Stop wasted spend with smart website exclusion lists

Let’s be honest. A chunk of your spend is hitting sites that will never convert. What if you could turn that off in a few focused steps and move the money to winners?

Here’s What You Need to Know

Website exclusion lists help you block low value or risky sites across your campaigns. You decide which domains or URLs should never show your ads.

Do this well and you cut waste, protect your brand, and improve efficiency without adding budget. Pretty cool, right?

Why This Actually Matters

Inventory quality is uneven. Some placements bring high intent users. Others bring accidental clicks and bots. The gap can be huge on cost per acquisition and conversion rate.

Here’s the thing. Markets keep shifting, partners rotate inventory, and new sites pop up daily. A living exclusion list gives you control so your dollars follow quality, not chaos.

How to Make This Work for You

1. Pull a placement or publisher report

   Export by campaign and date range. Look at clicks, spend, conversion rate, CPA, and ROAS. Sort by spend and by CPA to spot the biggest drags on performance.

   Simple rule of thumb to start: exclude placements with spend above two times your target CPA and zero conversions, or placements with very low conversion rate versus your account average.

2. Bucket, then decide

   • Exclude now: clear money sinks with no conversions or brand safety concerns.
   • Review soon: mixed signals or thin data. Add to a watchlist and collect more volume.
   • Keep and protect: proven winners. Add to a whitelist you can reference later.

3. Build your exclusion list

   Compile domains and full URLs. Normalize formats, remove duplicates, and avoid partial strings that can block too much.

   Name it clearly with a date so you can track changes over time.

4. Apply at the right scope

   Account level lists keep coverage simple across campaigns. Campaign level lists give you fine control when strategies differ.

   Apply to both search partners and audience network inventory if you use them, so bad placements do not slip through.

5. Monitor and refine

   Re run your placement report after one to two weeks. Did CPA drop and conversion rate lift on affected campaigns? Good. Keep going.

   Unblock any domains that show strong results, and move them to your whitelist. Add new poor performers to the exclusion list. This is a loop, not a one time task.

6. Tighten the edges

   Exclude obvious categories that do not fit your brand. Think parked domains, scraped content, or misaligned content categories.

   Cross check you did not exclude your own site, key partners, or essential affiliates.

What to Watch For

• CPA and ROAS: Your north stars. After exclusions, you should see lower CPA or higher ROAS on impacted campaigns.
• Conversion rate: A small lift tells you clicks are higher intent. If volume falls with no efficiency gain, revisit your thresholds.
• Spend redistribution: Track how budget shifts to better placements. If spend drops too much, relax exclusions or expand targeting.
• Click through rate: CTR may change as inventory mix shifts. Use it as a supporting signal, not the main decision maker.
• Brand safety signals: Fewer spammy referrals, lower bounce from partner traffic, and cleaner placement lists are good signs.

Your Next Move

This week, export the last 30 days of placement data. Pick the 20 worst placements by spend with zero conversions and add them to a new exclusion list. Apply it to your top three budget campaigns. Set a reminder to review results in ten days.

Want to Go Deeper?

Create a simple QA checklist. Weekly placement scan, update exclusion list, update whitelist, and annotate changes in your performance log. Over time you will build a living database of where your brand wins and where it should never appear.