TrueMetriks documentation: Restricted categories https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/ Generated from the TrueMetriks documentation. Paste the whole of this file into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Cursor or any other AI. I use TrueMetriks, a server-side tracking and conversion attribution platform. It tracks my website visitors, ties every sale back to the ad that produced it, and sends those conversions back to my ad platforms. Help me with this specific task: Restricted categories. Keep optimising on Facebook in restricted categories like health, finance, and supplements by firing your conversion through a neutral custom event name. HOW TO GUIDE ME - This file has three parts: THE GUIDE is today's task, BACKGROUND is a prerequisite to confirm with me before you start THE GUIDE, not optional reading, and LINK MAP is the only place a real link comes from. - Ask me ONE thing at a time and wait for my answer before moving on. - At the start of every step, ask me: "do you want the written steps, or the video?" If I pick the video, give me the exact link from the LINK MAP at the bottom and wait until I tell you I have watched it. If I pick the written steps, give them to me from this file. - Only ever give me links that appear in the LINK MAP below. Never invent a URL, never guess an anchor, and if I ask for something that has no link here, say so and point me at https://docs.truemetriks.com/ instead. - Never ask me for my password, my API key, my MCP key, or any card details. You are reading me the steps; I am the one clicking in my own account. - Confirm each step worked before starting the next one. - Keep it short. I am doing this while looking at my screen, not reading an essay. - Everything you need is in this file. You do not need to browse the web. =============================================================================== THE GUIDE: Restricted categories https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/ =============================================================================== **Video guide** VIDEO: How to optimise in a restricted category with TrueMetriks -> https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/ ## Why standard events get throttled If your business sits in a category Meta restricts (health, wellness, weight loss, finance, supplements, gambling, dating, alcohol, and a few others), Meta will block or throttle ad delivery when you optimise on certain standard event names: `Purchase`, `Lead`, `InitiateCheckout`, `AddToCart`, `Schedule`, and `ViewContent`. In practice you get pushed back to `PageView`, which is too high in the funnel to optimise on, so your ROAS suffers even when the offer converts fine. The workaround is to stop sending the restricted standard event and instead fire your conversion through a custom event with a **neutral, meaningless name**. TrueMetriks sends everything server-side through the Conversions API, so you fully control the name Meta sees. Meta's pattern detector cannot map a random name back to a restricted intent, so your delivery is judged on performance, not on the label. ## Rule 1: give the event an arbitrary name This is the part most people get wrong. The whole point is that the event name reveals nothing. So do **not** name it anything that hints at what it is: - Bad: `custom_purchase`, `purchase_v2`, `real_purchase`, `buy`, `checkout`, `lead_real`, `sale`. Each of these still contains the intent Meta is looking for. - Good: `ghu`, `kt8x2`, `evt_a7`, `kenny_florian`, `bluefin` - a random string or unrelated word that carries no meaning. Meta sees a name it cannot classify, so it has nothing to restrict. Pick something you will recognise in your own reporting but that means nothing to an outside pattern detector. Avoid any of the words `purchase`, `buy`, `cart`, `checkout`, `lead`, `signup`, `subscribe`, `order`, `sale`. A short nonsense token like `ghu` is the safest choice. You still get a clean, dedicated conversion column in Ads Manager and you optimise campaigns against it exactly like a normal Purchase. The only thing that changed is the label. ## Rule 2: keep your product names and URLs neutral too The event name is not the only thing Meta reads. Its systems also scan your **landing page URLs, product names, and on-page content**. If your custom event is called `ghu` but it fires on `yoursite.com/diabetes-destroyer`, you have given the game away - the URL hints at exactly what the offer is. So apply the same discretion everywhere the platform can see: - **Product names / slugs:** use a neutral code, not the marketing name. `Diabetes Destroyer` becomes `Program A` or `offer-7`; `Keto Shred Pro` becomes `bundle-b`. - **URLs:** prefer `yoursite.com/p/offer-a` or `yoursite.com/order/7` over `yoursite.com/diabetes-destroyer`. The path should not describe the niche. - **Anything the pixel or crawler can read** (page titles, content names sent with the event) should stay just as neutral as the event name. The goal is consistency: a meaningless event name plus a neutral URL and product name give Meta nothing to classify. A neutral event name next to a giveaway URL does not. ## Set up the custom event You create the custom event inside the TrueMetriks integration card for your pixel, the same place the **Allowed events** checkboxes live. First, uncheck the restricted standard (for example `Purchase`) in Allowed events so only your neutral custom name fires. Then create the custom event. ### Step 1: click Create Inside the expanded pixel row, scroll to the **Custom events** panel and click the highlighted **Create** button. ### Step 2: fill in the popup with a neutral name The **Create custom event** popup opens. Set: - **Standard event** (dropdown) - the standard event you want to mirror. Pick `Purchase` to fire every time a Purchase would have. Same for `Lead`, `Schedule`, and so on. - **Custom event name** (input) - your arbitrary name from Rule 1, such as `ghu`. This is the name Meta sees. - **Fire when** (dropdown) - `Always` is the default. For `Purchase`, `Lead`, and `Schedule` you can also pick `New customers only` or `Returning only` to split your audience (see [New vs returning customers](https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/new-vs-returning/)). Click **Create**, then click the highlighted **Save changes** button at the bottom of the card to create the Custom Conversion in Facebook. ### Step 3: confirm the Custom Conversion in Facebook The moment you save, TrueMetriks calls the Meta API and creates a **Custom Conversion** in Facebook for you - you do not set it up by hand. To confirm, open Meta Ads Manager → **Events Manager** → pick the pixel you mapped → **Custom conversions** tab. Your neutral name shows up there. It stays **Inactive** until the first event lands. Fire a test event or wait for live traffic; the status flips to **Active** once Meta sees the first conversion. ### Step 4: add the conversion as a column In Meta Ads Manager → **Campaigns** (or Ad sets / Ads) → the **Columns: Performance** dropdown → **Customize columns**. Search for your neutral name, tick **Total**, **Value**, and **Cost** on the matching row, then click Apply. ### Step 5: read the column and optimise on it The Campaigns / Ad sets / Ads table now has a dedicated column for your custom conversion. Use it exactly like a Purchase column - sort by it, build saved reports, and set automated rules and ad-set optimisation against it. ## Gotchas - **Wait 30 to 60 seconds after Save** before firing test events. Meta needs to finish creating the Custom Conversion first; events fired too early land without the conversion attached. - **Removing a custom event in TrueMetriks does not delete the Custom Conversion in Facebook.** It stops the custom name from firing, but the entry stays in Events Manager. Delete it manually from Facebook's Custom conversions tab if you no longer need it. - **Custom Conversions have a 100-per-pixel limit** (Meta's restriction). Each custom event counts as one; the list shows how many you have remaining. ## Related - [Facebook integration](https://docs.truemetriks.com/ad-integrations/facebook/) - the full custom events reference and how the Conversions API connection works. - [New vs returning customers](https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/new-vs-returning/) - use the `When` condition to split a restricted-category conversion by audience. =============================================================================== LINK MAP Use these exact URLs. Anything ending in a # anchor opens on that section or that video. Nothing else is a valid link. Never invent a URL and never guess an anchor. Restricted categories The guide ................................... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/ Why standard events get throttled ........... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#why-standard-events-get-throttled Rule 1: give the event an arbitrary name .... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#rule-1-give-the-event-an-arbitrary-name Rule 2: keep your product names and URLs neutral too https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#rule-2-keep-your-product-names-and-urls-neutral-too Set up the custom event ..................... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#set-up-the-custom-event Step 1: click Create ........................ https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#step-1-click-create Step 2: fill in the popup with a neutral name https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#step-2-fill-in-the-popup-with-a-neutral-name Step 3: confirm the Custom Conversion in Facebook https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#step-3-confirm-the-custom-conversion-in-facebook Step 4: add the conversion as a column ...... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#step-4-add-the-conversion-as-a-column Step 5: read the column and optimise on it .. https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#step-5-read-the-column-and-optimise-on-it Gotchas ..................................... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#gotchas Related ..................................... https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/#related VIDEO, How to optimise in a restricted category with TrueMetriks https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/restricted-categories/