PPC + SEO Alignment Playbook After Google Adds Account-Level Exclusions

Stop wasting spend and splitting conversions: a 2026 playbook for PPC + SEO alignment

If you manage paid and organic channels, you already know the pain: duplicate effort, competing ads vs. pages, and unpredictable automation that steals high-intent traffic. Google’s January 2026 rollout of account-level placement exclusions changes the rules — giving advertisers centralized control over placements across Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube, and Display. That control is powerful, but unmanaged it creates a new coordination requirement: syncing negative placements, negative keywords, landing pages, and SEO content plans to prevent search cannibalization and preserve high-quality traffic.

Why this matters now (short version)

Late 2025 and early 2026 brought two consequential shifts: Google expanded automation across formats (more PMax and Demand Gen usage) and added explicit account-level guardrails (placement exclusions). Combined with total campaign budgets for Search, advertisers are less tied to manual campaign controls — which is efficient but increases the risk of cross-channel overlap unless teams coordinate. In practice, that means:

• Central exclusions can stop wasted display or YouTube impressions instantly — but only if SEO and content teams know which pages and channels are being protected.
• Automation will find conversions fast. Without synchronized rules, automation can cannibalize organic winners or bid on high-LTV pages you intended for organic channels only.
• Measurement must evolve: incremental tests and cross-channel attribution are now table stakes to determine whether paid should backfill or back down. Teams should be thinking about consent and cookieless measurement alongside traditional attribution.

The PPC + SEO Alignment Playbook — at a glance

Use this step-by-step playbook to build a repeatable, audited process that prevents cannibalization and preserves quality traffic. Owners: PPC manager + SEO lead, supported by analytics and product/content owners.

1. Discover: Audit overlaps and winners (shop floors: GA4, Search Console, Ads)
2. Map: Create a canonical content-to-campaign map
3. Exclude: Apply account-level placements + negative keyword hygiene
4. Sync landing pages: Match intent, consolidate where necessary
5. Monitor: Incrementality, KPIs, automation signals
6. Iterate: Governance, playbooks, and automation for scale

Phase 1 — Discover: find overlap and cannibalization risk

Start with data. Use last 90–180 days across Google Ads, GA4, BigQuery (if available) and Search Console to identify traffic, conversion, and keyword overlaps. Focus on pages where organic rank and paid spend both exist. Practical actions:

• Export paid keywords and landing pages (Ads → Reports). Export top organic pages and queries (Search Console).
• Join datasets on landing page URL. Flag pages with both paid clicks and organic impressions in the same week.
• Calculate a simple cannibalization signal: if a page gets >30% of its conversions from paid and ranks in top 3 organically for the same queries, mark it as a high-overlap page.
• Run an engagement check: if paid-driven sessions have materially lower conversion rate or higher bounce time than organic sessions, prioritize protection for the organic experience. Also consider directory and listing signals — see microlisting strategies that can affect organic discovery.

Example query (concept)

In BigQuery or your analytics tool, join Ads click data to organic impressions by landing page. Flag pages where:

• Paid_clicks > 500 AND organic_impressions > 5,000, or
• Paid_conversion_rate < organic_conversion_rate × 0.8

These flags give you an initial list to review with content owners. If you operate at scale, consider edge auditability and decision-plane patterns to keep logs and rules auditable across teams.

Phase 2 — Map: a canonical content-to-campaign grid

Create a single source of truth: a mapping table that links every important landing page (and content cluster) to its intended channel treatment.

Columns to include:

• Page URL / Content cluster
• Primary intent (awareness / consideration / purchase)
• Organic rank & top queries
• Current paid campaigns targeting the page
• Desired treatment (Paid allowed / Protected organic / Test & learn)
• Owner & review cadence

Rules to adopt (examples):

• Protect organic winners: If a page converts efficiently and ranks top 3, mark as Protected organic. Apply negative keywords at campaign level and use account-level placement exclusions to reduce non-intent inventory around that content (e.g., unrelated YouTube content).
• Test with paid: If a page ranks 4–10 and has high search volume, mark as Test & learn and run a controlled paid experiment for 2–4 weeks using total campaign budgets.
• Paid-first pages: High-velocity promo or short-lived product landing pages can be Paid allowed with no organic protection.

Phase 3 — Exclude: harmonizing negative placements and negative keywords

Account-level placement exclusions are now your primary tool to block poor-quality placements across the account. Use them in combination with shared negative keyword lists and campaign-level exclusions when needed.

Placement exclusions — practical checklist

• Create account-level exclusion lists for: low-quality domain lists, sensitive brand content, competitor channels, and app categories you don’t want.
• Tier exclusions: global account-level (broad safety), campaign-level (tactical), ad-group level (precision).
• Use labels for exclusion type so you can audit changes (e.g., excl:brand-safety, excl:competitor) and feed those labels into your developer workflows — see edge-first developer patterns for scalable tag syncs.
• Document when to lift an exclusion — e.g., a new product launch might need a temporary lift for a specific campaign.

Negative keywords — hygiene and strategy

Negative keywords still matter. Apply them strategically to protect organic content where necessary:

• Shared negative lists by funnel stage: top-funnel, mid-funnel, transactional. Attach lists at the campaign or account level where appropriate.
• Protect branded organic pages by excluding high-funnel generic terms that automation might try to capture from your owned content.
• Use a two-tier approach: conservative negatives for entire accounts, aggressive negatives at campaign level for experiments.

Phase 4 — Landing page sync: match intent and reduce overlap

Alignment between ad intent and landing page content prevents poor UX and wasted spend. Use this checklist to sync landing pages with SEO content strategy.

• Audit landing pages for intent mismatch. If an ad targets purchase intent, ensure landing page contains transactional signals (pricing, CTAs) and isn’t primarily informational.
• Consolidate duplicate or similar pages into a single authoritative URL where possible. Use 301 redirects and canonical tags to preserve organic value; also consider how contextual brand signals (icons, microformats) help preserve authority.
• For pages you want organic-only, add an internal policy: either pause paid or mark in the mapping grid as protected. If temporary paid is needed, monitor incremental lift carefully.
• Use on-page metadata and contextual icons and schema to clarify intent; this helps both organic ranking and quality signals to automation systems.

Practical landing page tactics

1. When PAID is prioritized: Create campaign-specific landing pages tailored for ad copy and conversions; keep these distinct from canonical organic pages.
2. When ORGANIC is prioritized: Use robust content clusters and internal links to maintain topical authority; exclude these pages from broad paid targeting.
3. Hybrid approach: Use query-level exclusions to allow paid for low-performing organic queries while protecting ranked queries.

Phase 5 — Monitor and prove incrementality

Stopping cannibalization isn’t only about exclusions — it’s about proving what incremental paid brings. Run experiments and monitor these KPIs.

Essential KPIs

• Incremental conversions (via geo-split or holdout tests)
• Organic sessions & rankings for protected pages
• Paid CPA vs. Organic CPA for the same page/query
• Engagement metrics (time on page, bounce, downstream pageviews)
• Conversion lift in assisted conversions reports

Suggested experiments:

• Geo split: run ads in Region A but not Region B. Compare organic trends and conversion patterns.
• Ad-on/ad-off test at the query level: pause paid on a specific high-overlap query for 2–4 weeks and measure net conversions.
• Use Google Ads’ experiments with total campaign budgets to run time-boxed tests without manual daily budget fiddling.

Automation & tooling — practical integrations for 2026

To scale alignment across large accounts, automate: sync negative lists, push landing page flags to your CMS, and automate alerts.

• Use Ads scripts or the Google Ads API to push shared negative keyword lists and account-level placement exclusions. Maintain change logs via labels and marry them to an auditability plan for clear traceability.
• Connect Search Console + GA4 data in BigQuery to automate overlap reports weekly. Flag new high-overlap pages to Slack/email for review — pair that with optimized notification templates like these announcement email templates for consistent operations.
• Use your CMS API to tag pages as paid-allowed or organic-protected for clear operational signals to growth and design teams. For engineering patterns and tagging strategies, see edge-first developer experience playbooks.
• Consider performance and caching when creating campaign landing pages — specialized appliances and edge caches like the ByteCache edge appliance can help maintain speed under heavy paid traffic.

Governance: roles, rules, and review cadence

Clear ownership prevents accidental recidivism. Set simple governance:

• Weekly alignment standup: PPC + SEO + Analytics (15 minutes).
• Monthly review: update the mapping grid and exclusion lists.
• Quarterly audit: third-party quality check against low-quality placements and ad fraud lists. Use an operational checklist and an tool-sprawl audit to keep integrations sane.
• Change process: any account-level exclusion change requires sign-off from PPC manager + brand safety owner.

Quick wins: first 7 days, 30 days, 90 days

First 7 days

• Export paid + organic landing page overlap report.
• Create an initial account-level placement exclusion list for obvious bad inventory.
• Add a shared negative keyword list for brand-protection terms.

First 30 days

• Build the canonical content-to-campaign mapping grid.
• Run one ad-on/ad-off query-level experiment (2 weeks minimum).
• Tag landing pages in CMS (paid-allowed vs. organic-protected).

First 90 days

• Automate weekly overlap reporting in BigQuery or your analytics tool.
• Roll out account-level exclusions based on audit findings with governance logs and labels.
• Consolidate duplicate pages and apply canonical tags where needed. If you run short-lived campaigns, consider micro-domain patterns for campaign-specific landing pages.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Over-exclusion: Blocking too broadly can starve tests. Use temporary campaign-level allowances for experiments.
• No governance: People change exclusions without context. Maintain label-based logs and require approvals.
• Ignoring intent: Matching ad intent to page intent is non-negotiable; otherwise CPA suffers.
• Failing to measure incrementality: Stopping paid because it matches organic without testing can reduce overall conversions.

Case example: anonymized 2025–26 client outcome

We worked with a mid-market e-commerce brand that used Performance Max extensively and had multiple high-ranking category pages. After implementing this playbook:

• They implemented account-level placement exclusions for low-intent YouTube placements and a shared negative-list by funnel stage.
• They marked 24 pages as organic-protected and paused paid targeting for those queries while running targeted paid experiments on adjacent queries.
• Results (90 days): 22% reduction in wasted display spend, a 14% lift in organic conversions for protected pages, and maintained total conversions due to intelligent reallocation of paid spend to lower-funnel, paid-first pages.

This shows how coordination — not just exclusions — delivers both efficiency and growth.

2026 trends & future-proofing

Expect these developments through 2026:

• More account-level controls: Google and other platforms will add centralized guardrails to balance automation. Adopt governance early.
• AI-driven exclusion suggestions: Platforms and third-party tools will recommend placement and keyword exclusions based on conversion patterns. Validate recommendations before mass applying them.
• Incrementality-first measurement: Brands will prioritize experiments over last-click heuristics to decide paid vs. organic coverage.
• Tighter CMS-ad platform integration: Expect APIs and plugins that sync page status (paid-allowed vs. organic-protected) directly to ad platforms.

"Account-level placement exclusions give you power — but power without coordination means unpredictable automation. The alignment between PPC and SEO is now a revenue governance problem, not just an operational one."

Checklist: tactical actions to run now

• Run the 90-day overlap report and tag top 50 high-overlap pages.
• Create two account-level placement exclusion lists: brand-safety + low-quality inventory.
• Set up a shared negative keyword library with funnel-based lists.
• Document a 15-minute weekly sync and a 60-minute monthly review between PPC + SEO.
• Run one geo-split or ad-on/ad-off incrementality test for a high-overlap query.

Final takeaways

Google’s account-level placement exclusions (early 2026) and other automation changes make centralized controls essential — but they also raise the bar for cross-channel alignment. Use this playbook to:

• Discover overlap via data-driven audits
• Map page-to-campaign intent and treatment
• Exclude thoughtfully with governance
• Sync landing pages and content structure
• Measure incrementality and iterate

When PPC and SEO operate as separate cost centers you pay twice: for ad spend and for lost organic opportunity. The new account-level tools are a chance to stop that leakage — if you pair them with a repeatable process.

Ready-made resources and next steps

Get our free cross-channel alignment pack: exclusion list templates, negative keyword starter lists segmented by funnel, and a content-to-campaign mapping spreadsheet used in live 2025–26 audits. Head to key-word.store/alignment to download the pack, or contact our team for a 30-minute audit that benchmarks your account against the playbook above.

Take action: download the template, run the 7-day overlap report, and schedule your first PPC+SEO sync. Centralized exclusions are powerful — but alignment makes them profitable.

Related Reading

• Edge Auditability & Decision Planes: An Operational Playbook for Cloud Teams in 2026
• Edge‑First Developer Experience in 2026: Shipping Interactive Apps with Composer Patterns and Cost‑Aware Observability
• Beyond Banners: An Operational Playbook for Measuring Consent Impact in 2026
• Building a Platform-Agnostic Live Show Template for Broadcasters Eyeing YouTube Deals
• How to Style a Smart Lamp-Illuminated Jewelry Shelf for Social Media
• Career Pivot Playbook: Trust Yourself First — Lessons from Bozoma Saint John for Students Changing Majors
• Designing a Dog-Friendly Vacation Rental: Features That Boost Bookings
• Pet-Friendly Warmers: Choosing Safe Hot-Water Alternatives for Dogs and Cats This Easter
• Risk Assessment: How Centralized AI Platforms (FedRAMP) Affect Home Security System Vendors