Amazon's automatic targeting groups matches into four categories: Close Match, Loose Match, Substitutes, and Complements. Rather than running one mixed automatic campaign covering all four, this structure splits them into four separate automatic campaigns — one per category — specifically to keep performance data clean: a single automatic campaign blends the performance of shoppers actively searching your exact product (Close/Loose Match) with shoppers browsing alternatives or add-ons (Substitutes/Complements), making it impossible to tell which targeting type is actually converting.
Combined with manual campaigns split by keyword list and Keyword Match Types (Exact / Broad / Phrase) (Exact and Broad, with Phrase deliberately dropped — see Match-Type Overlap Trimming & Manual Campaign Restructuring), this produces roughly nine total campaigns: four automatic, plus Main/Related on Exact match, plus Master/Misspelled/Suggested/Sales-volume lists on Broad match. This is a denser, more granular split than the Six-Campaign PPC Launch Structure — a different creator's specific campaign count for the same underlying idea of siloing by list and match type for clean data.
Each of the four automatic-targeting groups (Close Match, Loose Match, Substitutes, Complements) should run in its own separate campaign rather than bidding all four together, since mixing them muddies performance data — a high-intent Close Match click and a low-intent Complements click get averaged into the same numbers. Practical sequencing: launch with only Close Match enabled and disable the other three, then re-enable each as its own isolated campaign once there's budget/attention to evaluate it independently.
Before the four-way split (close match, loose match, substitutes, complements) applies, Amazon offers two configurations for an automatic campaign:
Recommendation: use "set bids by targeting group" for more control over spend across the four match types.
The real value of automatic campaigns is sourcing new, unresearched targets — not their own ACoS. Once a target proves itself inside an automatic campaign, migrate it into a dedicated single-keyword exact-match manual campaign rather than leaving it running inside Auto; see 'Good Keywords' Scaling Campaign.
Automatic campaigns expose two configuration modes:
Prefer "set bids by targeting group" for more control rather than leaving Amazon full latitude. Close match and loose match are search-term-based; substitutes and compliments are product-based — e.g. compliments would show a cheeseboard ad on cheese-knife listings. Start with close match for the most predictable results, then expand into the other three once performance is established.
Autotargeting hands Amazon full control of keyword, category, audience, and product targeting — the seller doesn't specify any of it manually, unlike Manual Product Targeting (Category vs. Individual ASIN). In Sponsored Products, choosing 'Autotargeting' under Targeting (instead of 'Manual targeting') activates this.
Inside Automatic Targeting Settings, pick 'set bids by targeting group' rather than 'set default bid' — this is what unlocks a separate bid per match type instead of one flat bid across close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements.
Best practice is match-type isolation: one match type per ad group, or one per campaign, never mixed together in the same ad group. When starting with only a handful of auto campaigns, close match and substitutes are reported to generally outperform loose match and complements, though this needs confirming per product with real data.
Each of the four auto match types has a distinct role and expected performance tier:
Isolation rule: never mix all four match types within a single campaign or ad group — launch one match type per ad group, or one match type per full campaign, depending on desired granularity and portfolio size. This isolation is what makes per-match-type bid and negative-targeting decisions possible; see Auto Campaign Four-Bid Ladder Strategy for how isolated auto campaigns are then bid-tested.
Automatic targeting, once treated as a 'money pit,' is workable as a lean launch campaign type when actively pruned: monitor the four match types (close match, loose match, substitutes, complements) and continuously add negative targets against underperforming matches. Framed as: 'giving Amazon more leeway through broad match, through automatic targeting... can actually work a lot better during a launch period to drive sales velocity in a lean way.' One of four campaign types (with category targeting, semantic phrase match, and brand defense) behind a launch to $100K revenue in 90 days at 14% average ACOS.
Automatic targeting is described as having improved recently, reversing older seller conventional wisdom that auto campaigns waste spend — worth running with one targeting group per campaign to keep control, then actively pruning irrelevant matches with negative targeting rather than avoiding auto campaigns altogether (see Amazon Negative Keywords). Within the four match types, close match and substitutes tend to perform best and should be prioritized first; loose match and complements are layered in once those are working well.
An alternative to splitting close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements into separate campaigns is deliberately combining all four match types into a single auto-targeting campaign. In one case this combined-campaign approach outperformed the standard split: loose match was the surprise top performer, while substitutes underperformed and was turned off entirely. This trades per-match-type bid control for simplicity, betting that any given match type can still be identified and disabled if it underperforms, without needing a dedicated campaign for it.
This material argues for combining all four match types in one campaign rather than splitting them, against the usual best practice this concept otherwise describes.
For a close-match launch strategy, run Loose Match, Substitutes, and Compliments as separate auto campaigns from Close Match — don't combine them. Close match drives organic rank for closely related search terms (Auto PPC as Launch & Keyword-Discovery Tool (Not a Profit Center)); loose match, substitutes, and compliments target broader or adjacent traffic that doesn't serve that close-relevance goal. Isolating them keeps close-match data (CTR/conversion per search term) uncontaminated by lower-relevance clicks.
Из тем: PPC Campaign Structure & Bidding