Walmart Connect Introduces Negative Keywords for Sponsored Products

Walmart Connect, the retail giant's advertising platform, has begun allowing advertisers to use negative keywords in sponsored-products campaigns. The change, announced in late July, lets brands prevent their ads from appearing when a customer's search includes a term they designate as irrelevant or low-performing.

For example, a seller could exclude terms like "dog food" or "running shoes" from triggering its ads. The feature applies specifically to sponsored-products campaigns on Walmart's marketplace, where advertisers bid on keyword matches to show products in search results.

In a blog post, Walmart Connect said the added control can help improve budget efficiency, reduce less relevant traffic and support campaign optimization. The company also noted that advertisers can block misaligned terms without unintentionally filtering out related high-value traffic.

The tool is designed to benefit different types of sellers. For marketplace advertisers, negative keywords can make limited budgets work harder by reducing spend on irrelevant clicks. Walmart suppliers managing large portfolios may use the feature to avoid competing with their own brand or product terms across multiple campaigns.