Search Term Negation Logic

Search Term Negation is an optimization mechanism that automatically excludes underperforming search terms from advertising campaigns.

When advertising campaigns run, they often collect search queries that generate clicks but do not produce sales. If these queries continue to receive traffic, they may consume advertising budget without contributing to performance.

Negation rules prevent this by identifying search terms that meet defined inefficiency conditions and automatically excluding them from campaign targeting.

This helps improve advertising efficiency by ensuring that budget is directed toward search terms that generate meaningful results.

How negation works

Negation rules follow the same IF → THEN rule structure used across EVA’s optimization system.

The rule evaluates search term performance using defined metrics and time ranges. When the defined condition is satisfied, the system automatically applies a negation action.

Example rule:

IF Clicks (last 30 days) ≥ 10

AND Sales = 0

THEN Negate search term

In this case, the search term generated traffic but failed to produce sales within the evaluation period. The system therefore excludes the search term from targeting to prevent additional spend.

Negation tolerance levels

Negation rules can operate at different tolerance levels, which determine how aggressively the system removes search terms.

These tolerance levels control how much data EVA gathers before deciding to negate a term.

High tolerance

High tolerance waits for a larger amount of performance data before excluding search terms. This approach prioritizes data collection and reduces the risk of removing potentially valuable keywords too early.

Medium tolerance

Medium tolerance balances data collection and efficiency. Search terms are evaluated with a moderate threshold before being excluded.

Low tolerance

Low tolerance is more aggressive and removes search terms quickly when inefficiency conditions appear. This approach prioritizes cost control and budget protection.

Custom negation rules

In addition to predefined tolerance levels, advertisers can create custom negation rules.

Custom rules allow users to define their own performance thresholds and conditions based on campaign strategy.

When creating a custom rule, users define:

Example custom rule:

IF ACoS (last 30 days) > 50%

AND Clicks ≥ 20

THEN Negate search term

This allows advertisers to tailor search term filtering logic according to their specific performance goals.

Why search term negation is important

Without automated negation, campaigns may continue spending budget on search terms that consistently fail to generate results.

Negation automation helps:

By continuously filtering underperforming search terms, EVA helps keep campaigns aligned with the advertiser’s performance objectives.