Key takeaways
- Use the search term report to find waste.
- Choose negative match types carefully.
- Avoid campaign cannibalization.
- Review negatives periodically.
What negatives do
Negative keywords tell Amazon not to show your ad for certain search terms. This reduces irrelevant clicks, protects budget and improves efficiency. They are essential with broad and automatic targeting.
Find candidates in the search term report
Review the search term report for queries that generated clicks without orders, or that clearly describe a different product. Look at the relevance of each term, not just the numbers, since a term with few clicks may still be irrelevant.
Negative match types
Negative keywords usually come as exact or phrase types. Negative exact blocks only the precise term, while negative phrase blocks any search containing that phrase. Use phrase carefully, because it can block relevant searches.
- Negative exact for specific wasteful terms
- Negative phrase for clearly irrelevant concepts
- Campaign-level or ad-group-level placement
- Negative product targets for ASINs
Campaign and ad group levels
Apply negatives at the level that matches your goal. Adding at campaign level affects all ad groups. Use it for universally irrelevant terms.
Prevent cannibalization
When several campaigns target the same terms, they can compete with each other. Use negatives to direct a term to the campaign where you want it to run, such as moving a proven term from an automatic campaign to a manual exact campaign.
Be careful not to over-block
Negatives can accidentally block good traffic. Review them periodically and remove those that no longer make sense. Test before applying broad phrase negatives.
Keep a central list
Maintain a master list of negative terms by product category so new campaigns start with sensible exclusions.
A worked example
A seller of a leather wallet finds clicks from searches for fabric wallets and phone cases. They add those terms as negative exact, a few as negative phrase and apply them to the relevant campaigns. Wasted spend falls, and the campaign's ACoS improves.
Weekly negatives routine
Weekly: download the search term report, sort by spend with no orders, mark irrelevant terms, add negatives, note the date and review the results after a few weeks.
Questions to ask before adding a negative
Is this term truly irrelevant or just new? Could a more specific negative work? Is another campaign better placed to handle it? Will I remember why I added it? Write a note with each batch of negatives.
Negative product targets
Negatives are not limited to keywords. You can exclude specific products from product-targeting campaigns, which stops your ads showing on certain competitor or irrelevant detail pages. This is useful when automatic or product-targeting campaigns attract clicks from products that are poor matches.
Use the targeting report to find product pages that consume spend without sales, check whether they are truly irrelevant and add them as negative targets with the same care you apply to keywords.
Your next three steps
Put negatives on a schedule rather than doing them when you remember.
- Download the last thirty days of search terms and sort by spend without orders.
- Add clearly irrelevant terms as negative exact and note the date.
- Create a master negative list per product category for future campaigns.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I add negatives?
Weekly for active campaigns, and more frequently when launching new ones.
Can negatives hurt performance?
Yes if they block relevant searches, so review them regularly.
This guide is general information. Amazon's fees, policies and program rules change and vary by marketplace, so confirm current details in Seller Central and, for tax or legal questions, with a qualified adviser.