What are automatic placements in Google Ads, and how do you prune them?
Part of Google Ads placements
The short answer
Automatic placements are the websites, apps and videos where Google Ads shows ads because other targeting, such as keywords, topics or audiences, matched them, not because the advertiser chose them. They appear in the Where ads showed report beside chosen placements. Review them on a schedule, promote the good ones to a reviewed list, and exclude the rest.
Key takeaways
- Google defines automatic placements as a reporting term for Display Network webpages, videos and apps reached through other targeting methods, like keywords or topics.
- Chosen placements are criteria the advertiser adds; automatic placements are outcomes the system produces, so they appear only in served reports.
- Google's own answer for advertisers who want no automatic placements is to use placement targeting exclusively.
- Pruning works best as a cycle: sort each automatic placement into keep, promote or exclude, then fix the targeting that produced the unwanted ones.
What are automatic placements in Google Ads?
A term used in Google Ads reporting to reflect the webpages, videos, and apps on the Display Network
Google's definition continues that automatic placements are the result of placing your ad based on your other targeting methods, like keywords or topics. The word automatic describes the route, not the quality. An automatic placement can be a respected magazine the planner would have chosen anyway, or an app the brief would never allow. The term only says that nobody in the account named it.
Definition
- Automatic placement
- A website, page, app, YouTube channel or video where an ad served because some other targeting in the ad group matched it. It is visible in served placement reports, and it can be excluded, but it is never a criterion the advertiser added.
Google's Where ads showed help page (opens in a new tab) uses the same split. It says the report shows placements you are directly targeting, which it calls Manual Placements, and the placements where your ads showed via other targeting methods, which it calls Automatic Placements. Other guides call the first group managed placements; the meaning is the same.
How are automatic placements chosen?
Automatic placements come from whatever else the ad group targets, so the way to understand them is to list the routes. Google's definition gives the keyword route as an example: for keyword targeted ad groups, Google tries to match ads to relevant placements based on the keyword list, among other factors. Topics work the same way at the subject level, and audience targeting finds people wherever they browse on the network.
| Route | What it matches | How far it reaches | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display or video keywords | Pages and videos whose theme matches the keyword list | As wide as the theme of the keywords | Display keywords guide |
| Topics | Pages, apps and videos about the chosen subjects | Qualifying pages across the network | Topic targeting guide |
| Audiences | People in the segment, wherever they browse | Any placement those people visit | Targeting and Observation guide |
| Optimized targeting | People beyond the chosen signals | Beyond the signals by design | Optimized targeting guide |
| No targeting method | Google says ads can run anywhere on the web within campaign and account settings | The whole eligible network | Google's Targeting and Observation settings page |
Content routes add to one another. Google's page on combining content targeting types (opens in a new tab) says ads show on content that matches any of the topics, placements or Display or Video keywords targeted. A planner who adds a topic to a placement ad group has therefore opened the door to automatic placements on every page about that topic.
How are chosen placements different from automatic ones?
A chosen placement is an instruction; an automatic placement is a result. That difference shows up in where each appears. The Google Ads API documentation on placement views (opens in a new tab) describes the managed placement view as data for the placements an advertiser is explicitly targeting, and the group placement view as where ads actually served, regardless of whether placements were explicitly targeted or discovered automatically by Google's system.
| Aspect | Chosen placement | Automatic placement |
|---|---|---|
| How it enters the account | Added by a person or a file import | Produced by keywords, topics, audiences or no targeting |
| Where it is reported | Placements and Where ads showed | Where ads showed only |
| Can it carry its own bid | Yes, Google lets advertisers set individual placement bids | Not as a criterion; it must be added as a placement first |
| How to stop it | Exclude it; removing it may not stop serving if other targeting matches | Exclude it, or remove the targeting that produced it |
| Strength | Every site was reviewed before money moved | Can surface good sites nobody thought to list |
| Weakness | Reach is limited to the list and its buyable inventory | Each site is reviewed only after money has moved |
The removal row is easy to miss. Google's add and edit placements page (opens in a new tab) warns that ads may still appear on a placement you remove if the ad group has matching keywords, topics or other phrases. Removing a chosen site can turn it into an automatic one overnight.
How do you review automatic placements without drowning in rows?
The served report is long and noisy by design. Google says placements appear only if they meet minimum thresholds of impressions or interactions, that the report may include invalid traffic, that it is not a billing record, and that it should not be used as an exhaustive list of placements. A review of automatic placements should therefore aim at decisions about sites, not at fine tuning on small numbers. The where ads showed guide covers the report's columns and caveats; the steps below cover the pruning cycle.
One pruning pass on a month of automatic placements
- Separate the two groups. In Where ads showed, set chosen placements aside so only automatic rows remain.
- Start with the largest spend. Review the rows with the most spend before the long tail.
- Open each site or app. Read several recent pages, check the ad experience and confirm the content fits the brief and the market.
- Record a decision per row. Keep it as automatic, promote it to the reviewed list as a chosen placement, or exclude it.
- Trace the route. For each excluded row, find the keyword, topic or audience that likely reached it and narrow that targeting.
- Date the pass. Note when the review ran and who made the calls, so the next pass starts where this one stopped.
When should automatic placements be excluded?
Exclude an automatic placement when its content, ad experience or audience would fail the same review a chosen site has to pass. The fact that it arrived automatically is not a reason on its own. Some of the best additions to a reviewed list start as automatic rows that a planner opens, reads and promotes.
Exclude the automatic placement when any of these is true
- Its recent pages carry content in a category the client's suitability policy rules out.
- Its pages are crowded with ads, refresh ad slots quickly or look built mainly to resell traffic.
- It is an app or game the brief did not ask for and the client would not recognize.
- Its readers are mostly outside the brief's market, whatever its domain ending says.
- Its content is in a language the campaign's creative does not use.
- The client has asked in writing never to appear there.
Choose the exclusion level by scope. A site wrong for one brief belongs at the campaign or ad group level. A site wrong for every client belongs at the account level, which Google's account level exclusions page (opens in a new tab) says applies to all campaigns in the account, including Performance Max, and typically takes effect within 12 hours. The placement exclusions guide covers levels, lists and entry formats.
What does pruning look like on a real campaign?
Fictional example
An eyewear retailer in Quebec
A fictional retailer of prescription glasses with stores in Montreal and Quebec City runs a Display campaign in French and English. One ad group targets a short list of chosen lifestyle and design sites; a second targets the topics of fashion and vision care to find new readers.
After a month the planner filters Where ads showed to automatic rows. Three well known Quebec style magazines served through the topic ad group; their recent pages fit, so they are promoted to the chosen list. A cluster of quiz and puzzle apps and a recipe site carrying mostly English language reprints are excluded at the campaign level.
Tracing the route, the planner finds most unwanted rows came from the vision care topic, which reached medical forums the client did not want. That topic is removed, the topic ad group keeps fashion only, and the pass is dated in the plan.
How does PlacementGraph help turn automatic finds into a reviewed list?
Frequently asked questions
Are automatic placements bad for a campaign?
Not by definition. They are the reach that keywords, topics and audiences produce, and some are excellent. The risk is that each one is reviewed only after the ad has run there. A campaign that cannot accept that, such as a brief tied to an approved site list, should rely on chosen placements instead.
Do Performance Max campaigns have automatic placements?
In effect, all of its Display and YouTube delivery is automatic, because Performance Max takes no placement targets. The control available is exclusion: Google's account level exclusions page says those exclusions apply to all campaigns in the account, including Performance Max. The Performance Max exclusions guide covers that setup.
Can I see automatic placements for Smart campaigns?
Only partly. Google's definition page notes that for Smart campaigns, the details of where ads are shown are not surfaced in the predefined report named Automatic placements (group). Advertisers who need placement level visibility for suitability reviews should plan their buys in campaign types that report served placements.
Should a promoted automatic placement keep its old performance history?
Its history stays in Where ads showed for the dates it served automatically. Once it is added as a chosen placement, it also appears in the Placements report from that date, which reports only on targeted placements. Note the promotion date in the plan so the two periods are read separately.
Sources
- Automatic placements: Definition (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- About the Where ads showed report (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Placement views (opens in a new tab)Google Ads API documentation
- About combining content targeting types (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Add, edit, and copy placements (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- About placement targeting (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- About Targeting and Observation settings (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Exclude placements at the account level (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.