What are negative keywords on Amazon? Simply put, they are keywords that prevent content from appearing in Amazon search results. Negative keywords can be added to your campaigns through Seller Central. Amazon, the web interface used by merchants to market their products.
Interestingly, Amazon negative keywords have more to do with paid media than search engine optimization (SEO). You can use them in conjunction with regular Amazon keywords to prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant search results.
Your ads don't appear in broad or general searches when you specify negative keywords in settings. Instead, they will only appear in searches that belong to your Amazon campaign. This will have several benefits, such as reducing ad spend and cost per click (CPC), but will reduce the visibility of your ads. However, when you employ Amazon keyword tips and tactics effectively and include a negative keyword strategy, you end up showing your ads to your target audience and reaching prospects who are actively searching for your products.
With your most lucrative negative keywords identified and the right strategy in place, your ads show up for specific user searches. These users are much more likely to make a purchase because your listing was laser-targeted and relevant to their search, a crucial aspect of how to increase rankings on Amazon.
Amazon as a search engine
Amazon is more than the world's largest e-commerce platform. It is also one of the most popular search engines. Amazon search engine has its own algorithm called A9. It is imperative that sellers learn how to use keywords on Amazon by following A9 best practices.
Amazon works differently compared to Google, Bing, and other search engines. Remember, it is designed to be an e-commerce platform. Understanding this can help you improve your Amazon SEO strategy.
A9 only has two objectives:
1. Meet buyers' needs Keywords that get a lot of clicks but produce fewer sales
2. Sell products to those buyers
With this in mind, you can do a great job at Amazon keyword research. It will also help you plan your advertising campaigns more effectively. Use negative keywords to tell the Amazon search engine which queries are not relevant to your ads. By combining this with information about your ideal customer profile, you can identify which search terms they use and which they don't. Doing this allows you to target a very specific audience for your ads.
Regular Keywords vs Negative Amazon Keywords
What are negative keywords on Amazon? To get familiar with them, you should contrast them with positive keywords (normal keywords). Consider the following details:
• Positive keywords used by customers tell Amazon's search engine to show your product listing in searches.
• Negative search terms They tell the search engine not to show your products when they match the search terms used by buyers.
• Positive keywords They are available in all types such as broad match, phrase match, and exact match.
• Negative search terms They can only be used as phrase match and exact match keywords.
• Positive keywords included in your ads make the product appear in searches.
• Negative search terms They prevent your ads from appearing in searches.
Understanding these differentiators helps improve your Amazon keyword research, while applying them correctly increases your Amazon rankings.
Amazon Negative Keyword Research
Here's a basic rundown of what you should do when researching negative Amazon keywords:
1. Run your advertising campaigns to generate some data such as the number of sales, click-through rate (CTR), number of impressions, conversion rates, and search terms used.
2. Let your campaigns run and collect data for several weeks until you have enough reports to compare. We recommend collecting data for at least two to four weeks.
3. From these reports, look for keywords with a high number of clicks but low conversion. This is a sign that they are irrelevant to your ads; You can narrow down negative keywords using the criteria below.
So, how do you know if a keyword in your reports is really negative? Here are some of the features to look for:
• Keywords that get a lot of clicks but produce fewer sales
• Keywords that reportedly have low conversion rates but a higher cost per conversion
• Keywords with low CTR and low conversion rates
• Keywords that have a higher number of impressions but fewer clicks
Make a list of negative keywords using the criteria above. Do this for each ad and enter them into Seller Central settings for each campaign.
5 benefits of using negative keywords
1. Improve CTR
Your CTR decreases when your ads appear in irrelevant search results simply because you get more views than clicks and negative keywords help you increase it. Experts recommend a CTR of 0,41 percent.
2. Improve conversions
Since your ads are only shown to a targeted audience, conversions increase and you get better returns.
3. Avoid competition from internal advertising campaigns
Negative keywords prevent your Amazon ad campaigns from appearing in searches for similar products. Their advertising campaigns are limited to specific niches. It's a great boost on how to increase ranking on Amazon.
4. Improve product classification
With a higher CTR, the Amazon ranking of your products is higher. Use the same data in your Amazon keyword research.
5. Reduce costs and unnecessary advertising investment
With ads shown only to a targeted audience, you don't waste your advertising budget on irrelevant clicks. This helps you fine-tune your Amazon SEO strategy.
Where to add negative keywords Amazon
Amazon Seller Central allows you to place negative keywords at the ad group level and at the campaign level.
• Ad group level - At this level, the selected negative keyword only applies to specific ads. Experts at any Amazon agency can tell you to use exact match keywords at this group level.
• Campaign level – Always add negative keywords to all campaigns. For campaign-level placement, use phrase match keywords.
How to Add Negative Amazon Keywords
Follow these steps to add negative keywords to your Amazon campaigns:
1. Sign in to your account in Amazon Seller Central.
2. Select the ad campaign you want to add negative keywords to.
3. Select an ad group if you want to place your negative keywords at the ad group level; You can skip this step if you want to add negative keywords individually for each campaign.
4. Click the negative keywords tab and select the match type from the drop-down menu.
5. You will see a box where you can enter negative keywords.
Follow the steps below to add positive keywords:
1. Go to the inventory tab in Seller Central
2. Click on Manage inventory
3. Choose a product from your list and click Edit
4. Go to tab Keywords
5. In the box Search terms , enter the positive keywords you want to use
Remember, add negative keywords to all campaigns; Amazon SEO service providers recommend it.
Amazon Keyword Tips
The following are some best practices on how to use Amazon keywords. For more custom keyword strategies, consult with an experienced Amazon SEO service provider .
• Don't use too many broad search terms.
Amazon's search engine understands certain nuances in terminology. It knows the different subtypes of products and adds them in the search engine results pages (SERP). Using more specific and narrow keywords increases the searchability of your product.
• Use synonyms and spelling variations
Amazon Seller Central recommends using spelling variations and synonyms, allowing you to cast a wider net. Variations give you more options on how to choose Amazon keywords.
• Use keywords in the product description.
Our next tip on how to choose keywords for Amazon is to use search terms in your product description. Be sure to add them to the call-to-action (CTA) portion of the description.
• Place them in the technical details box
Amazon may extract the information for the technical details box from the data you provide in your listing. Edit this section and add your keywords here to increase visibility.
How to Increase Ranking on Amazon
What's next after adding negative keywords to all campaigns? To improve your ranking on Amazon, you need to conduct an in-depth audit. You can then determine how to optimize each product listing using regular and negative Amazon keywords.
Working with a full-service Amazon agency gives you a comprehensive approach that covers Amazon SEO negative keywords and product description optimization. They can help you develop a custom Amazon SEO strategy that covers all your needs.
As an Amazon Marketing Agency, one of our winning partnerships is with Seismic Audio, a Memphis-based professional audio equipment manufacturer. Our team determined how to choose Amazon keywords that worked for the business and formulated a unique strategy that included negative search terms. With an optimized Amazon SEO strategy, our team was able to provide the following results for Seismic Audio:
• Twenty-six percent increase in sales volume.
• Reduced advertising costs by 29 percent.
• Increased unit sales by 23 percent.
If you're interested in getting stellar results like these, contact us
