How to pause one Apple Search Ads keyword

To pause one Apple Search Ads keyword, open the campaign's All Keywords dashboard, select that keyword's row, and choose Pause from Actions. Make the change at keyword level so the rest of the campaign can keep running.

Apple now calls the service Apple Ads. Its dashboard guide documents keyword-level controls, and its Actions menu definition includes pausing and activating keywords.

Pause the right keyword row

1. Open your search results campaign from the Campaigns dashboard, then go to All Keywords.
2. Find the keyword by text or keyword ID. Check the ad group and match type before selecting it; the same text can appear in several rows.
3. Select only the row you want to stop. Choose Actions, then Pause.
4. Check that the selected keyword shows a paused status. Confirm that the campaign and the other intended ad groups are still running.
5. Save the keyword ID, reason and date. Apple's Change History also records keyword changes.

You can use Activate at keyword level when you're ready to run that row again. Check the campaign and ad group statuses too; activating a keyword doesn't resolve a paused parent or another delivery issue.

These instructions concern manually selected keywords. In a Maximize Conversions campaign, Apple allows specific keywords in an additional ad group. Its automatically created ad group uses required Search Match, so an automatically matched search term isn't necessarily a keyword row you can pause.

Pausing a keyword doesn't exclude a search everywhere

A keyword row and a customer's search query are different things. Pausing one row doesn't add an exclusion to other ad groups or campaigns.

For example, suppose you pause an exact-match row for photo editor. That is a hypothetical setup, not a measured campaign result. Before assuming the query has stopped serving, check other keyword rows and the Search Terms tab, which includes Search Match traffic.

If your goal is to prevent a particular search from matching within a campaign or ad group, review negative keywords. Pick the scope deliberately. An exact-match negative blocks the specified term, but Apple says it doesn't block close variants.

If your goal is to replace a broad-match keyword with an exact-match version, Apple requires pausing it and adding a new row. You can't change a saved keyword's match type in place.

Decide whether pausing is the right move

The controls answer how to stop a row. They don't establish whether its users are unprofitable. For a subscription app, compare revenue and spend at the same cohort age before interpreting missing payments.

The bidding guide covers hold, lower and pause decisions. The ROAS guide explains cohort age and the difference between cheap installs and profitable subscribers.

Keep a record you can revisit

Copy this into your campaign notes before changing the row:

Campaign / ad group:
Keyword ID / text / match type:
Acquisition dates / country:
Revenue basis / cohort age:
Spend limit / reason for pause:
Paused at / review date:
Condition for reactivation:

Write a concrete reactivation condition, such as fixing an irrelevant landing-page promise or reaching the chosen trial review date. Keep that condition beside the keyword ID so the next review doesn't rely on remembering why you stopped it.