Stop Paying for Clicks That Never Convert
One of the fastest ways to improve your Amazon PPC performance is not finding new keywords to bid on — it is finding the wrong keywords to block. Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant searches, and most sellers dramatically underuse them.
After managing my own Amazon PPC campaigns across 7 marketplaces for over 7 years, I have seen how a proper negative keyword strategy can cut wasted spend by 20-40% almost overnight.
What Are Negative Keywords on Amazon
Negative keywords tell Amazon which search terms you do NOT want your ads to appear for. If you sell premium leather wallets, you probably do not want to show up for searches like "cheap wallet" or "kids wallet" or "wallet phone case." Without negative keywords, Amazon will happily spend your budget on these irrelevant clicks.
There are two types of negative keywords on Amazon: negative exact (blocks that exact phrase only) and negative phrase (blocks any search containing that phrase). Understanding the difference is crucial to avoiding over-blocking.
How to Find Negative Keywords
The single best source is your Search Term Report. Download it from Campaign Manager, sort by spend (highest first), and look for terms where you have spent money but generated zero sales or very few sales relative to clicks. These are your immediate negative keyword candidates.
Common categories of wasted spend include competitor brand names (unless you are intentionally targeting them), products you do not sell, wrong materials or sizes, and informational queries where someone is researching rather than buying.
Building Your Negative Keyword List
I recommend reviewing your Search Term Report weekly for new campaigns and fortnightly for established ones. Create a master spreadsheet with columns for the search term, campaign, match type, spend, sales and your decision (add as negative or keep). Over time this becomes an invaluable reference.
Start with obvious irrelevant terms, then progressively add terms that generate clicks but not sales. Be careful not to block terms too aggressively — sometimes a keyword needs more data before you can judge whether it converts.
Campaign-Level vs Ad Group-Level Negatives
You can add negative keywords at the campaign level (affects all ad groups) or ad group level (affects only that group). Use campaign-level for terms that are irrelevant to everything you sell. Use ad group-level when a term is relevant to one product but not another within the same campaign.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest mistake is adding negative keywords too quickly without enough data. A search term with 10 clicks and no sales might just need more time — especially for higher-priced products. I generally wait for at least 15-20 clicks before making a decision.
The second mistake is using negative phrase match when you should use negative exact. If you add "blue" as a negative phrase because "blue wallet" did not sell, you will also block "navy blue leather wallet" which might convert brilliantly.
My Recommended Process
Every Friday I spend 30 minutes reviewing Search Term Reports across my campaigns. I download the last 7 days, filter for terms with spend over £2 and zero sales, and evaluate each one. This small weekly habit has saved me thousands of pounds in wasted ad spend.
If you are selling across multiple Amazon marketplaces, remember that search behaviour differs by country. A negative keyword in the UK might be a profitable keyword in Germany. Manage your negatives separately for each marketplace.
Getting Help With Amazon PPC
If your Amazon PPC feels like it is burning money, a negative keyword audit is often the fastest win. I offer Amazon PPC reviews where I analyse your Search Term Reports and identify exactly where your budget is being wasted. Get in touch to discuss your campaigns.
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