How to set YouTube content exclusions, surface by surface
Part of YouTube brand safety
The short answer
YouTube content exclusions are account level Google Ads settings; Google's help pages gave two paths in October 2026, Tools > Content suitability and Admin > Account settings. Five controls reach YouTube ads: inventory type, content type exclusions, excluded placements, excluded content themes and excluded content keywords. Digital content labels and sensitive content exclusions do not apply to YouTube.
Key takeaways
- Coverage differs by surface: in-stream and watch next take every YouTube control, Shorts take three, and the Home and Subscriptions feeds take only the inventory type.
- Content suitability settings apply to the main video on the YouTube watch page, and Google says it cannot guarantee all related content will be excluded.
- Excluded content keywords are exact match only, capped at 1,000 per account, and do not reach Shorts.
- Several familiar settings, including digital content labels, sensitive content exclusions and below the fold, never reach YouTube ads.
- Google's Demand Gen pages disagreed on campaign level exclusions when checked in October 2026, so the account level route is the dependable one.
Which exclusion controls reach YouTube ads, surface by surface?
Google's content suitability coverage table (opens in a new tab) lists each control against each inventory source. For YouTube it splits the platform into five surfaces, and the answer changes from one to the next. The table below keeps only the YouTube surfaces and the two networks that YouTube video campaigns can also reach.
| Control | In-stream and watch next | Shorts | Home and Subscriptions feeds | Display Network and Google video partners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory type | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content type exclusions | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Excluded placements | Yes | Yes, except Performance Max | No | Yes |
| Excluded content themes | Yes | Yes, except Performance Max | No | Yes |
| Excluded content keywords | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Digital content labels | No | No | No | Yes |
| Excluded sensitive content | No | No | No | Yes |
Two footnotes on Google's table change how to read it. First, content suitability settings apply to the main video on the YouTube watch page, so the controls judge the video the ad runs on, not the recommendations around it. Second, the Shorts exceptions for placements and themes name Video action campaigns and Performance Max; Video action campaigns are history, since Google upgraded the final ones to Demand Gen by April 2026, but the Performance Max gap remains.
Which settings look like YouTube exclusions but never apply to YouTube ads?
Several controls sit on the same Content suitability page, or nearby in the account, and are easy to mistake for YouTube protection. Each of them works somewhere else.
| Setting | Where it does apply | Why it misses YouTube |
|---|---|---|
| Digital content labels (DL-G, DL-PG, DL-T, DL-MA) | Display Network and Google video partners | Google says that as of September 2024 YouTube ads won't use digital content labels |
| Excluded sensitive content (tragedy and conflict, sensitive social issues, profanity and rough language, sexually suggestive, sensational and shocking) | Display Network and Google video partners | Google's coverage table marks it as not applying to any YouTube surface |
| Below the fold content type | Display campaigns only | Google describes it as the section of a page people have to scroll down to view, for Display campaigns only |
| Account level negative keywords | Search and Shopping inventory | They match search queries; Display and Video inventory uses excluded content keywords instead |
| Any account content exclusion, on Sponsorships | Every other campaign type that reaches YouTube | YouTube Sponsorship campaigns bypass all account level content suitability exclusions |
Google also warns that selecting every digital content label stops a campaign from running on the networks where labels still apply. Because the labels no longer reach YouTube, a brand that relied on DL-G or DL-PG for video before September 2024 should move that intent into the inventory type and content themes.
How do you set YouTube content exclusions in Google Ads, step by step?
Seven steps on the account's Content suitability page
- Open the page. Google's help pages gave two paths when checked in October 2026, Tools > Content suitability and Admin > Account settings; confirm in the account. Google says the inventory type covers all campaigns running on YouTube or Display except App and YouTube Sponsorship campaigns.
- Choose the inventory type. Pick Maximum, Moderate or Limited; it is the only control that also covers the Home and Subscriptions feeds.
- Open Advanced settings and set content types. Exclude live streaming videos, footage of live streamed events, and embedded YouTube videos, videos embedded on websites outside YouTube.com, if the brand needs either.
- Exclude content themes. Select the themes the brand avoids, such as Content Suitable for Families, which includes Made for Kids videos on YouTube, or News (sensitive).
- Add excluded content keywords. Enter exact match terms, spelled correctly, up to 1,000 at the account level. A word with several meanings blocks every meaning.
- Add excluded placements. Enter channels, videos, sites or apps without www, or use Enter multiple placements to paste a list. The account allows 20,000 at a time and 65,000 in total.
- Save and confirm. Google says new placement exclusions typically take effect within 12 hours; check Change history before judging delivery.
Agencies that manage many clients can share exclusions instead of retyping them. Google's exclusion list help (opens in a new tab) says a manager account can hold up to 3 exclusion lists and each client account up to 20, and the account level exclusion page (opens in a new tab) allows 250,000 exclusions per manager list. Google's pages disagreed when checked in October 2026: the Performance Max brand suitability guide (opens in a new tab) says placement exclusion lists can only be created in manager accounts, and the list provider page (opens in a new tab) gives 65,000 exclusions per list. Confirm the limits in the account. The placement exclusions guide covers list structure and formatting in depth.
Which content themes can a YouTube buyer exclude?
Content themes are Google's broad subject exclusions. They reach in-stream, watch next and Shorts, and the list includes one theme that exists only for YouTube. The descriptions below follow Google's own wording, shortened.
| Theme | What Google says it covers |
|---|---|
| Content Suitable for Families | Content suitable for families to view together, including Made for Kids videos on YouTube |
| Games (fighting) | Video games that simulate hand-to-hand fighting or combat with modern or medieval weapons |
| Games (mature) | Video games with mature content such as violence, inappropriate language or sexual suggestiveness |
| Health (sensitive) | Health content people might find upsetting, such as medical procedures or descriptions of conditions |
| Health (source undetermined), YouTube only | Health content from sources that may be accurate but aren't as commonly cited as better known sources |
| News (recent) | Recently announced news, whatever the theme or people reported on |
| News (sensitive) | News people might find upsetting, such as crimes, accidents and natural incidents, or commentary on controversial social and political issues |
| News (source not featured) | News from sources that aren't featured on Google News or YouTube News |
| Politics | Political statements by well-known politicians, elections and events widely perceived as political |
| Religion | Religious teachings or customs, holy sites, well-known religious figures, or religious opinions on social and political issues |
Definition
- Content type exclusion
- An exclusion by format rather than subject. For YouTube buyers Google offers two: live streaming videos and embedded YouTube videos shown on other websites. Neither reaches Shorts or the Home and Subscriptions feeds.
How do exclusions behave in Performance Max, Demand Gen and Display & Video 360?
Performance Max takes its YouTube protection from the account. Google's Performance Max brand suitability guide (opens in a new tab) says account level exclusions apply to all campaigns in the account, including Performance Max, and that channel exclusions can't be applied at the ad group or campaign level. On Shorts, the coverage table leaves Performance Max out of placement and theme exclusions.
Demand Gen is less settled. The Demand Gen FAQ (opens in a new tab) says topics and placement exclusions will not be generally available at the campaign or ad group levels and points to the account level Content Suitability page, while the Demand Gen audiences overview (opens in a new tab) lists content exclusions for keywords, topics or placements, including YouTube channels and videos. Google's help pages disagreed when checked in October 2026; confirm the exclusion options in the account.
Display & Video 360 keeps the same logic at a different level. Its brand suitability help (opens in a new tab) sets suitability in the advertiser's targeting, says targeting set for an advertiser cannot be edited in campaigns, insertion orders or line items, offers embedded YouTube videos as a content type exclusion, and lists the Health (source undetermined) theme as YouTube only.
What does a YouTube exclusion setup look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A home security brand in Washington and Oregon
A fictional maker of smart locks and doorbell cameras, selling in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland, plans YouTube ads across in-stream and Shorts. The brand does not want to appear beside footage of break-ins or crime reporting, where an ad for a lock could read as exploiting a victim.
The planner sets Moderate inventory, excludes the News (sensitive) theme and live streaming videos, and adds a short list of exact match content keywords. Then the coverage table changes the plan: keywords and content types do not reach Shorts, and nothing but the inventory type reaches the Home feed. The team keeps Shorts in the plan only through a reviewed channel list and records which control protects each surface.
After the exclusions are saved
- Every surface in the media plan has at least one named control that covers it.
- No one is counting on digital content labels or sensitive content exclusions for YouTube.
- Content keywords were reviewed for second meanings that would block suitable videos.
- Sponsorship buys have their own review, since account exclusions do not reach them.
- Performance Max inventory on Shorts is covered by channel choice or accepted as a known gap.
- Change history shows the new placement exclusions, and the date is recorded in the plan.
The YouTube brand safety hub explains how account settings sit between YouTube's own policies and the buyer's channel choice, and the inventory types guide explains what each tier admits.
How does PlacementGraph build the channel layer of a YouTube plan?
Where account exclusions thin out, channel choice carries the load. PlacementGraph builds that channel layer before launch.
Frequently asked questions
Do content exclusions work on YouTube Shorts?
Partly. Google's coverage table applies the inventory type, excluded placements and excluded content themes to Shorts, the last two except in Performance Max, but not content type exclusions or excluded content keywords. Google also says exclusions may provide limited coverage of Shorts, so a channel list matters more there.
Why did an ad run near a video that mentions an excluded keyword?
Several reasons fit Google's documentation. Content keywords are exact match only, settings apply to the main video on the watch page rather than the videos around it, keywords do not reach Shorts or the Home feed, and Google says it cannot guarantee all related content will be excluded.
Can YouTube exclusions be applied to one campaign only?
Mostly not. Content suitability for Display and Video campaigns is set at the account level. The exception is placements: Google says client account exclusion lists can be applied across selected campaigns, while manager account lists apply across selected accounts. Single exclusions entered on the Content suitability page cover the whole account.
Does excluding embedded YouTube videos remove ads from youtube.com?
No. Google describes the embedded YouTube videos exclusion as covering videos embedded on websites outside YouTube.com. It keeps ads off YouTube players placed on other sites, and leaves in-stream and watch next placements on YouTube itself untouched. It suits a brand that cannot vet the websites embedding videos.
Sources
- About content suitability (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Exclude placements at the account level (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Use placement exclusion lists across your accounts (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- How to use brand suitability features in Performance Max (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Demand Gen campaigns FAQ (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Demand Gen audiences overview (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Video action campaigns are being upgraded to Demand Gen (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Brand suitability (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.