Zero to Clean Inventory: A How-to Guide for Setting Account-Level Placement Exclusions

Start clean: why account-level placement exclusions matter for creators in 2026

If your swipe-first link-in-bio landing pages are bleeding mobile engagement, the culprit is often the places your ads run — not your creative. Long pages, swipe interactions and short-form conversions get crushed when traffic comes from low-quality placements, irrelevant apps, or unsafe YouTube inventory. Account-level placement exclusions change the game: one centralized list that blocks bad inventory across Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube and Display. This guide walks you from zero to a clean inventory: step-by-step setup, a practical checklist, swipe-specific ad examples, and verification steps tuned for creators and publishers.

Why act now (2026 context)

Google formally added account-level placement exclusions in January 2026 to give advertisers stronger guardrails around increasingly automated campaign formats. As platforms pushed automation through 2024–2025, advertisers asked for centralized controls — and Google delivered.

“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

That shift matters for creators because automation often picks low-cost placements that damage the performance of swipe landing pages — inflated impressions with zero meaningful engagement. Blocking bad inventory at the account level reduces manual work and protects your brand safety, session length and conversion signal quality.

What this guide covers (quick roadmap)

• Prerequisites: accounts, permissions and analytics
• Step-by-step: create and apply an account-level exclusion list
• Swipe-specific block list examples for link-in-bio pages
• Verification, monitoring, and troubleshooting
• Brand safety checklist and campaign hygiene tips
• Advanced moves: APIs, scripts, and integrating with swipe analytics

Prerequisites: get your account ready

Before you start, confirm the basics so you don't lose time:

• Google Ads account access: Admin-level or equivalent access required to create account-level exclusions.
• Linked analytics: GA4 or your measurement stack (server-side preferred) connected to ad accounts for post-implementation validation.
• Campaign inventory review: Export recent placement reports (last 30–90 days) for Display, YouTube and app placements.
• Backup plan: Save your current campaign-level exclusions and label them — quick rollback helps during testing.

Step-by-step: Create and apply account-level placement exclusions

Follow these concrete steps inside Google Ads. If your UI differs, you may be on a phased rollout — check the account settings panel and Google Ads help for rollout timing.

Step 1 — Audit your placements (15–45 minutes)

Export placement performance for the last 30–90 days. Focus on metrics that reveal low-quality inventory: high impressions, zero or near-zero conversions, ultra-low session time, and high bounce on swipe pages.

1. Go to Reports > Predefined reports > Placements (or the Placements tab inside Display/Video campaigns).
2. Filter to the last 30–90 days and sort by conversion rate (ascending) and cost/conv (descending).
3. Flag placements with large spend but poor swipe landing metrics (low on-page session length, low swipe events, high immediate bounce).

Tip: export to CSV and tag placements as block, monitor, or safe. That list becomes your first exclusion batch.

Step 2 — Create an account-level exclusion list (5–10 minutes)

In Google Ads you can now create a centralized exclusion that applies across eligible campaigns.

1. Navigate to Tools & Settings > Shared Library > Placement Exclusion Lists (or a similarly named account-level setting).
2. Click + New exclusion list. Name it clearly, e.g., "Swipe.Cloud Link-in-Bio Blocklist — 2026".
3. Add placements: domain names, app IDs, and YouTube channel IDs. Paste the list from your audit CSV or type entries manually.
4. Save the list. In accounts rolled out to the new feature, this list is available to apply at the account level.

Step 3 — Apply exclusions at the account level (2–3 minutes)

Once your list is created, apply it so it enforces exclusions across supported campaign types.

1. Open Account settings or the Shared library and find the option to apply exclusion lists account-wide.
2. Select the list you created and confirm which campaign types it should cover (Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube, Display).
3. Confirm and save. Google Ads will begin blocking spend on the listed placements across eligible campaigns.

Step 4 — Validate blocking (24–72 hours)

Give the system a business day or two, then validate that spend on blocked placements has stopped and that overall campaign delivery has not been intuitively disrupted.

1. Run a placement report for the next 24–72 hours and confirm blocked domains/apps show no spend.
2. Check your swipe landing analytics: monitor session length, swipe event rate, and conversion rate. Expect noise — automation may reallocate to other placements for a short period.
3. If you see unblocked inventory that should be blocked, add it to the list and reapply.

Swipe-specific exclusion examples for link-in-bio landing pages

Creators rely on mobile-first swipe experiences — these pages are highly sensitive to low-quality traffic. Here are practical categories and examples to block.

• Ad-heavy content farms: Domains with high ad density and short visits. Block generic content farms that repeatedly show poor on-page metrics.
• Incentivized traffic networks: Sites/apps that deliver traffic in exchange for rewards (often low engagement and high bounce).
• Low-quality apps: Apps with low session duration or high uninstall rates (use package IDs in exclusions).
• YouTube channels with misaligned content: Channels that attract broad impressions but have low engagement with your product category — add channel IDs to the list.
• Categories to exclude: dating, gambling, adult, extreme user-generated content, and app categories known for low-intent clicks.

Example exclusion list (starter):

1. example-contentfarm.com
2. badtrafficnetwork.net
3. com.lowqualityapp (Android package ID)
4. youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxxxxx (channel ID)

Campaign hygiene: beyond blocking — the full cleanup

Blocking placements is necessary but not sufficient. Use these hygiene steps to maintain performance and feed clean signals into automation.

• Creative adging: Rotate creatives every 7–21 days to avoid fatigue and keep engagement signals fresh. “Adging” here refers to managing creative age — older creatives degrade signal quality for swipe pages.
• Tagging and templates: Standardize UTM templates for link-in-bio campaigns so you can segment traffic in GA4 and server-side tools.
• Event hygiene: Track swipe start, swipe completion, and CTA taps as events. Send those events server-side to reduce signal loss from ad blockers.
• Audience filters: Use first-party data segments to prioritize high-engagement audiences and deprioritize unknown, low-quality placements.

Monitoring & troubleshooting — keep your inventory clean

After applying exclusions, make monitoring routine. Automation shifts spend — you must keep a pulse and refine the list.

• Daily check: Placement report for top 50 placements by spend.
• Weekly check: Swipe landing analytics for session length, swipe rate, and conversion rate; compare cohort-level performance for traffic sources.
• Monthly review: Refresh the exclusion list with any new low-quality placements. Remove false positives if you accidentally blocked legitimate partners.

Troubleshooting common issues:

• If a blocked placement still shows spend, confirm the placement resource type (e.g., app vs. app name vs. package ID) and use the exact identifier Google requires.
• If performance dips after blocking, automation is likely reallocating. Increase bid aggressiveness on high-quality audiences or add manual exclusions to problem channels until signals stabilize.

Integrations and automation-friendly workflows (for creators with scale)

Creators running multiple link-in-bio campaigns, or agencies managing many creators, should automate the hygiene workflow.

• Google Ads API / Scripts: Use the Google Ads API to programmatically update exclusion lists from a centralized CSV. Schedule nightly syncs from your placement audit export.
• Webhook pipelines: Send flagged placements from your analytics to a webhook that adds them to a moderate review queue before applying to the account-level blocklist.
• Cross-platform coordination: Mirror your exclusion logic in other ad platforms (Meta, TikTok) for consistent brand safety across channels.

Mini example automated flow

1. Placement performance exported nightly (script).
2. Auto-flag placements with CTR < 0.05% and swipe-event rate < 0.5%.
3. Service sends flagged items to a Slack review channel for human approval.
4. Approved items get appended to the Google Ads exclusion list via API.

Case snapshot: creator reduces junk spend and lifts swipe metrics

Example (anonymized): a mid-tier creator ran Demand Gen and Performance Max across multiple link-in-bio landing pages. After implementing an account-level exclusion list and event hygiene for swipes:

• Unwanted placement spend dropped by ~22% in the first 30 days.
• Swipe-start rate increased 18% as traffic quality improved.
• Conversion rate (desired CTA) rose 12% as automation had better signals to optimize toward.

These gains are typical when account-level exclusions are combined with clear swipe events and consistent UTMs.

Brand safety checklist (printable)

Use this checklist when creating or reviewing your account-level exclusions.

1. Export placements and tag low-quality inventory (block/monitor/safe).
2. Create a named account-level exclusion list and version it (e.g., "SwipeBlocklist v1 — 2026-01-18").
3. Include domain names, app package IDs, YouTube channel IDs. Use exact identifiers.
4. Apply list account-wide to all eligible campaign types (Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, YouTube).
5. Confirm blocked placements show no spend within 72 hours.
6. Implement swipe events and UTM templates; route events server-side when possible.
7. Check creative adging: rotate creatives every 7–21 days and monitor ad fatigue metrics.
8. Automate placement audits and review flagged items weekly.
9. Document exclusions and keep a rollback plan (labels, backup lists).
10. Coordinate exclusion best practices across other ad platforms.

Advanced strategy: combining exclusions with positive targeting

Blocking negatives is only half the story. For best results on swipe landing pages combine exclusions with positive signals:

• First-party audiences: Prioritize logged-in users, newsletter subscribers, or purchasers for remarketing.
• Contextual targeting: Use keywords and topics that align with swipe content to reduce mismatch risk.
• Creative and landing consistency: Ensure your ad creative reflects the swipe experience. Misaligned creative increases bounce and worsens automated optimization.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Over-blocking: Don’t block entire categories blindly. Test and re-evaluate to avoid unnecessarily shrinking reach.
• Ignoring app IDs: Apps often appear differently in reports. Use package IDs for reliable blocking.
• No event tracking: If you don’t track swipe interactions, you can’t measure the impact of exclusions. Instrument first.
• Not versioning lists: Keep dated versions so you can roll back if exclusions affect delivery.

Final takeaways — quick wins you can do today

• Create your first account-level exclusion list and add the top 20 worst-performing placements from the last 90 days.
• Instrument three swipe events (start, mid, completion) and verify they reach GA4/server side.
• Rotate creatives every two weeks to keep automation signals fresh.
• Schedule a weekly 15-minute placement review to keep the list updated.

Call to action — start your cleanup and protect swipe experiences

Account-level placement exclusions are a 2026 must-have for creators and publishers who depend on swipe-first link-in-bio landing pages. Start by auditing placements, creating a named account-level blocklist, and instrumenting swipe events. If you want hands-on help, swipe.cloud offers templates for exclusion lists, server-side event pipelines, and swipe-optimized landing templates that plug into your ad stack — book a demo or start a free trial to see the improvement on your next campaign.

Ready to protect your traffic and increase session value? Export your top 50 placements now, create a blocklist named "SwipeCloud-Blocklist", and apply it account-wide. Then run the checklist above and monitor swipe-event lift for two weeks.

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