Include / Exclude Filters Playbook

Why filters matter so much

The raw table can show thousands of marketplace search terms. If you don’t filter, you waste time scrolling and chasing noise.

Include and Exclude filters are how you:

• lock into a niche or product family,
• remove terms you would never bid on or build around,
• see the real opportunities without getting blinded by junk.

• Include = “only show terms that contain these words”.
• Exclude = “hide any term that contains these words”.
• Both accept space-separated words or short phrases.

You don’t need to overfit. Start broad, then gradually tighten.

Use Include to describe the type of products you actually care about.

Examples:

cat toothbrush
wooden ornament
stainless steel mug
teacher gift

• Use 1–3 words that describe the niche, not a full sentence.
• Think like a shopper: how would they phrase this?
• If you sell multiple product lines, run them one-by-one.

Exclude is where you get rid of terms that are technically “related” but useless for you.

Common patterns to exclude in marketplace search data:

• tutorial / pattern / diy / how to / free / printable
• phone models you don’t sell for (iphone, samsung, etc.)
• sizes or materials you never stock
• “for kids” if you only sell adult, or the reverse

Example exclude patterns:

free printable pattern diy
tutorial pdf
iphone case

• Over-filtering with Include. If you add too many words, you can kill good long-tail terms. Start simple, then tighten if needed.
• Forgetting that filters are AND-based. If you write cat dog in Include, you’re asking for terms that contain both, not one or the other.
• Not refreshing recipes over time. As you learn your niche, update your Include/Exclude recipes to reflect reality.

A good pattern for each session:

• Run a broad Include + minimal Exclude to see the landscape.
• Note clusters that look interesting.
• Then create a tighter Include recipe for each cluster.

This way you don’t miss opportunities, but you still end with a focused, high-quality shortlist.

Keep a simple doc or sheet where you store the Include/Exclude combos that “worked” for you:

• Write the date, filter values, and what you found.
• Re-use these recipes in future weeks for faster scanning.
• Over time, this becomes your personal playbook for reading marketplace demand.