A search term is the exact query a shopper typed into the Amazon search bar before your ad was shown and clicked. It is different from a keyword, which is the target you bid on. When you bid on the broad-match keyword "water bottle," the search terms that trigger it can include "insulated water bottle 32 oz," "kids water bottle" and "water bottle brush." The Sponsored Products Search Term report lists every search term against the keyword and campaign that matched it, with its impressions, clicks, spend, orders and sales.
Why it matters
Search terms are where the money is actually spent. A keyword can look fine in aggregate while half its spend goes to search terms that never convert. The report shows which real queries produce sales, which produce clicks with no sales, and which you are paying for that have nothing to do with the product. It is also the best free source of new keyword ideas: a search term that converts inside an automatic or broad campaign has proven itself with your own product and can be promoted to an exact-match campaign of its own.
For product-targeting campaigns, the report shows the ASIN the ad appeared on in place of the query, which serves the same purpose.
What moves it
- Match type. Broad and automatic campaigns generate many search terms; exact campaigns generate one each.
- Negatives. Every negative keyword you add removes a set of search terms from the report.
- Listing content. Amazon matches ads to queries partly on the listing's indexed text, so a title with off-target words attracts off-target search terms.
- Seasonality and trends, which change the queries shoppers use week to week.
How we use it
The Search Term report is the raw material for our weekly decision engine. Terms that convert above the target are harvested into exact-match campaigns; terms that spend past a threshold with no order are negated; the rest are left to gather data. Every decision is logged so you can see why a term was moved.