Amazon Search Term Report: How to Turn Search Terms Into Negative Keywords

Turning Amazon Search Terms into negative keywords can dramatically improve advertising ROI by eliminating wasteful spend. By reviewing your Search Term Report, you identify underperforming queries that consume budget without driving sales. This process helps to refine your campaigns, ensuring ads reach the most relevant shoppers and reduce unnecessary costs.

Convert underperforming search terms to negatives for ad efficiency

Optimizing Amazon ad campaigns means eliminating costly and irrelevant searches. This detailed guide teaches you how to analyze your Search Term Report, find underperforming search terms, and confidently turn them into negative keywords to preserve ad budget and boost campaign effectiveness.

What You'll Need

Amazon Negative Keyword Tool by Todoza — Tool designed to help manage and prioritize underperforming Amazon Ads search terms within the theme context.
Access to your Amazon Seller Central Search Term Report (CSV or XLSX format)
Basic knowledge of your ad goals and product targets

Why Use a Purpose-Built Negative Keyword Tool?

Manually reviewing Amazon Search Term Reports can be time-consuming and error-prone, especially when managing multiple campaigns or marketplaces. A dedicated tool simplifies this process by automatically highlighting underperforming search terms, ensuring changes are based on actionable data and reducing overlooked inefficiencies.

Step 1: Export and Review Your Search Term Report

Begin by downloading your latest Search Term Report from Amazon Seller Central, covering the desired time window (such as the previous 30 days). Focus on the core campaign or ad group you wish to optimize. Review columns such as 'Customer Search Term,' 'Clicks,' 'Spend,' and 'Orders' to understand which queries triggered your ads.

Look for high-impression or high-spend terms that result in few or no sales. These are typically wasting budget. Regular review unlocks cost savings when performed consistently.

Step 2: Analyze Data and Identify Wasted Spend

Scan the report for patterns: irrelevant queries, repeated brand terms, or competitor ASINs often appear. Mark search terms with high clicks but low conversions or a high ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale). Tracking performance across multiple ad groups and marketplaces gives a deeper understanding of recurring inefficiencies.

For streamlined analysis, consider using the Amazon Negative Keyword Tool by Todoza. It imports Search Terms reports, calculates waste by campaign and account, and prioritizes terms for further review.

Step 3: Assign Terms as Negatives in Campaigns

After identifying inefficient search terms, decide where to apply them as negative keywords. Most commonly, apply them at the ad group or campaign level for maximum impact. Add exact or phrase-match negatives depending on the term's specificity.

Automate reporting but review decisions manually to avoid blocking potentially valuable new queries. The Todoza tool offers read-only suggestions, ensuring you maintain control before any campaign changes go live.

Step 4: Monitor and Refine for Ongoing Success

After implementing new negative keywords, monitor performance over the next few weeks. New negative terms may shift impressions; watch for improved ACoS and lower wasted spend. Keep an eye out for changing search behavior or new irrelevant terms appearing in future reports and repeat this process monthly for optimal results.

Tips and Common Mistakes

Avoid negative matching profitable terms: Double-check that a term hasn’t generated sales in other contexts before excluding it.
Document every negative keyword you add along with its performance impact.
Periodically review your negative list to spot false positives or shifting relevance.

Continual Optimization Maximizes Results

Adding negative keywords is not a one-time task. Proactive, recurring review of your search terms helps maintain ad relevance, cut wasted spend, and keep campaigns aligned with your sales goals in a fast-changing marketplace.