Negative keywords are the brake pedal of Amazon advertising. Every campaign, especially automatic and broad-match ones, will match shopper searches that have nothing to do with your product or that are never going to convert. A negative keyword tells Amazon to exclude those searches. Flipkart Ads has an equivalent for keyword-targeted campaigns, but the mechanics below are Amazon's.
How negative keywords work
Amazon offers two negative match types for keywords, and both can be applied at campaign level or ad-group level.
Negative phrase. Amazon's definition: ads will not show on shopping queries that contain the complete phrase or close variations. Adding "free" as negative phrase blocks "free water bottle", "water bottle free delivery" and "water bottles free".
Negative exact. Ads will not show on queries that match the exact phrase or a close variation. Adding "water bottle" as negative exact blocks only "water bottle" and "water bottles", not "steel water bottle".
Sponsored Products also supports negative product targeting, which excludes specific ASINs or brands from automatic and product-targeting campaigns.
Worked example: an automatic campaign for a ₹1,299 electric kettle spends ₹2,400 in a fortnight on the search term "kettle for tea 500 ml glass", which produced 300 clicks and no orders, because the product is a 1.8 litre steel kettle. Adding "glass" and "500 ml" as negative phrase stops that spend. Over a month, the freed ₹4,800 redirected to converting queries at the campaign's 8% conversion rate is worth roughly 48 extra orders.
Why negative keywords matter for sellers
Without negatives, broad and automatic campaigns keep paying for the same wrong searches indefinitely, and ACoS drifts up while the seller blames bids. Negatives also stop cannibalisation: adding your exact-match keyword as a negative exact in the broad campaign ensures the higher-bid exact campaign wins that query instead of the two competing with each other. Finally, negatives keep your ad off searches that could damage brand perception, such as "cheap" or a rival brand name when you have no chance of converting.
How to manage negative keywords
- Review the search term report weekly. Sort by spend with zero orders; anything with more than 10 to 15 clicks and no sale is a candidate.
- Prefer negative phrase for single wrong words ("glass", "kids", "wholesale") and negative exact for whole queries you want to route elsewhere.
- Add competitor brand names as negatives in generic campaigns unless you have a deliberate conquesting plan.
- Keep a shared negatives list and apply it to every new campaign at launch.
- Do not over-negate. A query with one order in 20 clicks may still be profitable; check ACoS before excluding it.
Blooprint runs a weekly negative-keyword routine for every account under marketplace ads management; the Amazon ads guide for India explains where to add them.