How brand exclusions work
A brand exclusion list names brands, including your own, that a campaign should not serve against. Applied to a Performance Max campaign, it prevents PMax from showing on searches for those brand terms, so those queries flow to the campaign you actually want handling them, usually a dedicated brand Search campaign. Google maintains brand lists you can select, and you can request additions for brands that are missing. The exclusion operates at the campaign level and is the sanctioned way to control brand traffic in PMax, which does not expose ordinary negative keywords the way Search does.
Why brand exclusions matter
Without brand exclusions, Performance Max happily serves on your branded searches, which are the cheapest and highest-converting queries you have. It then reports a spectacular ROAS built largely on demand you already owned, while your dedicated brand campaign loses impression share. The result is a campaign that looks like your best performer but is partly taking credit for conversions that would have happened regardless. Brand exclusions cut that overlap so each campaign's numbers describe the demand it actually created rather than the demand it intercepted.
What to expect after applying them
When you apply brand exclusions, PMax's reported ROAS will usually fall, and that is the healthy sign, not a problem. It is no longer double-counting branded conversions. Meanwhile your brand Search campaign recovers impression share and the account's blended efficiency becomes legible again. The change takes a little time to settle as the system redistributes, so the right move is to baseline before, apply the exclusions, wait for stabilisation, and judge the account on blended performance rather than panicking at the lower PMax number.
How iClick uses brand exclusions
iClick applies brand exclusions on Performance Max as a default hygiene step so PMax cannot quietly absorb branded search and inflate its own ROAS. The rule is to route brand queries to a dedicated brand Search campaign, baseline the account before the change, and then judge success on blended efficiency rather than PMax's channel-reported number, which is expected to drop. This is what makes each campaign's reported performance describe the demand it actually generated.
