How to Analyze Amazon Search Term Report for PPC (2026)

By Rafirit Station Editorial Team · Updated 2026 · ⏱ 25 min read

In Amazon PPC, your Amazon search term report analysis is the single most important tool for optimizing ad spend. According to Amazon Advertising benchmarks, advertisers who consistently analyze their search term reports see a 25-40% reduction in ACOS within 90 days. Yet over 60% of sellers rarely look beyond the campaign level.

In 2026, Amazon’s algorithm updates have made search term analysis even more critical. The rise of AI-generated search queries and increased competition from Chinese sellers means that failing to refine your keyword strategy can cost you dearly. For Dhaka-based sellers, shipping times and margins are already tight — you cannot afford wasted ad dollars.

The cost of ignoring your search term report: according to our analysis, a typical Bangladeshi seller spending ৳2,00,000 per month on Amazon PPC could be wasting ৳70,000+ on irrelevant or low-converting terms. That’s ৳8,40,000 annually — enough to hire a full-time digital marketing manager in Dhaka.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know exactly how to extract, analyze, and act on your Amazon search term report. You’ll be able to identify hidden profit keywords, eliminate wasteful spend, and scale your campaigns with confidence. Let’s dive in.

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📚 External Resources (Bookmark These)

• Amazon Advertising Benchmarks (2026)
• Amazon Seller Central: Sponsored Products Reports
• HubSpot: Amazon PPC Guide
• Moz: Amazon SEO & PPC Guide
• Semrush: Amazon PPC Keyword Research
• Ahrefs: Amazon PPC Strategy
• Backlinko: Amazon SEO & PPC Tips
• Shopify Blog: Amazon PPC for Beginners
• Search Engine Journal: Amazon PPC Guide
• Neil Patel: Amazon PPC Tips

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🔗 Rafirit Station Services

• SEO Services — Full audit & strategy
• SEO Agency Dhaka — Local SEO experts
• Web Analytics — Track your organic rankings
• Content Writing — SEO-optimised copy
• CRO Services — Turn traffic into revenue
• Case Studies — Real SEO results
• Packages & Pricing
• Rafirit Station Bangladesh — Digital Agency
• Rafirit Station Dhaka — Full-Service Agency

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Phase 1: Data Collection & Preparation

Before you can analyze, you need clean data. Most sellers download the wrong report or pull too short a time period. Here’s how to do it right.

Tactic 1.1: Generate the Correct Report

Why this works: Amazon offers multiple reports — only the “Search Term Report” under Sponsored Products gives you the granularity needed. Many sellers accidentally use the “Keyword Report” which lumps similar terms.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Log into Seller Central and navigate to Reports → Advertising Reports.
2. Select “Sponsored Products” as the campaign type.
3. Choose “Search Term Report” from the dropdown.
4. Set a date range of at least 30 days — avoid weekly reports as they lack statistical significance.
5. Download the report in CSV format.

Pro tip: Use the same day of the week for downloads (e.g., every Monday morning) to maintain consistency and account for weekly sales cycles.

📊 Expected results: Clean data set with 500-2000+ rows for active campaigns. You can now proceed to analysis.

Tactic 1.2: Clean and Structure Your Data

Why this works: Raw reports contain duplicate entries, misspellings, and irrelevant data (e.g., brand terms). Cleaning prevents false positives.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Open the CSV in Google Sheets or Excel.
2. Remove rows with zero impressions — they provide no actionable data.
3. Filter out your own brand name if you only want generic terms.
4. Add a column for “ACOS” (Ad Spend / Sales * 100).
5. Sort by clicks descending to identify high-traffic terms first.

Template: Use our free Google Sheets template (link in external resources) with pre-built formulas for ACOS, RoAS, and conversion rate.

📊 Expected results: A structured table with 300-1000 clean rows, ready for segmentation.

Tactic 1.3: Segment by Match Type

Why this works: Broad, phrase, and exact match terms perform differently. Combining them hides the real story.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Add a filter for the “Match Type” column.
2. Create separate sheets or tabs for each match type (Broad, Phrase, Exact).
3. Within each sheet, sort by ACOS ascending (best performers first).
4. Flag any exact match term with ACOS > 30% for review.

Insight: In our experience, broad match often reveals the most hidden gems but also the most waste. Don’t ignore it.

📊 Expected results: Clear visibility of which match type is driving your best ROI.

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Phase 2: Identifying High-Performing Keywords

Now with clean segmented data, you can spot the terms that deserve more budget.

Tactic 2.1: Calculate Revenue per Click (RPC)

Why this works: ACOS alone can be misleading — a term with high ACOS but high volume may still be profitable. RPC gives you per-click value.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Create a column for RPC = Total Sales / Clicks.
2. Set a threshold: terms with RPC > ৳100 (based on your average product price) are prime candidates.
3. Filter for these terms and analyze their conversion rate.
4. If conversion rate > 10%, these are gold — increase bids by 20%.

Example: A term “organic baby soap” has RPC ৳150 and conversion 12%. Even with ACOS 25%, it’s generating ৳150 per click — worth increasing bid from ৳15 to ৳18.

📊 Expected results: Identify 10-20 keywords that can scale profitably.

Tactic 2.2: Long-Tail Keyword Expansion

Why this works: Amazon’s algorithm favors relevance. Long-tail phrases convert 2-3x higher than generic terms.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Look at your search term report for phrases with 3+ words that have >5 sales.
2. Use Amazon’s Keyword Tool (in Campaign Manager) to find related long-tails.
3. Add these as exact match keywords in a new campaign with low bids (start at ৳5).
4. Monitor for 7 days; if ACOS < 20%, increase bid gradually.

Pro script: “I found that ‘best organic baby soap for eczema’ had 10 sales at 15% ACOS. I added it as exact match and doubled down — now it’s my top performer.”

📊 Expected results: 15-30 new long-tail terms added within 2 weeks.

Tactic 2.3: Competitive Term Harvesting

Why this works: Your report shows search terms that triggered your ads even if they aren’t in your keyword list. These are competitor brand names or related products.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Filter the “Customer Search Term” column for terms that include competitor brand names.
2. If such terms have a conversion rate >5%, add them as phrase match keywords.
3. If they have high clicks but low conversion, add as negative keywords.
4. For neutral terms (e.g., “baby soap” vs “baby wash”), test them separately.

Caution: Bidding on competitor brands can be effective but monitor closely. Amazon may restrict certain brand names. Also, ensure you don’t infringe on trademarks.

📊 Expected results: 5-10 new high-converting terms from competitor analysis.

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Phase 3: Negative Keyword Mining

Often overlooked, negative keywords are the fastest way to improve ACOS. A single irrelevant term can waste thousands of taka.

Tactic 3.1: The High Spend / Low Sales Filter

Why this works: Terms that consume budget but don’t convert are obvious candidates. But Amazon’s report doesn’t highlight them—you have to find them.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Sort your report by spend descending.
2. Identify terms with spend > ৳5,000 and sales 100%).
3. Add these as negative exact keywords immediately.
4. If a term has zero sales after 20+ clicks, add as negative phrase as well.

Real example: One seller found that the term “free baby soap samples” had 50 clicks and 0 sales, costing ৳7,500. Adding it as negative saved them that amount the next month.

📊 Expected results: Immediate 5-15% reduction in ACOS within 7 days.

Tactic 3.2: Brand Irrelevant Terms

Why this works: Customers searching for your brand specifically are likely to convert organically. Paying for those clicks wastes money.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Filter for search terms that contain your brand name.
2. If these terms already have high organic ranking, add them as negative.
3. If they are underperforming (low conversion), definitely add as negative.
4. Consider adding your own brand as negative in generic campaigns to avoid cannibalization.

Counterintuitive insight: Many sellers think brand terms are safe, but if you have strong organic ranking, removing them from PPC can actually increase overall profitability because your organic sales remain unaffected.

📊 Expected results: 3-5% improvement in campaign ACOS.

Tactic 3.3: Seasonal and Trend-Related Terms

Why this works: Search trends change. A term that worked last month may be irrelevant now (e.g., “Christmas gift” in January).

Exactly how to do it:

1. Review your report for terms that are seasonal or related to current events.
2. If the term is past its peak season, add it as negative.
3. Alternatively, pause the campaign until next season.
4. Use Google Trends to confirm seasonality of terms.

Pro tip: Create a negative keyword list specifically for seasonal terms that you reactivate each year.

📊 Expected results: Prevents wasted spend during off-seasons.

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Phase 4: Bid Optimization & Campaign Restructuring

Once you know which terms are winning and losing, it’s time to adjust bids and restructure campaigns for maximum efficiency.

Tactic 4.1: The 3-Bucket Bid Strategy

Why this works: Not all keywords deserve the same bid. Segmenting gives you control.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Bucket 1 (High Performers): ACOS < 15%, high volume. Increase bids by 20-30%.
2. Bucket 2 (Moderate): ACOS 15-30%, moderate volume. Keep bids steady but monitor.
3. Bucket 3 (Low Performers): ACOS > 30% or low volume. Reduce bids by 20% or move to phrase match.
4. Use Dayparting: For Dhaka time zone, increase bids during peak shopping hours (7 PM – 11 PM BST).

Example: For a term with ACOS 10% and 100 sales, increase bid from ৳20 to ৳25. For a term with ACOS 40% and 5 sales, reduce bid from ৳15 to ৳10.

📊 Expected results: 10-20% improvement in overall campaign ACOS within two weeks.

Tactic 4.2: Campaign Restructuring – Exact Match Migration

Why this works: Exact match keywords often perform best but get lost in broad campaigns. Moving them to their own exact match campaign allows tighter control.

Exactly how to do it:

1. Identify top 20 exact match terms from your analysis.
2. Create a new campaign “Product X – Exact Match High Performer” with these terms.
3. Set bids 10% higher than your current average.
4. Remove these terms from the original broad/phrase campaigns to avoid duplication.
5. Monitor for 14 days and adjust.

Pro script: “After migrating my top 10 exact match terms, I saw a 25% increase in RoAS because the campaign focused only on converting queries.”

📊 Expected results: 15-30% improvement in RoAS for migrated terms.

Tactic 4.3: Automated Rules for Ongoing Optimization

Why this works: Manual optimization is time-consuming. Let Amazon’s automated rules handle routine adjustments.

Exactly how to do it:

1. In Campaign Manager, go to Campaign Settings → Automated Rules.
2. Create a rule: If ACOS > 30% for 7 days, reduce bid by 15%.
3. Create another: If ACOS < 15% for 7 days, increase bid by 10%.
4. Set a budget cap rule: If daily spend exceeds 80% of budget by noon, pause low performers.
5. Review automated changes weekly to ensure they align with your strategy.

Caution: Automated rules can overreact during sales spikes. Always set a minimum and maximum bid range.

📊 Expected results: Continuous optimization with minimal manual effort.

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🏆 Real Case Study: How a Dhaka-Based Baby Product Seller Saved ৳95,000 Monthly

BEFORE: A Dhaka-based seller of organic baby skincare products was spending ৳2,50,000/month on Amazon PPC with an ACOS of 48%. They were profitable on the surface but leaving money on the table. Their search term report had over 2,000 unique terms, many of which were irrelevant or low-converting.

Strategy applied (over 4 weeks):

• Week 1: Cleaned and segmented the search term report by match type.
• Week 2: Identified 45 high-converting long-tail terms (e.g., “organic baby eczema cream for sensitive skin”) and moved them to exact match campaigns.
• Week 3: Added 120 negative keywords, including competitor brands like “Johnson’s” and “Aveeno”, and generic terms like “free samples”.
• Week 4: Implemented bid adjustments based on the 3-bucket strategy and created automated rules.

AFTER (60 days):

• Ad spend reduced to ৳1,85,000/month (saving ৳65,000).
• ACOS dropped from 48% to 22%.
• Revenue increased 18% due to better keyword targeting (from ৳5,20,000 to ৳6,13,000 monthly).
• Total monthly benefit: ৳65,000 savings + ৳93,000 extra revenue = ৳1,58,000 improvement.
• Conversion rate rose from 8% to 14%.

“I never realized how much money was being wasted on irrelevant keywords. The search term report analysis transformed our Amazon business. We’re now expanding to the UK market with confidence.” — Rahim, Owner of Little Luxe Baby Co., Dhaka

See more Rafirit Station case studies →

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✅ Amazon Search Term Report Analysis Checklist

Step	Status
Download 30+ day Search Term Report	✅
Remove zero-impression rows	✅
Add ACOS and RPC columns	✅
Segment by match type	✅
Identify top 20 high-RPC terms	⚠️
Add long-tail keyword variations	⚠️
Harvest competitor terms	⚠️
Find high-spend/low-sales terms (negative keywords)	✅
Add brand irrelevant terms as negative	✅
Remove expired seasonal terms	⚠️
Apply 3-bucket bid strategy	❌
Migrate top exact match to separate campaign	❌
Set up automated bid rules	❌
Review and repeat weekly	❌

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Amazon Search Term Report?

The Amazon Search Term Report is a detailed report available in Seller Central that shows the exact search terms customers used to find and click on your Sponsored Products ads. It includes metrics like impressions, clicks, spend, sales, and conversion rates for each search term, helping you optimize your PPC campaigns.

Q: How often should I analyze my search term report?

We recommend analyzing your search term report at least once every 7 days for active campaigns. For new product launches, daily checks during the first two weeks can help you quickly identify high-performing keywords and negative terms to avoid wasting ad spend.

Q: What is a good ACOS for Amazon PPC in Bangladesh?

A good ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales) depends on your profit margins. For Bangladeshi sellers, we typically aim for 20-30% ACOS on established products, but during launch phases, 40-50% may be acceptable. The key is to ensure your net profit remains positive after ad costs.

Q: How do I identify negative keywords from the search term report?

Look for search terms with high clicks and spend but zero or low sales. These are negative keyword candidates. Also, terms that generate sales but have a high ACOS (above your target) should be reviewed. Add them as negative exact or negative phrase keywords to prevent future waste.

Q: Can I automate Amazon search term report analysis?

Yes, you can use third-party tools like Sellics, Helium 10, or Jungle Scout to automate report generation and analysis. These tools can highlight trends, suggest keywords, and even automatically add negative keywords. However, manual review is still important for nuanced decisions.

Q: What is the difference between broad, phrase, and exact match in Amazon PPC?

Broad match targets a wide range of related terms, phrase match targets terms that include the exact phrase in order, and exact match targets only the exact search term. The search term report shows which match type triggered the ad, helping you refine your match type strategy.

Q: Does Rafirit Station offer Amazon PPC services?

Yes, Rafirit Station offers comprehensive Amazon PPC management services, including search term analysis, campaign optimization, and bid management. Our team of experts helps Bangladeshi sellers maximize ROI on Amazon advertising. Learn more about our Amazon PPC services →

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🎯 The Bottom Line

Analyzing your Amazon search term report is not a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process that separates profitable sellers from those bleeding ad spend. The counterintuitive truth: most sellers should be adding more negative keywords than positive ones. In our experience, a 5:1 negative-to-positive keyword ratio often yields the best ACOS improvements.

By following the four-phase framework in this guide—data preparation, high-performer identification, negative mining, and bid optimization—you can realistically reduce your ACOS by 15-30% within 60 days. For a Dhaka-based seller spending ৳2,00,000 monthly, that’s ৳30,000-60,000 saved each month.

Remember: Amazon PPC is a game of precision, not volume. The search term report is your scalpel.

⚡ Your Next Step (Do This Today)

1. Log into Seller Central and download your last 30 days of Search Term Report.
2. Open it in Google Sheets and add ACOS and RPC columns using the formula above.
3. Identify the top 10 terms with RPC > ৳100 and conversion rate > 10%. Increase their bids by 15%.
4. Find the top 5 terms with spend > ৳5,000 and zero sales — add them as negative exact keywords immediately.
5. Set a recurring calendar reminder to repeat this analysis every Monday at 10 AM.

💬 Drop “search term report” in the comments and we’ll send you our free Amazon Search Term Analysis Checklist — no email required.