About brand settings for Search and Performance Max

Brand settings can be applied to Search and Performance Max campaigns to steer branded traffic based on your advertising needs. For Search, brand restrictions limit traffic to serve only on search queries related to specified brands. For Performance Max, brand exclusions provide added control so your campaigns won’t serve for branded queries you want to avoid on Search and Shopping inventory.

Brand setting features aim to help you with your branded traffic needs, but we recommend you only implement them on campaigns that really need them to avoid constraining your conversion opportunities. Learn more about best practices for Search ads and Performance Max.

Brands versus keywords:

Brands are organizations or trademarked goods and services that have distinct branding, logos, or websites. Keywords are words or phrases that potential customers use to find your products and services.

One benefit of using brand lists instead of keywords is not having to enter misspellings, variants, or versions in multiple languages.

Instructions

When you control traffic for specific brands, the first step is to create a brand list. Brand lists can be created at the account level and applied to individual campaigns. This section explains how to create and manage brand lists within your account, and how to submit requests for brands that aren’t in the Google Ads brand library.

Note: The instructions below are part of the new design for the Google Ads user experience. To use the previous design, click the "Appearance" icon, and select Use previous design. If you're using the previous version of Google Ads, review the Quick reference map or use the Search bar in the top navigation panel of Google Ads to find the page you’re searching for.

Manage a brand list

Create a new brand list

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. If you don’t have an existing brand list for this account, click Create a brand list. If you have an existing brand list for this account, click the blue plus button .
5. Enter the name of your brand list.
6. Add the brands you want to include in your list.
7. Click Save.

Your newly created brand list should now be listed in the table. This table will display your brand lists, the number of brands in the lists, and the number of campaigns the brand lists are applied to.

View your brand list

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. Select the brand list you wish to view.

Edit the name of your brand list

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. Select the brand list you wish to edit.
5. Click the pencil button on the top left of the brand list.
6. Update your brand list name.
7. Click Save.

Remove a brand from your brand list

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. Select the brand list you wish to edit.
5. Click the pencil button on the top left of the brand list table.
6. Click the X next to the names of the brands you’d like to remove.
   • If the brand you're selecting to remove is currently under review, a pop-up will appear to notify you that this will also cancel your request for this brand to be added to the Google Ad’s brand library. If you'd like to proceed, click Remove brand.
7. Click Save.

Manage brands within your brand list

The brand choices that appear in your brand list are already listed in the Google Ads brand library. To add a brand that isn’t already in the Google Ads brand library, you may request to add a brand to your brand list.

Note: A brand is usable in a campaign even though it has a pending status, but its reach may be limited. After the brand is reviewed and approved, it will be added to the Google Ads brand library and it will be available for all advertisers to select. If it’s not approved, the brand will no longer be usable.

Request to add a brand to your brand list

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. Select the brand list you want to edit.
5. Click the pencil button on the top left of the brand list table.
6. Type the brand name that you would like to add to your brand list. If you can’t find it, click Request a brand in the dropdown.
7. Fill-out the appropriate fields with details of the brand you’re requesting to add.
   • If your brand represents both a company and a product or service, select "Product" or "Service" in the Category section.
   • For brands that go by multiple versions of their own name or have parent and child brand names, such as Google and YouTube, ensure each alternative brand name is included in the brand list.
8. Click Submit. The newly requested brand will now appear as an entry in the “Brands” field with the "(under review)" tag.
9. Click Save.

Requests to add new brands will receive a response within 3-6 weeks.

Cancel a request to add a brand to your brand list

Brands that have been requested and are still under review will be indicated by an "(under review)" tag.

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. Select the brand list you wish to edit.
5. Click the pencil button on the top left of the brand list table. Click X next to the brand to remove it or hover over the brand request you'd like to cancel.
6. In the pop-up that appears, click Cancel request.
7. Click Save.

Remove a brand that’s not eligible to be added to your brand list

Brands that have been rejected will appear in the list of brands in your Brand list with a status of “Not eligible”.

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Brand lists.
4. Select the brand list you wish to edit.
5. Click the pencil button on the top left of the brand list table.
6. Click X next to the brand to remove it or hover over the brand request you would like to cancel.
7. In the box that appears, click Remove from list.
8. Click Save.

Apply brand restrictions to Search campaigns

To restrict your campaign’s traffic to Search queries that contain specific brands, follow the steps below. Enabling brand restrictions for Search requires the campaign to have the broad match campaign setting enabled.

Create a new Search campaign with brand restrictions

1. In your Google Ads account, from the left navigation menu, click the Create icon .
2. Click Campaign.
3. Create a new Search campaign.
4. From the left navigation menu, click the Campaigns icon .
5. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
6. Click Campaigns.
7. Below the "Campaign" page heading, click Settings.
8. Select the Search campaign you created.
9. In the “Settings” section, turn the broad match keywords setting on.
10. Click Additional settings, then click Brand restrictions.
11. Enter the brand list you wish to use or click + New brand list and enter the brands you wish to restrict to this campaign.
12. Complete the remaining campaign creation steps.

Add brand restrictions to an existing Search campaign

Note: Brand restrictions will prevent ads from showing on queries that do not contain a brand name. An existing campaign may notice a reduction in performance if it currently serves on queries that do not contain a brand name.

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. Below the "Campaign" page heading, click Settings tab.
5. Select the campaign you want to apply the brand list to.
6. On the "Settings" page, scroll down to click Additional settings.
7. Click Brand restrictions and select the brand list to apply to the campaign or click + New brand list and enter the brands you wish to restrict to this campaign.
   • If you haven’t yet applied the broad match keywords setting, you'll be able to do so when saving your brand restrictions
8. Click Save.

Apply brand exclusions to Performance Max campaigns

To prevent your ads from serving on specific brands on Search and Shopping inventory in Performance Max, follow the steps below. Learn more about How to use brand suitability features in Performance Max.

Create a new Performance Max campaign with brand exclusions

1. In your Google Ads account, from the left navigation menu, click the Create icon .
2. Click Campaign.
3. Create a new Performance Max campaign.
4. From the left navigation menu, click the Campaigns icon .
5. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
6. Click Campaigns.
7. Below the "Campaign" page heading, click Settings.
8. Select the Performance Max campaign you created.
9. Click Additional settings, then click Brand exclusions.
10. Enter the brand list you wish to use or click + New brand list and enter the brands you wish to exclude from this campaign.
11. Complete the remaining campaign creation steps.

Add a brand list to an existing Performance Max campaign

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. Below the "Campaign" page heading, click Settings tab.
5. Select the campaign you want to apply the brand list to.
6. On the "Settings" page, scroll down to click Additional settings.
7. Click Brand exclusions and select the brand list to apply to the campaign.
   • Depending on product release timelines, Performance Max campaigns will have brand exclusion functionality.
8. Click Save.

FAQs

Will brands be recognized in multiple languages?

Yes. Brand lists work with the newest version of broad match to match the brand in multiple languages. It’s not necessary to enter different spellings or variants of the brand. For example, the brand “Youtube” will match Youtube, 유튜브, ยูทูบ, یوتیوب, and יוטיוב, since users refer to this brand in those ways, even if some of the variants aren’t trademarked.

How is a "brand" defined?

We define a brand as a product or service that has at least one of the following:

• Logo
• Trademark
• Domain name (even if it redirects to the parent website)
• Product name which dominates the packaging or website
• Business name which may constitute a brand for small and medium sized businesses

Only brands that meet this criteria will be added to the Google Ads brand library. For brands that go by multiple versions of their own name or have parent and child brand names, such as Google and YouTube, ensure each alternative brand name is included in the brand list.

How are different variants of the same brand considered?

Brands that have at least one common word in multiple variants - such as “Google” and “Google LLC” - should include the most simple form of the brand name in the brand list. In this example, “Google” will capture all variants of Search queries that include “Google”.

Brands that have multiple variants without a common word - such as “Google” and “Alphabet” - should include each unique brand word or phrase as separate brands in the brand list.

Will there be any additional cost to use brand settings?

There’s no additional cost to apply brand lists to campaigns. However, brand settings limit the reach of a campaign and performance may decrease.

Why did my campaign’s performance decrease after applying brand settings?

Brand settings inherently limit traffic. For Search, your campaign may have previously included traffic that doesn’t match brands in your brand list. For Performance Max campaigns, brand traffic is being excluded from Search and Shopping inventory.

Why did my campaign’s performance increase after applying brand settings?

If your branded keywords were previously exact or phrase match, applying brand restrictions to your Search campaign requires enabling the broad match setting. If all the same branded keywords were converted to broad match when you applied them as brand restrictions, performance may increase given broad match’s expanded reach.

Note: Domain names for parent brands with geographic specific URLs don't require separate brand submissions. For example, the domain name for Adidas India is www.adidas.co.in, but Adidas India isn't an independent brand. Adidas is the parent brand and their domain name is www.adidas.com. It’s not necessary to submit both brands to the brand list.

Related links

• About Performance Max campaigns
• Create a Performance Max campaign
• Create a Search campaign
• Grow your Smart Bidding campaigns with broad match