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- What changed: negative keywords arrive on Walmart Connect
- Why brands wanted this: tighter control over ad spend
- How this affects automatic versus manual campaigns
- Voices from the field: what marketing pros are saying
- Expected impact on performance metrics and bidding
- Practical ways brands can use negative keywords
- Broader trends: retail media is maturing
- Where savings might go: more budget for upper-funnel experiments
- Advice from agencies and adtech partners
- What to watch next
Walmart’s ad business just handed brands a long-awaited tool: the ability to block specific search words from Sponsored Products campaigns. The change alters how advertisers protect budgets and pick where their messages appear on Walmart.com.
What changed: negative keywords arrive on Walmart Connect
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Walmart Connect now lets advertisers add negative keywords to Sponsored Products campaigns. When a search matches an excluded term, the brand’s paid listing won’t appear. The feature is available in Walmart’s Ad Center and through major adtech partners.
- Supported partners include Pacvue, Skai, Quartile, Teikametrics and DataCaciques.
- Both Marketplace sellers and Walmart suppliers can use negative keywords.
- The tool applies to searches on Walmart.com and affects automatic placements driven by the platform’s algorithm.
Why brands wanted this: tighter control over ad spend
For years, advertisers asked for a way to stop their ads from appearing on irrelevant or low-converting queries. Without negative keywords, brands often paid for clicks that never turned into sales.
Negative keywords let advertisers block poor matches. That means less wasted spend and cleaner performance signals for optimization.
How this affects automatic versus manual campaigns
Automatic campaigns let Walmart’s system place ads without keyword-level bidding. That can drive broad exposure. But it also meant brands were unable to stop ads from showing on certain searches.
Now brands can exclude terms inside automatic campaigns. That reduces unwanted visibility and helps marketers target their budgets more surgically.
Voices from the field: what marketing pros are saying
Industry consultants and adtech leaders called the feature overdue. Several argued Walmart had been collecting ad revenue on brand-heavy search queries for years.
- Some marketplace strategists noted brands previously chose branded-term bids mainly because automatic campaigns forced broad reach.
- Adtech partners say the functionality has been requested across enterprise and small-brand clients.
Advertisers expect clearer returns and less noise in campaign data. But they also warned that reported account metrics may shift.
Expected impact on performance metrics and bidding
Blocking branded or irrelevant terms will likely move spend toward more competitive, category-level queries. That has two immediate effects.
- Cost-per-click for top category terms may rise as more brands compete there.
- Overall return on ad spend (ROAS) may drop for accounts that previously relied on cheap, high-converting branded clicks.
Marketing leaders should prepare for lower-looking ROAS even when campaigns become healthier long term. Teams may need to explain the shift to finance and sales stakeholders.
Practical ways brands can use negative keywords
Advertisers can start with a focused audit and then iterate. Typical steps include:
- Identify low-converting search queries from past reports.
- Add those phrases as negative keywords in automatic campaigns.
- Monitor search behavior and conversions weekly for early signs of change.
- Adjust bids and reallocate budget to high-performing terms or other channels.
Examples matter. An eyeglass maker could exclude terms tied to unrelated glassware. A brand could also prevent overlap between different products that cannibalize one another on the same search phrase.
Broader trends: retail media is maturing
Analysts see the move as a sign that retail media networks are evolving toward advertiser-friendly controls. Platforms such as Amazon and some club networks already offered negative keywords.
Walmart’s update narrows the feature gap with competitors. It also gives brands more confidence to invest in targeted tactics on Walmart’s properties.
Where savings might go: more budget for upper-funnel experiments
By cutting waste in search, brands can free funds for awareness and consideration work. That includes channels like connected TV and broader display buys.
Ad partners say this reallocation is already a priority. Brands increasingly want to move up the funnel as they build long-term demand.
Advice from agencies and adtech partners
Experts recommend a measured rollout. Quick tips they share with clients:
- Start by excluding obvious non-converting phrases.
- Keep a defensive brand budget to protect branded placements.
- Use partner platforms for easier scale and centralized reporting.
- Track changes to CPC and ROAS closely and set clear expectations internally.
Precision now becomes a competitive advantage. Brands that refine search exposure early will likely capture higher-quality clicks at better value.
What to watch next
Marketers and vendors will watch how quickly large brands adapt. They’ll check whether Walmart’s marketplace sees shifts in category CPCs and how ROAS trends evolve across accounts.
Ads teams will also measure whether freed budgets actually fund creative campaigns or more advanced media buys. The outcome could reshuffle where retailers and brands place their ad dollars in 2026 and beyond.
