The advertiser’s side
How an advertiser’s search ad ends up on an arbitrage page through the search partners setting, how to see where it ran, and how to exclude sites.
The advertiser’s side
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An advertiser buys a keyword
A car leasing firm creates a search campaign in Google Ads and bids on “SUV lease deals”. It expects its ad to appear when people search for that on Google.
- An advertiser buys a keyword: A car leasing firm creates a search campaign in Google Ads and bids on “SUV lease deals”. It expects its ad to appear when people search for that on Google.
- One setting widens the reach: Search campaigns include an option to show ads on Google’s search partners as well as Google.com. It is switched on unless the advertiser turns it off. It is all or nothing: partners cannot be picked one by one, only excluded.
- The ad appears on an arbitrage page: A visitor on a partner site taps a related search for “SUV lease deals”. The firm’s ad appears in the results there, and a click costs it about $1.00 (illustrative), the same budget as a click on Google.com.
- Does it convert?: What matters to the advertiser is the conversion rate: do these clicks become enquiries? Some partner traffic performs well. Where it converts less, Google says it lowers the price automatically (smart pricing), and invalid clicks are credited back.
- Seeing where the ads ran: For years partner sites were a black box. Since 2025 Google has reported the individual partner sites where Search, Shopping, App and Performance Max ads appeared, so an advertiser can see each Placement by name.
- Excluding what does not work: A site that spends money without results can be added to an account-level placement exclusion list, and ads stop showing there. The blunt alternative is the opt-out: switch search partners off for the campaign.
- One whole category removed: Google went further with parked domains: advertisers were opted out by default in 2025, and on 10 February 2026 parked domains stopped being part of the search partner network altogether.
- Why arbitrageurs should care: Every exclusion removes a bidder from that page, and fewer bidders mean lower prices. A page that sends advertisers real customers keeps its demand. A page that does not is slowly switched off, one exclusion list at a time.
Step by step
- An advertiser buys a keyword (Setup)A car leasing firm creates a search campaign in Google Ads and bids on “SUV lease deals”. It expects its ad to appear when people search for that on Google.
- One setting widens the reach (Setting)Search campaigns include an option to show ads on Google’s search partners as well as Google.com. It is switched on unless the advertiser turns it off. It is all or nothing: partners cannot be picked one by one, only excluded.
- The ad appears on an arbitrage page (Placement)A visitor on a partner site taps a related search for “SUV lease deals”. The firm’s ad appears in the results there, and a click costs it about $1.00 (illustrative), the same budget as a click on Google.com.
- Does it convert? (Results)What matters to the advertiser is the conversion rate: do these clicks become enquiries? Some partner traffic performs well. Where it converts less, Google says it lowers the price automatically (smart pricing), and invalid clicks are credited back.
- Seeing where the ads ran (Visibility)For years partner sites were a black box. Since 2025 Google has reported the individual partner sites where Search, Shopping, App and Performance Max ads appeared, so an advertiser can see each placement by name.
- Excluding what does not work (Control)A site that spends money without results can be added to an account-level placement exclusion list, and ads stop showing there. The blunt alternative is the opt-out: switch search partners off for the campaign.
- One whole category removed (Feb 2026)Google went further with parked domains: advertisers were opted out by default in 2025, and on 10 February 2026 parked domains stopped being part of the search partner network altogether.
- Why arbitrageurs should care (Lesson)Every exclusion removes a bidder from that page, and fewer bidders mean lower prices. A page that sends advertisers real customers keeps its demand. A page that does not is slowly switched off, one exclusion list at a time.