Content:
I’m trying to optimize a Walmart Automatic Campaign, but I can’t find where to add negative keywords. I know manual campaigns have this option, but the automatic campaign interface seems different.
Does Walmart allow negatives in auto campaigns? If yes, what’s the exact path?
I’ve checked the campaign settings and the “Keywords” tab but didn’t see the usual negative keyword section. Any screenshots or step-by-step guidance would be super helpful.
Thanks in advance!
Answers (4)
Here’s what I do instead:
Run auto with a low budget ($20-30/day) just for discovery
Pull the search term report every week
Add the irrelevant terms as negatives in my manual campaigns
Once I have enough data, I scale back auto and focus budget on manual
It’s extra work but worth it. The auto campaign will bleed spend on garbage terms if you don’t check it regularly.
I’ve talked to my AM about this and they said “it’s by design” — apparently the algorithm needs the data to learn. But yeah, it’s frustrating. I usually let auto run for 2-3 weeks just to gather search term data, then pause it once I have a solid manual campaign setup.
The workaround is what the other comment said — let the auto run for a bit, download the search term report, then create a manual campaign with the good terms and add negatives to the auto campaign. It’s an extra step but saves ad spend long term.
What I do is run auto to find what’s converting, then move those terms to a manual campaign and add negatives to the auto to filter out junk. Not perfect, but it works.