How does the Negative Keyword function work?

The negative keyword function allows you to set rules that can trigger search terms to be added to the negative target list.

First off, you need to understand the difference between keywords/targets and search terms in the world of Amazon PPC.

Keywords - This is the target word phrase that you want to bid for. You can decide how tightly you want to bid for the keyword using the 3 match types available (Broad/Phrase/Exact)

Search Term - This is the query that the Amazon customer used to match your keyword. If the keyword's match type is exact, the customer query and your keyword will be the same.

So in situations where the keyword and customer query are NOT the same, there lies an opportunity to gather more relevant keywords to expand your visibility.

In SellerMetrics, we find poor-performing keywords to be added to a blacklist by setting negative keywords/target rules. If a search term triggers the rule, our system would deal with the search term either by:

Displaying it on the Negative Keyword screen
Automatically added to the destination ad group's negative target list by SellerMetrics (if the automate toggle is on)

*Please note, search term level data can only be gathered from the following campaign types as the source campaigns (the campaign of where the search term is gathered)

Sponsored Product - Auto
Sponsored Product - PAT
Sponsored Product - Keywords
Sponsored Brands - Keywords
Sponsored Brands Video - Keyword

Create Negative Rule

Click on the "+" button under the Negative Keyword Rule column. An add negative keyword rule pop-up will appear.

Enter a name for the rule.

Select the destination campaign, then the destination ad group. If you select more than one ad group, it would mean that the search term will be added multiple times.

Enter the Rule Threshold - You are required to enter the Click threshold, this threshold will be used to trigger the search terms with 0 orders and the click threshold you set.

Automation Toggle - this toggle, when enabled, will allow the system to automatically add your search term into your destination ad group's negative list once the threshold has been triggered. If disabled, the triggered search term will appear on the Negative Keyword screen.

Keyword/ASIN - Select keywords for the rule to trigger for keywords like search terms, select ASIN for ASINs or ISBNs that have triggered the threshold rules.

Adding Negative Keywords on an Ad Hoc Basis

On the other hand, you can also add a search term as a negative under the "Analytics" >> "Search Term" screen.

And add a search term as a negative by click on the "Action" drop-down and selecting "Add Negative Keyword"