How do I analyse search terms in OTTO's Keyword Report?

Search term and keyword on OTTO

A search term is what a customer types into the search box on OTTO. A keyword is the word you book for your ad in a manual campaign. How closely a search term has to match your keyword is set by the match type, in the partner portal „Exact“, „Phrase“ or „Broad“. With the keyword “gartenstuhl” in phrase match, the search “gartenstuhl holz klappbar” can also trigger your ad.

In an automatic campaign you don't book keywords. OTTO chooses the searches based on your listing, and you only set one bid per item. A search term has no bid of its own there. You can only exclude it or change the bid of the whole item. Only in a manual campaign does it get its own bid, as a keyword.

Where OTTO shows your search terms

OTTO's ad reports sit on two levels. Under „Marketing“ → „Sponsored Product Ads“ you'll find the tabs „Dashboard“, „Kampagnen-Report“ (Campaign report), „Artikel-Report“ (Item report), „Verkäufe-Report“ (Sales report) and „Prognose-Report“ (Forecast report). There's no tab for keywords or search terms there.

The search terms are one level down, in the detail report of a single campaign. It has four tabs, „Gesamt Report“ (Overall report), „Keyword Report“, „Artikel Report“ (Item report) and „Sales Report“. If you come from Amazon, you know it as the Search Term Report, the report with customers' searches. OTTO doesn't offer a Keyword Report across all campaigns.

What's in OTTO's Keyword Report

The „Keyword-Detailübersicht“ (Keyword detail overview) table has these columns, in this order.

For an automatic campaign, „Keyword“ and „Match Type“ stay empty, and „Customer Search Term“ lists several searches per item. For a manual campaign, you see next to each keyword which search terms it was actually shown for. That shows you which searches a keyword in phrase or broad match triggers.

OTTO lists search terms with at least one click in the period. For manual campaigns it also lists search terms that only had impressions.

Which purchases OTTO credits to a search term

When a customer clicks your ad, OTTO credits it with the purchases of the following 14 days. Which purchases count is something you choose in the „Conversion-Basis“ field at the top left of the Keyword Report. The field has four entries, each with a number in front, and the default is „1. Marke“ (brand).

On „1. Marke“, a search term's revenue also includes the garden table the customer bought after clicking your garden chair. Whether a search term fits your item only shows on „4. Artikel“. OTTO counts the submitted basket with VAT as revenue. The report doesn't subtract returns or cancellations.

What OTTO's Keyword Report doesn't show

The totals in the Keyword Report are smaller than the campaign's totals in the „Kampagnen-Report“. That OTTO's search term report doesn't contain every click of a campaign has been measured on a real OTTO account, including for a manual campaign. An automatic campaign has one more reason. It also runs in product lists and on product detail pages, and nobody types a search term there. OTTO doesn't show how many clicks are missing or on which page an ad got its clicks.

The Keyword Report also shows no returns and no target ACoS. Whether a search term is too expensive is something you work out yourself.

How far back OTTO's Keyword Report goes

In the partner portal you can choose the whole „Kampagnenzeitraum“ (Campaign period) or your own dates in the Keyword Report. OTTO's Helpdesk still gives at most the last 30 days, but the portal offers more today. Keywords have only existed on OTTO since 4 August 2025, though. Even for a campaign that has been running for longer, the search terms in the portal therefore only start around August 2025. If you don't want to rely on the length, download the report regularly as a CSV file.

The ad numbers of the most recent 14 days can still grow. A purchase can be added up to 14 days after the click, and it counts for the day of the click. A search term that has no sale today can still get one for those days.

What to do with a search term on OTTO

A search term with sales and an ACoS below your target ACoS is a candidate for its own keyword. If you move it into a manual campaign, you control its bid there separately. How to work out your target ACoS from your margin is covered in What is a good ACoS on OTTO, and how do I calculate it?

A search term that doesn't fit your item only costs you money. For that OTTO has „Negative Keywords“, search terms your ad doesn't appear for. According to OTTO's guide they come as Negative Exact and Negative Phrase, and they're always attached to a single item in the campaign. In practice, many sellers also exclude search terms in the automatic campaign that brought clicks but no sale. How many clicks without a sale you wait for is up to you. OTTO gives no number per search term. For a whole item, OTTO advises judging only from 50 € of ad spend.

In a manual campaign OTTO doesn't accept negative keywords. That has been measured on OTTO's API, and in the partner portal the field for them is on the automatic campaign. If a keyword in a manual campaign triggers searches that don't fit, you can choose a narrower match type, such as Exact instead of Phrase, or lower its bid.

For good search terms, OTTO recommends a cycle in its Sponsored Product Ads guide. You add them as keywords to the manual campaign and exclude them in the automatic campaign as Negative Exact. In practice, some sellers still leave adopted search terms in the automatic campaign. Their reason is that the automatic campaign also runs in product lists and on product detail pages, the manual one only in search. If you exclude a search term in the automatic campaign, you may lose more than just that one search. OTTO doesn't show how big this effect is, because no report breaks out performance per placement. So you weigh it up yourself. With OTTO's approach, a good search term only runs at the bid you give it in the manual campaign. With the approach from practice, the automatic campaign keeps its full reach and the search term runs in both campaigns. If you go OTTO's way, compare the automatic campaign's revenue before and after the exclusion in the „Kampagnen-Report“.

How to open a campaign's Keyword Report on OTTO

Your ad reports are in OTTO Partner Connect, the partner portal for sellers.

1. In the left sidebar, open „Marketing“ → „Sponsored Product Ads“. The „Dashboard“ tab lists your campaigns as a table.
2. In the campaign's row, click the „SPA Kampagnendetailreport“ (SPA campaign detail report) icon. Its detail report opens. The same route exists in the „Artikel-Report“ tab through the „Detailreport“ (Detail report) column, which opens in a new browser tab.
3. Choose the „Keyword Report“ tab.
4. At the top left, set the „Conversion-Basis“ from „1. Marke“ to „4. Artikel“.
5. Under „Kampagnenzeitraum“, choose a period, or your own dates with the „Individuell“ (Custom) switch.
6. Scroll to the „Keyword-Detailübersicht“. For an automatic campaign, read the „Customer Search Term“ column, for a manual one also „Keyword“ and „Match Type“. The table is wider than the screen, and you reach „Verkäufe“ and „Umsatz“ by scrolling sideways.
7. Download the table with „CSV Download“.

At the very bottom, bars put baskets, sales and revenue side by side for all four conversion bases. There you can see how much of the revenue on „1. Marke“ came from other items of your brand.

How to transfer search terms into your OTTO campaigns

What you take from the report goes into the campaign wizard. You open it in the „Dashboard“ tab with the „Bearbeiten“ (Edit) icon in the campaign's row.

• To create a keyword in a manual campaign, click „Weiter“ (Next) in step „1 Kampagne bearbeiten“ (Edit campaign) and in „2 Produktauswahl“ (Product selection). In step „3 Keywords & Gebote festlegen“ (Set keywords & bids) you enter the keyword per item under „Keywords eingeben“ (Enter keywords), choose „Exact Match“, „Phrase Match“ or „Broad Match“ and click „Keywords hinzufügen“ (Add keywords). For many items, the Helpdesk says to use a CSV file with the columns SKU, Keyword, Matchtype and bid and upload it with „CSV-Upload“.
• To exclude a search term in an automatic campaign, click „Weiter“ in step „1 Kampagne bearbeiten“. Below the product selection in step „2 Produktauswahl“ you'll find „Negative Keywords hinzufügen“ (Add negative keywords). There you enter the search terms per item, according to the Helpdesk separated by commas or by CSV file.

How to find search terms on OTTO you aren't advertising yet

The Keyword Report only shows searches your ad has already run for. You'll find new search terms under „Analysen“ (Analytics) → „Potenzialanalysen“ (Potential analyses) → „Suchbegriff Analyse“ (Search term analysis), with numbers from all of otto.de's search. In the „Suchbegriffe nach Produkt“ (Search terms by product) tab, enter under „Eingabe Artikelnummer“ (Enter item number) a product's item number, which is in its description on otto.de, not your SKU. You get its most important search terms of the last 30 days with search volume. In practice, many sellers enter the item numbers of four or five similar products from other sellers, add the matching search terms to their manual campaign and roughly estimate how often people search for them.

What you have to combine yourself on OTTO

You download the Keyword Report for each campaign separately and combine the files in one spreadsheet. You write your target ACoS next to each row yourself and divide the spend by the revenue. Whether a search term is already booked as a keyword or already excluded is something you check against each campaign's wizard. Search volume from the „Suchbegriff Analyse“ you add next to each search term yourself. In practice that's a lot of work, because a targeting's performance doesn't sit next to it but is spread across several reports.

Three search terms from the OTTO garden furniture campaigns

Say you advertise your garden furniture in “Automatic – Garden furniture” and “Manual – Garden furniture”, each with 298 items. Your garden furniture has a target ACoS of 25%. All numbers are an example and come from the last 30 days.

In the automatic campaign's Keyword Report, on „4. Artikel“, these are among the search terms.

“gartenstuhl klappbar” brought in three acacia chairs at 119 € each for 10 € of ad spend. 10 € ÷ 357 € is an ACoS of 2.8%, far below your target ACoS. You add it as a keyword in exact match to “Manual – Garden furniture”, with a bid of 0.40 €. There you can change its bid without touching the item bids in the automatic campaign.

“gartenstuhl kinder” had 30 clicks and cost 12 € but sold nothing, and you don't carry children's chairs. You exclude it as exact in “Automatic – Garden furniture”. Because negative keywords are attached to each item, you enter it on all 298 items, so 298 times.

In the manual campaign's Keyword Report, the keyword “gartentisch eiche” appears in exact match with the identical search term. Here's how the conversion basis changes the picture.

On „1. Marke“, the 3 acacia chairs for 357 € that customers bought after clicking the table's ad count too, and the keyword looks as if it's exactly on your target ACoS. The table itself is at 34%. At 25%, 1,000 € of ad revenue should carry at most 25% × 1,000 € = 250 € of ad spend. 340 € − 250 € is 90 € above target. You can lower its bid and look at it again after two weeks.