How do negative keywords work in Amazon Sponsored Products?
Negative keywords stop your Amazon ad on searches you don't want: negative exact, negative phrase and negative products. Limits, delays, how to pick them.
Negative keywords tell Amazon where not to show your Sponsored Products ad. A negative exact keyword blocks one search; a negative phrase keyword blocks every search that contains the phrase; a negative product blocks your ad on a chosen product's page, or a whole brand's. Amazon takes up to 72 hours to apply a negative keyword, and up to 96 hours for a negative product.
They stop you paying for clicks that never sell. Checked against Amazon's help pages in October 2026.
The three kinds
| Negative | What it blocks | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Negative exact | the search itself, and close variants | 10 words, 80 characters |
| Negative phrase | any search that contains the phrase | 4 words, 80 characters |
| Negative product | your ad on that product's page, or a brand's pages | — |
There is no negative broad in Sponsored Products. A negative keyword's match type cannot be changed later: remove it and add it again.
Where they apply
- In an ad group, a negative affects that ad group only. In a campaign, it affects every ad group of the campaign.
- Negative products also stop automatic targeting from showing your ad on those pages.
- Limits: up to 10,000 negative keywords per campaign and 10,000 per ad group.
How to add them
At campaign creation, or later: Campaign manager → your campaign → ad group → Negative targeting, then "Add negative keywords" (choose the match type) or "Add negative product targets" (search or paste ASINs or brands). Sellers and vendors can also upload them in bulk with a bulksheet.
How to pick them
- Wait about two weeks on a new campaign: Amazon advises skipping negatives on a first campaign, then adding them once you have data.
- Read the search term report: it lists the searches that got at least one click. Searches with clicks but no sales, or a low conversion rate, are the candidates.
- Think of generic searches you never want: too broad, or for another kind of product.
- Use negative products for pages that do not fit. Amazon's example: a camera lens shown next to a camera it does not fit. Make that camera a negative product.
- Separate your campaigns. When a search moves from an automatic campaign to a manual one, add it as a negative exact in the automatic campaign, so the two do not compete. Automatic vs manual targeting.
Be careful with negative phrase: one short phrase can block many searches that do sell. Start with negative exact when in doubt.
Sources
- Add negative keywords or negative products, Amazon Ads
- Understand keyword match types (negative match types), Amazon Ads
- Sponsored ads campaign limits, Amazon Ads
- Sponsored Products set-up (step 5, negative targeting), Amazon Ads
- Search term report for Sponsored Products, Amazon Ads
- Target Promotion for Sponsored Products, Amazon Ads
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