Advertiser-defined exclusion lists are tools that let brands block their ads from appearing on websites, apps, or content that conflicts with their values. These lists help protect a brand's reputation by avoiding harmful or irrelevant placements, such as content featuring hate speech, violence, or misinformation. They also improve ad performance by ensuring ads are shown in suitable environments.

Key points about exclusion lists:

• Purpose: Prevent ads from appearing on inappropriate content to protect brand image.

• How They Work: Advertisers create and upload lists of domains, URLs, or categories to block within their ad platforms (DSPs).

• Types: Pre-built exclusions (e.g., violence, gambling) or custom lists tailored to specific needs.

• Benefits: Protects reputation, reduces wasted ad spend, and improves campaign metrics.

• Challenges: Requires constant updates, can limit reach if too restrictive, and may miss emerging risks.

To maximize their effectiveness, exclusion lists should be regularly updated and paired with other strategies, like inclusion lists or contextual targeting, for a more complete approach to brand safety.

Google Ads Placement Exclusion Lists

How Exclusion Lists Work

Exclusion lists act as digital gatekeepers within DSPs, automatically filtering out unsuitable ad placements in real time. When a DSP evaluates potential placements, it cross-checks them against the advertiser's exclusion list. Any flagged sites, apps, or content categories are skipped, helping advertisers avoid wasting money on irrelevant or harmful placements.

Creating and Setting Up Exclusion Lists

To effectively use exclusion lists, you first need to understand how DSPs filter placements. This knowledge helps shape your exclusion criteria.

Start by identifying domains, apps, or content categories that conflict with your brand's values. Exclusions can be applied on several levels, such as specific URLs, entire domains, app categories, or broader themes like gambling or adult content.

Many DSPs provide pre-built category exclusions for common concerns. For instance, advertisers can easily block categories like "Violence & Gore", "Illegal Downloads", or "User-Generated Content" by checking a box. For more precise control, custom lists can be uploaded - these might include specific website URLs or app bundle IDs.

Setting up these exclusions involves navigating to the campaign's placement settings in the DSP interface. From there, you can either choose pre-existing category exclusions or upload a CSV file containing your custom list.

Experienced advertisers often use tiered exclusion lists for greater flexibility. A basic list might cover universal risks, while specialized lists address specific needs. For example, a financial services company might use stricter exclusions for retirement planning ads compared to general banking promotions.

Updating and Reviewing Exclusion Lists

Once exclusion lists are in place, they require regular updates. The digital landscape changes fast, so advertisers need to keep their lists aligned with evolving brand standards and campaign goals.

"Exclusion is not a 'set it and forget it' task. Continuously monitor your campaign performance to ensure your lists are working as intended. Are you excluding too many people and limiting reach? Are the lists narrow enough? Use your data to refine and optimize your negative audiences over time for peak efficiency." - ConsulTV [2]

Monthly reviews can uncover patterns that signal the need for updates. Watch for high impression volumes with low conversion rates, unusual spikes in click-through rates, or traffic sources causing high bounce rates - these are red flags for placements that may need to be excluded.

Dynamic exclusion lists are now widely used to keep protections up-to-date. Google Ads, for example, lets advertisers schedule automatic updates to their lists. This reduces manual work while ensuring new risks are addressed promptly.

"Once advertisers upload a dynamic exclusion list to their Google Ads account, they can schedule automatic updates as new web pages or domains are added, ensuring that their exclusion lists remain effective and up-to-date." - Google [1]

Integrating customer data further simplifies updates. Many advertisers connect their CRM systems or tools like HubSpot, Marketo, and Outreach to automatically adjust exclusion lists based on customer behavior and conversion data.

In April 2025, Direct Online Marketing (DOM) showcased the scale of modern exclusion management by updating their Google Ads Display Placement Exclusion List to include over 70,000 URLs. These spanned categories like dating, gaming, quizzes, and sports [3].

Segmented exclusion strategies are another way to fine-tune campaigns. Advertisers often exclude audiences who have already converted, shown low engagement, or stayed too long in remarketing campaigns without converting. Excluding internal traffic, such as company employees, also ensures more accurate performance metrics.

Managing exclusion lists effectively requires collaboration among marketing teams, agencies, and specialists. Centralized lists and well-documented processes help maintain consistency and avoid gaps in brand safety measures.

These practices are essential for protecting brand reputation in an ever-changing digital world.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Exclusion Lists

Exclusion lists are a powerful tool for protecting your brand, but they come with their own set of challenges. To use them effectively, it’s essential to weigh the upsides and downsides and determine how they align with your advertising goals.

Benefits of Exclusion Lists

One of the biggest advantages of exclusion lists is protecting your brand’s reputation. By blocking ads from appearing in inappropriate places, you can avoid associations that could harm your image. For instance, a financial services company wouldn’t want its retirement ads displayed next to gambling content, just as a children’s toy brand would steer clear of violent gaming sites.

Another big plus is cutting down on wasted ad spend. When ads show up in irrelevant or unsuitable contexts, they often fail to engage the audience or drive conversions. Exclusion lists help direct your budget to placements that are more likely to resonate with your target audience.

These lists can also lead to better campaign performance metrics. By filtering out low-quality or irrelevant inventory, advertisers often see improved click-through rates, stronger engagement, and a higher return on ad spend.

For industries with strict rules - like healthcare, finance, or alcohol - exclusion lists can help with regulatory compliance. They ensure your ads don’t appear in contexts that might violate legal or industry-specific guidelines.

Finally, exclusion lists provide greater control over where your ads appear. This allows marketing teams to align ad placements with their brand values and campaign objectives, ensuring a more cohesive strategy.

But while these benefits are compelling, exclusion lists aren’t without their challenges.

Drawbacks of Exclusion Lists

One limitation of exclusion lists is their reactive nature. They only block sites or content categories after they’ve been flagged as problematic. Since new inappropriate sites pop up constantly, there’s always a risk of initial exposure before updates can be made.

Another challenge is the risk of overblocking inventory, which can limit your campaign’s reach. For example, blocking all “news” content to avoid controversial topics might also exclude reputable news sites with highly engaged audiences.

Exclusion lists also have an incomplete scope. While they’re effective for obvious issues like blocking adult content or violence, they struggle with more nuanced concerns. For instance, a luxury brand might find its ads appearing next to discount competitor content - something an exclusion list might not address.

Maintaining these lists requires ongoing effort and resources. Regular updates, monitoring, and strategic adjustments are necessary to keep them effective. This can add to your team’s workload and potentially delay campaign launches.

Lastly, overly restrictive exclusions can impact campaign scale. Blocking too many inventory sources can shrink your reach, making it harder to hit volume goals - especially for brands with extensive exclusion requirements.

Summary Table of Benefits and Drawbacks

To get the most out of exclusion lists, it’s important to strike a balance. Regular updates and a thoughtful approach can help you navigate the trade-offs and integrate these tools into a broader brand safety strategy. By doing so, advertisers can maximize the benefits while minimizing the challenges.

Best Practices for Managing Exclusion Lists

Effectively managing exclusion lists involves a thoughtful approach that safeguards your brand while ensuring your campaigns maintain a strong performance. The trick lies in striking a balance - identifying genuine risks without imposing overly broad restrictions that could limit your reach.

Identifying Risky Inventory Sources

Start by analyzing your historical campaign data to pinpoint problematic inventory. Review placement reports for patterns like high bounce rates, low engagement, or conversion rates that fall far below your campaign's average. These are often red flags for poor-quality content or mismatched audiences.

You can also turn to industry reports and brand safety databases for guidance. Organizations such as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) regularly publish lists of high-risk content categories and domains. These resources allow you to anticipate risks rather than react after an issue arises.

Third-party verification tools are another powerful ally. These platforms scan and categorize millions of web pages daily, flagging potential threats to your brand. They’re especially useful for catching newly created sites that might evade manual checks.

When evaluating inventory, don’t just focus on the obvious risks like adult content or hate speech. Subtler issues - such as competitor mentions, discount-heavy content that might undermine premium branding, or the unpredictable nature of user-generated content platforms - also deserve attention. These insights can help you collaborate more effectively with your advertising partners.

Collaborating with Partners for Transparency

Managing exclusion lists successfully hinges on open communication with your advertising partners, including DSPs, agencies, and ad exchanges. These partners play a crucial role in implementing and maintaining your exclusions.

Start by clarifying your expectations with your DSP. Many platforms offer varying levels of blocking, from entire domain exclusions to more detailed content-level filtering. Understanding these options allows you to tailor your approach to each campaign.

Ask for transparency reports that show where your ads actually appeared, not just where they were intended to appear. These reports often reveal discrepancies, helping you identify gaps in your exclusion strategy.

Work closely with your agency or trading desk, ensuring they fully grasp your brand’s values and risk tolerance. Provide clear examples of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable placements, leaving no room for ambiguity.

Establish a feedback loop with your partners. Whenever you encounter problematic placements, share this information promptly so they can adjust their systems and prevent similar issues in future campaigns. Pre-bid filtering can also be a game-changer, blocking questionable inventory before your ads are served rather than relying on post-campaign cleanup.

Keeping Exclusion Lists Updated

Exclusion lists are not a one-and-done task - they need regular updates to stay effective. The digital advertising world moves fast, with new sites emerging and existing ones shifting their focus.

Set a schedule for monthly reviews to update your exclusions based on performance data, emerging trends, and seasonal changes. Look for patterns in underperforming placements to determine whether they point to broader issues or isolated incidents.

Experiment with your exclusions by testing their impact. Temporarily remove certain exclusions from a small portion of your campaign to see if they’re still necessary or if they’re limiting your reach unnecessarily.

Maintain detailed records of why specific exclusions were added and when. This documentation provides valuable context for future team members, making it easier to assess whether exclusions remain relevant over time.

Adjust your exclusion lists seasonally. For example, content that might be unsuitable during election seasons could be less risky at other times of the year.

The ultimate goal is to create a flexible system that protects your brand while optimizing campaign performance. This requires blending automated tools with human oversight and fostering strong relationships with your advertising partners. By doing so, you can safeguard your brand today while setting the stage for long-term campaign success.

Brand Safety Beyond Exclusion Lists

Exclusion lists are a great starting point for brand safety, but they’re not enough on their own. The digital advertising world moves too fast and is too unpredictable for a single strategy to safeguard your brand entirely. To truly protect your brand, you need a multi-layered approach - one that pairs exclusion lists with proactive strategies to create a more comprehensive safety net.

The reality is that exclusion lists have their limits. A site that’s safe today could post controversial content tomorrow, and your ads might appear there before your list catches up. That’s why supplementing exclusion lists with forward-thinking strategies is so important.

Additional Brand Safety Strategies

To address these gaps, brands can adopt several proactive measures that work hand-in-hand with exclusion lists to offer stronger protection.

Inclusion lists flip the script by focusing on where your ads should appear rather than where they shouldn’t. These are curated lists of pre-approved websites and content categories, providing a controlled, safer environment for your campaigns. While inclusion lists might limit your reach compared to open marketplace buying, they give you far greater confidence in your brand’s safety.

This trade-off - between reach and safety - is especially critical in industries like financial services. For instance, when launching a new product, these companies often prioritize inclusion lists, accepting fewer impressions in exchange for a guaranteed safe environment.

Supply path optimization takes things further by analyzing the ad supply chain. This strategy identifies the most direct and transparent routes from advertiser to publisher. Shorter supply paths mean fewer intermediaries, lower fees, and better visibility into where your ads actually appear.

Programmatic curation blends human expertise with automated technology to create tailored marketplace segments. Instead of buying from the entire open exchange, curated deals provide access to pre-vetted inventory that meets your brand safety standards. It offers more scale than inclusion lists but still maintains stricter controls than relying solely on exclusion strategies.

Contextual targeting is making a comeback, especially as privacy regulations limit audience-based targeting. By focusing on the content surrounding your ad rather than user behavior, contextual strategies naturally enhance brand safety. For example, an ad for luxury watches placed next to an article about Swiss craftsmanship not only feels relevant but also aligns perfectly with the brand’s image.

How OTHERSIDE Supports Brand Safety

OTHERSIDE takes these strategies to the next level, treating brand safety as a core element of their services rather than an afterthought. Their approach includes precision targeting powered by partnerships with over 400 data providers, cross-channel retargeting to maintain consistent safety standards, and transparent reporting that shows exactly where your ads are placed.

The Nexus Engine™ optimization algorithm integrates brand safety signals directly into its real-time decision-making. This ensures that inventory choices deliver both safety and performance, eliminating the need to compromise one for the other.

Additionally, in-house creative development adds another layer of protection. Every ad is designed with its placement in mind, ensuring that the message and visuals align with the surrounding content. The creative team carefully considers how different variations might interact with various contexts across channels.

Conclusion

Advertiser-defined exclusion lists play a crucial role in safeguarding your brand's reputation while enhancing the effectiveness of your ad campaigns. By preventing ads from appearing on websites, content categories, or inventory sources that could harm your brand or waste your budget, these lists act as a vital layer of protection.

To build effective exclusion lists, start by identifying risky inventory sources through a mix of campaign analysis and industry research. Regularly reviewing and updating these lists is just as important, and collaborating with advertising partners ensures you have the transparency needed to make smart decisions about ad placements.

While exclusion lists offer clear advantages - minimizing brand risk, boosting campaign performance, and optimizing budget use - they do come with challenges. Over-blocking can limit your reach, and maintaining detailed lists can be time-intensive. Striking the right balance between protection and performance is key. Pairing exclusion lists with other strategies like inclusion lists, supply path optimization, programmatic curation, and contextual targeting creates a multi-layered approach that adapts to the ever-changing digital advertising landscape.

As digital advertising continues to evolve, the need for brand safety remains constant. Savvy advertisers understand that exclusion lists aren't just a way to avoid risks - they're a strategic tool for scaling confidently and achieving better campaign results. By managing exclusion lists effectively and combining them with complementary safety measures, you set the stage for long-term advertising success.