“Brand inclusions” is a setting on a Search campaign or ad group: ads show only on searches tied to the brands in a list you choose. To find it, go to “Campaigns”, “Campaigns”, the “Settings” tab, your campaign, “Additional settings”, then the “Brand inclusions” panel. Since 27 May 2025 Google has been moving it into the AI Max set of features for Search campaigns, so the panel may be there.
The setting is closely tied to broad match: when you save, Google may offer to apply it to your keywords. I explained how it works in my guide to broad match keywords.
What it means
For Google, a brand is a product or service with a logo, a trademark, a domain name, a product name that dominates the packaging or website or, for a small business, the company name. Brands come from the Google Ads brand library. If yours is missing, you submit a request to add it. You build a brand list at account level and attach it to campaigns. You do not need to type misspellings or names in other languages, because Google recognises them itself.
When it makes sense, in my experience: the campaign is tied to named brands. For example, a shop or dealer sells several brands and runs one campaign per brand. The inclusion keeps the campaign inside its brand, and another campaign catches the rest of the searches.
How to read and set it
| Feature | Brand inclusions | Brand exclusions |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Shows ads only on searches with the chosen brands | Blocks searches about brands you want to avoid |
| Where it is available | Search campaigns | Search and Performance Max campaigns |
| Priority | Lower | Higher, if a campaign has both |
Performance Max has no inclusions, only exclusions. I covered them in my guide to brand exclusions in Performance Max. The general rules for brand settings are in Google’s help.
What to do
- Ask whether the campaign should work only on searches with certain brands. If it lives on searches without a brand, do not turn it on: Google advises using these settings only where they are really needed.
- Settle the AI Max question. The new brand panel opens when AI Max is on at campaign level. If you already used inclusions, a banner in the campaign settings invites you to upgrade. You can do nothing: the old settings keep working, but you cannot create a new list without AI Max. Before you switch it on, look at what else the feature set includes.
- Create a brand list. Add every name that shares no common word: Google’s help uses Google, YouTube and Alphabet.
- Attach the list to the campaign or to an ad group. An ad group setting overrides the campaign setting for that ad group only.
- Check the campaign’s negative keywords. If they match terms from your list, performance may drop.
- Compare the search terms report before and after: which searches disappeared and what they were bringing in.
What not to do
- Turn on inclusions for a campaign that earns on searches without a brand. Those searches vanish along with the results.
- Mix up inclusions and exclusions. Inclusions do not block other brands, they only narrow your ads to the brands you chose.
- Accept the broad match offer when you save without checking what happens to your keywords.
- Expect automatic growth. Google’s help says plainly that results can drop.
Two figures from other people’s data. According to Optmyzr (2026), which analysed 30,000 search accounts for February 2026, on brand campaigns phrase match converted 36% better than broad match, while phrase and exact were almost level at 8.22% and 8.18%. That is a snapshot of one platform’s accounts about match types, not about this feature, so I would not accept broad match on a brand campaign on trust. And in its 2026 audits, mostly of online shops, the agency Store Growers found brand and non-brand searches mixed in the same campaigns in almost a third of accounts (30%). That is why I keep them apart. Both sources: Optmyzr and Store Growers.
When this does not apply
- A Performance Max campaign: there are no inclusions there.
- A campaign that lives on searches without a brand: inclusions would cut its traffic.
- Your brand is not in the Google Ads brand library: you first submit a request to add it, and without it you cannot build the list.
The step-by-step version of reading and setting this in your own account is in my book on Google Ads for business owners.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →Questions and answers
How do brand inclusions differ from brand exclusions?
Inclusions show the campaign only for the chosen brands, exclusions block the brands you want to avoid. If a campaign has both, exclusions take priority.
Does it cost extra?
No, there is no extra charge. But the setting limits the campaign’s reach, so results can drop.
Does it work with dynamic search ads?
Yes. Inclusions apply to all traffic in the campaign, whether it runs on keywords or on dynamic ads.