How to use placement exclusions in Google Ads (2026 guide for display, YouTube & performance max)

Placement exclusions in Google Ads let you control where your ads appear by blocking specific websites, apps, YouTube channels, or videos that are irrelevant or underperforming.

A “placement” is simply any location where your ad can show, such as a website, mobile app, or YouTube video.

Exclusions help you remove low-quality or irrelevant placements, so your budget is spent on traffic that is more likely to convert.

Without exclusions, Google may show your ads across millions of sites and apps through the Google Display Network, which can include irrelevant or wasted traffic.

What are placement exclusions in Google Ads?

Placement exclusions are settings in Google Ads that stop your ads from showing on specific websites, mobile apps, YouTube channels, or videos.

In simple terms, they help you control where your ads appear so you can avoid low-quality or irrelevant traffic.

In Google Ads, a “placement” simply means any location where your ad can appear online, such as a website page, a mobile app, or a YouTube video.

Placement exclusions let you block specific ones that are not relevant to your business.

Where do Google Ads appear without exclusions?

With no exclusions, your ad placements will occur in three major areas:

1. Google Display Network (GDN): Websites and individual web pages that have Google AdSense ads, such as news sites, blogs, content aggregators, parked domains, and MFA sites.
2. YouTube: Video ads can run as pre-roll or mid-roll on any channel or video content, including children’s videos, unrelated channels, and channels that are potentially harmful to your brand.
3. Mobile apps: Entertainment apps, games, and other applications on both Android and iOS. It is where most Display budget is wasted. App placements generate clicks from unintentional taps rather than engagement.

Simple breakdown:

Without exclusions, Google can show your ads across:

• Websites (Google Display Network)
• Mobile apps
• YouTube videos and channels

This means your ads can appear anywhere within Google’s network unless you actively block specific placements.

Why do placement exclusions matter?

Placement exclusions matter because they stop your ads from showing in places that don’t help your business.

In Google Ads, your ads can appear across websites, apps, YouTube, and more. Not all of these are relevant, and some can waste your budget.

Here’s why exclusions are useful:

1. They save money by avoiding low-quality clicks
2. They keep your ads away from irrelevant apps or websites
3. They improve the chance of getting real customers, not random traffic
4. They protect your brand from appearing next to bad or unrelated content
5. They reduce accidental clicks, especially on mobile apps and games

Key takeaway:

Placement exclusions improve campaign efficiency by removing irrelevant or low-quality traffic sources, which helps your budget focus on users more likely to convert.

Instead of repeating the same benefit across sections, this effect applies across all campaign types.

What types of placements can you exclude?

You can use Google Ads to exclude six different categories of placements:

1. Website URLs: Block specific websites or pages. If you exclude a domain (e.g., example.com), all its subdomains are also excluded. You can add up to 65,000 URLs per account.
2. Mobile apps: Exclude individual apps using their store ID or block entire categories like Games, Social, or Dating.
3. Mobile app categories: Broader filters that remove all apps within a category (e.g., all Games subtypes like Puzzle, Arcade, Strategy, etc.).
4. YouTube channels: Prevent your ads from appearing on specific channels (you cannot exclude YouTube globally).
5. YouTube videos: Block individual video URLs from showing your ads.
6. Content categories/topics: Exclude broad categories such as parked domains, mature content, embedded videos, and political content.

When should you not use placement exclusions aggressively?

Placement exclusions are powerful, but overusing them too early can hurt campaign performance.

You should avoid heavy exclusions in the following situations:

1. Early campaign learning phase: Google still needs data to understand what works
2. Low-budget campaigns: Too many exclusions can limit delivery and learning
3. Awareness campaigns: Broad reach is sometimes more important than tight filtering
4. New accounts with limited data: There is not enough performance history to guide decisions

How do you add placement exclusions in Google Ads?

There are several ways to add placement exclusions, depending on how broadly you want to apply them.

Method 1: Campaign-level exclusions

Use this to block placements for a single campaign. Steps:

• Sign in to your Google Ads account
• Go to Campaigns and select your campaign
• In the left menu, click Content → Placements (or “Content” depending on campaign type)
• Go to the Exclusions tab
• Click the + Add exclusions button
• Choose Campaign or Ad group level

Enter placements such as:

• Website URLs
• YouTube channel or video URLs
• App names or IDs
• Click Save

Method 2: Shared (account-level) placement exclusion lists

Use this when you want one blocklist applied across multiple campaigns. Steps:

• Go to Tools & Settings → Shared Library → Placement exclusion lists
• Click + to create a new list
• Name your list and add placements to exclude
• Save the list
• Apply it to selected campaigns

Method 3: App category exclusions

Use this to block groups of mobile apps. Steps:

• Go to your campaign
• Click Content → Exclusions
• Select App categories
• Choose categories like Games, Entertainment, or Utilities
• Click Save

Performance Max vs Display campaigns (placement control)

How do you exclude mobile apps from Google Display Ads?

To exclude mobile apps from Google Ads Display campaigns, you’re basically telling Google not to show your ads inside certain apps or app categories where performance is usually low or irrelevant. Here are the main ways to do it:

Exclude specific apps or placements (manual method)

Use this when you already know the apps you want to block. Steps:

• Go to your Display campaign
• Click Content → Placements
• Open the Exclusions tab
• Click + Add exclusions
• Select Campaign or Ad group level

Enter:

• App names
• App IDs (best option)
• Or specific placements

Exclude app categories (faster method)

Use this when you want to block groups of apps rather than individual apps. Steps:

• Open your campaign
• Go to Content → Exclusions
• Click App categories

Select categories such as:

• Games
• Entertainment
• Kids apps (if relevant)
• Save changes

Use a shared exclusion list (best for multiple campaigns)

This is the most scalable option. Steps:

• Go to Tools & Settings → Shared Library → Placement exclusion lists
• Create a new list
• Add app categories or specific apps
• Apply the list across campaigns

How do you find bad placements to exclude?

You identify them using the placement performance report in Google Ads, which shows where your ads are actually appearing.

Step-by-step: Auditing your placement report

1. Open your campaign and go to Content → Placements or Where ads showed (depending on campaign type)
2. Review the list of websites, apps, and YouTube placements
3. Sort by Cost (highest first) to find major spend drivers
4. Filter or scan for placements with high spend and no conversions
5. Review these placements and exclude clearly irrelevant ones
6. Add consistently poor performers to a shared exclusion list for future use

Recommended review frequency

At least weekly for active campaigns, especially Display and YouTube campaigns, where inventory changes frequently.

How do you build a master placement exclusion list?

A master exclusion list in Google Ads is a shared list of placements you want to avoid across multiple campaigns.

It helps reduce wasted spend and improve traffic quality when used consistently.

Step 1: Start with a baseline list

You can begin with a prebuilt exclusion list from reputable third-party providers to help you avoid known low-quality placements early on.

This gives your campaigns a cleaner starting point before significant spend occurs.

Step 2: Exclude app categories early

In your campaign settings, block app categories such as:

• Games
• Entertainment
• Social apps
• Dating apps (if irrelevant to your business)

This is often one of the fastest ways to reduce low-quality traffic.

Step 3: Use historical placement data

Review placement reports from active campaigns:

• Sort by cost (highest first)
• Identify placements with high spend and no conversions
• Focus on patterns rather than one-off data points

Step 4: Group exclusions logically

Organize your exclusions into categories such as:

• Mobile apps and games
• Parked or low-quality domains
• MFA (made-for-advertising) sites
• Irrelevant geographic traffic
• Coupon and low-intent sites

Step 5: Use a shared exclusion list

Create a list in: Tools → Shared Library → Placement Exclusion Lists

Apply it across relevant campaigns so you don’t manage exclusions individually everywhere.

Step 6: Maintain it regularly

Review performance monthly:

• Add poor-performing placements consistently
• Avoid over-excluding based on limited data
• Focus on patterns, not isolated clicks

How do placement exclusions work in Performance Max campaigns?

In Performance Max campaigns in Google Ads, placement exclusions work differently from standard Display or YouTube campaigns because you don’t control placements at a granular level.

Instead, Google uses automation to decide where your ads show across:

• YouTube
• Display Network
• Discover
• Gmail
• Maps (in some cases)

How placement exclusions actually work in Performance Max

You can’t exclude placements inside the campaign

Unlike Display campaigns, you cannot directly block individual websites or apps at the asset group level.

Performance Max is designed to be automated, so Google controls most placement selection.

You use account-level placement exclusion lists

You can apply shared exclusion lists at the account level in Google Ads. These lists can block:

• Websites (Display inventory)
• Mobile apps
• Some YouTube placements (channels/videos depending on setup)

Brand safety and content controls help indirectly

Instead of full placement control, you rely on:

• Content suitability settings (standard or expanded reach control)
• Brand safety controls (to avoid sensitive content categories)
• Excluded content types (like certain video categories or app environments)

You also get limited transparency on placements

Performance Max does not show a full placement report like Display campaigns.

Instead, you may only see:

• “Where ads showed” summaries (limited visibility)
• Asset-level performance insights
• Search term insights (more detailed now, but still partial)

Manual exclusions vs shared lists: Which should you use?

In Google Ads, both shared and campaign-level exclusions are useful, but they serve different purposes.

Use a shared master exclusion list when:

• The placement is irrelevant across your entire account
• You want consistent exclusions across multiple campaigns
• You manage multiple campaigns and need a single source of control
• You want to apply exclusions to eligible campaign types like Display, YouTube, and Performance Max (where supported)

Use campaign-level exclusions when:

• A placement is only irrelevant for one campaign
• You need more specific control without affecting other campaigns
• You are testing performance differences between campaigns

Important note on Performance Max

• Performance Max relies mainly on account-level exclusion lists and brand safety controls
• Campaign-level placement control is limited compared to Display campaigns
• Exclusions may not behave identically across all inventory types

What are the most common placement exclusion mistakes?

In Google Ads, placement exclusions only work effectively when applied with enough data and the right structure.

These are the most common mistakes advertisers make:

1. Excluding placements too early: Removing placements before there is enough data (clicks, spend, or conversions) can eliminate inventory that may later perform well.
2. Using the wrong exclusion level: Exclusions only apply where they are set (ad group, campaign, or account via shared lists). An incorrect setup can leave gaps in coverage.
3. Ignoring YouTube placements: Many advertisers focus only on Display websites and forget to review YouTube channels and videos.
4. Treating exclusions as a one-time task: Placement quality changes over time, so lists need regular updates.
5. Not controlling app traffic early enough (when relevant): App category exclusions can help reduce low-intent traffic, especially in Display campaigns.
6. Over-restricting low-volume campaigns: Too many exclusions can limit learning and reduce campaign performance.

Key things to remember about placement exclusions

In Google Ads, placement exclusions are most effective when used as a control tool rather than to block everything that looks irrelevant at first glance.

Here are the key things to keep in mind:

1. Use data, not assumptions: Only exclude placements after reviewing actual performance, not just because they “look irrelevant.”
2. Focus on patterns, not one-offs: A single bad click or impression isn’t enough reason to exclude a placement.
3. Apply exclusions at the right level: Campaign, ad group, or shared (account-level) lists behave differently, so choose carefully.
4. Don’t over-exclude: Blocking too many placements can reduce reach and limit performance, especially in Display and Performance Max campaigns.
5. Review placements regularly: New websites, apps, and YouTube inventory are constantly added, so exclusion lists need ongoing updates.
6. Start with obvious waste first: Prioritize clear low-quality sources like irrelevant apps, parked domains, or spammy sites.
7. Match exclusions to campaign goals: Awareness campaigns need a broader reach, while conversion-focused campaigns can be more selective.

Abisola

Meet Abisola! As the content manager at ClickPatrol, she’s the go-to expert on all things fake traffic. From bot clicks to ad fraud, Abisola knows how to spot, stop, and educate others about the sneaky tactics that inflate numbers but don’t bring real results.

View all posts by Abisola
(Abisola)

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