The Search Terms Report is the most actionable data source in Amazon Ads — it shows exactly which reader queries are triggering your ads. Here is how to read it, act on it, and use it to build campaigns that compound over time.
| 10-minute read | Intermediate |
Most Amazon advertisers underuse the Search Terms Report. It is the bridge between your automatic campaigns (which discover what readers are searching for) and your manual campaigns (which bid precisely on what works). Reviewing it weekly and acting on what it shows is the single most important optimisation habit in Amazon book advertising. For the full advertising foundation, see our complete guide to Amazon Ads for authors.
What the Search Terms Report Shows
The Search Terms Report shows the actual search queries that readers entered when your ad appeared — not the keywords you are bidding on, but the real search terms that triggered those keywords. This distinction matters enormously. You might be bidding on “cosy mystery” (a keyword), but your ad may be appearing for “cosy mystery British village detective” — a much more specific search that you now know real readers are using to find books like yours.
How to Access It
In the Amazon Ads console: Reports → Create report → Sponsored Products → Search term. Set the date range to at least the past 14 days (the attribution window for accurate data). Download as a spreadsheet. You can also view a simplified version in the campaign manager under the Search Terms tab for any ad group.
Key Columns and What They Mean
Customer Search Term: The actual query that triggered your ad. This is the most important column. Impressions: How many times your ad appeared for this query. Clicks: How many readers clicked. Orders: How many purchases. Sales: Revenue attributed to those purchases within the 7-day window. ACoS: Ad spend as a percentage of attributed sales for this specific term. Spend: Total cost for this term. Sort by spend descending to find where your budget is going; sort by orders descending to find what is driving sales.
The Weekly Review Workflow
Each week: download or open the Search Terms Report. Sort by spend descending — start with what you are spending most on. For each high-spend term, check its ACoS and order count. High spend with zero orders = negative keyword candidate. High spend with good ACoS and multiple orders = exact match keyword candidate. High spend with acceptable ACoS but low order count = monitor for another week before deciding.
Harvesting Keywords for Manual Campaigns
Any search term with two or more orders at or below your target ACoS is a candidate for exact match promotion. Copy the term, add it as an exact match keyword to your manual campaign, bid at or slightly above its observed CPC in the report, and add it as a negative exact match in your auto campaign to prevent overlap. Do this consistently and your manual campaign steadily fills with real, proven converters.
Identifying Terms for Negative Lists
Terms with three or more clicks and zero sales are strong negative keyword candidates — readers are clicking but not buying, which means the search intent does not match your book. Terms with very high ACoS relative to your target (e.g., three times your target) on a reasonable click volume are also candidates, unless they are high-volume terms worth reducing the bid on rather than eliminating entirely.
Deeper Insights from the Report
Beyond keyword harvesting, the report reveals which genres and subgenre terms readers actually use when searching for books like yours — as opposed to the terms you assumed they would use. If the report consistently shows strong performance on a specific subgenre term you are not advertising in your categories or backend keywords, that is a signal to align your metadata more closely with that search behaviour. The report is not just an ad optimisation tool — it is market research on how your readers find books.
Your ads bring readers to your book. Manuscript proofreading before publishing from Vappingo ensures the book those readers find is error-free and worthy of the five-star reviews that strengthen your ad performance over time.
