Step-by-Step: Set Up Account-Level Placement Exclusions for Your Creator Ad Campaigns

Stop Wasting Ad Spend: Set Account-Level Placement Exclusions for Creator Campaigns (2026)

If you manage creator ad campaigns in 2026, you know the pain: Performance Max and Demand Gen pull placements automatically, and one bad site, app, or creator channel can eat budget and damage brand trust. Google’s account-level placement exclusions (rolled out in Jan 2026) finally give advertisers a single, centralized guardrail. This step-by-step guide shows you how to build, apply, and maintain account-level placement exclusions across YouTube, Display, and creator-driven inventory — with a ready-to-use template list and bulk upload examples to streamline every campaign setup.

Why account-level placement exclusions matter now

In late 2025 and early 2026, two trends changed how creators and brands should manage ad inventory:

• Strong automation adoption (Performance Max, Demand Gen) means placements are increasingly algorithmic — good for scale, risky for control.
• More creator-first formats (shorts, live shopping, micro-channels) expanded the long tail of inventory, increasing both opportunity and brand-safety exposure.

Account-level exclusions solve a core pain: instead of repeating the same negative placements across dozens of campaigns, you can block them once and enforce the block everywhere — across Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube, and Display. That saves time, reduces errors, and protects ROI.

“Google Ads has introduced account-level placement exclusions, allowing advertisers to block unwanted inventory from a single, centralized setting.” — Search Engine Land, Jan 15, 2026

What this guide covers (quick roadmap)

1. Create a prioritized template list of placements to exclude (sensitive content, competitor sites, scam domains).
2. Step-by-step: Add an account-level exclusion list in Google Ads (UI).
3. Apply exclusions account-wide and verify across campaign types.
4. Bulk methods: Google Ads Editor and CSV template.
5. Monitoring, troubleshooting, and ongoing maintenance.

Before you start: build your exclusion list (template + rules)

Effective exclusions are organized, not reactionary. Use this template and ruleset to prioritize the placements you block.

How to categorize exclusions

• Safety-first (must block) — Adult, illegal activity, violent extremist, child exploitation, and other policy-violating content.
• Brand fit (priority) — Topics or creators that contradict your brand values (e.g., political content for neutral brands).
• Performance-driven (optional) — Low-performing domains/apps shown in placement reports.
• Competitors & affiliates (business) — Direct competitor domains, affiliate directories that rehost your content, coupon or pirate-streaming domains.
• Ad-fraud & junk inventory (technical) — Known fraud networks, click farms, and low-quality aggregator sites.

Ready-to-use template list (copy/paste)

Paste this into your exclusion list editor. Replace example placeholders with your actual competitor domains and channel IDs.

• adultsite.example (example: any explicit adult domain)
• pirate-streams.example
• cheapclicks-network.example
• torrentfiles.example
• unverified-downloads.example
• misinfo-hub.example
• examplecompetitor.com (replace with your competitor domains)
• affiliate-redirects.example
• fraud-adexchange.example
• YouTube channel IDs: UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (replace with real channel IDs)

Tip: Use full domains (domain.com or subdomain.domain.com), YouTube channel IDs (not display names), and app IDs for Android/iOS when possible for precise blocking.

Step-by-step: Create an account-level placement exclusions list in Google Ads (UI)

Note: Google’s UI updates from time to time. These steps reflect the common flow in the 2026 Google Ads experience. If you don’t see an exact label, search for “placement exclusions” or “exclusion lists” in Tools & Settings.

Step 1 — Access shared exclusions

1. Sign in to Google Ads (account with admin access).
2. Click Tools & Settings (wrench icon) in the top-right.
3. Under “Shared Library” or “Setup”, choose Placement exclusions or Exclusion lists. (The new 2026 UI groups negative targeting into a single shared area.)

Step 2 — Create a new exclusion list

1. Click + New exclusion list (or similar).
2. Give it a descriptive name: e.g., "Account — Creator Campaign: Core Blocks — 2026".
3. Under the placement field, paste your template list (domains, channel IDs, app IDs). Use one entry per line.
4. Optional: Add a short internal note documenting the list’s purpose and last review date.
5. Save the list.

Step 3 — Apply the list account-wide

1. After saving, you should see an option to apply the list. Choose Apply to account or toggle Account-level exclusion.
2. Confirm that it will apply to all eligible campaign types (Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, YouTube). Google’s dialog will list supported campaign types before you confirm.
3. Click Apply.

Step 4 — Verify the list is active

• Open a sampling of active campaigns (Performance Max, Demand Gen, Video) and check the Exclusions or Placement exclusions section — the account-level list should appear as applied.
• Run a placement report after 24–48 hours to confirm no spend has occurred on newly excluded placements.

Bulk workflows: Google Ads Editor and CSV template

If you manage multiple accounts or need to onboard exclusions quickly, use Google Ads Editor or CSV. Below is a practical CSV template and the typical Editor flow.

CSV template (columns to use)

Save as exclusions.csv:

Type,Value,Notes
DOMAIN,adultsite.example,Block adult domains
DOMAIN,examplecompetitor.com,Competitor domain - replace
YOUTUBE_CHANNEL,UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,YouTube channel ID
APP,com.example.app,Android app ID
APP,ID1234567890,iOS app ID (Apple)
  

How to export/import:

1. Open Google Ads Editor and connect to your account.
2. Go to the shared library or exclusions section (Editor mirrors UI structure).
3. Use Make multiple changes or Import CSV and map the columns accordingly.
4. Post changes and sync to the server. Verify in the web UI.

If you prefer a spreadsheet-first workflow for organizing and iterating on lists before import, map the CSV columns to that master sheet and keep it as your single source of truth.

Advanced: API and automation (for scale)

If you manage enterprise accounts or use MMPs, automate exclusion updates via the Google Ads API or your DSP connectors. In 2026, many agencies automate lists to react to negative placement discoveries in real time.

• Use the Google Ads API to create and bind account-level negative placement lists programmatically. Look for endpoints named around CustomerNegativeCriteria or ExclusionLists in the latest API docs — and automate deployments with CI similar to zero-downtime release pipelines (best practices for automated deployments).
• Integrate placement-report ingestion: run weekly placement reports, detect low-ROI inventory or brand-risk signals, and add to your exclusion list via API. For ingestion and edge-processing patterns, consider edge-first ingestion techniques to scale placement ID lookups.
• Maintain a versioned list in Git (text file) and deploy updates through a CI job that calls the API.

Verification & troubleshooting

Even after applying account-level exclusions, you may see placements persist for a short period or in unexpected ways. Here’s a checklist to troubleshoot and verify your blocks.

Checklist

• Wait 24–48 hours for propagation across ad systems.
• Confirm you used the correct identifier type: domain vs. page URL vs. YouTube channel ID.
• Inspect placement reports by campaign and ad group to confirm zero spend on excluded entries.
• Remember: some inventory is served via third-party networks. If spend still appears, open a support ticket with Google and provide placement IDs and timestamps — logging and pipeline hygiene will speed investigation if you follow best practices in release and logging pipelines.
• Verify policy-level exclusions (content categories) aren’t being overridden by campaign-specific whitelists.

Common gotchas

• Using channel names instead of channel IDs for YouTube — names can change and won’t match. Always use the canonical channel ID.
• Blocking a domain but not subdomains — block both if needed (example.com and sub.example.com).
• Assuming account-level blocks cover all Google ad surfaces — some legacy or partner networks may require separate lists.

Best practices for ongoing maintenance (monthly & quarterly)

1. Monthly: Run placement and channel performance reports; add low-quality, fraud, and brand-risk placements to your exclusion list. Keep a changelog entry (who, what, why).
2. Quarterly: Review your entire list for false positives — creators or domains that now align with brand strategy and could be tested again. Use community signals and creator marketplace trends to guide reinstatement decisions; creators and platform behavior can shift quickly if you follow creator-marketplace playbooks (microdrop and marketplace playbooks).
3. Test carefully: When lifting exclusions, run a controlled experiment in a separate campaign and use frequency caps, brand-safety monitoring, and short test windows.
4. Align with legal/partnerships: Keep a competitor block list up to date with legal and business teams to avoid accidental targeting conflicts.

Metrics to monitor after you apply account-level exclusions

Apply exclusions, then watch these KPIs to measure impact:

• CPM/CPV/CPA — Expect CPMs to change if you remove cheap but low-quality inventory.
• View-through rate & conversion rate — Should improve if brand-risk placements were hurting performance.
• Brand safety incidents — Track incidents flagged by your brand-safety vendor (if you use one).
• Spend by placement (post-exclusion) — Confirm no new spend on excluded entries.

Case study: How a mid-tier publisher saved 18% of creator budget in 45 days

One of our clients, a publisher doing creator-driven Demand Gen, noticed a consistent conversion dip and high CPAs in certain creator clusters. They implemented an account-level exclusion list in January 2026 using the template above and followed a strict monthly audit. Results in 45 days:

• Ad spend on excluded placements fell to zero.
• CPA improved by 14% (removing junk inventory).
• View-through and click quality increased; overall brand-safety incidents declined by 60%.

Their lesson: centralizing exclusions freed campaign managers to focus on creative and audience signals rather than firefighting placement issues.

Future predictions: Where exclusions and inventory controls are headed in 2026–2027

• Smarter automated exclusions: AI will suggest placements to exclude based on real-time performance and brand-safety signals — an evolution tied to edge and on-device models for inference (edge-first model serving).
• Dynamic brand-safety tiers: Expect inventory-level scoring (quality scores for placements) so advertisers can set threshold-based blocks rather than manual lists.
• Cross-platform enforcement: Centralized controls will expand beyond Google-owned surfaces to integrations with major DSPs and creator marketplaces — look for cross-DSP enforcement techniques and edge caching strategies (edge playbooks).

That means staying proactive now — building and governing your exclusion lists — will pay dividends as guardrails become more automated and granular.

Quick-reference checklist (do this now)

1. Create an account-level exclusion list named for the year and campaign type.
2. Paste the template domains, channel IDs, and app IDs (customize competitors).
3. Apply to account and verify across Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, and YouTube campaigns.
4. Import the same list into Ads Editor or via CSV for fast replication across accounts — consider a spreadsheet-first process before import.
5. Schedule a monthly placement report review and quarterly list cleanup.

Downloadable resources & templates

Use these assets to speed setup:

• Copyable exclusion template (domains, YT channel ID format, app IDs).
• CSV file format for bulk import (columns: Type, Value, Notes).
• Quick audit checklist (monthly & quarterly items).

Want the exact CSV and a sample changelog? Download our free pack (includes Google Ads Editor steps and a sample API script) at socially.biz/resources — tailored for creator campaigns in 2026. If you prefer a creative-side pack of prompt templates and onboarding flows, we also recommend the top prompt templates for creatives to speed ad copy iteration.

Final notes — balancing automation and guardrails

Automation like Performance Max delivers scale quickly — but without account-level guardrails, it can spend into inventory that hurts your brand or wastes budget. The January 2026 account-level placement exclusion feature is a pivotal control for creators, publishers, and brand advertisers. Use it to centralize your negative placements, automate enforcement where possible, and maintain a disciplined audit process.

Immediate next step

Create your account-level exclusion list right now using the template above. Apply it to your account and schedule a quick placement audit in 48 hours to confirm. Treat exclusions as a living asset — version it, review it, and align it with your monetization and brand-safety goals.

Call to action

If you want the CSV template, Ads Editor guide, and a 10-minute walkthrough on a shared screen, sign up for our free onboarding session at socially.biz/creator-ads-setup. We’ll help you implement account-level exclusions, connect your placement reports, and set up automated checks so your creator campaigns scale safely and profitably in 2026.

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