Use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] attribute to prevent your product from appearing in chosen locations.
In this article
When to use
Optional for each product
If you want to prevent your product from appearing in certain locations, use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] attribute.
Supported values:
- Shopping ads
[Shopping_ads]: Prevent your product offers from showing in Shopping ads. Products won't be displayed in the product and listing groups selectors in Google Ads. Learn more About Shopping ads. - Display ads
[Display_ads]: Prevent your product offers from showing in dynamic remarketing ads. Note that excluding display ads won’t prevent your product from appearing in Dynamic Remarketing Ads created using Performance Max campaigns.- Note: You should have the “Dynamic Remarketing” add-on enabled in Merchant Center to be able to exclude the destination Display ads
[Display_ads]for your products.
- Note: You should have the “Dynamic Remarketing” add-on enabled in Merchant Center to be able to exclude the destination Display ads
- Local inventory_ads
[Local_inventory_ads]: Prevent your product offers from showing in local inventory ads. - Free listings
[Free_listings]: Prevent your products from appearing in free listings on Google. - Free local listings
[Free_local_listings]: Prevent your products from appearing in free local product listings on Google. - Cloud retail
[cloud_retail]: Prevents your product information from flowing to your Cloud retail project if you have an active link. - Local cloud retail
[local_cloud_retail]: Prevents your product information from flowing to your Cloud retail project if you have an active link.- The Cloud retail
[cloud_retail]and local cloud retail[local_cloud_retail]destinations are also available via the Cloud Retail API. These supported values are not yet available for Merchant Center, nor the Content API.
- The Cloud retail
Surfaces_across_Google and Local_surfaces_across_Google for your product destinations before. These values are still accepted, but we suggest that you update your products to include the new values for these destinations: Free_listings, Free_local_listings.Format
Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure Google understands the data you're submitting. Learn more about Submitting your product data in English.
| Supported values | Shopping_ads, Display_ads, Local_inventory_ads, Free_listings, Free_local_listings, Cloud_retail, Local_cloud_retail |
|---|---|
| Repeated field | Yes |
| File format | Example value |
|---|---|
| Text data sources | Display_ads |
| XML data sources | <g:excluded_destination>Display_ads</g:excluded_destination> |
Repeated fields
Text
To submit multiple destinations that you'd like to exclude, submit the attribute multiple times, once for each destination (recommended). For example:
| Product data for an orthopedic dog bed | |
| Attribute | Value |
Title [title] |
XXL orthopedic Dog Bed |
Excluded destination [excluded_destination] |
Display_ads |
Excluded destination [excluded_destination] |
Shopping_ads |
You can also separate each destination with a comma ( , ):
|
Attribute |
Value |
|
Excluded destination |
|
XML
To submit multiple destination to exclude for an XML data source, include a separate attribute for each excluded destination:
<g:excluded_destination>Display_ads</g:excluded_destination>
<g:excluded_destination>Shopping_ads</g:excluded_destination>
To format your data for Content API, read the Content API for Shopping resource.
Best practices
These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance.
- If you submit conflicting information for the excluded destination
[excluded_destination]and included destination[included_destination]attributes, the excluded destination value will always take precedence over the included destination value. - When you want to prevent showing ads or free listings for your product: If the product is available for sale but you’d like to stop showing ads or free listings for the product, use the excluded destination
[excluded_destination]attribute. This way, you can manage which destinations your products appear in. You can specifically stop showing products in a particular destination, such as free product listings, or for all destinations. - When you want to temporarily pause your product from showing in ads: Use the pause
[pause]attribute. This attribute lets you stop showing a product in Shopping ads, Display ads, and local inventory ads for up to 14 days, then allows you to quickly reactivate it. Alternatively stop showing products for ads by changing your Google Ads campaign settings. - When you take your website down for maintenance or a holiday: Ads and free listings for your products will stop showing until your website is ready to receive traffic again if you use the excluded destination
[excluded_destination]attribute. By following this best practice, you'll prevent unnecessary disapproval in your account and get your ads and free listings running again more quickly than if they'd been disapproved.