Amazon Negative Keywords: How to Cut Wasted Ad Spend Without Losing Sales
Negative keywords are the cheapest way to cut wasted Amazon ad spend: they stop your ads from showing on searches that click but don't buy. Used carelessly, they can also block searches that would have sold. This guide covers how negatives work, Amazon's own rules of thumb, and a simple weekly routine, based on Amazon Ads' published guidance.
What negative targeting does
According to Amazon Ads' guide to targeting with Sponsored Products, negative keywords "help prevent ads appearing on shopping results pages that do not meet your campaign objectives," which can help improve click-through rate (CTR), return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost per click (CPC). Amazon's keyword targeting guide says you can add negative keywords to Sponsored Products automatic, product and keyword targeting campaigns, and to Sponsored Brands keyword targeting campaigns, at the campaign or ad group level.
There are also negative product targets (ASINs and brands). Amazon's example: if a camera lens ad appears next to a camera it doesn't fit, adding that camera as a negative ASIN stops the ad from showing there.
Amazon's rules of thumb in one table
| Rule or recommendation | Amazon Ads guidance |
|---|---|
| Recommended negative match types | Negative phrase and negative exact |
| Negative phrase | Blocks queries that contain the complete phrase or close variations |
| Negative exact | Blocks queries that are the exact phrase or close variations |
| Where negatives work | Sponsored Products automatic, product and keyword targeting; Sponsored Brands keyword targeting |
| Level | Campaign or ad group |
| Data before negating a keyword | At least 20 clicks |
| Time before changing strategy | Let negatives run two weeks or more |
| Auto campaign before building manual | About two weeks |
Sources: Amazon Ads targeting guide, keyword targeting guide and keyword strategy article.
Negative phrase vs negative exact
- Use negative exact when one specific search wastes money but related searches work. Example: you sell an iPhone 16 case and the search "iphone 15 case" gets clicks but no orders. Negating it exactly blocks just that search.
- Use negative phrase when a word signals the wrong shopper in any search. Amazon's own example: for a luxury product, terms like "cheap" or "inexpensive" are likely not relevant.
- Be careful with short phrases. A negative phrase like "case" would block almost everything for a case seller. The shorter the phrase, the more it blocks.
How to decide what to negate
Start from the Search Term Report. Amazon recommends adding terms "from your Search Term Report that aren't driving results," and evaluating a keyword "after it has received at least 20 clicks" before negating it. That threshold protects you from cutting a search after a few unlucky clicks.
A simple way to see the cost (illustration, not real data): if a search term has 20 clicks at an average CPC of $1.20 and zero orders, it has cost $24 with nothing to show. Calculation: 20 × $1.20 = $24. Use your own CPC and conversion rate; if your product usually converts at 10%, 20 clicks with no sale is a stronger signal than for a product that converts at 3%.
Good candidates for negatives, per Amazon's guide:
- Low-performing keywords and shopping terms you don't want to appear against.
- Low-performing ASINs, ASINs you don't want to appear on, and non-complementary ASINs.
- Searches for products you don't sell: wrong model, size, material or use case.
A weekly routine
- Download the Search Term Report for the last 14–30 days.
- Filter for terms with 20+ clicks and zero orders, or ACoS far above your target.
- Check each term against your product: irrelevant → negate; relevant but expensive → lower the bid instead (see our bidding strategies).
- Choose exact or phrase match deliberately; prefer exact when unsure.
- When a manual campaign converts well on a search term, add it as exact there and consider negating it in the auto campaign so the two don't compete.
- Log every negative with the date, and wait two weeks before judging the change.
- Review the list monthly. Amazon notes negatives are "not a permanent action, you can always remove them."
Common mistakes
- Negating your own brand name or core category terms because of one bad week.
- Adding broad, short negative phrases that silently kill traffic.
- Negating at campaign level when only one ad group has the problem.
- Never revisiting old negatives after a listing, price or season changes.
Negatives are one part of efficiency; see also how to lower ACoS.
How Atronia Innovations helps
Our ad team reviews search terms, negatives and bids every week as part of Channel Takeover, so budget goes to searches that sell. We have managed over $10M in ad spend. See our pricing or request an ad account review.
