• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 11, 2013

Facebook has announced further changes to its ad formats aimed at making them more engaging and simpler to run.

Specifically, ad images will be larger across the desktop and mobile to give advertisers a more room to showcase products and services. The ad canvas is also enlarged. Page Post Link Ads, for example, will be 3.5 times bigger on the desktop.

Facebook said ad specifications will now be consistent across all ad platforms. This means advertisers will no longer have to upload multiple image sizes for different ad placements. And because the aspect ratio is the same across the desktop and mobile news feed, the same image can be used for both channel’s

Besides the Page Post Link unit, the changes mostly apply to Page like ads, offers ads and event ads. Commenting on the updates, Adquant CEO Joe McCormack said the more prominent ads could have an especially strong impact in the news feed, where ads already generate higher interaction rates than those in the right column.

In an effort to make advertising easier on Facebook, the company in June said it planned to cut the number of ad types offered in half.