N-gram Analysis Tool for Amazon Ads Search Terms

How to run n-gram analysis on Amazon Ads search terms

This n-gram analysis for Amazon Ads reads your Sponsored Products search term report and uses Amazon's own formulas: ACOS is spend ÷ sales × 100 and ROAS is sales ÷ spend, as defined on the search term report help page. The report only lists searches that got at least one click, so every row cost you something.

1. Download the report. Use Reporting (the Search term template) or the Search term report tab of a bulk operations download. A month or more of data gives steadier phrases.
2. Drop it in. Legacy names such as 7 Day Total Sales and new ones such as Total cost and Purchases are matched automatically. Check the column list if a guess looks wrong.
3. Set your target ACOS. Phrases above it are marked; search terms with enough orders below it become keyword ideas.
4. Review the wasted phrases. Each suggested negative shows the spend it would have blocked and the searches behind it. Read the top search terms before you add any of them.
5. Send the negatives on. Next step carries them, with their campaigns and ad groups, to the negative keyword bulksheet builder.

What you get

• Phrase table — impressions, clicks, spend, orders, sales, ACOS, ROAS, CPC and conversion rate for each 1–3-word phrase.
• Suggested negatives — phrases with spend and no sales, checked against Amazon's 4-word limit for negative phrase and its allowed characters.
• Keyword ideas — search terms that sell at or under your target and aren't keywords yet.
• Product pages — ASIN search terms with their spend, for negative product targeting.

What to do next with the results

1. Block the waste. Open the negative keyword bulksheet builder from Next step, add your bulk operations download there for the numeric Campaign Ids, and download the rows.
2. Upload on Bulk operations. New negatives can take up to 72 hours to work, so judge the result on the following weeks, not the next day.
3. Lower bids, don't block, when a phrase still sells. A phrase over target ACOS with orders is a bid problem. Cut the bid on the keyword or target that triggers it.
4. Harvest the winners. Add the keyword ideas as exact keywords in a manual campaign — the Sponsored Products bulk sheet builder turns the list into rows.

Common problems with Amazon search term report analysis

ACOS looks wrong because the wrong sales column was matched

Older seller reports have several sales columns. 7 Day Total Sales counts every product sold after the click; Advertised SKU Sales counts only the advertised one. The tool prefers total sales. Vendor reports use 14-day columns instead of 7-day ones.

Amazon search terms with clicks but no sales — from the last two days

Amazon says sales can take 12 to 48 hours to show, and cost can change for up to 3 days while clicks are checked. End your date range a few days before today, or recent searches look like waste.

Impressions don't match campaign manager

Amazon notes that search term report impressions may not match campaign manager. That's normal. Spend and sales are what matter for negatives.

“Too many words” for negative phrase

Negative phrase allows 4 words and negative exact 10, both up to 80 characters. Phrases here have at most 3 words. In exact mode, very long searches are left out with a note.

The negative would block your own keyword

If the Targeting column is in your file, a phrase that would also match one of your keywords is not suggested. Blocking insulated when you bid on insulated water bottle would switch that keyword off.

The report has ASINs, not words

Rows like b0fakebt01 are product detail pages. They are listed in their own table because only negative product targeting can stop them.