12:07
Amazon PPC
Darren argues that Amazon auto PPC campaigns, though widely misunderstood and often dropped in favor of exact match, are one of the most powerful and underused tools for most sellers — not primarily for direct profit, but for keyword discovery and for driving organic rank during a product launch when configured with close-match targeting and read carefully against the data.
Amazon auto PPC campaigns are one of the most misunderstood campaign types, and many sellers miss out on the benefits they can bring as part of an overall PPC strategy.
New products aren't discoverable in organic search at launch, so paid ads are needed to generate initial visibility and sales regardless of listing quality.
The core purpose of PPC, especially at launch, is not direct profit but driving organic rank higher: Amazon looks at the search term, click-through rate, and conversion rate of PPC sales, compared relatively to other products competing for the same term.
With auto campaigns you hand Amazon a budget and let it decide how to spend it across search terms; with exact match you bid on specific chosen terms yourself.
Because more sellers default to exact/phrase match campaigns (seen as easier, no negations required), the same search term can sometimes be won more cheaply through an auto campaign than through exact or phrase match.
Running auto and exact match simultaneously is safe since a product only ever shows once in the results, and auto data can reveal mistargeted search terms that, once folded into the listing/title/exact match, can make a listing 'take off'.
Auto campaigns should use automatic targeting, and bids should be set 'by targeting group' rather than a single default bid, since Amazon splits auto targeting into four groups: close match, loose match, substitutes, and compliments.
For a launch strategy focused on organic rank, only close match should be used; loose match, substitutes, and compliments should be run as separate auto campaigns if used at all, since 'not all sales are equal'.
Within 24 hours a search term report becomes available; clearly irrelevant search terms should be added as negative keywords and irrelevant ASINs as negative product targets, but a high ACOS (50-100%) in the first few days should not trigger negation because the data sample is too small.
Campaign bidding strategy should generally be 'down only' for phrase/broad/exact (bids already set per keyword), while 'up and down' may suit auto campaigns, since one bid covers many search terms with varying competition levels.
Placement bid adjustments (top of search, rest of search, product pages) should start at 0% and only be changed after at least two weeks of data, since which placement performs best varies unpredictably by product.
If a placement underperforms, the recommended fix is to reduce the overall default bid by 10-20% (never 80-90%) and reallocate that freed percentage as extra bid adjustment on better-performing placements.
Start auto campaign bids around 50p-£1; if the daily budget isn't fully spent, the bid is too low and should be raised in 10-20p increments; daily budget should be at least £10 to generate meaningful data.
PPC decisions should always be led by the data rather than personal preference for auto, broad, phrase, or exact match.
Auto Campaign (Automatic Targeting) — A Sponsored Products campaign type where the seller sets a bid and budget and Amazon automatically decides which search terms and products to target. Apply: Launch a new product with automatic targeting enabled so Amazon serves ads across search terms and generates keyword performance data.
Exact Match Campaign — A manual-targeting Sponsored Products campaign where the seller bids only on specific chosen search terms. Apply: Bid directly on search terms already validated (e.g., by auto campaign data) to control spend precisely at the keyword level.
Close Match — One of the four auto-targeting groups within an auto campaign, matching search terms very closely related to the product. Apply: In a launch campaign, set bids by targeting group and keep only close match active to focus spend on ranking for the most relevant search terms.
Loose Match — An auto-targeting group matching search terms less closely related to the product than close match. Apply: Run it as its own separate auto campaign rather than combining it with close match, since it doesn't serve the close-relevance launch goal.
Substitutes — An auto-targeting group that shows ads on or for products considered substitutes for the seller's product. Apply: Set up as a separate auto campaign if pursued, since substitute-driven sales aren't prioritized in the close-match launch strategy.
Compliments — An auto-targeting group that shows ads for products considered complementary to the seller's product. Apply: Isolate into its own auto campaign rather than mixing it with the close-match launch campaign.
Set Bids by Targeting Group — A campaign setting letting the seller assign separate bids to each of the four auto-targeting groups instead of one flat default bid. Apply: Select this option when creating an auto campaign so bids can be tailored per group, prioritizing close match over the other three.
Negative Keyword Targeting — Excluding specific search terms from triggering the auto campaign's ads. Apply: After the first search term report (~24 hours in), add clearly irrelevant search terms as negatives, but avoid negating terms based only on high ACOS on minimal early data.
Negative Product Targeting (Negative ASIN) — Excluding specific competitor ASINs so the auto campaign's ad stops appearing on their listings. Apply: Review the search term/placement data for irrelevant ASINs the ad is showing on and add them as negative products.
Campaign Bidding Strategy: Up and Down — A bidding strategy letting Amazon automatically raise (by up to 100%) or lower the default bid based on likelihood of conversion. Apply: Consider for auto campaigns, since one bid spans many search terms with varying competition, letting Amazon push extra spend on high-value terms.
Campaign Bidding Strategy: Down Only — A bidding strategy where Amazon can only lower the default or keyword bid, never raise it. Apply: Use generally for phrase, broad, and exact match campaigns, where bids are already set at the keyword level.
Campaign Bidding Strategy: Fixed Bids — A bidding strategy where the bid remains exactly as set with no automatic adjustment up or down. Apply: Test as a third option alongside up-and-down and down-only, letting performance data determine which works best.
Placement Bid Adjustments (Top of Search / Rest of Search / Product Pages) — Percentage bid modifiers applied on top of the default bid depending on ad placement — top of search (first row), rest of search (other sponsored positions), or product pages (competitor listings). Apply: Leave all three at 0% for at least two weeks, then raise the best-performing placement(s) while trimming the default bid 10-20% to fund those adjustments if one placement underperforms.
Search Term Report — The Amazon PPC report showing which search terms a campaign generated clicks and sales for, along with cost and conversion data. Apply: Check it regularly early in a launch to spot irrelevant terms to negate and relevant unexpected terms to fold into exact match campaigns and listing copy.
PPC-to-Organic Rank Mechanism — The model that Amazon evaluates a listing's CTR and conversion rate on a given search term, largely proven via PPC sales, relative to competitors ranking for that same term, then positions listings accordingly. Apply: Treat PPC spend as an investment to prove strong CTR/conversion on target search terms rather than expecting direct profit, in order to climb organic rank for those terms.
Amazon's ranking mechanism is presented as a relative comparison: a listing's rank for a search term depends on how its CTR/conversion compares to other products competing for that same term, not on hitting some absolute threshold.
Auto campaigns can sometimes achieve a cheaper cost-per-click than exact/phrase match for the identical search term, because most sellers concentrate their competitive bidding in exact/phrase match, leaving less competition inside the auto marketplace for the same term.
Auto campaign data can function as a keyword-discovery and listing-diagnostic tool: in one case Darren describes, auto data revealed a seller was mistargeting customers/search terms, and reoptimizing the title, listing, and exact-match PPC around the terms performing well in auto caused the listing to 'take off'.
Rather than simply boosting or cutting bids, Darren's placement-optimization method deliberately shaves the default bid by only 10-20% and reallocates that freed percentage into placement-specific bid adjustments, preserving overall competitiveness while de-emphasizing an underperforming placement.
«In this video, I want to talk to you about Amazon auto PPC campaigns.»
— 00:00
«the core purpose of our PPC sales is to drive our organic ranks higher.»
— 00:58
«It's not about preference it's about setting it up and then following the data. always be led by the data.»
— 04:54
«If you don't use up your daily budget in an auto campaign, your bid is too low.»
— 05:52
«Not all sales are equal, at least in my opinion.»
— 06:26
«I like to only use close match as I want to rank for search terms that are very closely matched to my product type.»
— 06:39
«Don't scrimp too much. You want at least £10 on an auto campaign to get a reasonable amount of data back.»
— 11:09
Reception
Comments show neutral-to-positive engagement, with viewers thoughtfully discussing and debating PPC strategy details rather than expressing strong praise or criticism.
The video is a practitioner's evolving, data-led case for treating Amazon auto PPC as a launch and keyword-discovery tool rather than a profit center, laid out as a concrete settings walkthrough drawn from the presenter's seller experience since 2018.
12:07