Decision scope

Decision scope is the answer to one question: when this decision was made, how far beyond one ASIN was it allowed to look?

It has two settings, and it means something different on a Decision Brief and on an Automation rule. The rules that create or remove negatives — negation, unnegation and the word rule — offer it. (The Import rule also reads search terms, but is bounded by its search terms source rather than by a scope setting.)

Individual ASIN

The default. The decision stays with one ASIN: a Decision Brief reads only that ASIN’s evidence, and a rule’s 365-day orders safeguard looks only at the ad groups advertising it.

Use it when the product has its own keyword set and its own shopper, and when evidence from related products would be misleading rather than helpful.

Product Group

The decision looks across the Product Group. A Decision Brief reads the selected ASIN plus the remaining group, aggregated into one context. A rule’s safeguard counts an order on any product in the group.

Use it when:

• the ASINs are variants of one product — differing by colour, size, material, style, quantity or anything else — and share a keyword set;
• a single ASIN does not generate enough query volume to settle a question;
• an order on a sibling should be enough to stop a term being negated.

What scope changes on a rule

A rule’s Criteria never read beyond the ad groups the rule is assigned to. Each of those ad groups belongs to one product: the ASIN it advertises, or the Main ASIN set for it when it advertises several. Until a multi-ASIN ad group has a Main ASIN, Automation skips it. Scope then decides two things:

• How widely the 365-day orders safeguard looks. At Individual ASIN scope, an order in any ad group advertising that ASIN protects the term. At Product Group scope, an order in any ad group advertising any product in the group does — whether or not the rule is assigned to that ad group.
• Which assigned ad groups the word rule adds together. The Negation word rule counts a word’s distinct terms across the assigned ad groups that share a scope: the same ASIN, or the same Product Group. Negation and unnegation score each ad group on its own whichever scope is set.

At Product Group scope, an ASIN that belongs to no Product Group is treated as its own scope.

Unnegation has no 365-day safeguard, so on an unnegation rule the setting does not change what it evaluates. See Negation and unnegate rule.

What stays the same either way

Scope changes what a decision may read, not where the action lands. A negative created by a rule at Product Group scope is still created only in an ad group that rule is assigned to. Widening the scope never widens the blast radius of the change.

Individual ASIN scope Selected ASIN Rest of group — not read Thin evidence Not enough to settle the question

Product Group scope Selected ASIN + remaining group, as ONE context Denser evidence Enough to reach a decision

Either way, the change is written in one place The assigned ad group only Scope widens the evidence, never the action.

How a Decision Brief reads the two scopes. The remaining ASINs are always aggregated into a single context. Vendlen does not compare siblings one against another. A rule uses scope more narrowly, as described above.

Where you will see it

• On the Automation rules that create or remove negatives: negation, unnegation and the word rule.
• On a Decision Brief, where the scope the brief applied to is stated as part of the brief.

Choosing between them

Ask what would make you change your mind. If evidence from a sibling ASIN would legitimately change your decision about this one, use Product Group scope. If it would not, use Individual ASIN and keep the evidence narrow.