What Is the Publisher & Section Exclusion Feature and How Do I Use It?

What it is

The Publisher & Section Exclusion feature provides a unified way to manage publisher and section visibility by allowing advertisers to apply temporary or permanent exclusions. It offers predictable behavior, clear status visibility, and the ability to undo, convert, or update exclusions over time.

Why it matters

Publisher traffic can fluctuate due to breaking news or viral events, often driving short-term spikes from audiences that are not aligned with advertiser intent. During these periods, campaigns may receive clicks without conversions, negatively impacting performance and skewing optimization signals. Temporary exclusions allow advertisers to pause this inventory while the news cycle is active and automatically reintroduce it once traffic and conversion ratios normalize—avoiding unnecessary permanent blocks and preserving long-term efficiency.

What’s New

• Re-activate previously blocked sections: Sections that were permanently excluded in the past can now have their settings updated, overriding the original exclusion.
• Temporary and permanent exclusions available for both publishers and sections.

How It Works

Clicking the Exclude toggle opens a confirmation modal where you choose whether to exclude the section temporarily or permanently, set the duration for temporary exclusions, and confirm the exclusion.

Temporary Exclusions

• Default duration: 21 days and 7, 14, 21, 30 and custom options
• Inventory is automatically reintroduced once the exclusion expires.
• Exclusions can be edited, extended, or converted to permanent at any time.

Permanent Exclusions

• Permanently removes the publisher or section until manually changed.
• Permanent exclusions can now be converted to temporary exclusions if needed.

Campaign Duplication Behavior

• Duplicated campaigns inherit existing exclusion states.
• Temporary exclusions keep their original expiration date when duplicated.
• Permanent exclusions remain permanent in duplicated campaigns.

History & Tracking

• History changes are recorded, tracking whether exclusions are temporary or permanent.
• This provides visibility into exclusion decisions over time and supports auditing and optimization workflows.

CSV & API Support

• CSV-based exclusions remain permanent (for now).
• API support is available; documentation will be updated to reflect the new exclusion capabilities.

Key Takeaways

• Avoid over-blocking valuable inventory.
• Reactivate and reassess historically excluded sections.
• Maintain consistent behavior across duplicated campaigns.
• Gain clearer visibility through exclusion history and statuses.