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Hi,

Is it possible to tell how many AdWords impressions are doing placement-targeting (aka site-targeting) to a particular channel? I know that I can pull up an AdSense report which shows a cross section of a particular channel with placement targeting, but it's possible the advertiser is targeting the entire site and not just the individual channel. I'd like to know whether I can disable or modify a particular targetable channel without it impacting my revenue.

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Short answer: AdSense will tell you if an impression was delivered via placement targeting (vs contextual), and the Ad Review Center lets publishers inspect placement‑targeted creatives — but the publisher UI does not reliably show “who chose what” (whether an advertiser picked that custom channel name versus targeting the whole site). ()

A safe, low‑risk way to test without blinding yourself to revenue:

  1. Create a new custom channel (do not rename the existing one) and attach both channels to the same ad unit (AdSense supports multiple channels per ad unit).
  2. Run both for several days (7–14), and watch the custom‑channel report plus the Targeting‑types (Placement vs Contextual) breakdown to see whether placement impressions/RPM change for that channel.
  3. Deactivate the old channel (not delete) and watch for a drop in placement impressions on that ad unit — a clear drop means advertisers were targeting that placement specifically; no change implies ads were served site‑level/ROS or contextually.

This mirrors Google’s historical guidance to create a second channel rather than renaming (renaming could make a previously targetable placement unavailable to advertisers). Use the channel‑activation/deactivation workflow and the placement/targeting reports to avoid accidental loss of placement buyers. (adsense.googleblog.com)

One more practical note for newer accounts: Google moved channels into the reporting experience and removed the “make channel targetable” option in the newer UI, so many publishers no longer have channel‑level targeting to worry about — channels are primarily for reporting now. If your account still shows the older targeting checkbox, treat changes carefully; otherwise rely on the reports and Ad Review Center to infer placement activity. ’s reassurance that “it won’t really matter” missed that historical caveat, but the platform behavior today is different. (seroundtable.com)

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Member Avatar for techite

You can make channels such as the top section, bottom section for your site and list it's related URLs.
You can modify a particular targetable channel without impacing revenue. It won't really matter. To them, channels are sites where advertisement can be shown and AdSense has the policy of showing the advertiser who has the maximum bid.. So enjoy making money.

Member Avatar for Dani

Hi Techite,

Thank you for your response. I think you misunderstood my question though. I have multiple channels set up and they are set to enable placement targeting. My question is whether there is a way of knowing whether an AdWords advertiser is targeting an individual channel.

I can pull a report showing how many placement-targeted ads run in a channel, but I can't tell whether or not it was because the advertiser selected the individual channel, or selected to run their ads ROS and, consequently, started displaying in the channel.

Also, I know this was definitely true awhile back, but I'm not sure if it still holds true. If you change certain information associated with a targetable channel, all AdWords advertisers currently targeting that channel are automatically lost. They will need to reenable targeting the modified channel.

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