Placements exclusion in Google Ads Performance Max campaigns is something that many people are not aware of. However this is an important task if you are wondering how to optimize performance max campaigns.
There are other types of exclusions that you may want to consider, such as to brand terms exclusion from performance max, exclusion of Parked Domains, or Negative Keywords in PMax; but as for today we are going to see how to get the Performance Max campaign placements data and how to exclude placements in Google Ads:
1) How to get the Performance Max campaign placements data
2) How to Exclude Placements in PMax Campaigns (account-level exclusion)
Although PMax campaigns only allow for placements exclusion at the Account level, it is always a good idea to exclude placements that are not a good fit for your business and that subtly drain your budget.
To find those websites, apps, YouTube videos/channels where your PMax ads were shown you just need to launch a PMax report on Dolnai platform and you will get the following info:
Below you can see an expanded view of the Dolnai Tool for PMax campaign placements with all the metrics available:
With all the above available information you can get a better understanding of where your ads showed and the performance along all those placements.
Currently it is only possible to exclude placements at the Account-level but, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is always a good idea to exclude unwanted placements even if it is at the account level.
Once you have detected a number of placements that you wish to exclude from your account, go to Tools > Content Suitability > Advanced Settings, and then just click on the last option called "Excluded Placements".
There you just have to add those YouTube channles/videos, websites, apps or app categories that you wish to exclude.
Remember that you can only edit account-level placement exclusions for Performance Max campaigns
Just click "Save"...and that's it. From now on those placements will be excluded from your account placements.
Now it is on you to focus on what matters ;)
Performance Max placement report shows you where your ads showed. This report tells you how many impressions your ads received among the different websites, apps, YouTube channels/videos,...they were showed.
Google Ads interface only shows you the Impressions, however with Dolnai PMax Tool you can get many more metrics like Clicks, Conversions, ...
Yes you can, nevertheless this exclusions will apply at the Account-level. Meaning you cannot exclude placements only for Performance Max campaigns.
These are all sites owned by Google and shows you the combined impressions served on YouTube, Discover, Feed, Gmail and others.
To find those websites, apps, YouTube videos/channels where your ads were shown, you need to go to Campaigns > Insights and Reports > Report editor > When and where your Ads showed, and then select the report called "Performance Max campaigns placements".
Once you select the "Performance Max campaigns placements" report you will find the following table:
No, the only metric availble in Performance Max Campaigns Placements report is Impressions. As you will notice, Google Ads does not provide much information...basically just the placements impressions. If you try to add some metrics like Clicks you will find out that they are not available in this report:
Yes, you can exclude Parked Domains from your Google Ads campaigns so that your ads do not show on these type of webs.
As from October 2024, for new Google Ads accounts, this is something you have to select if you want your ads to show on parked domains. But for older accounts this is something that is applied by default to all accounts, meaning that your ads may be showing in parked domains unless you already opted out.
On Google Ads interface, click on Tools > Content suitability
Then click on Advanced Settings > Excluded types and labels
To exclude parked domains, you jus have to check the Parked domains check-box.
Check our post about Google Ads Parked Domains Exclusion.
