Maximize Campaign Success with Inclusion Lists

“Can you just give us a list of bad sites and apps to block?”

We hear this question a lot. And the short answer is: No, we can’t. Why? Because no DSP can handle blocking millions of sites and apps at once. Block lists are capped at around 10,000 entries. If you upload more than that, the DSP simply processes the first 10,000 and skips the rest. That’s all the algorithms can manage in the 50 milliseconds they have to decide whether to place a bid. (So, if someone brags about block lists with ‘millions of sites,’ it’s a clear sign they don’t really understand how things work.)

Even if you could block all those bad sites, most of them don’t last long anyway. Fraudsters constantly swap domains and app names to dodge block lists, like a never-ending game of digital whack-a-mole. The smart advertisers have figured this out and switched to inclusion lists. They’ve saved themselves the headache of chasing bad guys and are now focusing on where they actually want their ads to show up.

So a new question has come up recently: “Can you just give us a list of good sites and apps to use as an inclusion list?” Well, yes, but there’s a twist …

Your inclusion list shouldn’t just be a random mix of sites and apps. It needs to be tailored to your industry and the product or service you’re offering. Sure, there are general sites that get tons of traffic, like news outlets and clickbait traps, but finding where your potential customers hang out is where the magic happens. It’s all about efficiency – why waste effort on broad targeting when you can connect with the right audience?

How to build inclusion lists with fraud0

The best approach is to focus on the sites and apps driving the most real human impressions – and better yet, if those visitors are converting into actual customers (you can easily measure that too with our onsite tag). Check out the example below: all the sources are legitimate, delivering those valuable human (blue) impressions. Add those gems to your inclusion list.

Keep refining your inclusion list every month as new, real publisher sites pop up in your data. Then, funnel more budget into the campaigns running on that list. This way, you’re not just blocking the bad guys – you’re actively targeting the good ones. Transitioning from block lists to inclusion lists just got a whole lot easier (and smarter).

What are you waiting for? Start your free trial now and take full control of your ad campaigns!