Ever looked at your Amazon PPC spend and thought, “Where did all that money go?”
As an Amazon FBA seller, one of the most frustrating parts of running ads is paying for clicks that never convert. At first, some of those search terms might seem relevant, but they might just be draining your budget. That’s why you need negative keywords.
Negative keywords act like filters. They help you block out the traffic that looks good on paper but doesn’t bring in sales, saving you money and making your ads more focused. But knowing how to find those keywords, especially at scale, is where most sellers get stuck.
In this guide, we’ll learn how to find negative keywords for Amazon FBA.
TL;DR – How to Find Negative Keywords for Amazon FBA
Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of finding negative keywords for Amazon FBA:
- Review your search term reports with FBA costs in mind
- Increase your Amazon keyword sample size data
- Look at a longer time frame
- Eliminate terms that don’t match buyer intent or product fit
- Reduce keyword cannibalization between products
Managing negative keywords effectively can save thousands in wasted ad spend, but doing it right takes time, strategy, and experience.
At IG PPC, we help Amazon FBA sellers like you identify, manage, and optimize negative keywords to protect margins, improve ACoS, and scale profitably.
What Are Negative Keywords on Amazon?
When you run ads on Amazon, you want your products to appear in front of people looking for them. But without some filters, your ads might pop up in searches that have nothing to do with what you’re selling.
A negative keyword is a word or phrase you add to your ad campaign to prevent your ad from appearing in certain search results.
Why is that important? Because every time someone clicks your ad, you get charged, even if they have no intention of buying. Negative keywords help you avoid those wasted clicks and focus your budget on the right audience.
They also make your ads more relevant, improving your click-through rates, conversions, and overall return on ad spend (ROAS).
Common Negative Keyword Examples You Should Know
Negative keywords can vary depending on what you’re selling, but here are some common ones that many sellers use to avoid wasting ad spend:
Words That Suggest a Different Product
These keywords might be close to what you sell, but not quite right.
- If you sell plastic bowls, you might want to exclude “glass bowls” or “metal bowls.”
- If you sell laptop stands, you may want to block “phone stands” or “tablet stands.”
Keywords Related to Free or Cheap Products
If your product is premium, you don’t want to show up in searches from bargain hunters.
- Words like “free,” “cheap,” “discount,” and “budget.”
- If you sell high-end coffee makers, you don’t want your ad to show a “cheap coffee machine.”
Competitor Brand Names (Sometimes)
Unless you’re reselling a known brand or targeting a specific one, showing up in searches for competitor products might not help.
Example: “Nike,” “Apple,” “Dyson” — if you’re not selling those brands, block them out.
Unrelated Variations
Sometimes, Amazon matches your ad with variations that aren’t relevant.
Example: If you sell “white shirts,” your ad might appear for “black shirt” or “blue shirt.” Adding color terms like “black” or “blue” as negatives can help.
Second-Hand or Used Terms
If your products are new, you don’t want to show up for people looking for second-hand items. Examples: “used,” “refurbished,” “second hand.”
These are just a few categories, but they show how negative keywords help focus your ads on the right audience. The more you refine your list, the less you spend on clicks that don’t convert.
Why Negative Keywords Matter in Amazon FBA?
As an FBA seller, your ad budget needs to work for you. Negative keywords quietly protect your campaigns, making sure your money is spent attracting the right customers, not just any clicks.
Here are the benefits of using negative keywords in Amazon FBA:
Smarter Spending
Running Amazon PPC without negative keywords is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. You might be bidding on relevant keywords, but they could trigger your ad in searches that never lead to sales.
Negative keywords help plug those leaks by excluding terms that consistently underperform or don’t apply to your product.
More Qualified Shoppers
With negative keywords, you shift focus toward shoppers who are more likely to buy, people who are actively looking for exactly what you sell.
Instead of appearing in random searches, your ad appears where it matters, helping you attract serious buyers and boost conversion rates.
Better Campaign Health
When your ads appear in the wrong searches too often, people skip them, which affects your click-through rate (CTR).
Amazon notices this and may lower your ad’s visibility overall. Filtering out mismatched search terms and negative keywords keeps your CTR strong and your ads competitive.
Clear Campaign Structure
If you sell multiple products in the same category, your campaigns can accidentally trip over each other. For example, if you’re selling both ceramic and stainless steel mixing bowls, and both campaigns target broad terms like “mixing bowls,” they may end up bidding against each other.
Negative keywords let you guide traffic more intentionally so each product ad appears in the right context without clashing with another one of your listings.
Lower ACoS, Higher ROI
You naturally see better performance when your ads connect with the right shoppers more often. That means a lower Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) and a higher Amazon ROI (return on investment).
Negative keywords help you focus your spending where it counts, leading to more sales without driving up your costs.
Types of Negative Keywords to Use in Amazon Campaigns
When setting up your Amazon PPC campaigns, you’re probably familiar with keyword match types like Broad, Phrase, and Exact for your target keywords.
However, when it comes to negative keywords, Amazon keeps things a bit simpler; there are just two types: Negative Phrase Match and Negative Exact Match.
Let’s break them down:
Negative Phrase Match
A negative phrase match blocks your ad from showing if a customer’s search includes the exact phrase you’ve listed in the same order.
Think of it as telling Amazon, “If someone types this exact phrase, even if it’s part of a longer search, don’t show my ad.”
For example, if you add “stainless steel mixing bowl” as a negative phrase, your ad won’t appear for searches like:
- Cheap stainless steel mixing bowl
- Best stainless steel mixing bowls
- Stainless steel mixing bowl with lid
But if someone searches for something like “mixing bowl stainless steel” or “steel kitchen bowl,” your ad might still show because the exact phrase is no longer intact.
This match type is great for eliminating broad categories of searches that don’t fit your product without being overly restrictive.
Negative Exact Match
A negative exact match, on the other hand, is much more specific. It only blocks your ad when a customer searches for that keyword, word-for-word, with nothing added before, after, or in between.
So if you set “wooden spoon” as a negative exact match, your ad won’t show for:
- Wooden spoon
- Wooden spoons
But if the customer types “wooden spoon set” or “best wooden spoon for cooking,” your ad will still be eligible to appear.
Negative exact matches are perfect when you want to eliminate a very specific search term, maybe because it drives a lot of clicks without conversions or is simply irrelevant to your product line.
When to Use Negative Keyword Match for Best Results
Knowing how negative keywords work is just a stepping stone. The real power lies in knowing when to use them to fine-tune your Amazon campaigns and get the most out of them.
The best time to add negative keywords is after you’ve launched your campaigns and have some performance data to work with. This typically means checking your search team report for a list of the actual phrases shoppers typed in before clicking your ads.
You should also use negative keyword match:
- To prevent low-converting traffic: Some searches might bring a lot of clicks but very few sales. If a term is draining your budget without delivering conversions, it’s time to block it.
- When targeting broad or phrase match keywords: These match types cast a wide net. Negative keywords help keep the net from catching irrelevant traffic.
- To avoid internal competition between your campaigns: If multiple ad groups target similar keywords, negative keywords can prevent both ads from showing for the same search, so you’re not bidding against yourself.
Remember, negative keyword management is ongoing. Check in regularly, review your search terms, and fine-tune your negative list based on what’s working and what isn’t.
How to Find Negative Keywords for Amazon FBA
As an Amazon FBA seller, every wasted click directly affects your profit, especially since you may not always have the luxury of high markups or unlimited storage. That’s why you should know how to find irrelevant keywords.
Here’s how you can find negative keywords for Amazon FBA:
1. Review Your Search Term Reports with FBA Costs in Mind
Start with your Search Term report in Amazon Ads. Go beyond clicks and impressions; consider how each non-converting keyword affects your overall FBA profitability.
If you’re spending money on search terms that don’t lead to sales and are still paying FBA fees, those costs add up quickly. So:
- Flag terms that have 15-20+ clicks with no conversions.
- Calculate how much ad spend and FBA costs you’ve wasted on them.
- If the term is clearly irrelevant or too broad, add it as a negative keyword.
2. Increase Your Amazon Keywords Sample Size Data
Identify a single word that shows up in many low-converting search terms, now with a bigger sample size it’s easier to identify the negative keyword
Now you can add that word as a negative phrase, preventing many low-click non-converting search terms from getting impressions and clicks.
In the image below, we’ll use an example of a sleeping pillow. As you see, the word “travel” appears in many search terms, and we see that this word between different search terms doesn’t convert well.
3. Look at a Longer Time Frame!
Amazon only gives us 65 days of data on search terms, but if you have saved the data (ideally with software), you can return to longer data periods.
A search term that might have had a few clicks in only 65 days may have 60 clicks when you look at a 12-month period.
Now you have enough data to negate or lower bids.
You can reduce a lot of wasted spending by doing so.
At IG PPC we do this at scale for our Amazon clients, and it helps us cut out a lot of irrelevant spending.
IG PPC is an Amazon PPC agency – We manage 7-9 figures Amazon Brands
4. Eliminate Terms That Don’t Match Buyer Intent or Product Fit
If you have limited product variations, it’s important to avoid showing up for queries that don’t match what you actually offer.
For example:
- Selling “organic baby lotion”? Add “adult,” “men’s,” and “teens” as negatives.
This filters out shoppers who would bounce immediately, leaving you with just the most relevant traffic and a higher conversion rate (which Amazon rewards with better placements and lower CPCs).
5. Reduce Keyword Cannibalization Between Products
If you run multiple FBA listings under the same brand (e.g., different colors or sizes of the same item), your ads can compete with each other, which wastes money and splits your visibility.
Avoiding internal competition is essential when managing FBA storage limits or distributing high-inventory SKUs more efficiently.
How to Use Negative Keywords Strategically in FBA Campaigns
Amazon FBA sellers often operate within narrow margins, especially with rising storage fees, shipping costs, and PPC competition. That means strategic use of negative keywords isn’t just a tactic; it is essential to protect your budget and drive only purchase-ready traffic.
Here’s how to apply negative keywords with intention, not just as a cleanup tool:
Use Negative Keywords to Protect Your ACoS and Margins
FBA fees are non-negotiable. You’re paying for fulfillment, storage, and possibly long-term holding, whether or not your product sells. That means high click volume with low conversions means a loss.
So, use negative keywords to eliminate high-spend, low-converting search terms. This will prevent your ACoS from creeping into unprofitable territory and ensure you’re only paying for clicks with a real chance of converting.
Block Irrelevant Use Cases You Don’t Serve
You may only stock one to two variations of a product. That makes it critical to filter out search queries that don’t fit your product’s actual use case.
If you’re selling “luxury silk pillowcases,” use negatives like “travel” or “satin.” This helps align search intent with your offering and avoids irrelevant traffic.
Preserve Campaign Structure with Ad Group-Level Negatives
One of the most overlooked strategies is using negative keywords to preserve your PPC campaign logic.
Let’s say you have separate ad groups for broad and exact matches. Without negative keywords, broad match campaigns can steal impressions from your exact match ad groups.
So, add exact match winners as negatives in your broad ad groups.
Use Phrase Match Negatives for Scalable Filtering
Phrase match negatives are powerful for filtering entire categories of unwanted traffic with a single word or phrase. This saves you from manually excluding dozens of irrelevant long-tail terms.
That’s a huge win for FBA sellers who want to scale campaigns without micromanaging every keyword.
Test Gradually, and Don’t Over-Negate
Some sellers go overboard and exclude too many search terms too early. This limits your reach and discovery potential, which is especially dangerous for FBA sellers who need velocity to improve ranking and reduce long-term storage fees.
Instead, regularly audit your search term report and negate only after 15-20+ non-converting clicks or when intent clearly doesn’t match your product.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some commonly asked questions to further help you understand negative keywords:
What Happens If I Don’t Use Negative Keywords on Amazon?
Without negative keywords, your ads could appear in irrelevant searches, like someone looking for “free samples” or a product you don’t even sell.
This leads to wasted clicks, higher ad spending, and lower conversion rates. In short, you pay more for traffic that doesn’t convert.
Can I Use the Same Negative Keywords Across Multiple Campaigns?
Yes, and in many cases, you should! If a keyword is irrelevant to your brand or product line, apply it across multiple campaigns or ad groups.
Just ensure it doesn’t apply anywhere you don’t want to block out useful traffic by mistake.
How Often Should I Update My Negative Keywords List?
Ideally, you should check your search term reports at least once every two weeks.
Amazon shoppers’ behavior changes, and so do trends. Regular updates help you avoid irrelevant clicks and keep your campaigns efficient.
Are Negative Keywords the Same in Amazon and Google Ads?
The idea is similar. On both platforms, negative keywords prevent your ads from showing on unwanted search queries.
However, shoppers’ searches on Amazon are very product-driven, while Google includes a mix of informational and commercial searches. So, while the function is the same, your strategy might differ depending on the platform.
Conclusion
Negative keywords may not get as much attention as bidding strategies or campaign types, but they quietly do some of the most important work in your Amazon PPC account.
Especially for FBA sellers, where every wasted click cuts into already tight margins, managing them well can be the difference between profitable campaigns and money down the drain.
You can put your ads in front of the right people by analyzing search term data, filtering out low-converting or irrelevant traffic, and fine-tuning your campaigns with strategic negatives.
Ready to start?
At IG PPC, we help FBA sellers eliminate wasted ad spend and drive measurable growth through data-driven keyword strategies.
If you’re ready to fine-tune your campaigns, reduce inefficiencies, and scale profitably on Amazon, our team is here to help.
