Apply brand exclusions to Performance Max or Search campaigns

Brand exclusions keep your campaigns from serving for branded queries you want to avoid. For Performance Max, brand exclusions apply to Search and Shopping inventory, but you also have the option to allow your Shopping ads to appear in searches for excluded brands.

This article explains how to create a new Performance Max or Search campaign with brand exclusions and how to add brand exclusions to existing campaigns. There are additional resources if you need to manage brands, apply brand exclusions, apply brand inclusions, and more. Learn more About brand settings for Search and Performance Max.

Instructions

Create a new Performance Max campaign with brand exclusions

1. In your Google Ads account, from the left navigation menu, click the Create icon .
2. Click Campaigns.
3. Create a new Performance Max campaign. When you reach the “Campaign Settings” section, click More settings.
4. Click Brand exclusions.
5. Click the provided text box. A list of your existing brand lists will appear. Select the brand lists that you want to use for your campaign.
   • Note: You can also click + New brand list to create and use a new brand list.
6. Click the “Allow Shopping ads on searches that mention excluded brands” checkbox if you want to keep showing your Shopping ads on searches for excluded brands.
7. Complete the remaining campaign creation steps.

Add brand exclusions to an existing Performance Max campaign

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. Below the "Campaigns" page heading, click the Settings tab.
5. Select the campaign you want to apply the brand list to.
6. On the "Settings" page, scroll down to click Additional settings.
7. Click Brand exclusions.
8. Click the provided text box. A list of your existing brand lists will appear. Select the brand lists that you want to use for your campaign.
   • Note: You can also click + New brand list to create and use a new brand list.
9. Click the “Allow Shopping ads on searches that mention excluded brands” checkbox if you want to keep showing your Shopping ads on searches for excluded brands.
10. Click Save.

Create a new Search campaign with brand exclusions

1. In your Google Ads account, from the left navigation menu, click the Create icon .
2. Click Campaigns.
3. Create a new Search campaign. When you reach the “Campaign Settings” section, click More settings.
   • Note: An update starting May 27, 2025 will move brand settings to the AI Max settings panel in this step.
4. Click Brands.
5. Click the provided text box in the “Brand exclusions” section. A list of your existing brand lists will appear. Select the brand lists that you want to use for your campaign.
   • Note: You can also click + New brand list to create and use a new brand list.
6. Complete the remaining campaign creation steps.

Add brand exclusions to an existing Search campaign

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. Below the "Campaigns" page heading, click the Settings tab.
5. Select the campaign you want to apply the brand list to.
6. On the "Settings" page, scroll down to click Additional settings.
   • Note: An update starting May 27, 2025 will move brand settings to the AI Max settings panel in this step.
7. Click Brands.
8. Click the provided text box in the “Brand exclusions” section. A list of your existing brand lists will appear. Select the brand lists that you want to use for your campaign.
   • Note: You can also click + New brand list to create and use a new brand list.
9. Click Save.

Add brand exclusions to existing campaigns in bulk

1. Go to Campaignswithin the Campaigns menu .
2. Below the "Campaigns" page heading, click the Settings tab.
3. Click the checkboxes of the campaigns that you want to apply the brand list to.
   • Note: If you want to apply the brand list to all of your campaigns, click the “Campaign” column header checkbox to select all of your campaigns.
4. Click Edit.
5. Click Change brands. Then, select Brand exclusions.
6. Click the “Add brand exclusions” checkbox.
7. Click the provided text box. A list of your existing brand lists will appear. Select the brand lists that you want to use for your campaign.
   • Note: You can also click + New brand list to create and use a new brand list.
8. For your Performance Max campaigns, if you want to make changes on how your brand exclusions affect your Shopping Ads, you can also click the “Edit Shopping ads settings for Performance Max campaigns” checkbox.
   • Select Allow Shopping ads to allow your selected campaigns to show Shopping ads on searches that mention excluded brands.
   • Select Don’t allow Shopping ads if you don’t want your selected campaigns to show Shopping ads on searches that mention excluded brands.
9. If you want to view the summary of changes, click Preview.
10. Click Apply.

Related links

• Create a Performance Max campaign
• Create a Search campaign
• How to use brand suitability features in Performance Max
• Apply brand inclusions to Search campaigns