Introduction
Negative keyword targeting is a powerful tool for refining your ad campaigns, but it’s often misused.
In this guide, we’ll cover the scenarios in which you should negate search terms and when you should not.
#1 Mistake: Over-Negating
Many advertisers are unknowingly sabotaging their Amazon PPC campaigns by over-negating keywords.
Here are some common pitfalls advertisers make:
High ACOS
Many advertisers assume that if a keyword has a high ACOS, it should automatically be negated.
But often, the issue is that the bid is simply too high. Lowering the bid instead of negating outright is often the better solution.
This approach is fundamentally flawed because a high ACoS indicates that the keyword is actually generating sales - the issue lies with bid management, not keyword relevance.
If the term is coming through an expanded match type like broad or phrase, where a change in the bid could impact more than just that keyword, it is best to harvest the keyword into a manual campaign and negate the keyword in the source campaign.
High Spend & No Sales
Some keywords get negated just because they have high spend without sales. However, oftentimes a missing component in the decision making is what classifies keywords as high spend.
Advertisers often set arbitrary spending thresholds (like $20 or $50) for negating keywords without sales. This approach ignores the product's actual economics.
For example, if your product sells for $20 with a 50% target ACoS, the real intervention point should be around $10 in spend, not $50 or $100.
Most advertisers let keywords spend far beyond their target CPA before reviewing performance.
Negating is not the best solution here, optimizing bids is.
All Non-Converting Terms
Perhaps the most damaging practice is negating every search term that hasn't generated a sale within a certain timeframe.
Advertisers will simply set a filter for “Sales = $0,” then negate anything that comes up.
This will likely eliminate you from a lot of relevant search queries, limiting the reach and conversion potential of your campaigns.
The Proper Way to Negate Keywords
So what should your criteria be for negating keywords? There are really only two legitimate reasons for negating keywords:
Irrelevant:
The search term must be genuinely irrelevant to your product. If you sell tennis rackets and you see terms like “soccer ball” and “juggling pins” showing up in your campaigns, these can safely be negated.
Volume:
The search term should have sufficient volume to warrant negation. If something has very low search volume, only getting clicked once every so often, negating these terms is less likely to make a substantial impact on the performance of your campaigns.
If a term is both irrelevant and getting volume, it will likely be a big offender and negation is justified.
Ways to Identify Potential Negative Keywords
Below are some quick filters that can help you identify potential terms for negating.
Conversion Rate Analysis
Look for terms with a conversion rate 50-80% lower than your product’s average
Example: If you typically convert at 10%, investigate terms converting at 3% or lower to find potentially irrelevant queries coming through and ruining your performance
Click Threshold Analysis
Consider your Average Clicks to Conversion (ACTC)
Look for terms with 2-3x more clicks than your average without conversions
Factor in your target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Review these items for relevance - If they are relevant, harvest. If they are not, negate.
Conclusion
Negative keywords should be used surgically, not as a broad cost-cutting tool.
Most performance issues stem from bid management problems rather than keyword relevance.
By focusing on truly irrelevant terms and maintaining a thoughtful, manual review process, you can maintain healthy campaign performance while avoiding the pitfalls of over-negation.
Only negate it if:
The search term is not relevant to the product you are advertising
The search term is worth less than the minimum possible bid
You decide to harvest a term & negate it for better control/isolation
You are negating to segment campaign level data (i.e. segmenting brand and non-brand campaigns)
Otherwise…optimize your bids.