The average Amazon.in seller spends 30–40% of their PPC budget on keywords with zero conversions. That's not an estimate — it's what we consistently see when we analyze Search Term Reports. The good news: it's entirely fixable once you know where to look.
Download your Search Term Report first
Go to Campaign Manager → Reports → Search Term Report. Download the last 60–90 days. This is the single most important report in your advertising account — everything else is just noise.
The 3 keyword buckets you need to sort into
Bucket 1: Pause immediately
These are keywords with more than ₹500 spend and zero orders. No ACoS calculation needed — ₹500 spent with zero sales means this keyword isn't working for your product. Add it as a negative exact match in every campaign it appears in. Don't wait, don't give it more time. Pause it now.
On average, sellers have 15–25 of these. That's ₹7,500–12,500 in recoverable spend sitting right there.
Bucket 2: Scale aggressively
Keywords where your ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) is below your break-even ACoS. If your product has a 40% margin, keywords with ACoS under 35% are profitable — you should be bidding more aggressively on these, not treating them the same as everything else.
Find your break-even ACoS: (Profit margin ÷ Sale price) × 100. If a keyword beats it consistently over 30+ days, raise your bid by 20% and check again in two weeks.
Bucket 3: Fix or cut
Keywords with clicks and some orders, but ACoS way above break-even. These aren't non-performers — they're just overbid. Reduce the bid by 30% and monitor for 2 weeks. If ACoS doesn't improve to within range, move them to Bucket 1.
The campaign cannibalization problem
One thing most guides skip: if the same search term is triggering ads across multiple campaigns, they're bidding against each other and inflating your costs. In your Search Term Report, look for the same customer search query appearing in 3+ ad groups. Consolidate these — pick the campaign with the best performance and add that term as a negative in the others.
Do this monthly, not once
PPC cleanup is not a one-time exercise. New search terms accumulate every week, bids drift, and what worked 3 months ago may be losing money now. Block 30 minutes at the start of each month for this review. The sellers who do this consistently are the ones who sustain profitable PPC as they scale.
Let Vikreya do this automatically
Upload your Search Term Report and get every underperforming keyword flagged, every scaling opportunity highlighted, and exact bid change recommendations — in 3 minutes.
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