The Walmart Connect Search Term Report — How to Use It
Walmart Connect's Search Term Report is the single most valuable PPC data source — and most sellers ignore it. The report shows every query that triggered an ad, what you spent, and what you sold. Mining it weekly cuts wasted spend 20-40% on average.
What the report contains
Each row: customer search query, campaign name, ad group name, match type, impressions, clicks, ad spend, attributed sales, units sold, date range.
Walmart Connect generates the report on-demand. Standard date ranges: last 7 days, last 30 days, custom up to 90 days.
Reading it for negative-keyword candidates
Sort by Ad Spend descending. Look at the top 10 queries with $X+ spend.
Filter for ROAS < 1.0 (you're losing money on every click). These are negative-keyword candidates.
Filter for clicks > 10 AND attributed_sales = $0. These are queries that clicked but never converted — irrelevant traffic.
The negative-keyword playbook
Add candidates as exact-match negatives (not phrase). Phrase negatives block adjacent queries that might convert.
Re-pull the report 7 days after negative-keyword additions to verify the wasted spend dropped. If it didn't, the negative-keyword match type was wrong.
ShelfSEO's PPC Waste Analyzer at /app/ppc automates this — pulls the report (via Connect API if connected) and ranks waste candidates by lifetime spend.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I pull the report?
Weekly for active campaigns. Monthly is OK for low-spend accounts. Daily creates noise — Walmart's attribution updates lag by 24-72 hours.
Does negative-keyword match type matter?
Yes — exact match blocks only the exact query; phrase match blocks any query containing the phrase. Use exact for precise queries; phrase only for obvious noise ("free", "cheap").