Walmart Connect finally lets advertisers exclude search terms

Walmart Connect Finally Adds Negative Keywords to Sponsored Products

Walmart Connect has introduced negative keyword controls for sponsored-products campaigns, letting brands stop ads from appearing on specific customer search queries. Advertisers can now exclude terms such as “dog food” or “running shoes” that they consider low-value or misaligned with their products. The feature is available in the Walmart Connect Ad Center and through partner platforms including Pacvue, Skai, Quartile, Teikametrics and DataCaciques.

Walmart says the control gives advertisers a way to block low-performing or irrelevant queries without filtering out related high-value traffic. For marketplace advertisers, it can make limited budgets work harder by reducing spend on irrelevant clicks; for suppliers, it supports more advanced management across large brand and product portfolios.

The change has been a long-standing request. Unlike manual campaigns, automatic campaigns let Walmart’s search algorithm choose placements, leaving brands little ability to avoid their own branded terms or unhelpful search matches. Amazon has offered negative keywords since 2019, and Walmart-owned Sam’s Club has had the feature for several years.

Industry practitioners say the new tool creates both opportunity and reporting complexity: it should cut wasted spend, but it may also lower account-level return metrics that had been inflated by years of brand-term advertising.

How Negative Keywords Reset Walmart's Retail-Media Advertising Bargain

Why Walmart Resisted Negative Keywords for So Long

Chris Sheldon of marketplace agency Podean says Walmart Connect likely collected substantial ad revenue from exact branded search-term matches before this move. Brands that wanted automatic campaign exposure had to buy branded terms even when those clicks were the least incremental form of advertising. The delayed rollout reflects a tension between platform revenue and advertiser control; Walmart is now choosing to address years of demand as retail media competition intensifies.

What Changes for Marketplace Advertisers and Suppliers

The practical effect is immediate for automatic campaigns. A brand selling eyeglasses can exclude “wine glasses” to avoid irrelevant visibility, according to Ray Easley of Flywheel. Large suppliers can also use negative keywords to stop multiple products or brands from competing for the same search terms. Alicia Marshia of Pacvue, who works with Walmart Connect, said the request has come from brands of all sizes.

The Return-on-Ad-Spend Reset

Sheldon expects cost-per-click to rise on competitive major-category terms as advertisers shift money away from branded queries. At the same time, account-level return on ad spend may decline because branded spend — which had artificially boosted reported returns — can now be removed. That is a measurement reset, not necessarily a performance decline, but it will require marketing teams to explain the shift to sales and leadership.

Retail Media Maturity and the Move Up-Funnel

Walmart’s feature closes a gap with Amazon and Sam’s Club and signals that Walmart Connect is responding to advertiser demands for precision. Marshia expects the efficiency gains to free budgets for upper-funnel formats such as connected TV, a recent focus for Walmart Connect. That would let brands test awareness and consideration campaigns rather than simply defending sponsored search placements.

What Walmart Advertisers Should Do With Negative Keywords

For brands and agencies running Walmart Sponsored Products:

• Audit automatic campaign search term reports immediately and add exact branded terms as negatives if they lack incrementality; the feature is live in Walmart Connect Ad Center and via Pacvue, Skai, Quartile, Teikametrics and DataCaciques.
• Use negative matching for known low-conversion or confusing queries — Flywheel’s eyeglasses versus wine-glasses example — before shifting budgets.
• Prepare revised reporting that separates branded and non-branded performance. Sheldon warns account-level return on ad spend will fall as previously inflating brand spend is excluded, and internal teams will need that break-out explained.
• If budget moves to competitive category terms, anticipate higher cost-per-click and re-optimize bids rather than expecting the same efficiency.
• Redeploy freed sponsored-search budget into upper-funnel tests such as Walmart Connect’s connected TV formats, as Marshia expects precision gains to support.