Next Steps for Flagged Amazon Search Terms
← Back to Amazon Search Terms With Spend but No Orders: How to Set a Review Threshold
Quick answer
Flagged Amazon search terms are search queries that have accumulated ad spend above a set review threshold without converting into a sale. Handling them well means reviewing clicks, cost, and conversion history together, rather than applying a single rule to every term. In most accounts, the appropriate next step is to reduce the bid, pause the keyword, or add a negative match for terms that are clearly not profitable. Terms with strong engagement or a short review window may deserve more time.
Once your review threshold has identified a list of search terms worth checking, the goal is to protect profitability without losing useful data. The actions below help you sort low performers from terms that may simply need a smaller bid or a tighter match type before you cut them completely.
Check the full performance picture first
Look beyond spend and orders. A term that has spent above threshold may still have value if it generated product page views, add-to-cart actions, or a branded search later. Compare the term’s click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per click against the campaign average. Also check the lookback window; a term that exceeded its review threshold after only a few days may not have had enough clicks to be judged fairly.
Use historical data to see whether the term has converted before. A previously profitable term may just be in a slow period. In that case, a temporary bid reduction is often safer than pausing or negating it permanently.
Reduce, pause, or add a negative keyword
Once you have context, choose the least aggressive action that matches the risk:
- Reduce the bid when the term attracts relevant traffic but the cost per click is too high for its current conversion rate.
- Pause the keyword when a managed keyword is consistently spending without orders and you want to stop its traffic without deleting its history.
- Add a negative keyword when the search term is clearly irrelevant, shows repeated clicks with no purchase intent, or is stealing budget from more profitable queries.
For automatic or broad match campaigns, negative keywords prevent the term from matching again. For exact match keywords, pausing or bid lowering is more appropriate than adding a negative against your own keyword.
When this matters
This matters most when ad spend is concentrated in a small number of non-converting terms. If you leave them running, they can drain budget from search terms that are closer to purchase. If you cut them too aggressively, you may lose useful data or block a term before it has enough clicks to show its real conversion pattern.
A middle path — lower bids first, then pause or negate after a defined observation period — tends to work well for accounts that are still gathering data.
Related guides
Setting a review threshold is only the first step. The way you act on flagged search terms determines whether that threshold improves account efficiency or just adds noise. If you are still deciding what spend level or review window to use, return to the main guide to align your threshold with your campaign goals and typical conversion time.