What is a good negative keyword strategy on Amazon?
Run negatives weekly using two rules: negative-exact any search term with 10+ clicks and zero orders, and negative-phrase any recurring irrelevant modifier (free, cheap, competitor brand names when you cannot rank). Applied consistently, this cuts 15% to 30% of wasted spend within 60 days without hurting sales.
Negative-exact vs negative-phrase
Use negative-exact for specific unconverting terms you have proven waste money. Use negative-phrase for modifiers you know are always off-target ('free', 'cheap', 'kids' if you sell adult items, competitor brand names when you cannot legally target them). Negative-phrase is a scalpel with a wide blade; test one at a time.
The weekly workflow
Pull the search term report for the last 14 days. Sort by clicks descending. Any term with 10+ clicks and zero orders becomes a negative-exact on the ad group that served it. Any modifier that recurs across many terms becomes a negative-phrase at campaign level.
Guardrails
Never negative your own branded terms. Never negative competitor terms in categories where you legally can bid. Never negative a term after 3 clicks; the sample is too small.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use campaign or ad-group negatives?
Ad-group for term-specific negatives. Campaign-level for modifiers that are universally off-target.
Can negatives hurt my ranking?
No. Negatives only prevent your ad from showing on specific queries; they do not affect organic rank.
How many negatives is too many?
There is no hard cap that hurts performance, but past a few hundred negatives per campaign, maintenance gets messy. Consolidate similar modifiers into phrase negatives.
Does Nova generate negative keywords?
No. Nova reports ad spend at SKU level. Keyword tuning happens in Amazon Ads console or a bid tool.
See this in Nova
Nova surfaces this metric per SKU in near real time so you can act before your next monthly close catches it.
Try Nova free for 14 daysRelated questions
How do I read the Amazon search term report?
The search term report shows every actual shopper query that triggered your ad, plus clicks, spend, and orders per term. Sort by spend descending and look for two patterns: terms with high spend and zero orders (negatives), and terms with strong conversion that are not yet in an exact-match campaign (promotion candidates).
How do I audit wasted Amazon ad spend?
A 30-minute weekly audit catches most wasted PPC spend. Pull the search term report for 14 days, negative-out any term with 10+ clicks and zero orders, cut bids on keywords with ACoS 2x above target, and pause any SKU whose product-level ad spend exceeds its net profit for the period.
How do I lower TACoS on Amazon?
Lower TACoS by growing organic sales faster than ad spend. The three levers that move it most are: cut wasted ad spend on non-converting search terms, raise listing conversion rate so ads earn more per click, and build organic rank on branded and long-tail keywords so you buy less of your own traffic.
What is a good ACoS for Amazon PPC?
A good ACoS on Amazon depends on your target margin. Break-even ACoS equals your pre-ad contribution margin (usually 25% to 40%). Profitable ACoS sits 5 to 10 points below that: most private-label brands aim for 15% to 25%. Launch campaigns often run at 40% or higher for the first 30 days on purpose.
How do Amazon PPC bid adjustments work?
Bid adjustments let you multiply your base bid by placement (top of search, rest of search, product pages) and by audience segment. Top-of-search adjustments often move ACoS the most: raising the top-of-search modifier by 50% on a winning campaign can add 20%+ in sales at similar efficiency. Product page adjustments rarely pay off outside of ASIN targeting.