Google Ads
Blocking video partners in YouTube
Adding “googleadsense_without_youtube.com” as a negative placement to YouTube campaigns eliminates all video partner placements. And would you look at that, performance is even better than projected, on a weekend at that.
Google Demand Gen
Disable expansion and optimized targeting function.
Search Partners
Exclude Search Partners.
Age Demographics
Exclude 18-24 in most cases
Google Ads Location
Target People in or regularly in your targeted location. Exclude people in or regularly in or who’ve shown interest in your excluded locations.
Portfolio Bid with Max Bid for Automated Bidding
If using automated bidding (big “if” as manual bidding is better for less mature accounts), utilize portfolio bidding with a bid cap. Do not include brand campaigns in portfolio bidding. Create separate bidding rules for brand campaigns.
Set up business name and business logo asset
Having both a business name and business logo “asset” set up became a best practice as soon as it rolled out and should be in place across every account. We should not be relying on Google to do that for us.
Turn off dynamic business names/logos
Google quietly added two new automated ad extensions and the default setting is on. Might want to spot check your accounts and make sure you have this disabled. Ads & Assets dropdown > assets > hit “more” button above the table on the right side > select “account-level automated assets” > hit “more” button again > select “advanced settings” > then turn off dynamic business names and logos. Hit save.
Optimized targeting (audience expansion) in Google Ads
Turn off expansion and optimized targeting setting.
Pin headlines in Google Ads
Pin ad headlines in Google Ads in order to provide relevant headlines to search results.
Never Use Automated Ad Extensions
Turn off automated ad extensions. Assets > Association > Account level automated assets > Advanced settings > Select Account-level automated assets settings > Select Turn off specific automated assets > Turn off.
Block Mobile Apps
Go to Campaigns > audiences, keywords, and content > content > placement exclusions > enter. Paste this: mobileappcategory::69500 (Can also do this directly in Editor by adding mobile App Categories as negative)
Audience Network
Exclude LinkedIn Audience Network (LAN). Disable audience expansion
Avoid Auto Bids
Don’t use autobid aka “maximum delivery” instead use Manual CPC or Cost Cap bidding
Work Emails in Lead Gen Forms
Always ask for work email and enable “validate work email” when building Lead Gen Forms
Microsoft Ads
Exclusions in Microsoft Advertising Search Campaigns
- Open your account in MS Ads editor and check your standard search campaigns and make sure the network distribution is set to “Only Bing, AOL, and Yahoo! websites” or “Microsoft sites and select partner traffic”.
- In addition to updating your network distribution setting, add bing.com, outlook.com, outlook.live.com, play.google.com, microsoftcasualgames.com, and msn.com as campaign-level website exclusions to your search campaigns.
Opt Out of Auto Conversion in Microsoft Advertising
Campaigns > Ads & extensions > Automated Extensions > Manage Automated Extensions > Opt out of specific Automated Extensions
Targeting Duck Duck Go and Adding Exclusions
Start building your exclusion list as it’s highly worth targeting Duck Duck Go. Obility has nearly 9,300 currently in Obility’s exclusion list.
Meta
Blocking music over ads
Turn off Advantage+ Creative to avoid Meta picking music over your ads. Also disable optimizations that are automatically turned on such as Image Template or Visual Touch Ups
Remove Lookalikes
Disable “Advantage Lookalike”
Avoid Auto Placements
Disable “Advantage+ Placements” and switch to Manual Placements
Age Demographics
Update age group to 25+ as default starts at 18
