Account-Level Placement Exclusions

What Are Account-Level Placement Exclusions?

Without targeted exclusions, your ad budget frequently ends up on kids’ gaming apps or made-for-ads websites that only generate accidental clicks. Especially with Performance Max campaigns, campaign-level placement control is missing — making account-wide exclusions the most important tool to minimize wasted spend. Google allows up to 65,000 exclusions per account, enabling systematic cleanup over months.

Account-Level Placement Exclusions let you exclude specific websites, apps, and YouTube channels from all display and video placements across your entire Google Ads account. Unlike campaign-specific exclusions, these rules apply account-wide and also affect Performance Max campaigns, which otherwise offer no placement control.

This feature is especially valuable for PMax, since you normally can’t control which websites and apps your ads appear on. Via Account-Level Exclusions, you can at least block the worst placements: websites with questionable content, apps that only generate accidental clicks, or YouTube channels that don’t fit your brand.

For practical use, a systematic approach is recommended: regularly analyze the placement report in Channel-Level Reporting and identify placements with high costs and low conversions. Maintain a continuously growing exclusion list. Start with known low-quality placements like kids’ gaming apps, made-for-ads websites, and irrelevant YouTube channels. Google allows up to 65,000 placement exclusions per account, providing ample room for comprehensive cleanup.