Exclude mobile app placements in Google Ads under Content > Exclusions > Placements using the mobileapp::1- (iOS) or mobileapp::2- (Android) formats, and in Microsoft Advertising by pulling Mobile Bundle IDs from a Website URL (Publisher) report and adding them to your exclusion list. Keep this distinct from device targeting: switching off mobile devices removes your mobile web reach too, not just the apps causing trouble.
TL;DR:
- Excluding mobile app placements requires precise identification of app IDs from app store URLs and careful distinction from device targeting to prevent unnecessary traffic loss.
- Conduct weekly checks of placement impressions and Mobile Bundle IDs using reports, then update and verify exclusion lists to ensure that mobile app traffic is effectively blocked.
- Removing problematic app placements can increase CPM or CPV and shift budget allocation, so exclusions should be tested against actual conversions and profit to avoid harming overall ROAS.
- Use campaign-specific workflows like Google Ads’ platform opt-outs and Microsoft’s website reports to maintain ongoing, data-driven control over app placement waste.
- A managed, data-led cleanup process can prevent unintentional spend increase while safeguarding brand safety, especially when supported by regular audits and clear exclusion routines.
Table of Contents
- Step-by-step: exclude mobile app placements in Google Ads
- Step-by-step: exclude mobile app placements in Microsoft Advertising
- Verify and monitor: reports to confirm exclusions worked
- When to exclude apps and the trade-offs to measure
- Concise checklist: best practices and a maintenance routine
- Why a managed, data-led clean-up can preserve ROAS
- Get a free audit before you touch another exclusion list
- Sources
- FAQ
Step-by-step: exclude mobile app placements in Google Ads
Head to Campaigns, then Audiences, keywords and content, then Content, then Exclusions. Select Placements, and choose Edit exclusions to open the panel where you will add app IDs.
- Pick the campaign or ad group you want to clean up.
- Enter individual app exclusions using mobileapp::1- for iOS apps and mobileapp::2-<package.name> for Android apps.
- Use “Enter multiple placements” when you have a batch of IDs to add at once rather than pasting them one at a time.
- For a broader block, switch to App categories and exclude entire groupings such as games or utilities instead of individual titles.
- For Performance Max, use the platform opt-out available in Google Ads Editor, which supports bid adjustments of -100% for device categories, where a full toggle is not offered.
Google’s own guidance confirms that ads can appear in mobile apps by default whenever a placement matches your campaign targeting, which is exactly why unmonitored accounts accumulate wasted app spend over time. The placement exclusion workflow covers websites, videos and apps from the same panel, so app cleanup does not need a separate tool.
The most common mistake is pasting a website URL into the app exclusion field instead of the correctly formatted app ID, which simply gets ignored. Another is excluding at the device level when the real target is a handful of problem apps, a move that also strips out legitimate mobile web traffic.
Pro Tip: Copy the numeric iTunes ID or Android package name straight from the app store URL rather than typing it out, since a single mistyped digit will make the exclusion silently fail.
Step-by-step: exclude mobile app placements in Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising handles this through reporting rather than a dedicated app browser, so the workflow starts with data extraction.
- Run a Website URL (Publisher) report for the campaigns you suspect are picking up app traffic, and add the Mobile Bundle column to the report.
- Copy each Mobile Bundle value, which is the app’s bundle ID, from rows showing spend you want to stop.
- Add those bundle IDs to your account’s website-exclusion list so ads stop serving in that specific app.
This is a specific-ID process, not a category toggle. You are working through a list of confirmed offenders rather than flipping a switch for “games” or “utilities” as a whole, which means the report becomes your ongoing source of truth.
Pro Tip: Schedule the Publisher report to run weekly and keep a single, dated exclusion list rather than re-running the process from memory each time.
Verify and monitor: reports to confirm exclusions worked
Once exclusions are live, check that they actually stopped the spend rather than assuming the job is done.
- Pull the Placements report in Google Ads and filter for app-formatted IDs to confirm impressions have dropped to zero for excluded apps.
- In Microsoft Advertising, re-run the Website URL (Publisher) report and check the Mobile Bundle column for any IDs that slipped through.
- Cross-check impressions, conversions, cost and device type together, since a placement can still serve on desktop or tablet after a mobile app exclusion.
- Note any new bundle IDs appearing with spend but no conversions and add them to your list on the next pass.
- For recurring checks, use Google Ads Editor, scripts or scheduled reports rather than manual log-ins each week.
Microsoft’s own documentation is clear that verification is not optional: it recommends checking the placement report after applying exclusions rather than treating the setting as fire-and-forget, because residual app impressions can still appear until the list is topped up.
When to exclude apps and the trade-offs to measure
Not every app placement deserves the axe, and cutting too aggressively can backfire.
- Exclude an app when it shows high cost with no conversions over a meaningful window, not after a single expensive click.
- Watch for suspicious traffic patterns, such as impressions with near-zero time on site or repeated clicks from the same bundle ID.
- Remove placements that are brand-unsafe even if they convert, since reputational risk does not show up in a ROAS figure.
Removing app inventory reduces reach and can shift your cost-per-click or cost-per-acquisition, sometimes because automated campaigns reallocate budget to other placements rather than simply spending less overall. Placement guidance from Search Engine Land notes that exclusions protect budget and brand suitability but can raise CPM or CPV, and recommends testing exclusions against conversions and profit rather than click-through rate alone. Run a controlled test, measure conversion value and cost-per-conversion over that window, and use account-level content-suitability settings for standing brand-safety rules while keeping placement exclusions for the performance clean-up itself, a distinction Google’s own content exclusion settings also draw. For more on which metrics actually move the needle during a test like this, our guide to ecommerce ad metrics for profit growth walks through the ones worth tracking.
Concise checklist: best practices and a maintenance routine
Keeping app placements under control is a habit, not a one-off task.
- Check recent placement impressions and new Mobile Bundle IDs weekly, alongside conversion performance for the same period.
- Maintain a single exclusion list with clear naming, an owner, and a last-checked date so nothing gets duplicated or forgotten.
- Favour placement exclusions and content-suitability settings together over blanket device removal, unless your actual goal is to drop all mobile traffic.
- Use Google Ads Editor for bulk platform opt-outs where it is supported, and lean on Microsoft’s Publisher reports for ongoing ID harvesting.
Pro Tip: Treat your exclusion list like a live document rather than a set-and-forget file, since new problem apps appear as ad inventory shifts.
Why a managed, data-led clean-up can preserve ROAS
Placement clean-up is a small task that compounds. Accounts tend to accumulate app placement waste quietly, a few pounds here and there that add up across months without ever showing up as an obvious red flag. Because eCommerce PPC is often a dedicated focus rather than one service among several, spotting that pattern early and tying it back to ROAS rather than impressions is important day-to-day work.
— Biplab
Get a free audit before you touch another exclusion list
If chasing bundle IDs across two ad platforms is not how you want to spend your week, a short audit can do it faster and catch what manual checks miss. Our free Google/Facebook Ads audit looks specifically at:
- Placement leakage across your Display and Performance Max campaigns.
- Whether your current exclusion lists are complete or several months out of date.
- Performance Max platform opt-outs that were never configured.
A short engagement often uncovers wasted spend that a single placement fix would have missed. If you would rather have specialists handle the ongoing clean-up, our PPC management service starts from £350 per month with no long-term contract.
Sources
- Show your ads in mobile apps – Google Ads Help
- How to prevent your ads from showing to certain people – Microsoft Advertising
- Google Ads placements guide – Search Engine Land
FAQ
How do I stop AdChoices ads appearing on Android?
AdChoices icons relate to interest-based advertising controls rather than app placements specifically, and you cannot remove them entirely from an Android device. You can limit personalised ads through the device’s ad settings or by excluding the specific apps causing concern using the mobileapp::2- format in your own campaigns.
What are placements in Google Ads?
Placements are the specific websites, apps, videos or pages where your Display or Performance Max ads can appear. You can view, target or exclude individual placements at the campaign or ad group level depending on what you want to control.
Should I turn personalised ads on or off?
This depends on your goals rather than a single correct answer: personalised ads generally support better targeting efficiency, while turning them off limits data use for advertising. For most eCommerce advertisers optimising for ROAS, personalised targeting paired with careful placement exclusions tends to protect spend without switching off useful signals entirely.
How do I check Performance Max placements?
Performance Max does not offer the same placement report transparency as standard Display campaigns, but you can review the “Where ads showed” insights within the campaign and use Google Ads Editor’s platform opt-out to apply bid adjustments at the device category level. Cross-checking this against your conversion data helps confirm whether app inventory is worth keeping.