How to Use Google Ads Account-Level Placement Exclusions to Protect Your Virtual Showroom Brand

Protecting your virtual showroom starts here: use account-level placement exclusions in Google Ads

If your showroom ads are showing up next to low-quality sites, extremist content, or irrelevant apps, you’re wasting ad spend and risking brand trust. In 2026 Google answered a top advertiser pain point by adding account-level placement exclusions — a centralized way to block unwanted inventory across Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube and Display. This guide shows operations teams and small business owners exactly how to use that feature to protect a virtual showroom brand, with a step-by-step checklist, real examples, and measurement guidance you can apply today.

Why account-level placement exclusions matter for virtual showrooms in 2026

Virtual showrooms live and die on perception. High-fidelity product media, immersive experiences, and carefully crafted messaging can be undone if ads appear beside low-quality or brand-risking content. In late 2025 and early 2026 advertisers pushed back on automation-heavy Google formats (Performance Max, Demand Gen) because campaign-level exclusions were cumbersome and error-prone. Google’s January 15, 2026 rollout of account-level placement exclusions centralizes controls — giving you a single source of truth to:

• Block unsafe or irrelevant sites, YouTube channels, and apps across all eligible campaigns.
• Reduce manual errors when teams run multiple campaigns or use automated formats.
• Protect brand equity while still allowing automation to optimize performance.

“Once a placement is excluded at the account level, Google Ads automatically prevents spend on those websites, apps, or YouTube placements across all eligible campaigns.” — Google announcement, Jan 15, 2026

High-level strategy: balance brand safety with reach and conversion

Account-level exclusions are powerful, but they are not a substitute for a complete brand safety strategy. Use exclusions for clear brand-risk placements (hate, adult, piracy) and repeat offenders, and combine them with these controls:

• Content/Inventory controls (sensitive category exclusions, content labels on YouTube)
• Contextual targeting to steer toward relevant content for your product categories
• Third-party verification (DoubleVerify, IAS) for independent brand safety scoring on rich media
• Exclusion review cadence so you don’t over-block valuable inventory

Step-by-step: how to create and apply account-level placement exclusions

Below is a practical sequence you can follow in your Google Ads account. Large accounts should use Google Ads Editor or the Google Ads API for bulk work; small teams can use the UI. These steps reflect the account-level exclusion capability released in 2026.

1. Audit current placements and find problem inventory

• Run placement reports for the last 90 days across Display, YouTube and Discovery/Performance Max. Export impressions, clicks, conversions and spend by placement.
• Sort by low CTR and negative conversion rate or unusually high CPAs. Flag placements tied to brand complaints or manual reviews.
• Tag placements by risk type: sensitive content, copyright/piracy, low-quality content, unrelated topical content, or fraud/suspicious.

2. Build your initial account-level exclusion list

Create a list that includes domain-level exclusions (example.com), specific YouTube channels or videos (youtube.com/watch?v=xxxx or youtube.com/channel/UCxxxx), and app IDs where appropriate. Prioritize:

• Sites flagged for disallowed content or repeated low quality
• YouTube channels with brand-unsafe content
• Apps with misleading or malicious behavior

Sample CSV rows for a manual import:

placement
example.com
badnews.example
youtube.com/watch?v=YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID
youtube.com/channel/UCXXXXX
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bad.app

3. Add the list in Google Ads (UI, Editor, or API)

UI path (may vary slightly by account):

1. Open Google Ads and go to Tools & settings > Exclusions (or Search & Shared library > Placement exclusions).
2. Select Create account-level exclusion list.
3. Paste domains, YouTube IDs, and app IDs, or import your CSV.
4. Save and confirm the list applies across eligible campaigns (Display, Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube).

For bulk work or multi-account management: use Google Ads Editor to paste placement lists into the account-level exclusion section or use the Google Ads API to programmatically create exclusion lists and push them from a manager account.

4. Monitor the impact during a 14–30 day stabilization window

• Track impressions and spend to quantify reach reduction by day.
• Compare conversion metrics (CVR, CPA) for the same period before and after exclusions.
• Watch for signs of over-blocking: sudden spikes in CPA or sharp drops in qualified traffic.

5. Maintain and evolve the list

• Schedule a monthly review to add new problem placements and remove false positives.
• Use automated alerts (via Google Ads scripts or your analytics platform) for unusual spikes in placements from unknown domains.
• Coordinate with brand and legal teams to align on which categories to block.

Practical checklist for ops teams (copyable)

1. Export 90-day placement report for Display, YouTube, and Performance Max.
2. Flag placements by risk and performance; document why each is risky.
3. Create a CSV with domains, YouTube IDs, and app IDs.
4. Add as an account-level exclusion list in Google Ads (UI or Editor/API).
5. Set a 14–30 day monitoring window and baseline performance metrics.
6. Review KPIs: impressions blocked, conversions retained, CPA change.
7. Adjust list monthly — remove any placements that caused an unnecessary reach loss.
8. Integrate third-party brand safety verification once quarterly for spot checks.

Real-world examples and scenarios

Example 1 — Furniture virtual showroom

Problem: A boutique furniture brand running video ads found their high-resolution showroom ads appearing beside sensational news aggregator sites and low-quality influencer channels, resulting in brand dissonance and customer complaints.

Action taken:

• Excluded a set of 120 domains and 8 YouTube channels at the account level.
• Enabled stricter YouTube content exclusions and used contextual targeting around home design categories.
• Monitored for 30 days.

Outcome: Conversion rate from Display to site visits increased 18% while CPA across discovery formats held steady — reach dropped by 6% but quality improved, increasing final conversions.

Example 2 — Industrial B2B showroom (small ops team)

Problem: A B2B equipment supplier noticed their ads showing in gaming apps and unrelated entertainment channels, wasting spend on non-decisioning audiences.

Action taken:

• Account-level exclusions were used to block specific apps and mobile game inventories.
• Added placement rules in Performance Max campaigns to prefer business and tech content.
• Kept exclusions lean to avoid starving automation of data.

Outcome: Lead quality improved; marketing measured a 22% increase in demo requests per 1,000 impressions. The team maintained performance while keeping Google automation working.

Advanced tactics: automation, API, and measurement

Use the Google Ads API for scale

If you manage multiple client accounts or large catalogs of products with showrooms, automate exclusions from a central repository. Typical flow:

1. Maintain a canonical exclusion CSV in cloud storage (Google Drive/Sheets).
2. Use a serverless function to push updates to each account via the Google Ads API every night.
3. Log changes and owners for auditability (who added/removed a placement and why).

Combine exclusions with negative audience signals

Account-level exclusions remove inventory but don’t target audiences. Pair exclusions with:

• Audience segments built from first-party data (site visitors, CRM lists)
• Custom intent and contextual signals that favor in-market product categories

Measure the trade-off: reach vs. risk

Conservatively, expect to reduce reach by 3–12% when implementing a focused account-level exclusion list. How to measure:

1. Before-action baseline: record impressions, clicks, conversions and CPA for 30 days.
2. After-action: record the same metrics for the stabilization window (14–30 days).
3. Calculate delta in impressions and conversions, then compute conversion rate and CPA shifts.

If CPA rises significantly, you have likely over-blocked. Reintroduce low-risk placements one at a time and monitor impact.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Over-blocking: Blocking entire domains when only specific pages are problematic cuts off legitimate inventory. Start with specific placements when possible.
• No audit trail: Not documenting why a placement was blocked creates confusion. Record the reason and the date for each exclusion.
• Not monitoring performance: Exclusions are not "set and forget." Schedule monthly reviews and watch for automation shifts that change where ads serve.
• Conflicting controls: Avoid duplicative exclusions at campaign and account level that make troubleshooting harder. Use the account-level list as the canonical source.

2026 trends and what’s next for brand safety and showrooms

Two big trends shaping how virtual showrooms should approach placement controls in 2026:

• Automation with guardrails: Platforms are pushing automated formats (Performance Max) and, as a result, advertisers increasingly rely on account-level controls to preserve brand safety without disabling machine learning.
• Contextual and AI-driven signals: With privacy-first targeting accelerating, contextual signals powered by AI will become core to reaching relevant audiences. Expect Google and third-party vendors to offer richer contextual categorizations in 2026.

Prediction: By late 2026, best-in-class showroom marketers will use a hybrid approach — account-level placement exclusions for obvious brand risks, plus dynamic contextual targeting for scale and relevance, and API-driven automation to keep exclusions current.

Policy and compliance considerations

Account-level placement exclusions do not substitute for adherence to Google Ads policies. Maintain compliance by:

• Regularly reviewing Google policy updates (advertiser policies change frequently).
• Using exclusions where third-party verification or legal review has flagged content.
• Keeping documentation of moderation decisions, especially when removing or restricting brand mentions.

Quick-reference: what to exclude first for virtual showrooms

• Sites with repeated copyright infringement or piracy.
• Channels that publish extremist, hate, or adult content.
• Apps flagged for fraudulent or misleading behavior.
• Low-quality content farms or clickbait sites unrelated to your catalogue.

Final checklist before you click save

1. Have you audited placements and documented why each is excluded?
2. Is your exclusion list scoped (domains vs. specific placements) to minimize collateral reach loss?
3. Did you set a monitoring cadence and baseline metrics?
4. Do you have an API/editor process for multi-account maintenance?
5. Is the legal/brand team aligned on categories and a dispute process when a placement is contested?

Conclusion — protect your showroom without sacrificing performance

Account-level placement exclusions, introduced in January 2026, give showroom operators a practical, centralized tool to protect brand safety across Google’s increasingly automated ad formats. Use exclusions thoughtfully: prioritize clear brand-risk placements, monitor impact on reach and conversions, and integrate exclusions into your broader targeting and verification strategy. With a combination of account-level blocks, contextual targeting and third-party verification, small ops teams can preserve brand trust while letting Google’s automation drive efficiency.

Next steps (actionable)

• Export a 90-day placement report this week and build your initial CSV of risky placements.
• Apply an account-level exclusion list in Google Ads and set a 30-day measurement window.
• If you manage multiple accounts, set up a nightly Google Ads API sync to maintain a canonical exclusion list.

Ready to secure your virtual showroom and improve conversion quality? If you want a checklist template, a pre-built exclusion CSV for common showroom risks, or a 30-minute audit of your Google Ads account, schedule a demo with our team at showroom.cloud — we specialize in deploying cloud-hosted showrooms and ad strategies that scale without sacrificing brand safety.

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