What is the difference between a keyword and a search term on Amazon?
A keyword is the target you bid on. A search term is the query the customer actually typed that your ad matched. With broad and phrase match, one keyword can let through hundreds of search terms — and the gap between the two is where most wasted ad spend lives. The search term report is what turns that gap into two actions: close the terms that do not convert, open the ones that do as their own exact targets.
Why the gap exists
Broad and phrase match are discovery tools: you accept that Amazon will show your ad on queries you did not list, in exchange for finding ones you would never have guessed. That bargain is useful, and it has a cost — the queries that were not worth showing on.
Harvest, then close
Harvest. A search term that converts repeatedly deserves its own exact target. As its own keyword you can bid on it deliberately rather than relying on a broad match to find it, and you can see its performance separately.
Close. A term with many clicks and no orders is money leaving. As a negative keyword — exact for a specific query, phrase for a family of them — it stops.
A threshold that avoids over-reacting
One click and no sale means nothing. A useful rule of thumb is to wait until the clicks on a term have cost roughly what one unit of profit is worth before calling it a negative. If a sale leaves you $8, then $8 of clicks with no order is evidence; $0.60 is noise.
Checklist
- Are you reading search terms, not just keywords?
- Does each negative decision have a click or spend threshold behind it?
- Are converting terms being opened as exact targets?
- Are negatives written to every campaign that needs them, not just one?
Frequently asked questions
What is an Amazon search term report?
A report showing which customer queries your ads actually appeared on, what each one cost and what it returned — as opposed to the keywords you bid on.
How do I use the search term report?
Two ways. Terms that take clicks and never convert become negative keywords. Terms that convert steadily get opened as their own exact targets with their own bid.
Should every converting search term become a keyword?
Only if it converts consistently and has enough volume to be worth managing. A single order is not a pattern.