Account-Level Placement Exclusions in Google Ads: The Complete Guide

1. What account-level placement exclusions are — and why January 2026 matters

Placement exclusions in Google Ads let you specify websites, apps, and YouTube channels where you do not want your ads to appear. They have existed in Google Ads for years. The January 2026 change made them work at the account level.

Before this rollout, exclusion lists had to be applied at the campaign level. If you had 20 campaigns, you needed to apply your exclusion list to each one individually. New campaigns launched without exclusions unless someone remembered to add them. Exclusions added to one campaign had no effect on others.

Account-level exclusions fix this. A single list, applied once at the account level, covers all your Display and PMAX campaigns automatically — including new ones launched after the exclusion list was created.

This changes the economics of building exclusion lists significantly. The marginal cost of adding a domain to your exclusion list dropped to near-zero. One good list is now worth substantially more than it was before.

2. How to apply an exclusion list in Google Ads today

Here is the exact process as of early 2026. Google's interface changes occasionally — if the path differs, search for "placement exclusion lists" within Google Ads.

1. Go to Google Ads → Tools → Shared library → Placement exclusion lists.
2. Click + New placement exclusion list.
3. Name the list (e.g., "Account-level brand safety exclusions") and paste your domain list. One domain per line. No protocol needed — breitbart.com works, not https://breitbart.com.
4. Save the list.
5. In the same Shared library, click Apply to campaigns. Select "All applicable campaigns" to apply at the account level.

The list will now apply to all Display and PMAX campaigns in that account — current and future — until you remove it.

Note: Placement exclusions apply to Display and PMAX campaigns. Search campaigns do not serve on placements and are unaffected. YouTube has a separate exclusion system through Brand Suitability controls.

3. What categories and sites to exclude

There are two types of exclusions: category-level and site-level. Category-level exclusions are the blunt instrument — Google lets you exclude broad content categories like "Tragedy and conflict" or "Profanity and rough language." Site-level exclusions are more precise and more powerful.

Category exclusions to apply immediately

Most brands benefit from excluding these categories in Google Ads brand suitability settings:

• Tragedy and conflict
• Sensitive social issues
• Profanity and rough language
• Sexually suggestive content
• Sensational and shocking content

Site types to build into your exclusion list

• MFA sites. Made-for-advertising websites — high ad density, thin content, built for programmatic revenue. The ANA estimates $770M in spend went to MFA publishers in Q2 2025 alone.
• Politically extreme sites. Sites with explicitly extremist editorial positions, regardless of political direction. Association risk is real even when the content is technically legal.
• AI-generated junk sites. A growing category — sites that use AI to produce large volumes of low-quality content designed to attract programmatic ads. Identifiable by content patterns, author signals, and ad density.
• Clickbait and misinformation sites. Sites that spread false information or use sensational headlines to drive clicks. Both a brand safety and suitability concern.
• Adult content sites. Any site featuring sexually explicit material. Most brand safety tools catch the obvious ones; the long tail requires manual review.

4. How to audit your existing placement reports

The first step is getting the data. In Google Ads:

1. Go to Reports → Predefined reports → Other → Campaign URL performance.
2. Set the date range to the last 90 days (or longer for more complete data).
3. Download the report as CSV.

The report shows every URL where your ads served, with impressions, clicks, and cost. Sort by cost descending to identify where the most budget went.

Manual review of a large placement list is time-consuming and subjective. Automated analysis at scale — which is what tools like DisplayGG.com do — scores every domain on MFA risk, brand safety, and suitability in minutes.

What to look for when reviewing manually

• High cost, low engagement (high bounce rate or very low conversion rate)
• Unfamiliar domain names — many MFA sites use generic or slightly misspelled names
• Subdomains of large networks (e.g., content.example-network.com)
• Mobile app placements you didn't intend to target
• Sites with obvious brand safety flags when you visit them directly

5. Downloadable starter exclusion list

The list below contains approximately 200 domains pre-vetted for GDN and PMAX exclusion. It covers known MFA publishers, politically extreme sites, and high-risk categories that commonly appear in Google Display placement reports.

This is a starting point, not a complete solution. Your actual placement list will contain hundreds or thousands of domains specific to your campaigns. The starter list handles the most common bad actors; a full audit handles the rest.

Enter your email to receive the CSV and import instructions for Google Ads.