Here’s an email I got from a team member this morning:
“Hey Nils, I’ve excluded the faulty conversion data for Oct 12-14, but Google is still showing the conversions in the conversion column.”
True.
It’s not obvious, and IMO doesn’t make any sense, but still:
“Data exclusions only affect the data that Smart Bidding uses. You can still find these excluded conversions in your reporting.”
SOURCE: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10370710?hl=en
Another thing about data exclusions that is far from intuitive, but DOES make sense:
“Data exclusions apply to clicks: Your data exclusions must exclude clicks that could have had the affected conversions attributed to them. When these clicks are excluded, the associated conversions are also excluded.”
This means that if conversion tracking showed a defect October 12-14, and a big chunk of your conversions (i.e., >30%) take more than 1 day from last interaction to convert with a conversion delay of 2 days, you might want to exclude more clicks (i.e., October 10-14).
Makes sense, but not intuitive at all, if you ask me. If you agree, I recommend you discuss with your colleagues to get your head around it.
– Nils