Google Ads appears to be quietly rolling out a long-awaited feature: audience exclusions for Shopping campaigns. For years, advertisers have been asking for more control over who sees their Shopping ads, and it looks like Google is finally beginning to deliver.
Until now, Shopping campaigns have been fairly restrictive compared to Search or Display when it came to targeting options. One of the biggest frustrations for advertisers has been the inability to exclude specific audience types—something that’s often essential for refining performance, cutting wasted ad spend, and making sure ads are shown to the right people.
That limitation seems to be changing.
First Spotted in the Wild
The update was first spotted by Jyll Saskin Gales, a well-known Google Ads educator, who shared her discovery on LinkedIn. In her post, Jyll admitted she was “freaking out” after noticing that she could suddenly add an audience exclusion to a Shopping campaign—something she had repeatedly told readers was impossible.
“Until now, you haven’t been able to exclude audiences from Shopping in Google Ads,” Jyll wrote. “I know because I had to write the sentence ‘Note that you cannot exclude audiences from Shopping campaigns’ like a dozen times in my book. Now you can, which opens up a whole new universe of audience opportunities for Shopping campaigns.”
She also shared a screenshot confirming the new functionality inside her account.
Why This Matters
For performance marketers, this is more than just a small tweak—it could be a game-changer. Audience exclusions allow advertisers to avoid showing Shopping ads to people who are unlikely to convert or who are already in a certain stage of the funnel.
For example, businesses might want to exclude:
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Existing customers (to avoid wasted spend on people who already purchased).
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B2B audiences when running consumer-focused campaigns.
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Remarketing audiences who are better suited for different ad formats.
This level of control has long been missing from Shopping campaigns, and its arrival opens up new strategies for budget optimization and smarter targeting.
Not Everyone Has It Yet
It’s worth noting that, as of now, not all advertisers have access to the feature. Comments on Jyll’s LinkedIn post show that many users still don’t see audience exclusions available in their accounts. This suggests that Google is rolling it out gradually, likely testing stability before making it available globally.
If history is any guide, the feature could take weeks—or even months—before it appears in all accounts. Google has not yet made any official announcement.
What Advertisers Should Do Next
If you manage Shopping campaigns, it’s worth checking your account to see whether audience exclusions are available. Even if the option hasn’t appeared yet, it’s only a matter of time before it rolls out more widely.
Once you have access, you’ll want to:
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Review your audiences – Decide which groups you don’t want to waste budget on.
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Test exclusions carefully – Start small and monitor performance before scaling.
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Rethink your funnel strategy – Use exclusions to fine-tune how you move people from discovery to purchase.
Final Thoughts
The arrival of audience exclusions for Shopping campaigns is a long-overdue win for advertisers. While the rollout isn’t complete, early access signals a major step forward in giving businesses more control over their ad targeting.
For e-commerce marketers, this could mean better ROI, fewer wasted impressions, and smarter campaign strategies. And for Google Ads educators like Jyll Saskin Gales, it means no more having to repeat the phrase, “You cannot exclude audiences from Shopping campaigns.”
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