Amazon PPC Negative Keywords: Stop Wasting Ad Spend

Every click on your Amazon PPC ad costs money. When someone searches "free yoga mat" and clicks your £25 yoga mat ad, you've paid for a click that will never convert. Negative keywords prevent this.

What Are Negative Keywords?

Negative keywords tell Amazon: "Don't show my ad when someone includes this word in their search." They come in two types:

• +Negative Exact: Blocks the exact phrase only. "free yoga mat" is blocked, but "yoga mat free shipping" is not.
• +Negative Phrase: Blocks any search containing that phrase. Adding "free" as a negative phrase blocks "free yoga mat", "yoga mat free", and "get free yoga mat".

Most sellers should use negative phrase match for their negatives — it's broader and catches more irrelevant traffic.

The Starter List (Add These Immediately)

These terms almost never convert for product sellers. Add them as negative phrase keywords to all your campaigns on day one:

Information seekers: how to, what is, tutorial, guide, instructions, manual, review, reviews, compare, comparison, vs, versus, alternative, alternatives, reddit, forum, blog

Price-sensitive: free, cheap, cheapest, discount, coupon, deal, clearance, wholesale, bulk pricing, used, refurbished, second hand, pre-owned

Non-buyers: jobs, career, hiring, salary, DIY, homemade, recipe, repair, fix, return, refund, complaint

Irrelevant modifiers: download, PDF, template, printable, image, photo, picture, video, wallpaper, drawing, clip art

Finding Your Own Negative Keywords

Go to Amazon Seller Central > Advertising > Campaign Manager > Reports. Download your Search Term Report. Sort by spend (highest first). Look for search terms where you've spent money but generated zero sales, or where your ACoS is above 100%.

Common patterns you'll find: - Brand names of competitors you can't compete with - Product variations you don't sell (wrong size, wrong colour) - Related but different products ("yoga mat bag" when you sell yoga mats) - Information queries from people researching, not buying

How Often to Review

Check your search term report weekly for the first month, then fortnightly once your campaigns stabilise. Every review should result in: - New negative keywords added (terms with high spend, zero sales) - New keyword opportunities discovered (terms converting well that you're not explicitly targeting) - Bid adjustments on keywords that are over or under-performing

The Impact

Sellers who actively manage negative keywords typically see a 20-30% improvement in ACoS within the first month. That's not a small optimisation — on £1,000/month ad spend, that's £200-£300 saved or reinvested into keywords that actually convert.

The Easy Approach

When you generate PPC campaigns with ListingForge, negative keywords are included automatically. The AI identifies irrelevant terms based on your product and adds them to each campaign structure. But the starter list above works for any product in any category — add them today.