions you define as important to your business, such as viewing a specific webpage. With custom events, you can’t use them for tracking and optimization without additional actions from you. For the purpose of this post, we’re going to focus only on standard events, but you can learn more about custom events here.

To add the Facebook pixel code to your website, do the following:

1. Go to your Facebook Pixel tab in Ads Manager.
2. Click Actions > View Pixel Code. (Note: This will only show the Facebook pixel base code. You’ll have to add in your standard event code after.)

3. Click the code to highlight it.
4. Copy the code.
5. Click Done.
6. Go to your website’s HTML and paste the code between thetags of your website template’s HTML. This ensures the code is able to track across the entire site.

You’ve now installed the Facebook pixel base code. To add a standard event to your tracking, first identify which event you’d like to track from the nine available options.

Once you’ve selected the action to track, paste the standard event code that corresponds with that website action above the tag in your pixel base code.

This is what your final code should look like.

1. Your website’s original code.
2. Your Facebook pixel base code pasted between thetags of your website.3. Your standard event code pasted within your Facebook pixel code, above the tag.

How to check if your pixel is working 

Once you’ve completed the initial code work and you’ve installed the Facebook pixel on your website, you’ll want to ensure your pixel is working properly before transitioning your ads.

Go to a webpage the pixel was placed on or a page it should be tracking. If it’s working properly, the pixel will send information back to Facebook. The pixel status will then be active, and you’ll be able to see activity on the Facebook pixel graph.

Transitioning ads to the Facebook pixel

At this point, you should have both the old conversion tracking pixel and the new Facebook pixel code in place on your website, you’ve checked that your pixel is tracking properly, and you’re ready to migrate your ads over.

To transition your existing ad sets to track with the Facebook pixel only, do the following:

• Go to your Ads Manager and locate the ads you need to transition.
• Hover over the edit button and select Edit Ad from the drop-down menu that appears.
• In the editing window, locate the Pixel Tracking section and select “Track all conversions from my Facebook pixel.”
• Click Save and Close.

You can also use Power Editor to bulk edit your ads by using the same steps.

Removing the old conversion tracking pixel 

Once the new Facebook pixel is installed on your website and all of your ads and ad sets have been transitioned to the Facebook pixel, you can remove the old conversion tracking pixel code from your website. All you’ll need to do is locate the conversion tracking pixel code and remove it from your website code. Make sure the conversion tracking pixel isn’t being used for optimization or tracking any active campaigns.

Additional resources:

• The Facebook Pixel
• Facebook Pixel Implementation Guide
• How to Track Conversions With the New Facebook Pixel