Usual path: the Amazon Ads reporting center
The Search Term report is created in the Amazon Ads console reporting center, not on Seller Central order or inventory pages. A common path is Amazon Ads → Reports → Create report → Sponsored Products → Search Term.
Menu labels change with language and console updates. If you cannot find Search Term, confirm you are in the ads console rather than Seller Central, and that the account has Sponsored Products access. This is a practical path, not frozen official policy text.
Settings to confirm before you create the report
- Report type: Sponsored Products Search Term. Do not download Targeting or Advertised Product and treat them as search terms.
- Date range: match current stock, promotions, and the stage you are reviewing. Testing often uses 7–14 days; mature listings may use 14–30. Do not silently include a stockout or a big deal week.
- Granularity: daily or summary. For negatives and exact promotions, start with aggregated search-term rows.
- Columns and format: at least search term, campaign, targeting, impressions, clicks, spend, orders, sales, and ACOS. xlsx or csv is fine.
Steps: from create to a file you can actually use
- Open the Amazon Ads console, go to reporting, and create a Sponsored Products Search Term report.
- Select the right portfolio or account scope so old test campaigns are not mixed in unless you want a full-account review.
- Set the date range and metric columns, create the report, and wait until it is ready.
- Open the header row and confirm a Customer Search Term column (or the current localized name) plus Clicks, Spend, and Orders.
- Spot-check rows: values should be shopper queries, not your keyword targeting list. If the column is full of targeting names, you downloaded the wrong report.
- Keep the original file. Filter in a copy if needed; do not strip columns before uploading to a diagnosis tool.
Example: which window to download for a weekly negate review
You want to decide negatives this week, stock is stable, and there is no coupon. Download the last 14 days of Sponsored Products Search Term, not month-to-date. If those 14 days include two out-of-stock days, do not treat zero conversion on those days as negate evidence — switch to 7 in-stock days or exclude the stockout dates.
Risk boundaries: the wrong file produces the wrong actions
- Treating a Targeting report as Search Term leads you to negate targets as if they were shopper queries.
- A range that is too short lacks clicks and invites false negatives; a range that is too long reintroduces paused history.
- When multiple portfolios sit in one file, separate which campaigns are still live. High ACOS on a paused campaign is not current waste.
- Amazon may move the reporting entry points and column names. If the screen differs, follow the console’s current help and create-report page.
Once downloaded, read the terms with the same rules
A correct file still has to be split by spend, clicks, orders, and your break-even line. Upload the Search Term report and check which head terms should be promoted, watched, or negated without building a pivot table first.