Reviewing Search Term and Keyword Data for Underperformance
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Quick answer
Reviewing search term and keyword data for underperformance is a structured way to separate low-value queries from short-term dips. It evaluates spend, clicks, orders, sales, ROAS, ACoS, CPA, and conversion rate alongside campaign maturity. The process produces a prioritized cleanup list and bid-down recommendations, but it does not change live campaigns automatically. Instead, it helps Amazon sellers identify which search terms or keywords are quietly draining budget and need team approval before any adjustment.
Think of it as a triage step before you touch bids. A keyword can look bad for one day without being a real problem, so this review focuses on repeated underperformance against the account’s own targets.
Core Signals to Review
Start with a spend and conversion baseline for each search term or keyword. Look at spend, clicks, orders, sales, ROAS, ACoS, CPA, and conversion rate, then compare those numbers to campaign maturity. A newer campaign may tolerate lower early ROAS while it builds history; an established campaign should not show the same pattern.
- Spend and clicks relative to orders
- ROAS, ACoS, and CPA against target
- Wasted spend and estimated waste
- Conversion rate trends over time
When This Review Matters Most
This type of review is most useful when total spend is stable or rising but sales are not keeping pace. It also matters after broad match or automatic campaign expansion, when new search terms enter the account quickly. In those moments, a single low-performing keyword may not look alarming, but a group of similar terms can create meaningful waste.
Turning Findings into a Cleanup Plan
Once underperformers are identified, group them into two actions: negative keyword candidates for terms that never convert, and bid-down candidates for terms that convert but at an unacceptable cost. Tools like Amazon Negative Keyword Tool by Todoza can help rank and organize that list, while keeping the workflow read-only until your team approves changes.
A cleanup plan often works best when it includes a decision log, so you can later check whether a negative keyword or bid adjustment improved account performance without guessing.
Related products
Related guides
After this review, the next step is to connect those findings to bid-level decisions. Underperforming search terms and keywords are often the clearest signal that a campaign’s bids are too high for the traffic they attract, which is the exact problem covered in the parent guide on finding campaigns with bids that are too high.