Amazon Search Term Report: The Complete Guide to Reading and Using It

Why the Search Term Report Is Your Most Valuable PPC Report

Amazon provides dozens of advertising reports, but one stands above all others in practical value: the Search Term Report. This report shows you the exact words customers typed into Amazon's search bar before clicking on your ad and (possibly) buying your product.

No other report gives you this level of insight into customer intent. It tells you which search terms are making you money, which are wasting your budget, and which new opportunities exist that you have not targeted yet.

Despite its value, many Amazon sellers either never look at the Search Term Report, check it only occasionally, or misinterpret what it is telling them. This guide will teach you exactly where to find it, what every column means, and how to turn its data into profitable actions.

Where to Find the Search Term Report

There are two ways to access it:

Method 1: Amazon Advertising Console

1. Log in to your Amazon Advertising Console (advertising.amazon.com)
2. Click "Measurement & Reporting" in the left navigation
3. Select "Sponsored ads reports"
4. Click "Create report"
5. Select report type: "Sponsored Products"
6. Select report: "Search term"
7. Choose your date range (we recommend 30 days)
8. Select your campaigns or choose "All campaigns"
9. Click "Run report"
10. Download the CSV file when it is ready

Method 2: Campaign Manager (Quick View)

1. Go to Campaign Manager in Seller Central
2. Click into any campaign, then an ad group
3. Click the "Search Terms" tab
4. This shows search term data inline, but it is limited to one campaign at a time and cannot be sorted as flexibly as the downloaded report

Recommendation: Always download the full report as a CSV. The inline view is useful for quick checks, but the downloaded report lets you sort, filter, and analyze across all campaigns simultaneously.

Understanding Every Column in the Report

The Search Term Report contains these key columns. Understanding each one is essential:

Date: The date range the data covers. Note that Amazon uses a 7-day attribution window for Sponsored Products and 14 days for Sponsored Brands. This means a click on March 1st can attribute a sale that happens up to March 7th (or March 14th for Sponsored Brands).

Campaign Name: Which campaign triggered the ad impression. This helps you trace which campaign structure generated each search term.

Ad Group Name: The ad group within the campaign. Useful if you have multiple ad groups per campaign.

Targeting: The keyword or product target in your campaign that matched to the customer's search term. This is your keyword; the customer's search term may be different (especially with broad and auto match types).

Match Type: How the customer's search term matched your targeting keyword. Values include:

• BROAD — your broad match keyword matched the search term
• PHRASE — your phrase match keyword matched the search term
• EXACT — your exact match keyword matched the search term
• TARGETING — an auto campaign match (close match, loose match, etc.)

Customer Search Term: The actual words the customer typed into the Amazon search bar. This is the gold in the report. For product targeting matches, this column shows the ASIN of the product page where your ad appeared.

Impressions: How many times your ad was displayed for this search term. High impressions with few clicks indicates low relevance or poor ad creative for this search.

Clicks: How many times shoppers clicked your ad after it appeared for this search term. This is what you pay for.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): Clicks / Impressions x 100. Indicates how relevant your ad is to this search term. A CTR below 0.15% with significant impressions (1,000+) suggests poor relevance.

Cost Per Click (CPC): The average amount you paid per click for this search term. This is determined by the auction — not directly by your bid.

Spend: Total amount spent on this search term during the reporting period. Spend = Clicks x CPC.

Sales (purchases14d or unitsSoldClicks14d): Revenue attributed to clicks on this search term. Note: Amazon changed these column names. Older reports may show "7 Day Total Sales" or "orders." Current reports use purchases14d for order count and unitsSoldClicks14d for units sold.

Orders: Number of orders attributed to clicks on this search term. One order may contain multiple units.

ACoS: Advertising Cost of Sales for this search term. Spend / Sales x 100. If this column shows a dash or zero, there were no attributed sales.

ROAS: Return on Ad Spend. Sales / Spend. The inverse of ACoS.

How to Identify Winning Search Terms

Winners are search terms that drive profitable sales. Here are the criteria for identifying them:

Primary winner criteria:

• 2+ orders (one order could be a fluke; two suggests real intent)
• ACoS below your break-even ACoS (the search term is currently profitable)
• 8+ clicks (enough data to trust the conversion rate)

Secondary winner signals:

• CTR above 0.3% (shoppers find your ad relevant for this term)
• Conversion rate above 10% (strong purchase intent)
• Consistent performance across multiple weeks (not a one-time spike)

What to do with winners:

1. Add them to an exact match campaign at a bid calculated using the RPC formula: (Sales / Clicks) x Target ACoS
2. Add them as negative exact in the campaign where they were discovered (auto or broad)
3. Add the phrase match version to a phrase match campaign to capture long-tail variations
4. Monitor them weekly to confirm continued performance

Example: You find the search term "wooden puzzle for adults 1000 pieces" with 34 clicks, 5 orders, $124.75 in sales, and $28.90 in spend (23.2% ACoS). Your break-even ACoS is 35%.

This is a clear winner. RPC-based bid = ($124.75 / 34) x 0.25 = $0.92 (using a 25% long-term ACoS target). Add to exact match at $0.92, negate in auto.

How to Identify Wasting Search Terms

Wasters are search terms that consume budget without generating returns. They are the biggest source of wasted ad spend.

Primary waster criteria:

• 15+ clicks and 0 orders — shoppers click but never buy. Strong signal of poor relevance or wrong intent.
• Spend exceeds 2x your average order value with 0 orders — you have spent enough to reasonably expect a sale but got none.
• ACoS above 3x your target with 5+ orders — the search term converts but at a wildly unprofitable rate.

Common types of wasting search terms:

1. Wrong product type: Your bamboo cutting board ad shows for "bamboo flooring." Different product entirely.
2. Wrong intent: "How to make a wooden puzzle" — research intent, not purchase intent.
3. Wrong feature match: "1000 piece puzzle" when you sell 500 piece puzzles. Close but not what the customer wants.
4. Competitor brand searches: "Ravensburger puzzle" when you sell a different brand. Brand-loyal shoppers rarely convert.
5. Too generic: "gift" or "toy" — these broad terms have low conversion rates because intent is unclear.

What to do with wasters:

• Clearly irrelevant terms: Add as negative phrase (blocks all searches containing that phrase)
• Partially relevant terms that just do not convert: Add as negative exact (only blocks that specific term)
• High-ACoS terms with some conversions: Reduce bid to the RPC-calculated target. If still unprofitable after 2 more weeks, add as negative exact.

Important caution about negative phrase: Be conservative. Adding "bamboo flooring" as a negative phrase would also block "bamboo flooring cutting board" if someone ever searched that. When in doubt, use negative exact instead of negative phrase.

Making Negative Keyword Decisions: A Framework

Not every non-converting search term should be negated. Use this decision framework:

Negate immediately (negative exact):

• 15+ clicks, 0 orders, and the term is not highly relevant to your product
• The term is clearly for a different product or category
• The term includes a competitor brand name that does not convert

Negate immediately (negative phrase):

• A root word is completely irrelevant (e.g., "wholesale," "DIY," "free," "used")
• A product type is wrong (e.g., "flooring" when you sell cutting boards)

Wait and re-evaluate:

• 10-14 clicks, 0 orders, but the term is highly relevant to your product. Give it more data. The product may have a listing issue, not a keyword issue.
• New search terms during your first 2 weeks of running a campaign. Early data is noisy.

Do not negate:

• Search terms with fewer than 10 clicks and 0 orders. Not enough data.
• Search terms with 1-2 orders but high ACoS. Try reducing the bid first using the RPC formula.

The Keyword Harvesting Flow

Keyword harvesting uses the Search Term Report to systematically move winning terms from discovery campaigns to optimized manual campaigns. Here is the complete flow:

Step 1: Run discovery campaigns (auto and broad match)

Allow 2-3 weeks of data collection with sufficient daily budget ($15-30 per product).

Step 2: Download and analyze the Search Term Report

Filter for the date range since your last analysis. Sort by orders (highest first).

Step 3: Identify winners (2+ orders, 8+ clicks, ACoS below break-even)

Create a list of these search terms with their performance data.

Step 4: Add winners to exact match campaign

Set bids using RPC formula with 50% damping: New Bid = Current Bid + (Target Bid - Current Bid) x 0.5

Step 5: Negate winners in discovery campaigns

Add each harvested term as negative exact in the auto and broad campaigns where they were discovered. This prevents self-competition.

Step 6: Identify and negate wasters

Filter for search terms with 15+ clicks and 0 orders. Add as negative exact or negative phrase as appropriate.

Step 7: Repeat every 2 weeks

Harvesting is not a one-time task. New search terms appear constantly as customer behavior evolves and Amazon's algorithm learns more about your product.

ASIN Targets: The Hidden Opportunity in the Report

When your auto campaign shows ads on competitor product pages, the Search Term Report shows the competitor's ASIN (e.g., "B0XXXXXXXXX") in the Customer Search Term column instead of a keyword.

These ASIN targets are valuable because they represent product targeting opportunities:

How to harvest ASIN targets:

1. Filter the Customer Search Term column for entries starting with "B0"
2. Identify ASINs with 2+ orders and acceptable ACoS
3. Look up each ASIN on Amazon to understand what product it is
4. Add converting ASINs to a Product Targeting campaign
5. Negate them in your auto campaign

Why ASIN targets often convert well: The customer is on a competitor's product page, actively comparing options. If your product offers a better price, more reviews, or a key feature advantage, the conversion rate can be excellent.

How Often to Analyze the Search Term Report

Weekly analysis (30 minutes):

• Quick scan of the top 20 search terms by spend
• Add obvious negatives for any high-spend, zero-conversion terms
• Note any search terms approaching the 2-order harvest threshold
• Check if any previously harvested keywords have stopped performing

Bi-weekly deep analysis (1-2 hours):

• Full harvest cycle: identify winners, add to exact match, negate in discovery
• Comprehensive negative keyword review
• ASIN target analysis
• Bid adjustments on harvested keywords using fresh data

Monthly strategic review (30 minutes):

• Evaluate overall harvesting effectiveness: are harvested keywords maintaining lower ACoS than discovery?
• Review negative keyword list for any terms that should be reconsidered (market changes, listing changes)
• Assess whether discovery campaign budgets need adjustment based on keyword flow

SellerPilot AI automates much of this analysis by continuously monitoring your Search Term Reports, flagging harvest candidates and high-spend wasters, and calculating RPC-based bid recommendations. This turns hours of spreadsheet work into a review-and-approve workflow.

Common Search Term Report Mistakes

Mistake 1: Only looking at the last 7 days

Seven days is too short a window for most keywords. Conversion data needs time to accumulate due to Amazon's attribution window. Always use at least 14 days, preferably 30 days.

Mistake 2: Harvesting based on 1 order

One order from 5 clicks is a 20% conversion rate — almost certainly unsustainable. Wait for 2+ orders and 8+ clicks before promoting to exact match.

Mistake 3: Ignoring low-impressions search terms

Some of your most profitable keywords will be long-tail terms with low search volume (50-200 impressions). They convert well because the intent is very specific. Do not ignore them just because volume is low.

Mistake 4: Not downloading the full report

The inline Campaign Manager view is limited. You cannot easily cross-reference search terms across campaigns or do the kind of bulk analysis needed for effective optimization. Always download the CSV.

Mistake 5: Analyzing campaigns in isolation

The same search term may appear across multiple campaigns (your auto, broad, and even exact match). If you only look at one campaign at a time, you miss the full picture. Download the report for all campaigns and consolidate by search term.

Mistake 6: Forgetting about attribution windows

A click today can generate a sale up to 7 days later (14 for Sponsored Brands). If you download a report for "last 7 days" on March 15, the clicks from March 8-15 have not had their full 7-day attribution window yet. For the most accurate data, use a date range that ended at least 7 days ago.

Advanced: Search Term Trend Analysis

Beyond the basic harvest-and-negate workflow, you can extract strategic insights by tracking search term trends over time:

Rising search terms: Look for new search terms that appeared in the last 30 days but not the previous 30 days. These represent emerging customer demand or new ways people are finding your product.

Declining search terms: Previously high-volume terms that show decreasing impressions may indicate declining demand or increased competition crowding you out.

Seasonal patterns: Compare search term reports from the same month last year (if you have the data). Seasonal products show predictable keyword shifts that you can prepare for.

Competitor intelligence: If competitor ASINs that used to convert for you suddenly stop converting, the competitor may have improved their listing, lowered their price, or increased their review count. Check their product page for changes.

Key Takeaways

1. The Search Term Report shows the actual customer search terms that triggered your ads — it is your most actionable PPC data source.
2. Download the full CSV report for all campaigns. The inline view is too limited for proper analysis.
3. Winners: 2+ orders, 8+ clicks, ACoS below break-even. Harvest into exact match and negate in discovery.
4. Wasters: 15+ clicks, 0 orders. Add as negative exact (or negative phrase for clearly irrelevant root words).
5. Harvest ASIN targets too — they often convert better than keyword targets because shoppers are deep in the purchase funnel.
6. Analyze weekly (quick negatives), bi-weekly (full harvest), and monthly (strategic review).
7. Account for attribution windows — use date ranges ending at least 7 days ago for the most accurate data.
8. Be conservative with negative phrase keywords. Use negative exact when in doubt.

The Search Term Report is free data from Amazon about what your customers actually want. The sellers who read it consistently and act on its insights build more efficient, more profitable advertising campaigns than those who set up campaigns and hope for the best.