How to Identify Wasted Spend in Amazon Ads

Start with search term performance

Begin by exporting or importing your Sponsored Products search term report. Look for terms that receive meaningful clicks but produce few or no orders, and compare their actual ROAS against your target. A tool like Amz Ad Waste Detector can organize this data across campaigns and marketplaces, making underperforming queries easier to review.

• High click volume with zero or very low conversions
• Cost per acquisition above your acceptable threshold
• Terms that match broadly but are irrelevant to the product

Build a cleanup plan before making changes

Instead of pausing terms immediately, group them into negative exact candidates, negative phrase candidates, or bid reduction opportunities. Because the analysis tools are read-only, your team can review recommendations and apply changes only where they align with campaign goals.

For a broader view, track wasted spend alongside sales and ROAS to see whether the problem is isolated to a few search terms or spread across the account. This prevents overcorrecting on a single data point.

When This Matters

Wasted spend detection matters most when you manage multiple campaigns, accounts, or marketplaces and cannot manually review every search term each day. It is also valuable before monthly reporting, when rising ad costs without corresponding sales growth need a clear explanation and action plan.