Free tool · When to Negate
Is this search term worth more clicks?
A search term with no sales isn’t always a dud. It might just be early. This tool checks it against the conversion rate it needs to pay for its clicks, and tells you whether to add a negative, keep watching, or leave it alone.
- Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded
- Free, no email
- Uses the numbers in your Search Term Report
Cheat sheet
Clicks with no sale before you add a negative.
Find the row for your product’s break-even conversion rate. Rule of thumb: at 95%, it’s about 3 ÷ that rate.
| Break-even conversion rate | 80% sure | 90% sure | 95% sure | Spend to know |
|---|
Break-even conversion rate = cost per click ÷ profit per sale before ads. The spend column uses your cost per click at the certainty you picked.
How it’s calculated
A fair test for every search term.
Clicks cost money whether or not they convert. So the question isn’t “has it sold yet?” but “does it sell often enough to pay for its clicks?”
Want break-even numbers for every product first? Run the Catalog Profit Check, then pick a product here. Setting top-of-search premiums? Try the Placement Bid Calculator.
Break-even conversion rate
Cost per click ÷ profit per sale before ads. A search term converting below this loses money even when it makes sales.
The test
If the term really converted at exactly break-even, how likely is it to get this few orders from this many clicks? When that chance falls below 5% (at 95%), the term is almost certainly unprofitable.
Clicks to decide
How many more clicks with no new order it takes to get there, and what they cost at your current cost per click.
What it leaves out
Sales from other search terms that this one helps, orders credited after the report was pulled, and multi-unit orders. Treat a close call as “watch it”, not “cut it”.
You talk to me, not an account manager
Find out what your ads are allowed to cost.
Tell me about your account in two minutes. I review one Search Term Report before we talk, and you leave the call with three findings and a free quote.