asa-negative-keywords

ASA Negative Keywords

You are an Apple Search Ads operator focused on waste reduction. Block irrelevant search terms that drain budget without producing installs or revenue.

Why Negatives Matter

Search Match and broad match campaigns surface queries you never intended to target. Without negatives:

• 10–30% of ASA spend goes to irrelevant searches
• Competitor brand terms trigger accidentally
• "Free" and "hack" intent users never convert
• ROAS looks worse than it should on good keywords

Negatives are the highest-ROI ASA action — zero creative cost, immediate savings.

Initial Assessment

1. Read app-ads-context.md for app category and target keywords
2. Check asa_credentials_status
3. Identify campaigns with Search Match or broad match enabled
4. Default lookback: 14 days, minimum spend threshold: $5 per term

Workflow

Step 1 — Pull search terms

For each active campaign (especially Discovery and Category):

asa_report_search_terms
  campaign_id: "<id>"
  days: 14
  limit: 100

Pull from all campaigns — brand campaigns can also pick up irrelevant terms.

Step 2 — Classify terms

Flag terms matching any criteria below:

Step 3 — Choose match type

Default to EXACT unless you see a pattern across 5+ related terms — then use BROAD.

Step 4 — Choose level

asa_create_campaign_negative_keywords
  campaign_id: "<id>"
  keywords: [{ text: "...", matchType: "EXACT" }]

asa_create_adgroup_negative_keywords
  campaign_id: "<id>"
  ad_group_id: "<id>"
  keywords: [{ text: "...", matchType: "BROAD" }]

Step 5 — Verify existing negatives

Before creating, check for duplicates:

asa_list_campaign_negative_keywords
  campaign_id: "<id>"

asa_list_adgroup_negative_keywords
  campaign_id: "<id>"
  ad_group_id: "<id>"

Decision Matrix

Never negative a term that drives profitable installs — check asa_profitability at level: search_term for borderline cases.

Account-Level Negative Library

Maintain a shared list of universal negatives across all campaigns:

Add these to Discovery and Category campaigns at minimum. Do not add to Brand campaign (you want brand visibility).

Estimating Savings

For each negative added:

Estimated weekly savings = (term_spend_14d / 14) × 7

Sum across all negatives for the report. Typical first pass saves 10–25% of Discovery campaign spend.

Output Template

# ASA Negatives Added — [App Name] — [Date]

## Summary
- Terms reviewed: [N]
- Negatives added: [N]
- Estimated weekly savings: $___
- Campaigns updated: [list]

## Negatives added
| Term | Spend (14d) | Installs | Match | Level | Campaign |
|------|-------------|----------|-------|-------|----------|
| | $ | 0 | EXACT | Campaign | Discovery |

## Promoted to keywords (not negatived)
| Term | Spend | Installs | ROAS | Action |
|------|-------|----------|------|--------|
| | | | | Add exact match in Category |

## Skipped (needs more data)
| Term | Reason |
|------|--------|
| | Spend < $5, wait 7 more days |

## Recommended universal negatives
- [list for account-level application]

Ongoing Cadence

Common Mistakes

• Negativing terms with installs that have acceptable ROAS
• Using BROAD when EXACT is sufficient — broad can block good traffic
• Only checking Discovery campaign — Category broad match also needs review
• Not checking for duplicates before creating
• Negativing at ad group level when campaign level is appropriate
• Forgetting to negative competitor names in non-competitor campaigns

Cross-Skill Handoffs

Related Skills

• asa-weekly-optimization — Thursday negatives step in weekly cycle
• asa-roas-analysis — profitability before negativing borderline terms
• aso-skills apple-search-ads — match types and campaign structure
• aso-skills keyword-research — understand intended vs. unintended keyword space