Recently we ran into an issue with Google Ads where despite only targeting our ads to those in North America, people in other countries were seeing the ad.
My first thought was to block the countries that were viewing the ads. Google generates a nice list and it took a few minutes to exclude them.
I started thinking again, what if I was proactive and just listed off every country in the world except our target country, the United States of America.
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t allow you to just block a continent nor do they provide a list of all the countries. So I took it upon myself to make a list and then decided let’s save everyone else that would ever need this list a ton of time.
So, here’s two things – how to exclude countries on Google and the list of all countries in an easy list that you can copy and paste into Google.
(Side note – Google doesn’t allow you to exclude Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, and South Sudan since apparently your ads won’t be displayed there anyway).
Excluding Countries on Google
When you go into your campaign on Google Ads, click on locations. The first you’ll see is your targeted area. I would have assumed by targeting that I would in fact be blocking all the other countries, but alas, this looks to only be in theory. Beside the word targeted is the word “excluded”. Click on it and in the new page, click to add locations in bulk. Copy the list of all countries, or to block by continent, scroll further down for that list.
Once you’ve entered the location list and hit search, you’ll want to hit the “exclude all” button that appears below the search button. Your list of countries will then populate below that.
Iran and Syria are on the list but as of this writing will bring an error as apparently you are not able to target ads to those countries.
List of All Countries
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antarctica
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China Mainland
China
Christmas Island
Cocos Islands
Colombia
Comoros
Congo-Brazzaville
Congo-Kinshasa
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cote d’Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
Finland
France
French Guiana
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
Norfolk Island
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of the Sudan
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Samoa
San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Korea
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam
Wallis and Futuna Islands
Western Sahara
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
List of Countries by Continent/Region
ASIA
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Laos
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
OCEANIA
American Samoa
Australia
Christmas Island
Cocos Islands
Cook Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
French Polynesia
Guam
Kiribati
Micronesia
Nauru
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Niue
Norfolk Island
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Wallis and Futuna Islands
MIDDLE EAST
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Egypt
Georgia
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Tajikistan
Turkey
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Yemen
AFRICA
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo-Brazzaville
Congo-Kinshasa
Cote d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Republic of the Sudan
Rwanda
São Tomé and Príncipe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Swaziland
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Western Sahara
Zambia
Zimbabwe
EUROPE
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Vatican City
ANTARCTICA
Antarctica
NORTH AMERICA
Anguilla
British Virgin Islands
Canada
Greenland
Mexico
Guatemala
Belize
Honduras
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama
Bahamas
Cuba
Jamaica
Haiti
Dominican Republic
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Antigua and Barbuda
Dominica
Saint Lucia
Barbados
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Grenada
Trinidad and Tobago
Guadeloupe
Martinique
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Falkland Islands
French Guiana
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
This list is current and accurate as September 29, 2021. Please feel free to leave updates or corrections in the comments below. Thank you for all of the contributions made thus far. It is very much appreciated!
And as always – we love helping our clients including with their Google Ad campaigns. Why worry about all this when you can have us taking care of it for you. Contact us to get started.