If you are only looking at campaign-level metrics (ACoS, spend, sales), you are managing Amazon PPC with a blindfold on. The search term report reveals exactly what shoppers typed before clicking your ad, and this data drives every meaningful optimization decision.
Downloading and Preparing the Data
Download your search term report from the Amazon Ads console (Reports > Sponsored Products > Search term). We recommend pulling 60-90 days of data for meaningful analysis. The key columns are: Customer Search Term, Impressions, Clicks, Spend, Sales, Orders, and ACoS.
The 4-Bucket Framework
We categorize every search term into four buckets based on performance:
Bucket 1: Winners (ACoS below target, 3+ orders). These are your money-makers. Action: graduate to exact match campaigns with increased bids. Ensure these keywords have dedicated campaigns with sufficient budget.
Bucket 2: Potential (ACoS 1-2x target, 1-2 orders). These keywords show promise but need more data or optimization. Action: maintain current bids and monitor for 2 more weeks. Consider testing in phrase match if currently in broad.
Bucket 3: Bleeders (ACoS above 2x target, some orders). These keywords convert but not profitably. Action: reduce bids by 15-25%. If ACoS is above 3x target, reduce bids by 30-40%. Give them 2 weeks to respond to the bid change.
Bucket 4: Wasters (0 orders, meaningful spend). These search terms are pure waste. Action: add as negative keywords immediately. Our threshold: any search term with $10+ spend and zero orders gets negated. For high-CPC categories, lower this to $7-8.
Advanced Patterns to Look For
Beyond the 4-bucket analysis, watch for: branded search terms appearing in non-branded campaigns (negate and move to branded campaigns), misspellings driving significant volume (create exact match campaigns for common misspellings), and seasonal terms emerging (capture and save for next year’s planning).