How to add exclusions to google ads

To optimize your Google Ads campaigns and prevent your ads from displaying to unintended audiences, you can implement IP address and country-level exclusions. Below are detailed instructions for both methods, along with references to official Google resources. 1. Excluding IP...

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How to add exclusions to google ads

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Exclusions

To optimize your Google Ads campaigns and prevent your ads from displaying to unintended audiences, you can implement IP address and country-level exclusions. Below are detailed instructions for both methods, along with references to official Google resources.

1. Excluding IP Addresses

Excluding specific IP addresses can help you prevent your ads from being shown to certain users or networks, such as internal company traffic or known sources of invalid clicks.

At the Account Level:

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click the Admin icon (gear icon) in the upper right corner.
  3. Select Account settings.
  4. Navigate to the IP exclusions section.
  5. Enter the IP addresses you wish to exclude. You can add up to 500 IP addresses per account.
  6. Click Save to apply the changes.

At the Campaign Level:

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click the Campaigns icon in the left-hand menu.
  3. Select the campaign you want to modify.
  4. Click the Settings tab.
  5. Scroll down and click on Additional settings.
  6. Expand the IP exclusions section.
  7. Enter the IP addresses you wish to exclude.
  8. Click Save to apply the changes.

Note: IP exclusions are not available for certain campaign types, including Video campaigns, App campaigns, Smart Display campaigns, and Discovery campaigns.

Google Support

2. Excluding Geographic Locations (Country-Level Exclusions)

To prevent your ads from appearing in specific countries or regions, you can set location exclusions.

Excluding Individual Areas:

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click the Campaigns icon in the left-hand menu.
  3. Select the campaign you want to modify.
  4. Click the Settings tab.
  5. Expand the Locations section.
  6. Click on Advanced search.
  7. In the search box, enter the name of the location you wish to exclude.
  8. Click Exclude next to the location name.
  9. After excluding the desired locations, click Save.

Excluding Multiple Areas in Bulk:

  1. Follow steps 1–6 from the individual exclusion instructions above.
  2. Check the box next to Add locations in bulk.
  3. In the text box, enter the names of up to 1,000 locations you wish to exclude, one per line.
  4. Click Search to display the matched locations.
  5. Review the results and click Exclude all.
  6. Click Save to apply the exclusions.

Note: The number of locations you exclude should not exceed the number of locations you're targeting per campaign.

Google Support

Additional Considerations:

  • Exclusion Conflicts: If an area is both included and excluded in your location targeting settings, the exclusion takes priority. For example, if you exclude the state of California but target the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles will be excluded because it is located in California.
  • Google Support
  • Country-Level Exclusion Limit: Google Ads limits the number of country-level exclusions to 120 per campaign. If you need to exclude more countries, consider using positive targeting by selecting only the countries you want to target.
  • Lunio

By implementing these exclusions, you can refine your ad targeting, reduce unwanted impressions, and optimize your advertising budget.

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