Google Ads
The Google Ads integration enables three different blocking methods, IP and network exclusion, domain name exclusion, and audience exclusion. Read on to learn about each exclusion method.
IP and network exclusion
As long as a Google account is connected to your site, IP and network blocking is enabled without any further setup.
When sessions are blocked at device or network level, Hitprobe will add the IP address or partial (network-level) address to Google's IP exclusions list (in Google Ads, Admin > Account settings > IP exclusions). You can see a list of all IPs that are currently excluded in the Blocked IPs section of the Hitprobe console.
If the device is blocked, the IP address is excluded. If the network is blocked, then the network-level of the IP address will be excluded. IPs are normally blocked within just a few seconds of being identified, but Google Ads sometimes takes a few minutes to show the block in their UI.
IP blocks expire after 30 days by default, but this can be changed under Manage site > General settings.
Google Ads imposes a limit of 500 IPs or networks that may be blocked at any time. When the limit is reached, Hitprobe will expire the block closest to natural expiry to make room for the new IP.
See our user guide to managing blocks for how to manage these blocks.
Domain name (placement) exclusion
Once your Google account is connected to your site, domain name exclusion is enabled without any further steps.
When a session is blocked at domain level (i.e. the referrer domain is found to be poor or suspect), Hitprobe will add the domain name to Google's placement exclusions list (in Google Ads, Tools > Content suitability > Excluded placements). You can see a list of all domain names that are currently excluded in the Blocked domains section of the Hitprobe console.
Hitprobe will lookup a domain's details and crawl it as quickly as possible when a session comes in. If it needs to be blocked, the block will be implemented as quickly as possible, usually the whole process takes just a few seconds. Google Ads sometimes takes a few minutes to show the block in their UI.
Domain blocks expire after 90 days by default, but this can be changed under Manage site > General settings.
See our user guide to managing blocks for how to manage these blocks.
Audience exclusion
When a session is blocked at device level, Hitprobe can add the visitor to a Google Ads audience. This audience can then be excluded from your account so those visitors will not see any ads in the future.
Audience exclusion requires some further setup. Once your Google account is connected to your site, follow the steps in our guide to setting up Google Ads audience exclusion.
Performance Max
IP and domain exclusions automatically apply to all campaign types including Performance Max. However, audience exclusion works differently for Performance Max campaigns. You'll need to tell Google to apply a value adjustment to your blocked audience, to optimize your campaigns away from it.
Once you've connected Google Ads and created an exclusion audience, follow the steps to configure Performance Max.
Tracking template setup
Hitprobe expects each Google Ads click to contain a set of parameters prefixed with hp_. These can easily be added without the need to edit individual ads through Google's account-level tracking template or final URL.
When you connect (or reconnect) your Google Ads account, we'll check to make sure that your account-level tracking template or final URL contains the expected parameters.
If they're found to be missing, Hitprobe will offer to set these up on your behalf. Alternatively, you can choose to configure them manually.
After Hitprobe has set the tracking template or final URL, the Google Ads interface sometimes takes a few minutes to reflect the change.
If you opt to set them up yourself, Hitprobe will give you the string of parameters and you can choose to either merge them into an existing field, or you can add them into either a spare tracking template or final URL field, depending on what other tracking methods you use.