Why Negative Keywords Are Critical
Without negative keywords, your Sponsored Products ads show for irrelevant searches. A yoga mat listing will show for "yoga pants", "yoga blocks", even "yoga teacher certification" — all consuming budget with near-zero conversions.
Types of Negative Keywords
Negative Exact — Completely blocks the exact phrase. Use for confirmed zero-conversion terms.
Negative Phrase — Blocks any search containing that phrase. More powerful, use carefully.
Finding Negative Keywords: 3 Methods
Method 1: Search Term Report
Download from Seller Central → Reports → Advertising Reports. Filter for: Clicks > 5 AND Orders = 0. Every result is a negative keyword candidate.
Method 2: niche.ltd Keyword Harvest
Upload your Search Term Report CSV and niche.ltd AI auto-identifies wasteful terms, categorized by spend amount lost.
Method 3: Category Intelligence
Look at your product category. A dog bed listing should pre-emptively add negatives for: cat, baby, human, mattress, pillow, travel, car.
Building a Negative List Template
Universal negatives for most products:
- free, cheap, diy, homemade, how to, tutorial, recipe
- used, refurbished, secondhand, vintage, wholesale, bulk
- [competitor brand names]
- Children's/baby variants (if product is adult)
Campaign-Level vs Ad Group-Level
Add high-confidence negatives (brand names, wrong category) at campaign level. Add specific keyword variants at ad group level for surgical control.