How to Set Up Google Ads Placement Exclusions

To set up Google Ads placement exclusions, define the safety or performance rule first, inspect where the campaign actually serves, format each website, app, video, or channel correctly, attach the exclusion at the narrowest useful scope, and verify the effective setting after saving. Record the evidence, owner, review date, and rollback condition so the exclusion remains a controlled decision rather than an unexplained permanent block.

Google’s current placement exclusion guidance puts placements and exclusions under the campaign’s Audiences, keywords, and content controls, while the exact options depend on campaign type. You can exclude specific websites, pages, apps, videos, channels, or broader content categories. The interface changes, so use the current labels in the account; the workflow below explains what to decide at each step.

Define the exclusion before opening Google Ads

Write the campaign goal, offer, audience, geography, conversion, budget, value model, and risk level. Then state why the inventory should be excluded:

A mandatory brand-safety, legal, or policy rule.
A repeated performance problem supported by a meaningful report.
An unproven placement that should remain under observation.

The first category can justify action with little performance data. The second needs a threshold, sample-size rule, and conversion-lag window. The third is not a reason to block an unfamiliar site or app merely because it looks different from the rest of the report.

Assign the owner and review rule

Record the list name, placement type, source report or policy, affected campaigns, owner, effective date, next review date, and rollback condition. Separate permanent safety lists from temporary waste-reduction tests. A list that mixes both makes it difficult to know whether a later manager may narrow it or whether removing one entry would violate an approved rule.

For the decision framework behind this process, read Google Ads placement exclusions best practices. For the settings reference, see best Google Ads placement exclusions settings.

Inspect the placement and content reports

Open the campaign report that shows where ads were eligible or served. Filter by the placement type the campaign supports: website or page, mobile app, video, channel, category, device, location, and campaign. For each candidate, capture context, impressions, spend, interactions, conversions, qualified rate, value, and normal conversion lag.

Ask whether the problem belongs to the inventory itself or to another part of the campaign. A low-quality click may come from accidental app interaction, an overly broad audience, a misleading creative, a page mismatch, or broken measurement. An exclusion may be appropriate, but the report should not be treated as an automatic block list.

Use evidence for performance exclusions

Set the threshold before selecting candidates. For example, require repeated spend without a qualified result after the campaign’s ordinary lag, or a stable pattern of low value across enough interactions to make a decision. The right threshold depends on margins, traffic, sales cycle, and risk; do not copy a number from another account.

For a safety rule, follow the approved policy even when the placement has little spend. Mark the reason as mandatory so a later analyst does not remove the exclusion because a short-term CPA looked attractive.

Choose the placement format

The exclusion field expects a specific format for the property you want to block. Select the smallest property that covers the problem:

A domain excludes the domain and its subdomains and paths.
A subdomain or directory limits the scope when the rule does not apply to the whole site.
An individual page targets a known URL rather than the whole publisher.
An app uses the relevant store identifier or package format.
A video or channel uses the placement identifier shown by Google Ads.

Check the current editor’s instructions before pasting values. A URL-like string in the wrong field can silently fail or block a different property than you intended. Google notes that subdomains, subsites, and subpages do not work on the Search Partner Network in the same way as domain exclusions; do not assume a Display exclusion has identical coverage on every surface.

Decide whether the whole category is necessary

Use a category or content exclusion when the brand or policy rule truly covers that class of inventory. Do not turn one poor placement into a whole category block without evidence. A category setting can reduce reach far beyond the report row that prompted the change, and Google does not guarantee that a category exclusion removes every related page.

Attach the exclusion at the intended level

Open the current Google Ads campaign controls under Audiences, keywords, and content, then find Content or Exclusions. Choose the exclusion type and the account, campaign, or ad-group level shown by the editor. If the account uses a shared placement-exclusion list, select the list only after checking which campaigns will inherit it.

Use account or manager scope for a rule that genuinely applies everywhere it will be attached. Use campaign scope when the offer, geography, or risk profile is specific to one campaign. Use ad-group or individual-placement scope when the issue belongs to one intent, page family, or known property. The narrowest effective scope is usually easier to explain and less likely to remove useful inventory from an unrelated branch.

Create a shared list carefully

Give a list a name that says what it does, such as “Mandatory brand safety” or “App test — review after sales lag,” rather than a ticket number alone. Record its purpose, owner, included placement types, evidence, affected campaigns, creation date, last review, and removal or renewal rule.

Separate lists by decision. Do not combine non-negotiable policy exclusions with temporary performance candidates; someone may later remove the whole list to restore reach and accidentally undo a safety control. Before attaching a shared list, compare the goals, markets, audiences, and conversion models of the campaigns that will receive it.

Enter and save the placement exclusions

For individual placements, choose Add placement exclusion or the equivalent control in the current interface. Select the campaign or ad group that should receive the exclusion, then enter the approved values in the correct format. Review the preview or summary before saving. If the editor accepts several entries, keep a copy of the exact values in the campaign record so a later review can distinguish a domain from a path or an app identifier.

For Android apps, Google’s documentation uses the package name with the mobile-app placement prefix; iPhone apps use the store identifier format. Do not infer an identifier from an app name when several products have similar names. Copy the identifier from the relevant store URL or the placement report and confirm it before saving.

For sites, decide whether the domain, subdomain, directory, or individual page is the real boundary. A domain-level exclusion can cover subdomains and paths; a directory or page is narrower. If the concern is a single article or page, do not block the entire publisher for convenience unless the approved rule requires it.

Review content-suitability controls separately

Content exclusions and placement exclusions solve related but different problems. Review the campaign’s inventory type, sensitive-content categories, and other suitability settings separately from the list of specific sites, apps, videos, and channels. Read the description for each option and document the expected reach effect before applying it.

Google’s Display content-exclusion guidance explains that multiple exclusion types can be combined. Several modest-looking settings can therefore create a much narrower effective inventory than any single control suggests.

Verify the saved state before judging results

After saving, reopen the exclusion view and confirm:

the correct account and campaign are selected;
the list or individual placement has the intended name and value;
the association level is correct;
the placement type is correct;
the content-suitability setting did not change unexpectedly;
no overlapping list is broader than the approved rule; and
the effective date and owner are recorded.

Inspect a representative ad group or campaign after a shared list is attached. If the same rule was meant to apply to several campaigns, check each branch or use the account-level report that exposes the association. A successful Save message proves only that the editor accepted the input; it does not prove the scope is correct.

Understand surface-specific behavior

Google states that account-level placement exclusions also apply to the Search Partner Network, while subdomains, subsites, and subpages do not work there in the same way as domain exclusions. If the campaign uses Search Partners, make that surface part of the review and do not assume a Display-only interpretation.

Placement exclusions block ads from showing at the selected inventory. They do not remove a placement from a targeting list in the same way, and removing a target may still allow an ad to appear through another targeting method. Check the current report and setting description before calling the problem solved.

Measure reach and quality after setup

Annotate the date, list version, association, content controls, and any other campaign changes. Review eligible impressions, spend, placement mix, interactions, conversions, qualified outcomes, value, and normal conversion lag. Compare the result with a baseline that has a similar budget, bidding approach, offer, geography, audience, creative, and landing page.

A lower click count is not automatically an improvement. An exclusion can remove accidental or irrelevant traffic while increasing qualified rate, or it can remove useful demand along with waste. A mandatory safety rule may be correct even when it lowers reach; a performance experiment should be narrowed or reversed when it fails its stated outcome test.

Set the review and rollback conditions

For a performance list, choose a review window that includes the campaign’s ordinary sales and conversion delay. Decide what would cause the team to keep, narrow, expand, pause, replace, or roll back the rule. Preserve the previous list and attachment state before editing so rollback does not depend on memory.

For a safety list, route changes through the brand, legal, or policy owner. Do not remove a mandatory exclusion because a short period produced an attractive CPA or because the list has not generated recent spend.

Placement exclusion setup checklist

Before closing the setup task, confirm:

[ ] Campaign goal, audience, offer, geography, conversion, and risk are documented.
[ ] The exclusion is classified as safety, proven performance, or observation.
[ ] Report evidence, sample size, conversion lag, or policy basis is recorded.
[ ] The website, page, app, video, channel, or category format is correct.
[ ] The narrowest useful account, campaign, or ad-group scope is selected.
[ ] Shared lists have purpose, owner, affected campaigns, review date, and rollback notes.
[ ] Content-suitability controls were reviewed separately.
[ ] Effective associations and overlapping exclusions were checked after save.
[ ] Search Partner and other relevant surfaces were considered.
[ ] Baseline, reach, qualified outcomes, value, and review window are ready.

For a related implementation reference, see how to set up Google Ads placement exclusions correctly. For the broader strategy, use Google Ads placement exclusions best practices. The adz.so product overview is a truthful audit entry point; it does not create or apply Google Ads placement exclusions for you.