Google Ads Country Exclusion List

by | Dec 18, 2020

Last updated: December 2024

Google Ads Country Exclusion List in the Geo Feature: 

There are many ways to indicate location within Google Ads, and other digital and social media advertising platforms. The default on Google Ads for instance is “People in or interested in” as a location. You may even want to go as far as excluding states in your Google Ads campaign.

If that geography just happened to be Seattle Washington, then people within Seattle would see the ads, but so would someone from Pittsburgh researching Seattle, as would someone in Russia or India researching about that area. If your business is unable to generate revenue from these far-off areas, you’ll need to do better with targeting. There is the ability to target based on “People who are in or regularly in” the targeted geography which would help cut down on a lot of that.

Google Ads Country Exclusion List : Screenshot of Google Ads

The only problem becomes, what if that person from Pittsburgh researching Seattle was a legitimate prospective buyer but those international visitors were not – using the second location targeting won’t work. Rather, you’ll have to go with the default location targeting and then exclude other countries around the world. Please see the Google Ads Country Exclusion list below that makes it easy to copy/paste these countries and exclude them from targeting.

Google Ads Country Exclusion List : Screenshot of Google Ads Negative Location Targeting (Location Exclusions)

Nearly all international locations are included except Syria, Iran, Sudan, and North Korea. Additionally, Hong Kong and Taiwan must be entered independently of China for those to show up as exclusions.

Why is Important to Exclude Certain Countries:

One of the biggest reasons to exclude certain countries, besides serving ads to people who aren’t in your target audience, is it’s more cost-effective. By using exclusions you are less likely to waste budget if your ad is shown in areas where people are not going to convert to customers. For example, someone in Russia is not going to be a customer for someone selling services in Pittsburgh, so we would exclude Russia so that Google doesn’t waste ad spend showing an ad to someone there.  Someone from Russia might happen to search for a keyword that would naturally trigger our ad showing, but using exclusion prevents Google from wasting resources on someone who will never convert.

Here is a list of all countries outside of the US for a quick Google Ads country exclusion list: 

You can copy the list below, or download the Location Exclusion Doc file (just simply select all, copy and paste then)

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

American Samoa

Andorra

Angola

Anguilla

Antarctica

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

British Virgin Islands

Brunei Darussalam

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Christmas Island

Cocos Islands

Colombia

Comoros

Congo-Brazzaville

Congo-Kinshasa

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Cote d’Ivoire

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Ethiopia

Falkland Islands

Federated States of Micronesia

Fiji

Finland

France

French Guiana

French Polynesia

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Greenland

Grenada

Guadeloupe

Guam

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kosovo

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Martinique

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Niue

Norfolk Island

North Korea

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

Palestine

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Samoa

San Marino

São Tomé and Príncipe

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

South Korea

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Sudan

Suriname

Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Swaziland

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

UAE

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Kingdom

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Vatican City

Venezuela

Vietnam

Wallis and Futuna Islands

Western Sahara

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Always Use International Location Exclusions When Applicable

Even though you can explicitly target people in certain areas, as a safety redundancy, you should also be utilizing international location exclusions. This just further removes the possibility of unnecessary international spending on your ads campaigns.

When you are not utilizing explicit “Presence” and are allowing search traffic from outside of the physical geo, International Location Exclusions are even that much more beneficial. Make sure that you’re using them!

Still, seeing too much spending that looks faulty? Consider Fraudulent Click Protection – see how Corkboard Concepts can help! Corkboard Concepts has a Google Advertising Specialist team that is ready to help you build campaigns that grow your company. Feel free to contact us today!

Contact Corkboard Concepts Today!

Author:

Jordan is the dedicated CMO for Corkboard Concepts. His career in marketing and media has gone through various twists. Spending the first couple years as a digital nomad, Jordan took his “marketing wits” on a tour of the globe starting online businesses in the US, United Kingdom and Asia. From eCommerce to digital publications, freelance marketing to local media, variety and change have been constants in Jordan’s marketing world.

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