What is it?
The ‘Mobile Apps Exclusion tool’ is an optimization that allows you to exclude all the low-performing mobile app placements that are costing you money but not resulting in any conversion.
The tool will list out all your mobile app placements with exactly 0 conversions in the last 30 days and with cost greater than zero.
You will be able to exclude both types of automatic placements; for IOS and Android apps at the ad-group level in bulk.
The results will show you each placement (URL) corresponding to the campaign and ad group for which the ad appeared. The cost column indicates the cost of the placement in the last 30 days and placement type tells whether it’s an iPhone app or Android app placement. You can choose to filter your placements based on the cost by changing the optimization settings.
For example, if you wish to ignore placements with relatively lower costs and filter out those with spend > x amount, you can set the maximum cost to be x and it will show you only those placements which have cost you x or a greater amount.
Note: By default, the tool shows results for 30 days date range.
Clicking on the ‘Apply’ button will exclude all the selected mobile app placements from your google ads account.
Why Use It?
With this optimization, you can:
Avoid manually reviewing placement reports by automatically surfacing low-performing iOS and Android app placements in one place.
Exclude multiple underperforming placements in bulk at the ad group level, saving time and reducing repetitive work.
Focus your budget on placements that contribute to performance by filtering out apps with higher spend and no returns.
View Analysis
By clicking on the ‘View Analysis’ button you'll know the total number of placements that entered the optimization and how many got eligible to be excluded. You can choose to copy it as a Rule Engine strategy (only if you have access to Rule Engine) and filter your results by changing the base conditions or even date range. This can be done by clicking on the ‘Add strategy to your rule engine account’ button which can be seen after clicking on the ‘View Analysis’ button.
Use Cases
Customize Exclusions Based on Spend Thresholds
Problem: Not all non-converting placements are equally important, and excluding low-cost placements may not significantly impact performance.
Solution: You can adjust the optimization settings to filter placements based on cost. For example, you can choose to exclude only those placements that have spent above a defined amount, ensuring you focus on high-impact exclusions.
Turn Insights into Scalable Automation
Problem: You identify poor-performing placements but struggle to consistently apply the same logic across accounts or over time.
Solution: By using the “View Analysis” feature, you can review how many placements were analyzed and excluded. You can then copy this setup as a Rule Engine strategy and refine conditions such as date range or cost thresholds for ongoing automation.
Demo Video