If you audit your Display or Performance Max campaigns today, you will likely find that 40-60% of your budget is being funneled into Mobile App placements. For most B2B and E-commerce brands, learning how to effectively exclude mobile apps from Google Ads is the single fastest way to improve ROAS.
Google loves these placements because they offer massive inventory at cheap CPMs. But for advertisers, they are often a source of "fat finger" clicks—accidental taps from users trying to close a popup in Candy Crush or toddlers playing on their parents' iPads.
While we previously covered how to exclude YouTube Kids channels to stop the "Toddler Tax," mobile apps require a different, more technical approach. Especially with the rise of Performance Max, Google has made it increasingly difficult to opt out of this inventory.
In this guide, we will cover the manual "Old Way," the efficient "Fast Way" using our database, and the specific scenarios where you might actually want to keep app traffic.
Guided Navigation
Why You Need to Exclude Mobile Apps from Google Ads
Before we dive into the "How," let's clarify the "Why." Google Ads is an intent-based platform, but mobile games are the antithesis of intent. When a user is playing Subway Surfers or Talking Tom, they are in a dopamine loop. They are not looking to buy enterprise software or sign up for a webinar.
The clicks you see in your reports from these apps often have a bounce rate near 100% and an average session duration of 0-1 seconds. In the industry, we call these "Fat Finger Clicks."
By failing to exclude mobile apps from Google Ads campaigns, you aren't just wasting money; you are feeding Google's smart bidding algorithms bad data. The algorithm sees a "cheap click" and thinks it did a good job, so it goes out and finds more of that low-quality traffic. You need to cut off this supply to force the algorithm to bid on higher-quality placements like news sites, blogs, and YouTube feeds.
The "Old Way": Manually Unchecking 140 Boxes
If you are a masochist, you can still exclude mobile apps from Google Ads using the native interface. This method is slow, tedious, and prone to human error, but it is available in every account without external tools.
How to do it manually:
1. Navigate to your specific Campaign.
2. Go to Content > Exclusions. Edit and select at which level you want these exclusions to be applied.
3. Select "Placement Exclusions".
4. Select "App Categories".
5. Here is the painful part: You will see a list of 140+ categories across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store (e.g., Games > Action, Games > Arcade, Utilities, Lifestyle).
6. You must manually click and expand every dropdown and check every single box.
The problem with this method: It takes 10-15 minutes. If you have 20+ clients to manage, you are wasting hours of your life. Furthermore, Google often updates these categories, meaning your manual exclusions might become outdated.
The "Fast Way": Using an Exclusion List (The 2026 Standard)
Professional media buyers do not click boxes manually. We use Placement Exclusion Lists. This allows you to create a "Master Ban List" once and apply it to every campaign in seconds.
We have compiled a database containing the raw category codes for every single app category (e.g., mobileappcategory::60519). By pasting this list, you instantly block 141 categories, covering both iOS and Android ecosystems.
Download the 140+ Category Exclusion List
Step-by-Step Implementation:
1. Download our verified list from the tools section.
2. In Google Ads, go to Tools > Shared Library > Exclusion Lists.
3. Select Placement Exclusion Lists and create a new list named Global - No Mobile Apps.
4. Select "Enter Multiple Placements" and Paste the 140+ codes from our file into the box.
5. Click "Add 145 placements" and then "Save".
7. Select the list and click "Apply to Campaigns". Select All Campaigns.
This method ensures that every current and future campaign you launch is automatically protected against mobile game waste.
The Performance Max "Loophole"
Performance Max (PMax) is notorious for ignoring campaign-level settings. Even if you apply an exclusion list to a PMax campaign, Google often overrides it in favor of "optimizing for conversion."
Simply adding the old shortcut code mobileappcategory::69500 (which used to block all apps) frequently throws errors or is ignored by PMax campaigns in 2026. To ensure consistent exclusions across all campaign types, you must utilize account-level content suitability settings.
The Only Fix for PMax: Account-Level Exclusions
To successfully exclude mobile apps from Google Ads Performance Max campaigns, you must apply the exclusion at the Account Level.
1. Go to Goals > Content > Content Suitability.
2. Click the Advanced Settings dropdown.
3. Find "Excluded Placements".
4. Paste our full list of 140+ Category IDs here.
By placing the exclusion at the Account Level, you create a "hard firewall" that overrides the PMax algorithm's tendency to seek out cheap inventory.
When You Should NOT Exclude Mobile Apps
Nuance is what separates a senior media buyer from a junior one. While we recommend blocking apps for 90% of accounts, there are specific scenarios where app traffic is actually valuable.
1. Retargeting Campaigns
If a user has already visited your pricing page or added an item to their cart, their intent is already established. If they see your ad while playing Candy Crush, it acts as a reminder. Since the audience size is small (warm traffic), the risk of waste is lower, and the CPMs on apps are very efficient for staying top-of-mind.
2. Utility Apps
Not all apps are games. "Utility" categories include Calculator apps, QR scanners, and PDF readers. Users in these apps are often in a "work" or "task" mindset, unlike gamers. If you are running a B2B campaign, you might consider excluding the Games category but leaving Business or Productivity app categories open.
3. Hyper-Specific Niches
If you are selling a fitness supplement, ads inside fitness tracking apps (MyFitnessPal, Strava) are highly relevant contextually. In this case, use a Placement Inclusion List to target specific high-value apps while blocking the rest of the generic gaming categories.
The default settings in Google Ads are designed to drain your budget. They rely on your passivity. By taking the time to exclude mobile apps from Google Ads using a comprehensive exclusion list, you instantly elevate the baseline quality of your traffic.
Stop paying for accidental clicks. Force Google to show your ads where they matter.
Ready to clean up your traffic?
