Whitelist / Blacklist

Whitelist - a list of specific domains, applications or platforms on which you allow advertising to be displayed. Blacklist (black list) - a list of sites that you block. Both tools are used in programmatic purchases through DSP, as well as in Yandex Direct YAN and VK Ads to manage traffic quality.

Whitelist strategy: you purchase advertising only on pre-selected sites with proven traffic quality. Advantages: maximum control brand safety, minimal click fraud, predictable CPL. Disadvantage: limited reach, often overpriced impressions.

Blacklist strategy: you buy in an open auction, but block sites that have shown poor results. The advantage is wide reach, lower entry cost. The disadvantage is that it takes time and budget to “burn out” waste sites. In projects, I start with a blacklist, collect data for 2–4 weeks, block sites with zero conversion and high failure rates, then gradually move on to a mixed strategy.

My working criterion for blacklisting: the site received more than 200 clicks and 0 conversions - blacklisted. A platform with viewability below 40% with a CPM above average, too. For large programmatic campaigns, I maintain a constantly updated blacklist of 3,000–5,000 domains, accumulated over several years.