Inventory Quality
Part of Programmatic brand suitability
Avoiding unnecessarily broad blocklists
Audit domains, apps, channels, categories and keywords so brand suitability exclusions match the reason for each rule.
A useful blocklist excludes contexts the brand has decided to avoid while leaving suitable supply available. Review each entry at the level where it operates: a page, domain, app, channel, category or keyword can affect very different amounts of inventory.
In Display & Video 360, use “App, channel, and website targeting” to inspect relevant site, app and channel entries, and “Keyword targeting” to inspect keyword entries. These names tell you where to review, not whether an entry is too broad.
Keep the reason for each entry and narrow or retire it when that reason no longer fits. Record the entry, its reason, approver and review date so the next audit can check the same decision.
Find entries wider than their reason
Compare the current list with the approved brand policy. For each entry, identify the requirement that prompted it and check whether that requirement applies to everything the entry covers. One unsuitable article rarely establishes that an entire publisher is unsuitable.
A channel may contain many sites or apps, so inspect its membership rather than inferring it from the channel name. Do not assume a channel-level entry has been checked against its individual members.
Take particular care where one entry covers more than one app. Check the individual app IDs before relying on a broader exclusion.
Review negative keywords separately from page and domain entries. A word such as “disaster” could affect reporting the brand accepts as well as content it avoids. Inspect possible matches rather than assuming every match is unsuitable.
Prioritise a useful review
Start with inherited rules and large groups where a change may have the broadest effect. Little recent spend is not, by itself, a reason to remove an exclusion, and a long-standing entry is not proof that its scope is still right.
| Entry | Review question | Possible decision |
|---|---|---|
| Whole domain | Does the concern apply throughout the property? | Keep, narrow or remove |
| App or bundled ID | Which individual apps must be excluded? | Verify and apply the required IDs |
| Channel | Do its members still fit the rule? | Revise membership where supported |
| Broad category | Does its definition include acceptable content? | Choose a narrower available control or accept the trade-off explicitly |
| Negative keyword | What related content could it affect? | Rewrite, remove or use a better-fitting control |
For a site, app or channel entry, check the corresponding Display & Video 360 targeting area and verify the actual property, app ID or channel members. For a keyword entry, inspect possible matches in Keyword targeting. For a broad category, check what its definition covers before narrowing or retiring the entry.
Check the delivery trade-off
Record the proposed change, approver and review period. Before applying it, check whether newly eligible contexts meet the written policy and note the current placement mix and available filtered-request reasons for a comparable period.
Where practical, make one change at a time, then compare placement mix and available filtered-request reasons across comparable periods. Note other campaign changes so the delivery comparison has context; the article provides no numeric threshold for deciding that an entry is overbroad.
Display & Video 360 provides troubleshooting for deals and line items. If expected placements do not appear, other eligibility or auction conditions may still prevent delivery.
Keep an entry when its scope matches a current requirement, narrow it when a smaller rule will express that requirement, and remove it when its reason has expired. Keep the reason, approver and review date with each entry so the next review can start from the same record.
