Helium 10 Ads Video: How to Set Up Keyword Harvesting and Negative Rules

February 24, 2025 16:03

Keyword harvesting and negative targeting are essential strategies for optimizing your Amazon advertising campaigns. By identifying high-performing keywords and eliminating poorly performing ones, you can improve ad efficiency, reduce wasted spend, and increase overall profitability. These practices are crucial for scaling your Amazon advertising campaigns effectively.

1. Setting Up Negative Targeting Rules

Negative targeting rules ensure that poorly performing keywords or ASINs are excluded from your campaigns to prevent wasted ad spend. Here's how to set them up:

Step 1: Go to the Negative Targeting Section

Navigate to the Rules and Automation section of your advertising tool and locate the Negative Targeting rules.

Step 2: Create a New Rule

Click on Add a Rule and choose the campaigns or ad groups you want this rule to apply to.
Remember: For auto and research campaigns, focus on excluding specific bad search terms rather than pausing entire campaigns.

Step 3: Set Criteria for Negative Matching

Define the criteria for search terms or ASINs that should trigger a negative match:
- Example: Zero sales but at least 20 clicks over a specific time frame.
Select your look-back period. A good rule of thumb is to use 60 days, excluding the last 3 days (to account for delays in sales attribution).

Step 4: Automate the Rule

Decide if the rule should be run daily, weekly, or at another frequency.
Once set up, the system will automatically suggest negative matches when the criteria are met.

2. Setting Up Keyword Harvesting Rules

Keyword harvesting is the process of identifying high-performing search terms or ASINs and adding them to more focused campaigns. This strategy ensures that your campaigns are "talking" to each other to find and target the best-performing keywords.

Step 1: Define Campaign Groups

Unlike negative rules, keyword harvesting rules should be applied to campaign groups targeting the same product.
Example of a typical group setup:
- Auto Campaign: Automatically discovers new keywords.
- Research Campaign: Targets newly discovered keywords.
- Performance Campaign: Focuses on proven high-performing keywords.
- Sponsored Product Targeting Campaign: Targets specific competitor products or categories.
- Sponsored Display Campaign: Focuses on product targeting ads.

Step 2: Create a Keyword Harvesting Rule

In your advertising tool, go to the Rules and Automation section and add a Keyword Harvesting Rule.

Step 3: Set Criteria for Keyword Promotion

Define the rules for when keywords should be promoted from one campaign to another. For example:
- A keyword gets promoted from auto to research when it has at least 2 sales and an ACOS of 30% or lower over the last 14 days.
- A keyword gets promoted from research to performance when it generates 4 sales with an ACOS of 20% or lower.

Step 4: Automate the Keyword Flow

Set the frequency for when this rule should be checked (e.g., daily or weekly).

Key Tips for Success

Use Automation Tools When Possible:
- Automation can save you significant time by managing these rules dynamically.
Campaigns Must Communicate:
- Ensure your campaigns are structured to work together. For example, auto campaigns should feed research campaigns, and research campaigns should feed performance campaigns.
Review Rules Regularly:
- Advertising performance can change over time. Review your keyword harvesting and negative targeting rules every 30–60 days to ensure they align with your business goals.

Final Thoughts

Implementing keyword harvesting and negative targeting strategies can refine your Amazon advertising campaigns for better performance. Whether you're leveraging automation tools or managing campaigns manually, these practices are essential for improving ad efficiency and profitability.

Remember, advertising success comes from consistent optimization, so ensure your campaigns are continuously "talking" to each other and evolving based on performance data.