Google Ads is one of the most popular ways to advertise online. It provides advertisers with a plethora of controls over how their ads appear and how much money they’re spending.
Excluding mobile apps from your display campaigns can save you a considerable amount of money. But how do you go about accomplishing this task?
1. Go to the campaign or ad group you want to exclude
Excluding mobile apps from Google ads is a popular practice among agencies experiencing low performance with their display campaigns. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to do this since many apps appear as placements within the UI and need to be individually excluded.
In August 2018, Google made changes to their Display Network that effectively removed this option.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t exclude mobile app categories at the campaign or ad group level.
Granular control over mobile app spending is key. Here are two methods of doing it: through the online interface or Google Ads Editor.
2. Go to the Placements tab
Google Ads campaigns allow you to opt-out of showing ads on mobile applications. This is an effective way to save money and boost performance.
Google Ads displays your ads on websites, YouTube channels and videos as well as mobile apps relevant to your search terms. With the Placements tab you can exclude placements that aren’t performing well or using up too much budget.
Negative Keyword Lists can also be utilized to exclude websites and YouTube Channels that aren’t converting. This is an effective strategy for optimizing your display network campaign, particularly with more precise targeting options available.
3. Go to the Exclusions tab
When running display campaigns in Google Ads, it’s essential to monitor where your ads appear. If certain placements are squandering your budget, then it may be time to exclude them from consideration.
For the quickest solution, creating an IP exclusion list in Google Ads is usually the simplest method. This is an ideal way to block non-converting traffic from your ads and boost ad performance.
Alternatively, Dynamic Exclusion Lists can automate your ad exclusions. This makes it simpler to exclude specific sites, videos or even apps without having to manually update each campaign.
4. Select the campaign or ad group you want to exclude
One of the biggest frustrations I hear from advertisers is how to exclude mobile applications from their Google Ads campaigns. It has become common practice for them to exclude mobile from their campaigns due to not delivering the volume of conversion signals they expect.
When deciding whether or not to exclude mobile, take into account which types of customers your business wants to engage with and how they search on their devices. For instance, if you’re targeting shoppers near your location, then it might make more sense for your ads only to appear on mobile devices.
5. Select the mobile app category you want to exclude
Mobile applications are software programs tailored specifically for use on a particular device such as a smartphone or tablet, typically offering isolated and limited functionality compared to desktop programs.
When a user launches a mobile app, it communicates with the device’s operating system and other built-in software components to access hardware such as cameras and GPS units. These technologies are essential for proper operation and performance of the app on any given device.
Google Ads allows you to exclude specific mobile app categories for more control over your display campaigns and prevent ads from showing in these apps. You can select Campaign- or Ad Group-level negative mobile app categories in order to do this.
