❓ What is the Location Exclusions tool?
The Location Exclusions tool identifies underperforming geographic areas in your Google Ads campaigns based on live performance data. It allows you to either automatically exclude those locations (execution mode) or receive suggestions for manual review (suggestion mode).
Exclusions are based on metrics like CPA, ROAS, conversions, and spend, aggregated at the city and region levels. You can easily pivot across account, campaign, and location views to investigate where budget is being wasted.
▶️ Why is it important?
Not all geographic areas perform equally. Some locations consume budget without converting or deliver a poor return on ad spend. This tool helps you:
💸 Save budget by excluding low-performing cities or regions
📈 Improve conversion rate by focusing on areas that drive results
🔍 Make decisions backed by data using actual CPA and ROAS metrics
⚙️ Automate or manually review exclusions based on your preference
🔀 Suggestion Mode vs. Execution Mode
The tool supports two modes of operation:
Suggestion Mode: The tool identifies underperforming locations and logs them for your review. You’ll receive an email summary, but no changes will be made in your Google Ads account.
Execution Mode: The tool automatically applies exclusions to your Google Ads campaigns based on your configured rules. Logs and email reports are still generated for transparency.
You can toggle between these two modes at any time depending on whether you want more control or full automation.
🔍 How does it work?
The tool evaluates campaign performance over a configurable lookback period (e.g., past 7 or 30 days). Based on your exclusion rules, it identifies and acts on low-performing cities or regions.
Metrics used to evaluate location performance include:
Impressions
Clicks
Spend
Conversions
Conversion Value
Cost per Acquisition (CPA)
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
For example, a city that had 30 impressions, 2 clicks, €20 in spend, and 0 conversions might be flagged for exclusion based on your rules.
📊 Dashboard & Visual Insights
The dashboard provides a centralized view of all location-based decisions:
Recent Exclusions: Locations excluded in the last run
Top Accounts & Campaigns: Where most exclusions occurred
Next Run: When the next scheduled check will happen
Spend Saved: An estimate of budget protected by exclusions
Switch between Suggestions and Exclusions tabs to compare potential vs. executed actions
You can also drill into the Location Explorer to view detailed tables of performance by city or region.
⚙️ Exclusion Rules
You define your own exclusion criteria based on the metrics that matter to you. For example:
Exclude cities with CPA above €100
Exclude if ROAS is below 1
Only apply rules if a location has more than 10 impressions
Only exclude if spend is above €20 and conversions are below 2
These rules can be customized per team or per account in the settings panel.
📋 Table View: All Opportunities
The “Opportunities” section provides a sortable table of all locations currently eligible for exclusion.
See impression, click, conversion, spend, ROAS, and CPA data per location
Apply filters to focus on specific countries, regions, or campaigns
With our table pivots, you can easily pivot from city to region, and from campaign to account to get a really good understanding of actual location performance.
📅 Frequency & Logs
The tool runs automatically on a schedule (e.g., every 7 days), and each run is logged for auditing. You’ll always see:
When the last run occurred
Which locations were suggested or excluded
How much spend was saved
Email summary notifications sent to your team
✅ Best Practices
Start in Suggestion Mode to review how the system performs before activating auto-exclusions
Set realistic thresholds that align with your business goals
Exclude cautiously — use impression and spend minimums to avoid reacting to small data
Review logs weekly to see impact and adjust exclusion criteria if needed