Capability template for advertising and lead generation
Search exclusion conflict check
The paid search specialist gets a list of live keywords that a live exclusion may be blocking, each with the level where the exclusion applies and the campaign intent it touches. They are clues from the text; the specialist decides what to change.
Listed under
Add it to a workflow in the Fully Powered Planner, beside the teams and roles that will run it. Book a fit call
The outcome
Exclusion lists grow for years, written by different people for different reasons, at the account, in shared lists, on campaigns and on single ad groups. Somewhere in them is a word that was added to keep out one kind of search and now sits across a keyword someone is paying to win. Nobody finds it by reading the lists, because the keyword and the exclusion are in different files.
This sets the two side by side. For every live keyword it asks whether any live exclusion that reaches that keyword shares its words, and it lists each match with the level the exclusion applies at, the reason the exclusion was added if anyone wrote one down, and what the campaign is meant to capture.
The list is a set of clues. Matching text is not proof that a single search was lost, and an exclusion that is blocking something on purpose stays in place unless the specialist says otherwise. The specialist checks each clue against the account's own records and decides whether any exclusion should change.
Who starts the work, and when
The paid search specialist starts it: on taking over an account, around a round of new exclusions, when a campaign's impressions fall for no clear reason, or regularly where the lists are long. The account owner is told what the specialist decides.
The template edits no list, connects to no account and spends nothing. Every change to a list is made by a person in the platform.
What they supply
- The keywords, one row each: campaign, ad group, keyword, match type and status.
- The exclusions, one row each: the level (account, shared list, campaign or ad group), where it applies, the words, the match type, the status and, if known, why it was added.
- The campaigns: each one's status and, in the specialist's own words, what it is meant to capture.
- Which shared lists are attached to which campaigns, when shared lists are used.
- A few settings: the account name, the as-of date and who decides.
The files are exports or copies the specialist makes. No connection to an ad account is needed and no sign-in details are asked for.
What comes out
One document in a fixed order: the answer with counts, the numbered conflicts, the rows that were not compared, and the coverage. Each conflict names the keyword, the exclusion, the level it applies at, the reason given for it, the campaign intent and the one thing worth checking. A "direct" conflict is about the keyword's own wording sitting under the exclusion's words; the keyword may still serve other searches. Direct conflicts come first; narrow ones, where only the identical search would be blocked, follow.
Good looks like this: the specialist can open any conflict, see which two rows it rests on, and know within a minute what to look for in the account's own search records.
An invented example
Illustrative example with invented data. The shop, the campaigns, the keywords, the exclusions, the reasons and the dates below are all invented. Client R is an invented online dog-bed shop. The paid search specialist supplied four files and the settings; first come the inputs in full, then the document the capability returned.
The inputs
1. Settings
Account: Client R (an invented online dog-bed shop)
As-of date: 2026-11-10
Deciding role: paid search specialist
2. keywords.csv
campaign,ad_group,keyword,match_type,status
Brand,Shop name,client r,exact,enabled
Brand,Shop name,client r dog beds,phrase,enabled
Beds - shopping,Orthopedic,orthopedic dog bed,phrase,enabled
Beds - shopping,Orthopedic,memory foam dog bed,exact,enabled
Beds - shopping,Cooling,cooling dog bed,broad,enabled
Beds - research,Comparisons,best dog beds,phrase,enabled
Beds - research,Comparisons,dog bed vs crate pad,broad,enabled
Beds - research,Free guides,free dog bed buying guide,phrase,enabled
Gift cards,Gift cards,pet gift card,exact,enabled
Gift cards,Gift cards,dog bed gift card,phrase,paused
Old season,Autumn,autumn dog bed sale,phrase,enabled
3. negatives.csv
level,list_name,campaign,ad_group,negative,match_type,status,purpose
account,,,,free,broad,enabled,Block people looking for free items
account,,,,jobs,broad,enabled,Block job seekers
shared_list,Shopping blocks,,,reviews,broad,enabled,Keep shopping ads off review searches
shared_list,Shopping blocks,,,cooling dog,phrase,enabled,
campaign,,Beds - shopping,,memory foam,broad,enabled,Memory foam range is out of stock
campaign,,Beds - research,,cooling,broad,enabled,Cooling beds are covered by another campaign
ad_group,,Beds - research,Comparisons,dog bed vs crate pad,exact,enabled,Retired comparison page
campaign,,Brand,,dog,broad,enabled,
campaign,,Gift cards,,pet gift card,exact,paused,Old rule
4. campaigns.csv
campaign,status,intent
Brand,enabled,People searching for the shop by name
Beds - shopping,enabled,People ready to buy dog beds
Beds - research,enabled,People comparing dog bed types before buying
Gift cards,enabled,People buying a gift card for a pet owner
Old season,paused,Autumn sale that has ended
5. attachments.csv
list_name,campaign
Shopping blocks,Beds - shopping
Shopping blocks,Gift cards
The document the capability returned
SEARCH EXCLUSION CONFLICT CHECK: Client R, as of 2026-11-10
For: paid search specialist. Prepared 2026-11-10 from keywords.csv (11 rows), negatives.csv (9 rows), campaigns.csv (5 rows), attachments.csv (2 rows). Purpose column present.
THE ANSWER
9 live keywords and 8 live exclusions compared. 5 conflicts: 4 direct, 1 narrow. By level: account 1, shared list 1, campaign 2, ad group 1. 5 keywords have a conflict; 4 do not. Every conflict is a clue from the text. None shows that a search was blocked, and no change is proposed.
CONFLICTS
C1 Direct. Keyword "client r dog beds" (phrase), campaign Brand, ad group Shop name (keywords row 2). Exclusion "dog" (broad), level: campaign Brand (negatives row 8). Purpose as supplied: not stated Campaign intent as supplied: People searching for the shop by name Why flagged: the exclusion's one word, "dog", is a word of the keyword. To check: whether searches matching this keyword are being blocked by this exclusion, in the account's own search records.
C2 Direct. Keyword "memory foam dog bed" (exact), campaign Beds - shopping, ad group Orthopedic (keywords row 4). Exclusion "memory foam" (broad), level: campaign Beds - shopping (negatives row 5). Purpose as supplied: Memory foam range is out of stock Campaign intent as supplied: People ready to buy dog beds Why flagged: both words of the exclusion, "memory" and "foam", are words of the keyword. To check: whether searches matching this keyword are being blocked by this exclusion, in the account's own search records.
C3 Direct. Keyword "cooling dog bed" (broad), campaign Beds - shopping, ad group Cooling (keywords row 5). Exclusion "cooling dog" (phrase), level: shared list Shopping blocks (attached to Beds - shopping, Gift cards) (negatives row 4). Purpose as supplied: not stated Campaign intent as supplied: People ready to buy dog beds Why flagged: the exclusion's words "cooling dog" appear together, in that order, inside the keyword. To check: whether searches matching this keyword are being blocked by this exclusion, in the account's own search records.
C4 Direct. Keyword "free dog bed buying guide" (phrase), campaign Beds - research, ad group Free guides (keywords row 8). Exclusion "free" (broad), level: account (negatives row 1). Purpose as supplied: Block people looking for free items Campaign intent as supplied: People comparing dog bed types before buying Why flagged: the exclusion's one word, "free", is a word of the keyword. To check: whether searches matching this keyword are being blocked by this exclusion, in the account's own search records.
C5 Narrow. Keyword "dog bed vs crate pad" (broad), campaign Beds - research, ad group Comparisons (keywords row 7). Exclusion "dog bed vs crate pad" (exact), level: ad group Comparisons in Beds - research (negatives row 7). Purpose as supplied: Retired comparison page Campaign intent as supplied: People comparing dog bed types before buying Why flagged: the exclusion's words are identical to the keyword's, and the keyword is broad, so only the identical search is covered. To check: whether blocking the identical search is meant, while the keyword's other searches stay open.
NOT COMPARED
keywords.csv, row 10, "dog bed gift card": keyword paused. keywords.csv, row 11, "autumn dog bed sale": campaign Old season is paused. negatives.csv, row 9, "pet gift card": exclusion paused.
COVERAGE
Used: keywords.csv, 11 rows; negatives.csv, 9 rows; campaigns.csv, 5 rows; attachments.csv, 2 rows. Could not judge: whether any search was in fact blocked or served; plurals, spelling variants, synonyms and each platform's own matching; the state of the ad groups, which were not supplied; exclusions held anywhere outside these files; results, spend and quality of any kind. Ignored: None. Checked and fine: every required header was present in every file; no keyword or exclusion text carried brackets, quote marks or plus signs; every campaign in keywords.csv and negatives.csv is in campaigns.csv; both attachments name a campaign in campaigns.csv; keywords 11 rows = 9 live + 2 not compared; exclusions 9 rows = 8 live + 1 not compared; 9 live keywords = 5 with a conflict + 4 without; 8 live exclusions = 5 in a conflict + 3 not (rows 2, 3 and 6); 5 conflicts = 4 direct + 1 narrow = 1 account + 1 shared list + 2 campaign + 1 ad group. Exclusion row 6, "cooling" in Beds - research, reaches no keyword that contains it, because "cooling dog bed" sits in Beds - shopping.
Draft for the paid search specialist. Nothing has been edited, paused, sent or spent; the specialist checks each conflict and decides what, if anything, changes.
Where it fits
- Advertising and lead generation, where keyword and exclusion lists are maintained by several hands.
- Marketing and advertising, where agencies inherit long lists and inherit the reasons for them too.
- E-commerce and retail, where exclusions added for a sale, a stock gap or a retired range outlive the reason.
- Consumer brands, where several people add exclusions to protect the brand and the brand's own searches can end up in the way.
- Growth & scaling, when the account has outgrown anyone's memory of why each exclusion exists.
It is not a campaign report (client campaign performance report) and it is not a review of an inherited account (inherited campaign audit). It reads no results and judges no performance.
What has to change for your company
- Your column names. The assistant reads the files by the default headers in the template; map yours to them, or reshape the export once. When a header does not match, it stops and asks.
- Your levels. The template knows four: account, shared list, campaign and ad group. Add or drop one if your platform differs.
- Your intent wording. Write, for each campaign, what it is meant to capture. The template quotes your words and does not judge them.
- Your reasons. Ask the people who add exclusions to record why. A reason in the file lets the specialist see at once which conflicts are deliberate.
- Who decides, and how an agreed change is made and recorded.
- Your platform. It is written for ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini and works from files you supply. Decide which exports the assistant may read.
What has been checked
Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template. It was editorially reviewed on 10 November 2026. It was tried once on its invented example, in Claude on 10 November 2026, on an earlier wording of the instructions; the record is published beside it. The wording has since been clarified and has not been run again. It has not yet been tested in a client environment. It has not yet been tested as a packaged version in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini.
Testing in your environment means running it on an account your specialist knows well, with cases written in advance: an exclusion added on purpose that sits across a keyword, a shared list attached to only one campaign, a paused exclusion, a keyword in a paused campaign, a header that does not match. The specialist checks every conflict against the account's own records before anyone relies on it. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up, and what we test before we call an AI workflow ready describes the record we keep.
The full capability template
Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.
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Next step
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