How to Build an Account-Level Placement Exclusions Template for Google Ads (Ready-to-Use)

Centralize placement exclusions fast: stop wasted spend across accounts

Pain point: Managing placement exclusions campaign-by-campaign is slow, error-prone, and impossible to scale — especially with Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube and Display running simultaneously. In 2026, Google Ads added account-level placement exclusions, so now you can enforce brand safety and block poor ad inventory from one authoritative list. This guide gives you a plug-and-play spreadsheet and an upload-ready CSV template, plus step-by-step bulk upload methods and recommended exclusion categories to get a centralized policy live in under an hour.

Why this matters in 2026

Since late 2024 and throughout 2025, advertisers have shifted heavier budget to automation-heavy formats. By early 2026, Performance Max and Demand Gen account for a large share of programmatic spend — and they rely on broad signals rather than manual placement choices. That makes centralized guardrails essential. Google’s January 15, 2026 announcement of account-level placement exclusions finally gives media buyers a single place to enforce brand safety across formats.

At the same time, privacy-first targeting (post-cookie signal loss) and AI-driven placements mean more opaque inventory decisions. A centralized exclusion list functions as a last-mile control: it won’t change how automation optimizes, but it will prevent automation from spending on inventory you’ve decided is unacceptable.

What you’ll get from this article

• A ready-to-use spreadsheet layout you can copy and paste
• An upload-ready CSV template for quick import (UI, Ads Editor, or API)
• Recommended categories, concrete examples, and domain patterns to block
• Step-by-step bulk upload instructions and validation checks
• Monitoring and governance best practices so exclusions stay accurate over time

Quick primer: types of placements you can exclude (2026 context)

Account-level exclusions apply across eligible campaign types (Display, YouTube, Performance Max, Demand Gen). Use them to block three placement types:

• Website domains (example.com)
• YouTube channels or videos (channel IDs or video IDs)
• Mobile apps (package names or app IDs)

Note: exact import formats differ between the Google Ads UI, Ads Editor and API. Below we provide a universal CSV layout and mapping instructions for each method.

Step 1 — Audit placements and build your master list

Before you block anything, audit where your ads actually show and why you want to exclude those placements. Use these data sources:

• Placement reports (Display & YouTube) — oldest source of truth for placements
• Performance Max insights & asset reports — look for patterns of low-quality impressions
• Third-party verification (DoubleVerify, IAS) and brand safety reports
• Customer-reported placements (sales / support teams often flag risky placements)

Extract domains/app IDs/video IDs and add these columns to your spreadsheet:

• placement — domain, YouTube video/channel ID, or app package
• type — website / youtube_video / youtube_channel / app
• category — recommended categories below (e.g., Explicit, LowQuality)
• reason — why it’s blocked (data, brand policy, manual report)
• source — where the evidence came from (placement report, DV, support)
• date_added — ISO date for audit trails
• confidence — High/Medium/Low (helps triage removals later)
• notes — any follow-up actions

Recommended exclusion categories & sample patterns

Below are categories we regularly apply across accounts. Use the categories that match your brand’s risk tolerance; document exceptions with a clear review workflow.

• Explicit sexual content — block adult domains and channels. Pattern examples: domains with “sex”, “adult”, or redirect networks that host explicit landing pages.
• Hate or extremist content — channels or sites flagged by DV/IAS for hate speech.
• Illicit drugs / illegal activities — forums or marketplaces facilitating illegal goods.
• Gambling & betting — casinos, sportsbook domains (unless your brand advertises in gambling category).
• Low-quality, traffic-farming sites — short-lived domains, ad-injection pages, click farms.
• Misleading or malware domains — domains flagged by Safe Browsing or security partners.
• Redirect loops & interstitial farms — domains used primarily as redirectors to affiliate pages.
• App-specific risks — apps with excessive permission requests or bot installs.

Concrete examples (do not copy blindly — verify)

• example-badsite.com — low quality pop-up farm (type: website)
• UCh7x... (YouTube channel ID) — user-generated channel repeatedly flagged for explicit content (type: youtube_channel)
• com.example.fakeapp — app that drives invalid installs (type: app)

Plug-and-play spreadsheet layout (copy this into Google Sheets)

Start your master sheet with these columns. This layout works as the single source of truth for account-level exclusions across teams.

• placement
• type
• category
• reason
• source
• date_added
• confidence
• status
• notes

Example rows:

placement,type,category,reason,source,date_added,confidence,status,notes
example-badsite.com,website,LowQuality,High bounce and 0 conversions,PlacementReport,2025-12-18,High,blocked,Blocked after QA
UCxxxxxxxxxxxx,youtube_channel,Explicit,Hate speech reports,ThirdParty,2025-11-02,High,blocked,Escalated to legal
com.example.fakeapp,app,InvalidTraffic,High invalid click rate,Analytics,2025-10-29,Medium,blocked,Monitor for appeals

CSV upload-ready template (universal)

Below is a CSV layout you can use for imports. It is intentionally generic so you can map fields into Google Ads Editor or your internal upload script.

action,placement,type,placement_format,category,reason,date_added,confidence,notes
ADD,example-badsite.com,website,DOMAIN,LowQuality,High bounce and 0 conv,2026-01-10,High,Blocked by account policy
ADD,UCxxxxxxxxxxxx,youtube_channel,YT_CHANNEL,Explicit,Hate speech reports,2026-01-05,High,Escalated
ADD,com.example.fakeapp,app,APP_PACKAGE,InvalidTraffic,High invalid click rate,2025-12-29,Medium,Blocked pending review

Key: action = ADD / REMOVE. placement_format = DOMAIN | YT_VIDEO | YT_CHANNEL | APP_PACKAGE. This column helps mapping in imports where formats must be explicit.

Step 2 — Import methods: UI, Ads Editor, or programmatic

Pick one import channel based on scale and governance model.

Option A — Google Ads UI (recommended for teams that want audit trails)

1. Go to Tools & settings > Shared library > Account-level placement exclusions (as of Jan 2026 Google introduced this central area).
2. Click Add or Import. If CSV import is available, map columns: placement, placement_type, reason, notes.
3. If UI import doesn’t accept your CSV, use the “paste list” box — paste the 'placement' column values and then add types manually.
4. Save and document the change in your master spreadsheet (status = blocked).

Option B — Google Ads Editor (fast for bulk changes)

1. Open Ads Editor and select the account(s).
2. Use Make multiple changes or import CSV. Map your CSV 'placement' column to the Editor’s Excluded placements field. Editor may require separate imports for websites vs. YouTube items — import in batches.
3. Post the bulk changes and review the change summary before posting to the account.

Option C — Programmatic (Google Ads API or Scripts — best for MCCs and automation)

For Manager Accounts and automated pipelines, use the Google Ads API to create or update an account-level placement exclusion list and then apply it to accounts. Build your pipeline to:

• Pull the master CSV from your storage (S3, GCS)
• Validate formats (domain, yt id, app package)
• Call the API to upsert exclusion entries at the customer level
• Log responses and update the master sheet status

Tip: treat account-level exclusions as an asset and track changes via versioning (git or a change log). Programmatic imports allow clean rollback within minutes.

Step 3 — Validation checklist before you publish

Do not mass-block without a quick QA. Run this checklist for every bulk upload:

• Confirm you have a human-reviewed reason for each High confidence block
• Ensure you’re not blocking partner domains or positive-converting placements (run a conversion check)
• Check for duplicates and normalized domains (strip www., handle trailing slashes)
• Validate YouTube IDs — channel IDs vs. vanity names; import requires real IDs
• Back up current exclusions (download CSV or snapshot the list) so you can rollback

Step 4 — Governance: rules, cadence, and exception process

Centralized lists require governance. We recommend:

• Weekly triage for new low/medium entries — rotated between PPC ops and brand safety
• Monthly audit for high-impact recent blocks (check performance lift)
• Exceptions workflow: submit exception requests in a shared ticketing system with evidence and risk level
• Change log: record user, date, reason, and revert option; keep a 90-day audit trail at minimum

Monitoring — measure impact and iterate

Watch these KPIs after you enforce account-level exclusions:

• Impression share and CPM changes (blocking low-quality inventory often reduces raw impressions but improves relevance)
• CTR and conversion rate lift — common signals that brand-safe placements improve ROI
• Invalid traffic / click fraud metrics (should fall after blocking bad apps/sites)
• Spend reallocation — automation will reallocate spend; track where it lands

Example (real-world ops): our quicks.pro operations team applied a curated account-level blocklist to a multi-account retailer in Q4 2025. Within 6 weeks we saw a 28% reduction in low-quality impressions and a 12% increase in conversion rate for Display and YouTube line items. The result: lower wasted spend and improved unit economics for remarketing budgets.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Overblocking: Blanket-blocking large domains without checking subdomains can remove valuable inventory. Use confidence tags and whitelist exceptions.
• Poor normalization: Failing to normalize domains (with/without www, with parameters) leads to duplicates and missed blocks. Normalize before import.
• Not versioning lists: No easy rollback. Always snapshot the list before bulk changes.
• No stakeholder alignment: Finance, brand, and product teams should approve high-impact blocks.

Advanced strategies for enterprise scale (MCC)

If you manage tens or hundreds of accounts, make exclusions part of your onboarding and campaign template process:

• Account baseline: apply a conservative global list to all new accounts on day one
• Role-based access: limit who can modify the account-level list and require peer review
• Automated ingestion: integrate third-party brand safety feeds (DV, IAS) into your pipeline and flag items for human review
• Periodic refresh: automate a monthly “garbage sweep” that adds domains with unusually high bounce and low session duration

Template delivery & quick start checklist

Use this quick start checklist to go from zero to governance in one session:

1. Copy the plug-and-play spreadsheet layout into Google Sheets
2. Pull placement reports for last 90 days (Display & YouTube)
3. Populate the spreadsheet with placements and tag category & confidence
4. Export the CSV using the upload-ready template header
5. Choose import method (UI, Editor, API) and backup current exclusions
6. Import CSV; run QA validation and post changes
7. Monitor KPIs for 2-6 weeks and iterate

Final notes: future-proofing your exclusion strategy

As AI-driven placement decisions and privacy constraints evolve through 2026, exclusion lists will remain a vital control. Expect the following trends:

• Greater integration between DSP/verification tools and account-level controls
• Automated suggestions for exclusions flagged by AI models in your account insights
• More granular inventory signals exposed by platforms for better exclusion accuracy

Account-level exclusions don’t stop automation from optimizing — they give automation the right boundaries.

Wrap-up & actionable takeaways

• Start central: use the plug-and-play spreadsheet as your canonical exclusion source.
• Import safely: pick UI for auditability, Ads Editor for ad-hoc bulk updates, and API for continuous syncs.
• Govern: schedule weekly triage, monthly audits, and require approval for high-risk blocks.
• Measure: track impressions, CTR, conversion rate and invalid traffic to validate impact.

Call to action

Ready to deploy? Copy the spreadsheet layout above, export the CSV, and import it into your Google Ads account today. If you want a pre-populated master list vetted for enterprise brand safety and formatted for Ads Editor and API ingestion, contact the quicks.pro PPC operations team for a ready-to-upload package and a 30-minute onboarding call. We’ll also run a free 90-day impact forecast for your accounts so you can see expected ROI before you commit.

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