Keyword and Topic Blocklists
Lists that feed both moderation and ad quality so a brand's exclusions apply to content and ads alike.
One set of lists covers both your content and your ads. On the content side, your keyword and topic lists help score every post for moderation. On the ad side, they stop the advertisers, categories, and competitors you name from rendering in your placements.
This capability arrives as a proposal when your network needs it, filled in from your brand context, and goes live when you confirm it. It's part of Controls, and Blocklists and ad quality controls explains what you can block on the ad side.
When to use it
Use it in regulated industries, for competitive exclusions, and around sensitive topics. The sources give these cases:
| Case | Example |
|---|---|
| Competitive exclusions | A retailer blocks competing advertisers, and competitive brands never join its network |
| Sensitive topics | A brand blocks IAB content categories and sensitive categories |
Brand Network: core concepts and how brands are classified explains how competitive brands are excluded.
How it works
- You add lists once under Controls > Moderation. They sync to Monetize > Blocklists, so moderation and ad quality read the same lists.
- In moderation, a classifier plus your lists score every post. Flagged items are held, removed, or labelled, as Moderation Baselines and Queue describes.
- On the ad side, blocklists apply before any ad renders. They cover Genuin Ad Server, partner ad servers, and Paid Partner content.
- Lists sync to Genuin Ad Server within minutes. For a partner ad server, Brand Control Center shows the list to hand to your ad ops.
- On a managed plan, your Genuin CSM applies the list to your partner ad server.
- Your first lists are drafted from your Brand Safety Profile and your exclusions.
- Blocklists lower fill, so each ad-side rule has a cost you can read.
Set it up
Octo proposes the lists with these steps already done. You review the result and confirm it.
- Add lists under Controls > Moderation. They sync to Monetize > Blocklists. Learn how in Set moderation, roles, and brand safety.
- Choose the action for each list.
Settings
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Keywords | The words a list matches |
| Topics | The topics a list matches |
| Categories | Content and sensitive categories, such as IAB categories |
| Action | What happens when content matches the list |
Change them under Controls > Moderation, and the change syncs to the ad side. Creative quality rules, such as audio on load or pop-up landing pages, live in Blocklists and Ad Quality.
What it reports
Reports > Ad quality shows blocked bids by reason and the eCPM you gave up for each rule. Blocklists and ad quality controls explains how to judge whether a rule is worth its cost.
- Matches by list: how often each list matched content or ads.
- eCPM cost of ad-side rules: the revenue each rule gives up.
If a creative runs that shouldn't, block it with one click from the Ad quality report.
Connect your systems
Blocklists run in Brand Control Center and need no code. Two live pages cover the community side of Controls. Add moderators to a community gives accounts the moderator role from your own systems. Update a group and its members adds or removes members and changes a group's access settings.
The blocklist calls in the Business Account API are proposed, not live. Live API today and the Business Account API roadmap maps what you can call now to what's planned.
