Performance Max IP Exclusions: How the Account-Level List Works
A Performance Max IP exclusion has to be set at account level. Campaign-level IP exclusions are not available in Performance Max, so the setting you know from Search campaigns is not there. Account-level IP exclusions are different: Google applies them to every campaign in the account, Performance Max included.
If you moved spend into Performance Max and went looking for your blocklist in the campaign settings, that is why you could not find it. The list on your Search campaigns still works there and covers none of the budget that moved. Before going further, read how the setting behaves at campaign level in our guide to Google Ads IP exclusions.
Where the Performance Max IP Exclusion Setting Lives
Google Ads Help lists the campaign types where campaign-level IP exclusions are not available: video, hotel, app, Performance Max and Smart Display. The same page says account-level IP exclusions apply to all campaigns in the account, including Performance Max, Search, Shopping, Display, Demand Gen and YouTube.
To add them, click the Admin icon, open Account settings, find IP exclusions, enter the addresses and save. An asterisk can replace the last digits to exclude a block, for example 123.45.67.*, the same as at campaign level.
The difference is reach. One account-level entry stops your ads showing to that address everywhere the account serves. That is useful, and it is also the reason to be careful about what goes in.
Why Account-Level Exclusions Need More Care
A campaign-level mistake costs you one campaign. An account-level mistake costs you all of them.
Shared addresses hurt more
Offices, campuses, hospitals and mobile carriers put many real people behind one address. Exclude one of those at account level and every one of those people stops seeing every ad you run. Keep account-level entries for sources you are confident about: repeat paid clicks, no engagement, no enquiries, over a period long enough to mean something.
The list is one list
Campaign-level lists multiply with your campaigns. The account-level list does not. Every address in it has to earn its place, so date each entry, write down why it went in, and review it on a schedule. Our page on the Google Ads IP exclusion limit covers how to manage a full list.
Reporting is thinner
Performance Max gives you less placement detail than Search, so you have less to diagnose a spending problem with. A Performance Max campaign serves across far more Google inventory than search results alone, which includes places where bot traffic in Google Ads is a more familiar problem. Keeping your own record of paid visits fills some of that gap.
Other Controls That Still Apply
IP exclusions are one lever. A few others work across Performance Max as well, and they are worth setting up on purpose rather than leaving at defaults.
- Account-level negative keywords and brand exclusions. These apply across campaign types, which makes them the other global lever you have.
- Location settings. Tighten targeting to people in your service area and exclude places you do not serve.
- Conversion quality. Performance Max buys more of whatever produces the events you count as conversions. Count a page view or an unqualified form fill and it will find more traffic that does exactly that.
- Audience signals. They steer rather than restrict, but steering still matters.
- Campaign separation. Keeping your most expensive search terms in Search campaigns keeps campaign-level controls on the spend that hurts most.
Conversion signals deserve more attention than they get
This is the lever people underuse. Before blaming the campaign type for poor traffic, look at what you are telling it success means. Sending qualified outcomes back into the account, instead of front-end actions, changes what the campaign buys, and it works alongside any blocking you do.
Refunds Do Not Replace Blocking
Google filters invalid traffic before billing and credits invalid activity it finds after billing, and that applies to Performance Max the same as anywhere else. Credits show up as "Invalid activity" adjustments under Billing, then Summary. You can also ask for a review of the past 60 days with the Click Quality Form.
None of that stops the next click. Google does not publish its detection criteria and will not confirm which clicks it judged invalid, so a credit tells you something was caught, not what was missed. Our piece on Google's invalid click refunds covers the process in detail.
How Automated Protection Handles Performance Max
Seeing the traffic comes first. Checks that run as visits land on your site can flag suspicious paid clicks whatever campaign sent them, Performance Max included, and give you records you can attach to a Click Quality Form request.
Blocking then goes where Google allows it. For campaigns that accept campaign-level exclusions, such as Search, that is the campaign list. For Performance Max, it is the account-level list. Automated click fraud protection that writes to both covers the whole account. It still cannot stop the very first click from a source it has never seen, and no tool can guarantee a refund.
If you want this done automatically, see how Block Click Fraud works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you exclude IP addresses in Performance Max?
Yes, at account level. Campaign-level IP exclusions are not available in Performance Max, but account-level IP exclusions apply to every campaign in the account, Performance Max included.
Where do I add account-level IP exclusions?
Click the Admin icon, open Account settings, find the IP exclusions section, enter the addresses and save. They take effect across all campaigns in the account.
Do account-level exclusions replace my campaign lists?
No. They add to them. Campaign lists still apply to the campaigns they sit in, so keep narrow, campaign-specific entries there and put only sources you are confident about at account level.
Can I exclude a range of addresses?
Yes. An asterisk can replace the last digits, as in 123.45.67.*. Start narrow, because a range at account level blocks everyone behind it from every campaign.
Does Google refund invalid clicks from Performance Max?
Google credits invalid activity it detects, in Performance Max as anywhere else, usually as an adjustment in the next billing cycle. For traffic you think it missed, the Click Quality Form covers the past 60 days.