Why Every Amazon Seller Should Regularly Review Customer Search Terms
Maximize Profits by Mining Your Data for Gold (and Removing the Dirt)
As an Amazon seller, running ads isn’t just about launching campaigns and watching the sales roll in. If you want consistent growth and efficiency, there’s one often overlooked task that should be part of your weekly or bi-weekly routine:
Why Every Amazon Seller Should Regularly Review Customer Search Terms
Reviewing your customer search terms.
Why? Because your Search Term Report is one of the most powerful tools Amazon gives you, it shows you exactly what shoppers typed into the search bar before clicking (and hopefully buying) your product. Within this data lies both opportunity and risk. Let’s break it down.
1. Eliminate Wasted Spend with Negative Targeting
Not all traffic is good traffic. Every irrelevant or low-converting search term that triggers your ad costs you money.
Common Examples of What to Negate:
- Mismatched intent (e.g., if you sell a premium leather wallet, “cheap wallet” might be costing you without converting)
- Wrong product category (e.g., you’re selling a backpack, but “purse for school” shows up in your report)
- Incompatible variations (e.g., “red sunglasses” when you only offer blue and black)
Negating these terms helps you stop bleeding ad spend and keeps your campaigns focused on what actually drives results.
2. Discover High-Intent Keywords to Add
Hidden within your search terms are potential golden keywords: phrases customers are using that your current campaigns aren’t specifically targeting yet.
These are often:
- Long-tail keywords that show high buying intent
- Product-specific modifiers (e.g., “eco-friendly,” “waterproof,” “for toddlers”)
- Seasonal or trend-driven phrases you weren’t initially bidding on
Add them to your exact or phrase match campaigns to gain more control over targeting, increase relevance, and improve your conversion rates.
3. Improve Organic Rank and Relevance
By mining new high-converting search terms and adding them as manual keywords, you give Amazon more signals about what your product is relevant for. This doesn’t just boost your ad performance, it also:
- Helps your organic listings climb in rankings
- Improves Click-Through Rates (CTR) and Conversion Rates (CVR)
Makes your campaigns more algorithm-friendly
4. Keep Up with Customer Language Trends
Customer behavior isn’t static. The way people describe or search for your product can shift over time, especially with new trends, seasons, or product uses emerging.
Regularly reviewing search terms lets you:
- Spot new trends early
- Catch seasonal shifts in phrasing
- Stay in tune with your market’s evolving vocabulary
5. Prevent Ad Fatigue and Performance Decline
Campaigns that run for months without cleanup can accumulate irrelevant data, decreasing efficiency over time.
Think of your search term audit like a tune-up for your car:
- Negate what doesn’t work
- Double down on what does
- Keep your campaigns running smoothly and clean
How Often Should You Check?
- Weekly or Bi-weekly for active campaigns
- After launching new products or keyword tests
- Before major events (Prime Day, Q4 holidays, back-to-school, etc.)
Final Tip: Don’t Just Look at ACoS, Look at the Big Picture
Some search terms might have a low ACoS but few conversions. Others might have no sales and tons of clicks. Don’t be afraid to:
- Use filters like “Clicks > 10 with 0 Sales”
- Pull multiple weeks of data for better trend analysis
Summary
Your search term report is a treasure map, but only if you use it.
By routinely:
- Negating irrelevant terms
- Adding high-performing search terms
- Keeping your keyword targeting fresh
You’ll build smarter campaigns, reduce wasted spend, and find more customers who are actually ready to buy.
Don’t have time to sit down and go through your heavy data of customer search terms?
With PPC Center, we specialize in getting these time-consuming but critical tasks done for you, so you can focus on growing your brand, scaling operations, or developing new products.
Let us handle the data, while you handle the big picture.
Start your journey with us by signing up at ppccenter.com
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