Quarterly Product Cleanup Checklist

Pull the list · ~3 min

Go to All campaigns, all campaigns selected (enabled and paused)
Insights and reports → Report editor → Shopping products report
Date range: last 90 days (enough data to mean something, smooths a slow week)
Rows: Item ID (one line per product)
Columns: cost, conversions, conv. value, conv. value / cost (ROAS), conv. rate, clicks
Sort by cost, highest first, and read down from the biggest spenders

Set your bars · before you judge anything

Qualifying floor (enough data to trust): e.g. ≥40–50 clicks OR ≥$30–35 spent in 90 days. Below the floor, leave it alone, it keeps its runway.
Exclusion line: start conservative at ROAS ≈ 1 or below, not your target ROAS. Only cut the truly underwater. Get stricter later.

Judge the spenders · collect item IDs

ROAS cut: qualifying product with ROAS ≈ 1 or below → candidate
Conversion-rate cut: plenty of clicks (90+), zero or one conversion → it had its shot, candidate
Right at the edge? Barely over the floor, tiny spend → give it more runway, leave it

The human gut-check · last filter

For each candidate ask: does the business want it alive anyway? New launch still learning, loss leader on purpose, protected hero product → keep it, even if the math looks bad
Everything else → onto the exclusion list

Tag the losers

Build a supplemental feed in Merchant Center that stamps a custom label = "excluded" on exactly those item IDs

Exclude once per campaign · the one manual step

In each Shopping / PMax campaign, every ad group or asset group: note your current listing-group split (e.g. by product type)
Subdivide all products by the custom label, set "excluded" → excluded
Rebuild your existing split under everything else
Do it once. After this the feed tag drives every campaign automatically, tag drops a product out everywhere, untag brings it back

Two safety nets — excluded means benched, not deleted

Catch-all campaign

Keep one campaign running every product, including the excluded ones, on tiny bids and a tiny budget. A cheap audition. If a benched product performs here, promote it back at your next review.

Seasonal reactivation

Before high season, re-analyze how excluded products did in that same window last year. Reactivate the winners right before the season, then re-exclude them once it ends.

Every quarter

Re-pull the last 90 days, re-judge, re-tag. Leakers can earn their way back, and new ones get caught before they cost you much.

The Quarterly Product Cleanup

Catch-all campaign

Seasonal reactivation