The Google Display Network reaches over 90% of internet users across millions of websites, apps, and video content. That massive reach comes with a downside — many placements are bot-heavy, generating high click volumes with zero real engagement. Using Google Ads placement exclusions to reduce bots is one of the most effective ways to clean up your Display campaigns.
This guide explains how placement exclusions work, which placements to exclude, and how to build a comprehensive exclusion strategy that reduces bot traffic and improves your Display Network performance.
What Are Placement Exclusions in Google Ads?
Placement exclusions (also called negative placements) allow you to prevent your ads from showing on specific websites, YouTube channels, apps, and video categories within the Display Network. While placement targeting controls where your ads appear, placement exclusions block your ads from appearing anywhere you specify.
For click fraud prevention, placement exclusions are essential because many low-quality websites generate significant bot traffic. By excluding these sites, you prevent your ads from being shown in environments where clicks are unlikely to come from real users.
Why Placements Matter for Bot Traffic
Bot traffic is not evenly distributed across the Display Network. Certain types of placements consistently generate high levels of invalid traffic:
- Made-for-advertising (MFA) sites — websites built specifically to display ads with little to no original content
- Fake news and clickbait sites — low-quality content farms that attract bot traffic
- Gaming and entertainment apps — especially free-to-play mobile games where bot-driven ad fraud is rampant
- Video content with autoplay — bot views on YouTube and video partners often generate false impressions and clicks
- International placements — ads shown in countries where you do not do business often generate bot clicks
How to Find Placements Generating Bot Traffic
Before you can exclude bad placements, you need to identify them. Google Ads provides several reports to help:
Placements Report. Navigate to Display campaigns → Placements → "Where ads showed". This report shows every website, app, and video where your ad appeared. Sort by clicks and check for placements with high click volume but zero conversions.
Automatic Placements Report. If you use automatic placements, Google may show your ads on thousands of sites. Review this report monthly to identify placements that consistently generate clicks without conversions. These are bot-heavy placements.
Third-Party Verification. BotRefund's client-side script captures the referring URL and placement data for every click. This gives you visibility into exactly which placements are sending bot traffic, even when Google's reports are incomplete.
Building a Placement Exclusion List
Create a shared placement exclusion list in Google Ads that you apply to all your Display campaigns. Start with these categories:
High-risk content categories. Google Ads allows you to exclude entire content categories. Exclude parked domains, error pages, user-generated content, and non-streaming video content. These categories are associated with higher bot traffic rates.
Low-performing placements. Review your placements report and identify every placement that has generated clicks but zero conversions over the last 90 days. Add these to your exclusion list. If a placement has high click volume and zero conversions, it is almost certainly generating bot traffic.
Suspicious URL patterns. Look for URL patterns associated with low-quality sites: sites with random character strings in the URL, sites ending in unusual TLDs (.top, .xyz, .loan, .click, .work), and sites with keyword-stuffed domain names.
Geographic exclusions. If you target specific countries, exclude placements from countries where you do not do business. Even with geographic targeting, Google may show your ads on international placements within the Display Network.
Content Category Exclusions for Bot Reduction
Google Ads provides content category exclusions that can significantly reduce bot traffic:
- Tragedy and conflict: High bot traffic on sensational content
- Sensitive social issues: Often targeted by bot networks
- Crime, police, and emergency: High engagement from automated traffic
- Death and tragedy: Attracts both bots and low-quality traffic
- Military and international conflict: Bot-heavy content category
- Sexually suggestive content: Known for high bot traffic rates
Apply these exclusions at the campaign level or use a shared exclusion list applied to all Display campaigns.
Excluding Mobile Apps and Games
Mobile app placements — particularly free-to-play games — are some of the most bot-heavy inventory on the Display Network. Bot-driven ad fraud in mobile apps is a well-documented problem, with some studies suggesting that 20-40% of in-app ad clicks are invalid.
If you run Display campaigns, consider excluding mobile app placements entirely or creating a separate campaign for app placements with stricter monitoring. At minimum, exclude gaming apps and entertainment apps unless they are directly relevant to your product.
Automating Placement Exclusions with BotRefund
Manual placement exclusion is effective but time-consuming. BotRefund automates the process by:
- Identifying bot-heavy placements based on behavioral analysis of every click
- Flagging placements where bot traffic exceeds 20% of total clicks
- Providing weekly placement quality reports with exclusion recommendations
- Generating exclusion lists you can import directly into Google Ads
This automation ensures your exclusion lists stay current as fraudsters move to new placements over time.
Placement Exclusions Are One Layer of Protection
Using Google Ads placement exclusions to reduce bots is an effective strategy, but it is only one layer of a comprehensive click fraud protection plan. Placement exclusions reduce exposure at the impression level, but they do not catch bots that click from seemingly legitimate placements.
Combine placement exclusions with client-side behavioral detection for complete protection. BotRefund detects and blocks bots at the landing page regardless of where the click originated, providing coverage that placement exclusions alone cannot achieve.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find placement exclusions in Google Ads?
Go to Display campaigns → Placements → "Exclusions" tab. You can exclude placements at the campaign level or create a shared placement exclusion list under "Tools" → "Shared library" → "Placement exclusion lists".
How many placements should I exclude?
Start with 50-100 known low-quality placements and grow your list over time as you identify more. A well-maintained exclusion list typically contains several hundred to several thousand entries depending on campaign scale.
Can placement exclusions eliminate all bot traffic?
No. Placement exclusions reduce exposure on known bad placements but cannot block bots that click from seemingly legitimate sites. Behavioral detection on your landing pages is required to catch traffic that bypasses placement-level filters.
Do placement exclusions affect my reach?
Yes, but the impact on quality is positive. Excluding bot-heavy placements reduces your reach on paper but improves your real reach to actual human users. The reduced waste typically leads to better overall campaign performance.
How often should I update my placement exclusion list?
Review and update your exclusion list at least monthly. Fraudsters continuously move to new placements, so static exclusion lists become less effective over time. Automated tools like BotRefund keep your exclusions current without manual effort.