Exclusions
View every IP address, range, and audience entry ClickFortify has automatically excluded from your campaigns.
The Exclusions page is the audit log of what ClickFortify has blocked. Each row is an entity (IP, IP range, or audience entry) that detection or one of your automations decided was bad, plus the sync status saying whether it actually made it into Google Ads.
Open the page
In the sidebar, click Exclusions.
Overview cards
Four cards along the top summarize what's currently active:
| Card | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Total Exclusions | Every active exclusion across all kinds |
| IP Addresses | Individual IPs blocked |
| IP Ranges | CIDR ranges blocked |
| Audience Exclusions | Custom audience members synced to Google Ads |
The table
Every row is one exclusion. Columns you'll see:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Excluded | When the exclusion was created |
| Ad Account | Which connected Google Ads account it applies to |
| Status | Why detection blocked it — Bad (confirmed) or Suspicious |
| Type | IP Address, IP Range, or Audience |
| Entity | The actual value being blocked (an IP, a CIDR, an audience reference) |
| Target | Campaign (one campaign) or Account (whole account) |
| Click ID | The Google gclid that triggered this (if any) |
| Message | Sync result — Success, Pending, or Failed |
| Expires | When the exclusion automatically lifts |
| Removed | If you manually removed the exclusion, when |
Filter the table by date range using the picker in the top-right. Use the filter panel for status, type, or target.
How an exclusion gets created
There are two paths into this list:
- Built-in detection finds a click that exceeds your sensitivity threshold and either Warn or Strict action is on. The bad source is added here automatically.
- An automation rule fires and one of its actions is Block / Temp IP exclusion / Audience exclusion.
Either way, the entry shows up here with the gclid that triggered it (if known) so you can trace it back to a specific click.
Sync status: what to do when it says "Failed"
The Message column tracks whether the exclusion was successfully pushed into Google Ads.
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | Still syncing | Wait — refresh in a minute |
| Success | Live in Google Ads | Nothing |
| Failed | Sync failed | Check the Google Ads connection (see below) |
An exclusion that says Failed is not protecting your ads — Google Ads doesn't know about it. If you see a cluster of failures, the connection itself is probably broken; check Space Settings → PPC Accounts for status badges and re-authorize if needed.
Most failures fall into one of three buckets:
- Connection broken. OAuth token expired or admin access revoked.
- Google Ads limits. Google caps IP exclusions per campaign and per account (around 500 each). When you're near the cap, ClickFortify rotates older exclusions out — failures here are usually transient.
- Permission errors. The Google account that connected the ad account doesn't have edit rights on exclusion lists.
Exclusions vs. Blacklist
These two lists look similar but behave differently:
| Exclusions | Blacklist | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Automatic — detection or automation rules | Manual — you add entries yourself |
| Control | ClickFortify manages it | You manage it |
| Expiration | Can auto-expire | Stays until you remove |
| Visibility | Shows the reason it was added | Shows your note |
If a pattern keeps appearing in Exclusions and you don't want it ever lifting, add it to the Blacklist instead.
What happens next
- Settings — tune sensitivity if exclusions look wrong
- Automations — add custom rules that feed this list
- Verify your Google Ads connection — if you're seeing Failed sync statuses