Checklist: Implementing Account-Level Placement Exclusions for Your Creator Network

Stop chasing bad placements campaign-by-campaign — a single checklist to roll out account-level placement exclusions across your creator network

Wasting hours hunting down low-quality placements across dozens of campaigns is a productivity tax every creator network pays. In early 2026 Google rolled out account-level placement exclusions, meaning you can now block unwanted sites, apps, and YouTube placements from one central place — and push those guardrails across Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube, and Display. This article gives a practical, battle-tested checklist and an automation-first workflow so publishers and creator networks can implement account-level exclusions quickly, safely, and measurably.

Why this matters now (2026 context)

Late 2025 and early 2026 saw ad platforms double down on automation (Performance Max, Demand Gen) while marketers demanded better controls and brand safety. On Jan 15, 2026 Google announced account-level placement exclusions — a major operational improvement for teams that run many campaigns.

“Google Ads is adding account-level placement exclusions, letting advertisers block unwanted inventory across all campaigns from a single setting.” — Search Engine Land, Jan 15 2026

The net effect: fewer one-off exclusions, less time spent auditing, and stronger, consistent inventory control across automated campaign types. For creator networks — where multiple creators, shows, and channels may run independent campaigns — this can be the difference between chaotic spend and predictable, brand-safe monetization.

Quick wins summary

• Centralize your exclusions to the account level to eliminate duplicate work.
• Automate propagation via Manager (MCC) workflows, Google Ads API, or bulk imports.
• Audit and test on a subset of campaigns before full rollout to avoid over-blocking.
• Monitor KPIs (spend fraction, CPM, viewability, invalid traffic) to prove impact.

Who should use this checklist

This workflow is designed for:

• Creator networks and multi-channel publishers running multiple Google Ads accounts under a Manager account.
• Small agencies and in-house teams managing many creator campaigns who need to scale guardrails efficiently.
• Solo creators who want a repeatable process to maintain brand-safe placements as they scale.

Before you start: define scope and guardrails

Before you click “exclude,” align stakeholders. Use this short preflight checklist:

1. Identify the manager/owner who will control the master exclusion list (MCC admin recommended).
2. Set a list of approved inventory types and a clear brand-safety policy (language, tone, categories).
3. Decide if exclusions are global (applies to all accounts) or segmented by audience/brand.
4. Prepare a rollback plan and a testing window (48–72 hours recommended).

Full rollout checklist: step-by-step workflow

Follow these phases: Discover → Build → Test → Deploy → Monitor. Each phase includes tasks, owner, and estimated time.

Phase 1 — Discover (1–3 days)

• Task: Audit current exclusions and spend by placement.
  • Owner: Campaign analyst
  • How: Export placement reports for last 60–90 days across Display, YouTube, Performance Max, and Demand Gen. Key columns: placement URL, impressions, clicks, conversions, cost, viewability, invalid traffic.
• Task: Flag high-risk placements.
  • Owner: Brand safety lead
  • How: Use a combination of automated signals (high invalid traffic, low viewability, low conversion rate, suspicious referral patterns) and manual review. Pull in third-party verification lists (IAS, DoubleVerify) if available.
• Deliverable: Master audit sheet (CSV) with tagging: "exclude_immediate", "exclude_review", "watch".

Phase 2 — Build the account-level exclusion list (1 day)

• Task: Consolidate placements across accounts.

  Owner: Ops manager

  How: Use your audit sheet to produce two CSVs: a) immediate exclusion list, b) review list. Columns: placement, reason, evidence (link to report), last-seen date, suggested action.

• Task: Map exclusions to account strategy.

  Owner: Head of ads or creator partnerships

  How: Segregate exclusions that are global from those specific to a sub-brand or creator. Example: sites promoting piracy may be globally excluded; low-converting hobby blogs might be excluded only for certain creators.

• Deliverable: Finalized master exclusion CSV and short justification doc for governance.

Phase 3 — Test (2–7 days)

• Task: Apply the exclusion list to a test account or subset of campaigns.

  Owner: Campaign manager

  How: Import to Google Ads via one of these methods: Ads Editor (bulk import), Google Ads UI (Account-level exclusions under Settings), or API for programmatic deployment. For Manager accounts, test on a single child account first.

• Task: Run an A/B or pre/post analysis.

  Owner: Analyst

  How: Compare KPIs for the test period vs. a matched control set: CPM, conversions, CPA, viewability, spend on flagged placements. Watch for any sudden drop in reach or delivery issues.

• Deliverable: Test report with recommended modifications (if any).

Phase 4 — Deploy (same day to 2 days)

• Task: Roll out the master exclusion list account-wide.

  Owner: MCC admin / Automation engineer

  How: Preferred methods (fastest to enterprise):

  1. Google Ads UI (account-level setting): Paste or upload exclusion list directly to the account-level exclusion tool for immediate application across eligible campaigns.
  2. Google Ads Editor bulk import: Use Editor to import CSVs into each account quickly offline and post changes in bulk.
  3. Google Ads API (recommended for scale): Use the Manager (MCC) account to programmatically create and apply exclusion lists to child accounts. Keep a version-controlled script repository.

  Tip: For creator networks with dozens of accounts, use the Google Ads API via a scheduled job to ensure consistency and auditability.

• Task: Communicate the change.

  Owner: Partnerships lead

  How: Notify creators and stakeholders about what was excluded and why. Provide a 24–48 hour window for feedback before finalizing.

• Deliverable: Deployment log and rollback instructions saved to shared ops drive.

Phase 5 — Monitor & iterate (ongoing)

• Task: Build an exclusion monitoring dashboard.

  Owner: Data analyst

  How: Create a daily or weekly dashboard showing: spend on excluded placements (should be zero post-rollout), changes in CPM & CPA, impressions lost/gained, and any delivery anomalies.

• Task: Schedule monthly reviews and ad-hoc audits.

  Owner: Ops manager

  How: Re-run the placement audit every 30–90 days and update the exclusion list. Keep a change log that maps who added or removed placements and why.

• Deliverable: Monthly exclusion health report and governance sign-off.

Automation recipes and templates

To scale this process, automation is essential. Below are three practical approaches with example templates you can adapt.

1) Manager account push (MCC) — low-code

• Use your Manager account to maintain a canonical exclusion CSV in a shared drive.
• Weekly: Admin downloads CSV, opens Ads Editor, and uses the "Add/remove placements" bulk tool to apply changes across child accounts, then posts the edit in batch.
• Good for: Teams who want control without engineering resources.

2) Google Ads API — programmatic, auditable

When you need repeatability across dozens or hundreds of accounts, script the process.

Example pseudo-workflow:

1. Canonical CSV stored in S3 / Google Drive.
2. Scheduled function (Cloud Function / Lambda) runs daily: fetch CSV, parse new entries, call Google Ads API to add placements to account-level exclusion list for each target customer ID.
3. Log changes to BigQuery / Snowflake for audit and reporting.

Pseudo-code snippet (high level):

<!-- pseudo-code -->
  fetch(csv_url)
  for each customer in customers:
    existing = ads_api.get_account_exclusions(customer)
    additions = csv - existing
    if additions:
      ads_api.add_account_exclusions(customer, additions)
      log_change(customer, additions)

Good for: Large creator networks, agencies with in-house devs.

3) Alerts + automated rollback

• Set up monitoring rules: if conversions drop > 30% in 48 hours after a change, create an alert.
• Optional advanced step: script an automatic temporary rollback for the last change if key metrics exceed thresholds (use with caution).
• Good for: Fast-moving campaigns where an exclusion could accidentally remove a high-performing placement.

Sample CSV template for bulk import

Use this simple structure to import exclusions via Ads Editor or API parsing:

placement,reason,category,first_seen,last_seen,apply_scope
  example.com,invalid traffic,site,2025-08-02,2026-01-10,global
  youtube.com/watch?v=abc123,brand safety,youtube,2025-10-12,2026-01-05,creator_group_A

Columns explained: placement (domain or YouTube URL), reason (short code), category, date fields for traceability, apply_scope (global or named segment).

KPIs and measurement — what to track

To prove the value of account-level exclusions, measure before-and-after on these metrics:

• Spend on excluded placements (goal: zero)
• Impressions and reach (to monitor lost inventory)
• CPM, CPC, CPA (compare performance impact)
• Conversion rate & ROAS (ultimate business metrics)
• Viewability & invalid traffic rate (brand safety signals)
• Incident reports (brand safety complaints, creator feedback)

Real-world example — StreamCraft Media (anonymized case study)

StreamCraft manages 120 creators across 45 niche channels. Before Jan 2026 they handled exclusions campaign-by-campaign; each creator liaison manually added negatives when issues surfaced. The ops team implemented account-level exclusions using the workflow above.

Results after 60 days:

• Time saved: Ops reported a 78% reduction in hours spent on exclusions (from ~60 hrs/month to ~13 hrs/month).
• Spend shift: Spend on flagged placements dropped to near-zero within 48 hours of deployment.
• Performance: CPM increased 8% but conversion rates improved 16%, improving CPA by 9% overall.
• Scalability: New creators onboarded to the network received pre-applied guardrails, reducing onboarding time by 40%.

Takeaway: Centralization reduced operational friction and improved the quality of traffic without crippling reach.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Over-blocking: Excluding too broadly can throttle reach. Mitigate with staged rollouts and A/B tests.
• Poor documentation: Keep a change log and reasons for each placement removal to prevent repeated disputes with creators.
• Lack of monitoring: If you don’t watch KPIs post-change, you won’t know if exclusions caused collateral damage.
• Ignoring creators: Communicate with creators whose content or audiences might be affected — transparency reduces friction.

Advanced strategies for enterprises and growth-focused creators

• Segmented exclusion lists: Maintain a set of lists by vertical, creator tier, or campaign objective. Apply lists selectively to avoid one-size-fits-all errors.
• Dynamic exclusions driven by signals: Use first-party signals (low conversion propensity, high refund rates) to automatically flag placements for review.
• Third-party integrations: Sync your exclusion lists with verification vendors for automated updates when a placement fails an external audit.
• Governance & approval workflows: Use a ticketing system for additions/removals so creators and brand teams can request reviews, with audits for compliance.

Future-proofing: predictions for placement controls in 2026+

Expect three trends to shape placement management over the next 12–24 months:

1. Tighter automation control layers: Platforms will add more guardrail APIs and improved reporting to make account-level controls richer and more auditable.
2. Signal-driven exclusions: Real-time performance and brand-safety signals will feed exclusion systems automatically, reducing manual triage.
3. Cross-platform guardrails: Demand for unified exclusion lists across Google, Meta, and emergent ad channels will grow — publishers will want single-source truth for inventory safety.

Final actionable checklist (printable)

1. Audit placements across all accounts (60–90 days).
2. Tag placements: exclude_immediate, exclude_review, watch.
3. Create master exclusion CSV with reasons and scope.
4. Test on one account or campaign (48–72 hours of observation).
5. Deploy via Manager account, Ads Editor bulk import, or Google Ads API.
6. Notify creators and stakeholders; allow 48-hour feedback window.
7. Monitor KPIs daily for 7 days, then weekly for 90 days.
8. Schedule monthly audits and maintain a change log.

Need the checklist as a template or help implementing across dozens of creator accounts?

If you want a ready-to-use CSV template, an Ads API starter script, or a 30-minute runbook workshop for your creator network, we’ve packaged the templates and automation snippets used above. Implementing account-level placement exclusions is one of the highest-leverage ops improvements for creators and publishers in 2026 — it reduces waste, protects brand integrity, and frees your team to focus on growth.

Call to action: Use the checklist above to start a staged rollout this week. If you’d like our automation starter pack (CSV template, pseudo-API script, and monitoring dashboard layout), request it from your platform workspace or contact your account manager to schedule a 30-minute implementation session.

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