Apply brand restrictions to search campaigns

For search campaigns, brand restrictions limit traffic to serve only on search queries related to specified brands. To turn on brand restrictions for search, you’ll need your campaign to have the broad match campaign setting turned on.

This article explains how to create and edit search campaigns with brand restrictions. There are additional resources if you need to manage brands, apply brand exclusions, apply brand restrictions and more. Learn more About brand settings for search and Performance Max.

Instructions

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.

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 Campaigns.
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 that 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 that you wish to use or click + New brand list and enter the brands that 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 that 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 that 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.

Related links

• Create a Performance Max campaign
• Create a search campaign
• Apply brand exclusions to Performance Max campaigns
• Manage brands within your brand list