What is It?
The Display Placements Exclusion tool is an optimization that allows you to pause the low-performing placements on the Google Display Network that are resulting in wasted spend.
The optimization excludes placements based on your campaign business goal. Each goal has different analyzed metrics:
Branding: cost/impressions.
Conversions: cost/conversions.
Traffic: cost/click.
The suggestions shown are based on the selected metrics median. For example, if your campaign goal is Conversions, all the placements that are above the Cost per Conversion median will be on the list. The period used to suggest recommendations for the Display Placement Exclusion optimization is based on the last 30 days of data, but it can be changed.
Why Use It?
With the Display Placements Exclusion optimization, you can find placements that are resulting in wasted spend and exclude them based on a business goal – Branding, Traffic, or Conversion. You can also aggregate data for the same domain across campaigns. This tool also makes it possible to see sites that are part of search partners and exclude them. The data for search partners is not available in the Google Ads interface, but is available through the API, so we can show this data in the display placements tool.
Pro Tip: Want to automatically exclude expensive placements or non-converting mobile apps? Try the Rule Engine.
How Does It Work?
Setting the Parameters
The metrics the system will analyze depend on the goals you set for your campaigns. The goal you choose will take into consideration the parameters for each of the placements on which your ad appears.
For example, Cost per Conversion, if the goal in your campaign is Conversions.
Traffic (Cost/Click) will show placements with Cost/Click significantly higher than the Median.
Branding (Cost/Impression) will show placements with Cost/Impression considerably higher than the Median.
Conversions (Cost/Conversion) will show placements with Cost/Conversion significantly higher than the Median.
The proposed placements will be compared according to the median of the selected metrics. If you want to get more suggestions, you can also choose between conservative and aggressive:
Conservative: gives more time before suggesting the placements that are not performing well.
Aggressive: gives less time before suggesting the placements that are not performing well.
Understanding the Results
The results will be shown by placements, breaking down the ones that have spent significantly more than the median.
The results are also broken down by each of the individual campaigns that the placement has appeared for, allowing you to make the decision, taking into consideration the individual campaigns too.
Once you have selected the campaigns you want to exclude, you will be able to pause them
Use Cases
Detecting Expensive Traffic Sources
Problem: Without a clear benchmark, it becomes difficult to determine which placements are truly inefficient.
Solution: The tool highlights placements with CPC higher than the median so you can quickly review and exclude them. Removing expensive traffic sources helps you maintain a healthier CPC and ensures your campaign budget is spent on placements that generate cost-efficient traffic.
Reducing Wasted Spend
Problem: Your display campaigns generate impressions across many websites, but some placements consume a large portion of your budget without producing meaningful results.
Solution: This optimization helps you identify placements that spend significantly more than the median based on your campaign goal. By selecting the appropriate goal (Branding, Traffic, or Conversions), the tool highlights placements with high cost per impression, click, or conversion. You can quickly review these placements and exclude them directly from your campaigns.
Excluding Underperforming Placements Faster
Problem: Waiting too long to identify underperforming placements can result in unnecessary spend, especially in campaigns with high traffic volume.
Solution: By selecting the Aggressive option, the system suggests underperforming placements earlier based on the selected metrics. This enables you to review and exclude inefficient placements sooner.
Demo Video