Google Display Network placement exclusions
A free utility for cutting wasted Display spend. Paste a Google Ads placement report to flag the app, anonymous and made-for-advertising inventory draining your budget, then export an exclusion list. One of a handful of tools we keep alongside our Google Ads management.
Your placement report
Paste the placements or "where ads showed" export. Keep the header row so the spend and conversion flags work.
What the triage flags
Mobile app & games
Accidental taps that inflate clicks with little buying intent.
Anonymous inventory
Aggregated app placements Google will not let you vet.
Spend, no conversions
Placements taking budget with nothing to show for it.
Cutting wasted placements is the quick win. The larger gain is fixing why the budget leaked in the first place. Get a free senior account review.
The exclusions to set first
A short reference of the account and campaign controls worth setting before you triage anything, each with its source.
Brand safety and content suitability
Move inventory type off Expanded
Campaign setting
Expanded inventory opts the campaign into the widest, least-filtered pool of Display and video content. Standard inventory keeps reach while screening out a lot of the content most brands would not choose to fund.
Where: Campaign settings, additional settings, content exclusions, inventory type.
Source: Google Ads Help, Set content exclusions for Display campaigns
Exclude mature digital content labels (DL-MA, and DL-T for sensitive brands)
Campaign setting
Google labels every site, app and video by audience maturity. Excluding DL-MA, and DL-T where the brand needs it, stops ads landing next to content the brand would not sponsor by name.
Where: Content exclusions, digital content labels.
Exclude the sensitive content categories that clash with the brand
Campaign setting
Google offers five categories to exclude: tragedy and conflict, sensitive social issues, profanity and rough language, sexually suggestive content, and sensational and shocking. Turn off the ones that would embarrass the brand if a screenshot circulated.
Where: Content exclusions, sensitive content.
Digital content labels
DL-G (content suitable for general audiences); DL-PG (content suitable for most audiences with parental guidance); DL-T (content suitable for teen and older audiences); DL-MA (content suitable only for mature audiences).
Sensitive content categories
Tragedy and conflict; Sensitive social issues; Profanity and rough language; Sexually suggestive content; Sensational and shocking.
Inventory quality and wasted spend
Exclude parked domains
Campaign setting
Parked domains are registered but undeveloped pages monetised entirely with ads. They carry no real audience and the clicks they send rarely convert.
Where: Content exclusions, content types, parked domains.
Source: Google Ads Help, Set content exclusions for Display campaigns
Exclude games and mobile app inventory (for non-app advertisers)
Campaign setting
Mobile games and in-app banners are a frequent source of accidental taps that inflate clicks with almost no commercial intent. If you are not promoting an app, this inventory usually spends without returning.
Where: Content exclusions, content types, games; plus a placement exclusion list for specific apps.
Source: Google Ads Help, Set content exclusions for Display campaigns
Exclude made-for-advertising (MFA) sites
Exclusion list
MFA sites exist to farm ad impressions, not to serve a real audience. The ANA found roughly 15% of programmatic spend reaches them. Upload a maintained MFA exclusion list and keep it current.
Where: Account or campaign placement exclusion list, from a maintained MFA list.
Source: ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study
Review anonymous.google aggregated inventory
Exclusion list
Google groups app inventory it will not name under anonymous.google. You cannot vet what you cannot see, so most accounts that are not running app campaigns are better off excluding it and watching the effect on conversions.
Where: Account or campaign placement exclusion list.
Source: Google Ads Help, Set content exclusions for Display campaigns
Compiled by Clean Digital from Google Ads content suitability documentation and the ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study (December 2023). Last verified 15 June 2026.
Common questions
What do I paste into the tool?
Your Google Ads placement report, the table listing each website, app or channel your ads ran on, under the campaign placements or "where ads showed" report. Include the header row so the spend and conversion columns are read.
Does the tool upload or store my placement data?
No. The report is parsed in your browser and never leaves the page, and the export is generated locally, so real account data is safe to run through it.
How do I apply the exported list in Google Ads?
Open the campaign or account, go to the placements section, choose to exclude placements, and paste the list or upload the CSV. Save it as an account-level exclusion list to reuse across campaigns. It is part of how we run Google Ads management day to day.
Why exclude mobile apps and anonymous inventory?
In-app banners and games produce a high rate of accidental taps with little buying intent, and anonymous.google is aggregated app inventory you cannot vet. For non-app advertisers, both tend to spend without converting, which is a common and large source of Display and programmatic waste.
What are made-for-advertising (MFA) sites?
Sites built to farm ad impressions rather than serve a real audience. The ANA found roughly 15% of programmatic spend reaches them. The practical fix is a maintained MFA exclusion list applied at account level, kept current as new domains appear.
How often should I review Display placements?
Monthly is a sensible default, more often just after launch. New inventory keeps entering the auction, so a single clean-up decays. If keeping on top of it is the problem, a free account review will show what is leaking now.
The tool is a quick fix. If Display or search budget is leaking across the whole account, a free senior review from a Google Premier Partner will find the rest.
Get a free account review