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Amazon PPC - Unpopular Opinion about Negative Keywords

Published on July 15, 2020

About this video

In this video, we share our views on another way of using negative keywords.

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Transcript

hi everyone this is Jelena from Amazonia PBC and today I'm going to talk to you about a little unpopular opinion about negative keywords and how which approach you should take when you're using them any counts we have an old video on our channel I think it was last year's video that shares the methodology how you determine which keywords a good candidates to be added to negatives and excluded as such enrich match types and methodology how you add them to your account in order to make savings on PPC but since we are taking into consideration the latest changes in the amazon's advertising interface and all the things the new features that they have introduced the role of these features and their complexity changes a little bit and understanding of how you should use them so recently I had a discussion with my team that I wanted to share with you today regarding negative keywords and their usage in the accounts so hopefully you will listen to this opinion let me know what you think in the comment section below whether you think we are right or wrong I'm very eager to hear other people's experiences as well so lately what we our team members have been complaining about is the basically the the impact of negative keywords that's been too restrictive if you're being too restrictive in the account you're using a negative phrase way too often or just based on the type of how many clicks they have generated with no sales then you're definitely at risk putting your account out of good quality traffic and that's what we've been doing recently shifting over from using you know negatives as a way of saving money to the paradigm of using negative keywords in order to tell Amazon what your product is not so that's difference in approach basically using negative keywords in a way to save money it's going to be something that you can learn now you can rarely ever anymore simply because Amazon has become so good in recognizing what the product what customers will click on which product and predictive mechanisms that they have have become so accurate right now that you no longer need to retroactively Lee exclude some keywords and if you do then you're probably going to deprive yourself of good quality traffic simply because you use the different negative mesh type or you just based on the number of clicks that didn't convert added into negatives this is something that we now consider a too restrictive approach and we usually only add negatives in the beginning of the campaign set up for example when you're doing keyword research and then you go through each keyword see the search volume all these details decide which given you will target in which which things you're basically what you decide on is what your product is and what your product isn't and you use keyword targeting to tell the amazon's algorithm okay this is what my product is it's mostly it's most effectively done through longtail keywords and when it comes to negative keywords you basically tell the amazon's system amazon's algorithm this is what my product isn't so okay so basically doing the keyword research phase when we determine what keywords are willing to target and what our product definitely is we also set aside a list of negative keywords which is like a master list of keywords telling the amazon system okay this would this is what the product isn't okay and basically this helps us increase the relevancy of our product listing especially at the beginning when we are launching some ranking campaigns that are aimed towards getting your product on the first page of the search results especially organically so that's that's what helps us really increase the relevancy of the listing and make sure that our listing is being shown only in front of the customers who have clear understanding what the product is searching for keywords that can easily explain that so that's the kind of thing that works with the niche products where you have very high definition of functionalities of the products features and all these things and benefits of using them but when it comes to some products where there's this strong I would say statical category where conversion rates really depend highly depend on the customers taste and whether they like you know red coasters or yellow coasters but they're like this saying or that saying on the coasters then it's very hard to predict what the product isn't right and it's hard to describe it in keywords so in these cases where we don't have a niche product when we advertise for something that's more like a general nature then we will use negative keywords as a protective measure in order to save money in the account through PPC so how do we do this we have added an additional layer of deciding how to add negatives whether that something truly is a candidate a keyword truly is a candidate for being excluded through negative keywords that is high number of clicks no sales are very expensive sales and at the same time low click-through rate the reason for this and of course if you have a high number of clicks and low number of sales then that definitely easily means that conversion rate is low and it also means that on a certain keyword we're doing this on a keyword level so conversion rate low is low on that keyword and also the click to rate is low on that keyword if conversion rate and click-through rate are bad on a keyword then this keyword is definitely killing you of performance for some reason then this is the kind of trajectory we take in order to let some keywords that drive our attention and then once it has our attention we of course use if you are not in the USA and you're selling in the USA market you have to use VPN to look at results the way they are the customers are seeing so go to the arrows now come for example and then search for that keyword and see what the results are like and basically the first page results organic ones are going to give you the answer to why your click-through rates are so low if you only know where to look so look on the competitors listings and learn from them if there's something you can do differently with this keyword instead of adding it to negatives then for sure that's something to do you can either bet it down or pause it it's still going to be something you can easily kind of like resurrect from the post keywords if it becomes relevant in the future and you should only consider adding it to negatives if it really is a combination it's it's like a killer combo bad stuff for your listing so that's the kind of approach we now take with negative keywords and I'm looking forward to hear your opinion of this and your experience with using negative keywords thank you for watching and have a lovely day

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between using negative keywords to save money versus using them to define what your product is not?

The traditional approach treats negative keywords as a reactive cost-saving tool: you review the search term report, find clicks that did not convert, and add those terms as negatives. The more strategic approach uses negative keywords proactively at the start of a campaign to communicate product relevance to Amazon's algorithm. By defining what your product is not at launch, you help Amazon index your listing correctly and avoid spending the early campaign period showing up in irrelevant searches. This is especially effective during ranking campaigns where relevance signals matter most for organic placement.

Can over-negating an Amazon PPC account actually hurt performance?

Yes. Amazon's predictive algorithm has become significantly more accurate at matching ads to purchase intent, which means that many search terms that generate clicks without immediate conversions are still providing quality signals that help the algorithm learn. Aggressively excluding terms based on a small number of clicks strips the campaign of traffic that Amazon would have otherwise filtered toward likely conversions over time. The result can be a campaign that spends less but also reaches far fewer qualified shoppers because its traffic pool has been artificially narrowed.

What is the threshold for adding a keyword to negatives based on performance data?

A keyword should not be negated based on one, two, or even a handful of clicks. The more reliable signal is the combination of three conditions: a high number of clicks with no sales, a low click-through rate, and a low or zero conversion rate all on the same keyword. When all three are present, it suggests the keyword is genuinely misaligned with your product rather than simply unlucky with a small data sample. If a keyword has poor conversion but a reasonable click-through rate, the problem may be in the listing rather than the keyword, and negating it solves the wrong problem.

Before negating a low-performing keyword, what should I check first?

Search for that keyword in Amazon using an incognito browser and look at the first page organic results. If the page is full of products that look nothing like yours, the keyword is genuinely irrelevant and negating it is appropriate. If the products on the first page are similar to yours but your listing looks significantly weaker in terms of pricing, images, reviews, or relevance, the problem is not the keyword but the listing itself. In that case, a bid reduction or a pause is preferable to a permanent negative, because the keyword could become profitable once the listing improves.

When should negative keywords be set proactively at campaign setup rather than added reactively later?

Proactive negatives are most valuable for niche products with a very clear definition of what they are and are not. If your product is a specific type of supplement for a specific use, you can identify at setup the broad categories, competing product types, or unrelated use cases that would attract irrelevant traffic. Adding those as negative phrase matches before any spend occurs prevents wasted clicks during the early campaign period when the algorithm is still learning. For general, taste-dependent, or broadly applicable products, the product definition is harder to pin down and reactive negating based on performance data becomes more necessary.

Should I use negative exact match or negative phrase match, and what is the difference?

Negative exact match blocks your ad only when a shopper types that precise term with no additional words. Negative phrase match blocks your ad whenever that phrase appears anywhere within a search query. Negative phrase match is more powerful and more broadly protective, but also carries a higher risk of accidentally blocking related terms that might still be relevant. For irrelevant broad categories, negative phrase match is appropriate. For specific terms that are only problematic in their exact form, negative exact match gives you more surgical control without over-blocking adjacent searches.