QPS is not targeting
Front-end QPS filters decide which auctions enter the bidder and consume contracted QPS. Line-item targeting decides which already-received requests may bid.
Published 2026-09-09 · Search job: QPS vs line item targeting
QPS versus line-item targeting is a question of when the request is thrown away. Front-end QPS filters decide which auctions enter the bidder and consume contracted queries per second. Line-item targeting decides which already-received requests may bid. Excluding a placement, site, or exchange in targeting does not free QPS. The request already arrived. You paid for the look and then said no.
If you tightened targeting to "save QPS," you did not. You saved bids, maybe, and you still spent the look.
Two doors, one pipe
Contracted QPS is a pipe in front of the bidder. Traffic templates and advanced QPS filtering are the door on that pipe. They choose which auctions are worth spending a look on. Everything that passes the door counts against the contract whether you bid or not.
Buzz targeting is the second door, after the request is inside. Eligibility only. A 1,073-row placement exclude compiled into targeting will refuse those placements at bid time. It will not stop those auctions from entering the bidder if the front-end filter still admits them.
Delivery models allocate budget across eligible inventory. They are a third control. They are not QPS. Mixing the three is how a later change looks like it "shaped supply" while the pipe is still full of auctions you will never bid on.
Why this shows up after a scan
Scan then exclude is the right order for waste you can name. It is the wrong tool for QPS. A Supply Audit apply that removes OPENX from an allowlist stops future bids on OPENX. It does not stop OPENX from consuming QPS if the front-end filter still lets OPENX in.
The waste map in Open exchange waste, mapped by grain is a targeting-and-report map. It is not a QPS map. We will not quote a QPS saving from an exclude we compiled.
What we will not claim
We will not publish a number of looks saved. We have not measured that on these flights. We will not say the child seat's QPS contract is the reason seven domains produced 41.3 percent of clicks. Those are report facts after delivery. QPS only decides which auctions we were allowed to consider.
There is no object named supply route. QPS filters, targeting, lists, deals, modifiers, and reports are separate pieces. What we mean by a supply path is the vocabulary page. Use this page when someone proposes an exclude as a QPS fix. Use the scan page when someone proposes a QPS filter as a placement cleanup. They are not substitutes.