How to Find Negative Keywords for Amazon FBA (Step-by-Step Guide)

Running Amazon ads but not seeing the returns you expected? You’re not alone.

One of the biggest reasons Amazon sellers struggle with high ad spend and low conversions is poor keyword targeting. It mainly shows ads for searches that don't match buyer intent.

While most sellers focus heavily on finding the right keywords, they often overlook the essential strategy of eliminating the wrong ones. It is where negative keywords in Amazon PPC come into play.

Negative keywords help you stop your ads from appearing in irrelevant searches, ensuring your budget is spent only on high-intent customers.

Without them, your campaigns can attract unqualified clicks, drain your budget, and increase your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) without generating meaningful results.

In this blog, we will explore what negative keywords are in Amazon PPC and why they matter for Amazon FBA.

We will also discuss how to identify negative keywords for Amazon FBA, their types, and how to optimize Amazon PPC with them.

Start reading!

What Are Negative Keywords in Amazon PPC?

Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant search queries, helping you avoid incurring costs for clicks that won't lead to conversions.

These keywords on Amazon serve as barriers, stopping your ads from being displayed to the wrong audience. When you promote your products, you want them to show up only when someone is interested.

It serves as a strong tool that enhances the effectiveness of your campaigns. When developing your negative keyword list, it's crucial to be as precise as possible.

Additionally, ensure your list remains current, as new expressions and terms gain popularity with time.  

Why Negative Keywords Matter for Amazon FBA Sellers?

Sellers using Amazon FBA understand that every dollar invested in advertising needs to perform effectively to generate sales. However, without proper targeting, a significant portion of your advertising budget may be wasted.

That's the role of negative keywords and why they are essential for anyone managing Amazon PPC campaigns.

1. Reduce Wasted Ad Spend

A major drawback of Amazon advertising is the cost of clicks that don't result in sales. If your ads appear for unrelated searches, you could attract people who don't plan to purchase your product.

Incorporating negative keywords prevents your ads from appearing in irrelevant searches, preserving your budget for your essential customers.

2. Improve Campaign Relevance and Click-Through Rates (CTR)

The more aligned your ads are with a shopper's intentions, the higher your click-through rate and the greater the chance that those clicks will lead to sales.

Negative keyword targeting helps filter out audiences that are not a good fit for your product. It lets you focus on shoppers most likely to buy.

Increased Amazon CTRs indicate relevance to the platform algorithm and can also reduce your cost-per-click (CPC) while enhancing your ad positioning.

3. Boost Return on Investment (ROI) and Lower ACoS

Ad campaigns minimize irrelevant clicks and concentrate on high-converting searches. It generally helps you achieve a significantly improved return on investment.

By excluding underperforming search terms, you focus your advertising budget on keywords that generate sales.

It leads to a reduced Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) and enhanced profitability for your Amazon FBA store.

4. Fine-Tune Audience Targeting

Negative keywords give you greater control over the audience that sees your ads. With Amazon's negative product targeting, you can stop your ads from appearing for specific ASINs or categories that don't align well with your products.

This level of accuracy ensures your ads reach the right audience, increasing the likelihood of turning impressions into sales.

5. Support Ongoing Optimization

Amazon's marketplace and search patterns are continually changing. Regularly reviewing your search term reports and refreshing your negative keyword list helps you avoid unnecessary expenses. It also helps maintain the efficiency of your campaigns over time.

These are not merely a one-time configuration; they are essential for sustaining and expanding effective Amazon PPC campaigns.

Types of Negative Keywords in Amazon PPC

Understanding the difference in the “negative phrase vs negative exact amazon” approach is crucial for effective keyword targeting.
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Negative keywords enable you to stop your ads from showing up for particular and unrelated search terms. It ensures your advertising budget targets customers with genuine buying intent.  

Keyword match types provide improved control over directing your ads towards particular custom search phrases.

1. Negative Exact Match: Your advertisement will not show if the buyer's search exactly matches the keyword. It is ideal for preventing particular search terms that consistently do not lead to conversions.
For instance, if you sell organic green tea and include “black tea” as a negative exact keyword, your advertisements won’t appear when a user searches specifically for “black tea”. They might still show up for "organic black tea bags".

2. Negative Phrase Match: Your advertisement will not show if the buyer's search includes the complete phrase in that exact sequence. It is ideal for preventing wider unrelated subjects.

3. Negative Product Targeting (ASIN or Category Level)

Amazon lets you remove specific products (ASINs) or entire product categories from your Sponsored Product and Sponsored Display campaigns. It is referred to as negative product targeting.

For example, if you see that your ads often appear next to a rival’s item or in an unrelated category, you can include their ASIN or that category as a negative target. It prevents wasting impressions and clicks on buyers who are unlikely to make a purchase.

Integrating negative phrases, negative exact matches, and negative product targeting enables detailed control over ad placement. This multi-tiered strategy effectively prevents irrelevant searches, enabling you to target valuable audiences. It enhances your Amazon PPC campaigns for optimal ROI.

Step-by-Step: How to Find Negative Keywords for Amazon FBA?

Incorporating negative keywords into your Amazon PPC campaigns is crucial for minimizing unnecessary ad spend and improving your ad effectiveness.

Here’s a detailed guide to help you identify and add the right negative keywords to your campaigns:

Step 1. Analyze Search Term Reports

The Amazon PPC Search Term Report is essential for identifying which search terms are draining your budget without providing effective results.

Start by accessing your Seller Central account, then go to the Advertising section and choose Campaign Manager.

Download the Search Term Report for your selected campaign or ad group and specified date range.

While reviewing, identify terms that have many impressions or clicks but very few, or no, sales. You must mark irrelevant or persistently low-performing terms as prime candidates for negative keywords.

How to Download and Review:

   • Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
   • Navigate to the Advertising tab > Campaign Manager.
   • Choose the campaign or ad group you want to analyze.
   • Download the Search Term Report for the desired date range.

Identifying Irrelevant or Low-Converting Terms:

   • Go through the list of keywords that activated your advertisements.
   • Search for keywords that have many impressions or clicks but little to no sales.
   • Identify terms that are not related to your products or consistently do not result in conversions.
   • These are excellent candidates for negative keywords.

Step 2. Use an Amazon Negative Keywords Tool

Various tools can help in automating the search for negative keywords. Suggested choices comprise Helium 10, Jungle Scout, Sellics, and Viral Launch. Amazon's Campaign Manager additionally offers keyword recommendations.

Upload your reports or link your account, then apply filters to highlight terms with significant expenditure but low conversion rates.

Numerous tools can automatically recommend negative keywords, simplifying the process of exporting and integrating them into your campaigns.  

Recommended Tools and Software:

   • Helium 10
   • Jungle Scout
   • Sellics
   • Viral Launch

How to Use These Tools for Research:

   • Upload your search term reports or link your Amazon account.
   • Use the tool's filters to highlight terms with weak performance metrics.
   • Some tools automatically recommend negative keywords based on the data from your campaign.
   • Export the list and incorporate it into your Amazon PPC campaigns.

Step 3. Manual Research and Brainstorming

Expertise and instinct are crucial for identifying downsides that data might overlook. Analyze rival listings within your industry to pinpoint keywords or characteristics that are irrelevant to your offering.

Explore variations, styles, or uses that could draw in unrelated visitors.

Reviewing Competitor Listings:

   • Examine rival offerings within your market segment.
   • Make a note of keywords or product characteristics that are not relevant to your product.
   • Consider different versions, styles, or applications that could appeal to the intended audience.

Listing Out Possible Irrelevant Queries:

   • Generate keywords that might activate your advertisements but won’t result in a purchase.

Step 4. Leverage Amazon Intended Use Keywords

Amazon recommends keywords according to your product’s intended purpose.

Examine these recommendations and avoid use of any applications, target groups, or characteristics that don’t align with your real product.

Incorporating these as negative keywords will help in stopping your ads from appearing for irrelevant searches.

Identify Keywords that Don’t Match Your Product’s Use:

   • Review the auto-suggested keywords Amazon provides for your product listing.
   • Eliminate any applications, target groups, or characteristics that do not correspond with your genuine product.
   • Add these as negative keywords to avoid irrelevant traffic.

Step 5. Monitor and Update Regularly

Managing negative keywords is a continuous process. Plan to review your Search Term Reports consistently to track unnecessary expenses and emerging trends.

Regularly incorporate new negative keywords as you discover them. Remove any that might be affecting valuable traffic as your product and market change.

Ongoing Optimization Process:

   • Schedule consistent evaluations of your Search Term Reports.
   • Track campaign effectiveness to reduce unnecessary expenditures.
   • Regularly incorporate additional negative keywords when you identify emerging trends or unrelated searches.

Step 6. How to Add Negative Keywords in Amazon PPC Campaigns?

Once you have identified irrelevant or low-performing search terms, the next step is to add them as negative keywords in your campaign. It ensures your ads stop appearing for unqualified searches and helps improve overall targeting efficiency.

Follow these steps to add negative keywords in Amazon Seller Central:

   • Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account
   • Navigate to the Advertising tab and select Campaign Manager
   • Choose the campaign where you want to add negative keywords
   • Select the ad group (if you want to apply negative keywords at the ad group level)
   • Click on the Negative Keywords tab
   • Choose the match type
   • Enter your negative keywords and save changes

How to Use Negative Keyword Targeting Effectively?

Negative keywords can help advertisers better target their audience by preventing ads from appearing in irrelevant searches. It enables sellers to refine their ad placements and avoid showing their ads to unrelated searches.

By identifying search terms that don't relate to your products, you ensure your ads don't appear in inappropriate contexts. The focused method helps your advertising finances and enhances campaign efficiency.  

Here are key strategies and best practices to help you get the most out of negative keywords:

1. Start with a Solid Foundation

Start by adding clear negative keywords when you launch your campaign.

Take into account variations of products, rival brands, different types of products, or applications that are not relevant to your offering.

For example, when you sell “men’s running shoes,” omit words such as “women’s,” “children’s,” or “formal shoes.”

2. Use Both Negative Phrase and Negative Exact Match

Use both categories of negative keywords to refine your targeting. Negative phrase matching helps prevent frequent irrelevant search queries.

On the other hand, a negative exact match enables you to eliminate particular, non-converting terms. Integrating both provides you with detailed control and avoids repetition.

3. Regularly Analyze Search Term Reports

Check your Search Term Reports weekly or, at a minimum, monthly. Identify new, unrelated, or low-performing terms that have begun activating your ads. Quickly incorporate these as negatives to avoid unnecessary expenses.

4. Refine over Time

Negative keyword targeting requires ongoing management. While your campaigns are active, buyer habits, trends, and product offerings evolve.

Regularly update your negative keyword list by adding new negatives and removing those that block essential traffic.

5. Segment Negative Keywords by Campaign/Ad Group

Set negative keywords at the appropriate level, whether it's campaign or ad group, based on your structure and objectives.

Use campaign-level negative keywords for general exclusions and ad group-level negative keywords for precise targeting, mainly in themed ad groups.

6. Don’t Over-Exclude

Although it's crucial to exclude unrelated searches, exercise caution not to incorporate excessive negative keywords. Over-exclusion may restrict your audience and hinder campaign expansion. Consistently evaluate performance and make necessary adjustments.

7. Use Negative Product Targeting

For Sponsored Products or Sponsored Display campaigns, use negative product targeting to exclude specific ASINs or categories to prevent unqualified traffic. It is especially helpful for avoiding rival goods or irrelevant categories.

8. Monitor Performance and Adjust Quickly

Monitor your PPC metrics closely after including or modifying negative keywords. If you observe a decrease in impressions or conversions, revisit your negatives. You must ensure you’re not affecting valuable traffic.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are crucial for improving your Amazon FBA performance, but improper use can do more harm than good.

Stay aware of these common mistakes to keep your campaigns successful:

1. Overusing Negative Keywords

Incorporating excessive negative keywords significantly restricts your ad exposure. Blocking too many terms can exclude potential buyers and miss out on sales opportunities.

Always check if a keyword is genuinely insignificant before designating it as negative.

2. Applying Negatives at the Wrong Level

Amazon lets you set negative keywords at the campaign and ad group levels.

Adding a negative keyword too broadly at the campaign level may prevent relevant traffic from reaching specific ad groups or products. Be purposeful regarding the placement of each negative.

3. Neglecting Regular Updates

Neglecting to revise and refresh your list of negative keywords regularly may lead to wasted advertising budget or missed targeting opportunities.

Regularly review your Search Term Reports and adjust your negative keywords as your campaigns develop.

4. Not Using Both Negative Phrase and Negative Exact Matches

Some sellers depend solely on a single kind of negative match. Negative phrases and exact negative matches offer distinct advantages.

The phrase matches prevent any search that includes your phrase, whereas exact matches solely restrict the specific term.

Employing both enables enhanced control and efficiency.

5. Accidentally Blocking Profitable Keywords

It's easy to exclude keywords that seem unproductive but actually perform well, mistakenly.

Always review performance metrics before including a term as negative. Not using a lucrative keyword can lead to a drop in sales and a decline in overall campaign effectiveness.

6. Ignoring Negative Product Targeting

Negative product targeting, which involves excluding certain ASINs or categories, is frequently ignored.

If specific products or categories repeatedly generate unqualified clicks, apply negative product targeting to stop your ads from appearing with them.

7. Failing to Adapt to Market Changes

Amazon's marketplace is always changing. Consumer habits, trends, and competitor activities may change over time.

Failing to adjust your negative keyword approach to these shifts may lead to ongoing budget waste or missed opportunities. Remain proactive and frequently evaluate your campaign approach.

Pro Tips to Optimize Amazon PPC with Negative Keywords

Understanding negative keywords is a great way to improve your Amazon PPC campaign results.

You should find low-performing keywords and set them as negative. Here’s how to locate these keywords:

   • Keywords that do not convert and have a low click-through rate (CTR).
   • High-ad-spend keywords that do not convert.
   • High-click keywords that do not convert.

It’s best to have a lower ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) and higher sales. If you lose this balance, look for keywords with high click-through rates but little to no sales.

Monitor them over time and add the underperforming keywords to your campaign's negative keywords.

Here are some expert strategies to help you get the most out of negative keyword targeting:

1. Review Search Term Reports Frequently

Don’t wait until your ad budget runs low to take action. Check your Search Term Reports at least once a week, especially after launching new campaigns or products.

You can quickly spot irrelevant or underperforming search queries that should be marked as negative.

2. Segment Campaigns for Granular Control

Organize your campaigns and ad groups around specific themes or product categories. It makes it easier to apply relevant negative keywords at the ad group level.

It helps avoid overlap and ensures each group targets a specific audience without competing for the same traffic.

3. Use Both Negative Phrase and Exact Match Types

Use both negative phrases and exact negative matches to sharpen your targeting.

Implement negative phrases to block broad, recurring, irrelevant queries, and negative exact matches for terms that are unprofitable or irrelevant in specific situations.

4. Exclude Brand and Competitor Terms

Unless you’re targeting competitor brands, add their names and related terms as negatives. It keeps your ads from showing up for shoppers looking for products you don’t offer or don’t want to compete with. It also allows you to save your budget for more relevant searches.

5. Utilize Negative Product Targeting

In Sponsored Products and Sponsored Display campaigns, leverage negative product targeting.
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Exclude specific ASINs or entire categories that consistently attract unqualified traffic or yield low conversion rates. It helps avoid wasting impressions and clicks on irrelevant placements.

6. Monitor Seasonal Trends and Update Accordingly

Consumer behavior and search trends often change throughout the year. During peak seasons or after launching promotions, stay alert for new search terms that may come up. You may add new negatives as needed to keep your campaigns efficient.

7. Refine List Regularly Don’t Set and Forget

Your market, product line, and customer behavior change over time. Set a schedule to review your negative keyword list regularly, removing any that are no longer relevant and adding new ones as you find them. This ongoing refinement keeps your campaigns effective.

8. Be Cautious with Broad Exclusions

Avoid overly broad negative keywords that might block valuable variations or long-tail searches. Always check how a negative keyword affects your total impressions and conversions before making it permanent.

9. Track Performance after Changes

Every time you add or remove negative keywords, watch your campaign metrics closely. Look for changes in impressions, click-through rates, and conversions to ensure your adjustments are making the impact you want.

10. Use Automation Tools Wisely

Consider using Amazon PPC management tools or third-party software to help automate the identification and application of negative keywords.

These tools can save time and spot trends you might miss, but always review suggested changes to ensure they fit your campaign goals.

Best Amazon Negative Keywords Tools

Finding and managing Amazon PPC negative keywords manually can take time and lead to mistakes. That’s where specialized negative keyword tools come in.

The right software can automate data analysis, uncover wasted ad spend, and help you implement smarter keyword targeting strategies, making your campaigns more efficient and profitable.

1. Helium 10 (Ads + Cerebro + Magnet)

Helium 10 is a complete platform for Amazon sellers, covering everything from keyword research to PPC optimization. Its Ads tool tracks and analyzes your PPC performance, while Cerebro and Magnet provide deep keyword insights.

Helium 10 identifies high-spend, low-conversion search terms, highlights irrelevant keyword variations, and enables bulk negative keyword implementation.

It is ideal for sellers who want a data-driven way to filter out poor-performing keywords as they grow their business.

2. Jungle Scout (Keyword Scout + PPC Tools)  

Jungle Scout is known for its user-friendly interface and robust keyword tracking. Its tools make it easy to identify low-converting and irrelevant keywords, spot mismatches in keyword intent, and make informed optimization decisions.

Jungle Scout is perfect for sellers looking for an intuitive platform that still delivers powerful keyword data.

3. Sellics  

Now integrated into the Perpetua ecosystem, Sellics focuses on automation and AI-driven PPC management.

The tool automatically detects underperforming search terms, suggests and applies negative keywords, and optimizes campaigns based on your performance goals.

Sellics is a good option for scaling businesses looking to reduce manual work and automate.

4. Perpetua  

Perpetua is a premium, AI-powered platform designed for sellers looking to automate and optimize their Amazon advertising.
It uses AI to spot wasted ad spend and automatically applies negative keyword targeting.

With real-time optimization and visual performance insights, Perpetua suits advanced sellers who want hands-off, performance-driven campaign management.

5. Zon.Tools  

Zon.Tools specializes in Amazon PPC automation and keyword harvesting. The platform automatically collects your search term data, flags irrelevant or non-converting keywords, and suggests negative keywords to add.

It streamlines campaign management and is ideal for sellers who want a focused PPC tool without the full suite of features.

6. PPC Entourage  

PPC Entourage is designed to simplify keyword harvesting and campaign organization. It helps pinpoint wasteful search terms, supports structured keyword filtering, and improves overall campaign organization.

Sellers who prefer a process-driven approach to managing and optimizing campaigns will find PPC Entourage especially helpful.
Whether you want simple keyword research, advanced automation, or a structured approach to campaign management, these tools can save you time.

It also helps you avoid costly mistakes and run smarter, more profitable Amazon PPC campaigns.

Take Your Amazon PPC Strategy A Step Further with Dotcom Reps!

Improving your use of negative keywords is one of the most effective ways to enhance the performance of your Amazon PPC campaigns.

By identifying and excluding irrelevant or low-converting search terms, you can significantly reduce wasted ad spend, improve your campaign's ROI, and ensure your ads reach the most qualified shoppers.

You must analyze search term reports manually, using advanced tools, or refining your strategy over time. Following a proactive approach to negative keyword management will give your Amazon business an edge over the competition.

At Dotcom Reps, we help Amazon sellers scale faster with data-driven PPC strategies and expert campaign management.

Reach out to Dotcom Reps today for a personalized Amazon advertising strategy that maximizes your results!

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