Event Match Quality
- Also called EMQ
- Updated November 4, 2026
Event Match Quality (EMQ) is a score in Meta Events Manager that rates how well the customer information sent with a web event can match that event to a Meta account. Better matching helps Meta credit conversions to your ads and find people likely to convert. Meta's pages don't agree on the bottom of the scale, but the developer guidance is to aim for 6.0 or higher.
How does Meta calculate Event Match Quality?
Meta's About event match quality page:
To determine event match quality, Meta calculates a score from 0 to 10 based on the quality of customer information you're sending for a specific server event and the percentage of event instances matched to Meta accounts.
So there is one score per event, and it looks at two things: what you send and how much of it matched. A strong Purchase score says nothing about your AddToCart event.
Scores are "available for all standard and custom web events, such as page view, add to cart, and purchase." They also go stale. "The last 48 hours of data are used to calculate scores", so an event you send rarely can drift out of date.
Is the score out of 10, and from 0 or 1?
Out of 10, and the start depends on the page. The help page says "a score from 0 to 10". Meta's developer documentation says "Event Match Quality is scored from 1 to 10". Neither shows a date. In practice it changes nothing, since the same developer page gives the target: "Where possible, we typically recommend that you aim for an Event Match Quality score of 6.0 or higher."
Which customer information matters most?
Meta ranks it. The help page lists a priority for each parameter you can send from the Pixel or the Conversions API:
| Priority | Parameters |
|---|---|
| High | Email, Click ID |
| Medium | Facebook Login ID, Birthdate, Country, Phone number, External ID, Browser ID |
| Low | Lead, First name, Last name, City, Zip or Postal Code |
Meta adds that "The target audience influences parameter effectiveness, but there is a general priority for each parameter", in its best practices. That page also separates coverage from priority: "More events with these parameters increase the likelihood of a match."
Why does a low score matter?
Because an unmatched event can't do much. Meta's developer best practices say: "You can use only matched events for ads attribution and ad delivery optimization." Unmatched events are good only "for basic measurement." The verifying setup page says a high score "can help decrease your cost per action", and the help page says better quality "may result in an increase" in additional conversions reported.
Meta hedges both claims, and neither promises a lower cost.
What it means for your ads
Open Events Manager and start with the event you optimize for. Clicking the score shows Meta's details and recommendations for it.
If email and click ID aren't on the event, add them first. Send customer information on as many events as you can, hashed as the developer pages require. Meta's Business Tools Terms also "expressly require you to have lawful rights to collect, use and share data before providing it to us", and the best practices page says to get legal advice on consent.
One mix-up to avoid: match score rates a customer list you upload, while EMQ rates the information on each event, so check them separately.
Sources
- About event match quality — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- Best practices for Conversions API to help improve ad performance — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- Verifying Your Setup — Meta for Developers (accessed November 4, 2026)
- Best Practices - Conversions API — Meta for Developers (accessed November 4, 2026)
Meta updates its developer documentation without notice, so check the source before changing an integration.
Terrads makes ads in different concepts, so once your events match well, the results show which idea sold.