MFA avoidance: how agencies and brands build a standing practice
The short answer
MFA avoidance is a standing process that keeps made-for-advertising sites out of campaigns, not a one-time blocklist. It needs a written policy with the brand's tolerance, named owners, graded thresholds that decide when a site is excluded or reviewed, a fixed review cadence, and versioned site lists that record why each site is there.
Key takeaways
- Sites can change owners, templates and traffic sources after they are checked, so avoidance works as a routine with owners and dates, not as a single cleanup.
- The ANA asks each advertiser to set its own tolerance for MFA inventory, which means the policy has to be written down and approved by the brand.
- Graded thresholds that separate exclude, review and monitor stop one weak signal from removing a legitimate publisher.
- Inclusion lists need hygiene: a version, a reason per site, a last checked date and a named owner.
- Measure the practice with the served domain report and log-level data, not with viewability or fraud rates.
Why does MFA avoidance need a standing practice instead of a one-time blocklist?
The signs of a made-for-advertising site, and why the format thrives, are covered in our explainer on what MFA sites are. This page is about the operating side: how an agency or an in-house team keeps those sites out of every plan, month after month, across many clients and many people.
A one-time cleanup decays. New domains launch on the same templates, a clean publisher sells to an owner that starts buying traffic, and a list built for one client is copied into another brief without review. The ANA's Q1 2026 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark (opens in a new tab), built with TAG TrustNet from participants' log-level data, shows why: MFA exposure among participants increased to 1.1 percent in Q1 2026 after remaining between 0.4 and 0.6 percent throughout 2025, and the report identified AI slop as an emerging subtype requiring ongoing mitigation. The figures are in the MFA explainer.
Definition
- MFA avoidance practice
- The policy, roles, thresholds, review calendar and list records an advertiser or agency uses to keep made-for-advertising inventory out of its buys, and to prove that it did.
Who should own MFA avoidance at an agency or brand?
MFA avoidance can fail in the gaps between teams. The planner assumes the trading desk filters MFA at activation, the desk assumes the list was vetted, and the brand assumes its verification partner handles it. Naming one accountable owner, and writing down what each other role does, closes those gaps.
| Role | Owns | Hands off |
|---|---|---|
| Brand lead (client side) | Approves the tolerance and the policy; signs off on exceptions | Policy approval and any change to tolerance |
| Practice owner (agency) | Keeps the policy current, runs the review calendar, settles disputes | Updated thresholds and the quarterly practice report |
| Planner | Screens candidate sites before they reach a list; records a reason per site | An approved, versioned inclusion list |
| Trading desk or activation | Loads the approved list and exclusion lists; checks the served domain report | Served domains that were not planned, with causes |
| Measurement or ad operations | Pulls log-level or placement data; tracks MFA share of spend | The monthly measurement summary |
What should a written MFA policy say?
advertisers should determine, independently, if MFA sites fit with their brand suitability standards for content and user experience and clarify their tolerance for the inclusion of MFA inventory in their campaigns.
That recommendation puts the decision with each advertiser, which means a policy document the brand has approved. The test of a good policy is whether a new planner could apply it to an unfamiliar site and reach the same call as the practice owner.
Contents of an MFA avoidance policy
- The definition the team uses, citing the September 2023 trade group definition.
- The channels in scope: open web display, web video, apps and any curated deals or private marketplaces.
- The brand's tolerance, stated as an action for each signal: exclude, send to review or monitor.
- The evidence a reviewer must record before excluding a site, such as screenshots of sampled pages.
- Who may approve an exception, and how long an exception lasts before it expires.
- How a publisher can challenge an exclusion, and who answers within what time.
- The review calendar and the report the brand receives each quarter.
- The date the policy was last approved and the name of the approver.
How should a team set MFA thresholds without blocking good publishers?
The trade groups described MFA as a combination of traits, not a single test, and left the line to each advertiser. A threshold scheme turns that into graded actions. Strong evidence on several signals excludes a site. One strong signal, or several weak ones, sends it to a person. A single weak signal is only noted and watched. Missing data should not count as a failure: a site that could not be checked goes to review.
Fictional example
How one agency wrote its thresholds
A fictional Vancouver agency, Harborline Media, writes thresholds for a national grocery client. Exclusion needs at least two strong signals from different areas, for example ad slots that reload on a timer on every sampled article plus sponsored link units that point traffic to the site.
A heavy ad load on its own sends a site to review, because several of the agency's local news publishers carry dense layouts. A site whose ad layout could not be measured is marked for review, never excluded. The client approves the document, and the practice owner revisits it each quarter.
How often should MFA reviews run, and what triggers an extra one?
A calendar keeps MFA review from depending on someone remembering. A workable calendar combines a fixed rhythm with event triggers, so a change in ownership or a strange report gets attention between scheduled checks.
| When | What to review | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Before each new flight | Every site on the inclusion list that has not been checked in the last cycle | Planner |
| First week of a flight | Served domains against the approved list; any unplanned domain | Trading desk |
| Monthly | MFA share of spend from placement or log data; new exclusions and exceptions | Measurement, practice owner |
| Quarterly | The thresholds, the exclusion list and the policy itself | Practice owner, brand lead |
| On a trigger | A site changes owner or template, traffic jumps, or a publisher disputes a call | Practice owner |
How do teams keep inclusion and exclusion lists clean?
An MFA avoidance practice can run on two lists. The inclusion list is the set of sites approved to run, and it is where planning work shows up. The exclusion list is a safety net that blocks known MFA domains across campaigns, including those that do not use an inclusion list. In Google Ads, the list limits depend on which help page you read. Google's help pages disagreed when checked in October 2026: one (opens in a new tab) says exclusion lists can only be created in manager accounts, another (opens in a new tab) that each client account can have up to 20; one (opens in a new tab) gives 250,000 exclusions per manager list, another (opens in a new tab) 65,000 per list. Confirm the limits in the account.
List hygiene routine
- Version every list. Save each approved inclusion list as a new version so anyone can see what changed and when.
- Record a reason and a date per site. A site without a reason or a last checked date goes back to review before the next flight.
- Retire lists that are not owned. A list nobody has reviewed in two cycles is archived, not reused for a new client.
- Merge network sites. Domains sharing the same ad or analytics account IDs are reviewed together and recorded as one network.
- Expire exceptions. Every exception carries an end date and returns to review when it lapses.
- Sync the exclusion list. When a site is excluded on one client, the practice owner decides whether it moves to the shared exclusion list.
How does PlacementGraph support a standing MFA review?
How can a team tell whether its MFA avoidance practice works?
Viewability, invalid traffic and brand safety rates are poor tests. The ANA's 2023 definition (opens in a new tab) says MFA websites "exhibit high measurability rates, good viewability rates, low levels of invalid traffic, and usually have brand-safe environments." TAG runs separate certifications, such as Certified Against Fraud and Brand Safety Certified (opens in a new tab), for different problems, and a passing result on fraud says little about whether a page was made mainly to show ads. The useful measures look at where the money went.
Quarterly measures for an MFA practice
- The share of spend that served on domains outside the approved inclusion list is tracked by client.
- MFA share of spend is calculated from log-level or placement data, with the method written down.
- Every exclusion made in the quarter has recorded evidence and a named reviewer.
- Publisher disputes were answered, and the number of reversed calls is reported.
- Expired exceptions were reviewed rather than renewed automatically.
- The brand lead received the report and re-approved the tolerance.
Guides in this hub
Every guide in the MFA avoidance hub, each written to answer one question in full.
- GlossaryWhat is ad density, and how do you measure it?Ad density and ad to content ratio explained: how each is measured on phones and desktops, the thresholds the Coalition for Better Ads and the ANA published.
- ExplainerWhat is ad refresh, and how should buyers read it?What ad refresh is, how OpenRTB and Google Ad Manager declare it, what the MRC asks sellers to disclose, and how buyers read refresh as one MFA signal.
- ExplainerAI generated content sites: how do buyers tell a content farm from a real publisher?How AI generated content sites turn machine written articles into ad inventory, what the ANA said about AI slop, and the page checks that expose a content farm.
- ExplainerWhat does the ANA programmatic transparency study measure?What the ANA programmatic transparency study and quarterly benchmark measure, the latest public MFA figures, and how to cite them without overstating scope.
- ExplainerWhat should buyers check when a site runs autoplay video ads?How autoplay and sticky video players change what a video impression is worth, what the Better Ads Standards and browsers say about sound, and how to check.
- ExplainerWhat are the Better Ads Standards, and how can buyers use them?The Better Ads Standards explained: the desktop, mobile, video and app ad experiences they rule out, how Chrome enforces them, and how buyers can check a site.
- How-toWhat should happen to a site with borderline MFA evidence?How to run a review queue for borderline MFA sites: when to hold, test or exclude, which page clues need a person, how long a hold lasts and what to record.
- ExplainerWhat is cloaking in advertising, and how can buyers test for it?Cloaking shows reviewers and crawlers one page and visitors another. Learn how it fools classifiers, how to test on phone and desktop, and what to do next.
- ExplainerWhat do content recommendation widgets reveal about a site?What recommended for you ad boxes are, how they buy and sell traffic between sites, why reviewers treat widget load as an MFA signal, and how to check it.
- GlossaryWhat does domain age tell an advertiser, and how much should it count?What domain age tells a media buyer, how to look it up in RDAP and archives, why it must never decide alone, and how to weigh it so new publishers stay fair.
- ExplainerHow do expired domains end up on media plans, and how do buyers catch them?Expired news and nonprofit domains get bought and refilled with ad heavy pages. Learn how the lapse works, why they pass checks, and how to spot a new owner.
- ExplainerWhat are guest post sites, and should ads run on them?Guest post sites sell articles with links to anyone who pays. See how they look to an ad buyer, what search and FTC guidance say, and when to exclude them.
- ChecklistHow to identify MFA sites when no single signal is a verdictA reviewer's checklist for identifying MFA sites: the signals to observe in layout, traffic, content and ownership, what to save, and how to weigh each one.
- GlossaryWhat is incentivized traffic, and when is it a problem for advertisers?What incentivized and rewarded traffic is, when it is disclosed and allowed, how it differs from fraud, and how buyers find and judge it in MFA and IVT reviews.
- ExplainerWhen do infinite scroll ads become an MFA signal?How infinite scroll and auto loading next articles create many ad impressions per visit, when that is normal design, when it is an MFA signal, and how to test.
- GlossaryWhat is invalid traffic, and what does a low IVT rate really prove?Invalid traffic explained in the MRC's terms: general and sophisticated IVT, how filtering reaches billing, and why a low IVT rate says little about MFA risk.
- FrameworkHow do quality rules shrink scale, and how strict should a plan be?A framework for inventory quality and scale: how each quality rule shrinks reachable supply, how to pick a level of strictness and how to explain it to clients.
- How-toHow to build an MFA exclusion list that holds up to a disputeHow to build and maintain an MFA exclusion list: the record each entry needs, domain formatting for buying platforms, a dispute log and rules for reinstatement.
- How-toHow do you measure MFA exposure after a campaign?Run an MFA exposure analysis after a campaign: which delivery data to pull, how to work out MFA share of spend, and how to compare it with the prelaunch screen.
- ExplainerWhy do real publishers get flagged as MFA, and how do you catch the errors?How blunt MFA rules wrongly flag small and specialist publishers, which signals have innocent readings, how to check a flag and what to fix after a reversal.
- FrameworkMFA risk score: how should a calibrated score work?How a calibrated MFA risk score works: a probability per signal area, how to pick review and exclusion thresholds from error costs, and how to test calibration.
- GuideMFA site examples: what do made-for-advertising sites look like?Fictional MFA site examples: slideshow arbitrage, AI listicle farms, recipe ad stacks and news rewrites, with what a reviewer sees and the evidence to save.
- ExplainerWhat is an MFA site network, and how do shared IDs reveal it?How groups of sites sharing owners, templates and ad codes spread MFA risk, which public IDs link them, and how to judge and record a network finding.
- ExplainerAre news aggregator sites good placements for advertisers?How news aggregators and rewrite sites differ from original publishers, what licensed and curated aggregation looks like, and a scoring method for ad buyers.
- ChecklistWhich news credibility signals can a buyer check on the site?A checklist of news credibility signals buyers can see on a site: corrections, ownership and funding pages, bylines, contacts, standards and JTI reports.
- ExplainerHow do ad stacks shape page experience, and what can a buyer read from it?How heavy ad stacks move Core Web Vitals, what Chrome's public field data and new ad metrics show, and how buyers can weigh page experience in a site review.
- ExplainerWhat does a site's publishing pace tell a media buyer?How sitemaps, news sitemaps and RSS feeds show a site's publishing pace, which bursts point to content farms, how newsrooms differ, and how to weigh the signal.
- ExplainerHow can buyers detect scraped content sites before they buy?How to detect sites that copy or lightly rewrite other publishers' work, why they earn ad revenue, how they differ from syndication, and what a plan should do.
- ExplainerWhat is search arbitrage, and why should display buyers care?Search arbitrage turns bought visits into search ad clicks through related search units. Learn how the funnel works, Google's rules, and the signs buyers check.
- ExplainerWhat is site reputation abuse, and how should buyers review hosted sections?Site reputation abuse puts third party pages on trusted domains. Learn Google's policy and its four review factors, and how buyers review hosted sections.
- ExplainerHow do slideshow pages turn one visit into many ad auctions?How slideshow and paginated gallery pages turn one visit into dozens of ad auctions, the signs a reviewer can record, and where the pattern shows in reports.
- ExplainerWhat does TAG Certified Against Fraud require, and what does it leave out?What TAG Certified Against Fraud requires of buyers, sellers and intermediaries, how the seal is earned and renewed, its limits and how to confirm a partner.
- ExplainerHow can buyers tell templated content from specialist content?How to tell templated, fill in the blank articles from useful specialist content, why template sites attract ad spend, and how to score them on a site list.
- ExplainerWhat makes a site's content thin, and why is thin not short?What thin content means in Google guidance and for media buyers, why thin is not short, the signs to check on a page, and when to exclude or review a site.
- ExplainerHow does traffic arbitrage work, and how do buyers spot it?How paid traffic arbitrage works, why it pushes sites toward heavy ad loads, and the public evidence buyers can collect to spot it before a site reaches a plan.
- GlossaryWhat is trust.txt, and what can a buyer learn from it?What trust.txt declares about a publisher's associations, owners and social accounts, how buyers confirm each claim both ways, and what the file cannot prove.
- GlossaryWhat are the main types of ad fraud, and how is each one caught?A field guide to the main types of ad fraud, from bots and ad stacking to pixel stuffing, domain spoofing and click injection, with how each one is detected.
- ExplainerWhy is viewability a poor guide to site quality?Why MFA sites post strong viewability and low invalid traffic, why a quality site can score low, and how to set viewability goals that do not reward MFA.
- How-toHow do you run a website ad layout audit on phone and desktop?A manual method to audit a site's ad layout on phone and desktop: what to count, how to catch refresh and interstitials, how many pages, and a recording sheet.
- ExplainerWhat are made-for-advertising (MFA) sites, and how do buyers keep them off a plan?Made-for-advertising (MFA) sites resell ad impressions at a margin. Learn the five signs, what the ANA found, and a step by step review to keep them off a plan.
- FrameworkWhat makes a quality publisher, and how can a buyer score it?A five part framework for judging a quality publisher: original work, accountability, transparency, reader relationship and a usable ad load, with evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Should every client share the same MFA policy?
Share the method, not always the tolerance. An agency can use one definition, one set of signals and one review calendar for every client, while each brand approves its own action for each signal. A brand with strict standards may exclude sites that another client only monitors.
What should happen when a publisher disputes an MFA exclusion?
Treat it as a review, not a negotiation. The practice owner rereads the recorded evidence, checks current pages, and either reverses the call or explains the signals behind it. Log the outcome. A steady rate of reversed calls is a sign the thresholds are too blunt.
Does MFA avoidance hurt small and independent publishers?
It can if a single signal excludes a site. Some independent publishers use stock templates and carry heavy ad loads. Graded thresholds, human review for borderline cases and a dispute process protect them while still removing sites built to resell attention.
Should MFA terms appear in agency and supplier agreements?
The ANA recommends that advertisers clarify their tolerance for the inclusion of MFA inventory in their campaigns. Writing that tolerance into agency scopes and media buying terms keeps it on record through staff changes and agency handovers, and gives the served domain report a written standard to check against.
Sources
- Leading Trade Groups Define “Made For Advertising” Websites (opens in a new tab)ANA (Association of National Advertisers), September 26, 2023
- ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark Reveals Widening Gap Between Top and Bottom Advertisers (Q1 2026) (opens in a new tab)ANA, May 27, 2026
- Programmatic Transparency (opens in a new tab)ANA Media Practice
- Use placement exclusion lists across your accounts (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Certifications (opens in a new tab)TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group)
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.