True Amazon PPC optimization strategies are less about guessing and more about forensic data analysis, a philosophy shared by industry heavyweights like Mina Elias and our team to turn red arrows green.
I want to start by giving a massive shoutout to Mina Elias of Trivium Group. Mina is one of the sharpest minds in the Amazon advertising space. The strategies I am sharing below come directly from his methodologies and “best of” content.
We often see different approaches in this industry, but Mina’s focus on data transparency and profitability aligns perfectly with how serious sellers should operate.
TL;DR
This guide details actionable strategies to cut wasted ad spend and scale profitable keywords using data-driven tactics like the 1-1-5 campaign structure. If managing these complex optimizations becomes too overwhelming, partnering with a specialized Amazon agency can help you maximize your brand’s revenue potential without the guesswork.
Table of Contents
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Core Amazon PPC Optimization Strategies
How do I stop wasting money on bad keywords?
The first step to Amazon PPC Optimization strategies is cutting the fat to improve your bottom line. You must identify search terms that are spending your budget but not bringing in sales.
I recommend downloading a Search Term Query Report for the last 30 days from your Campaign Manager. You will apply two specific filters to this report to find the waste. This is the most effective way to reduce wasted ad spend immediately.
Filter 1: Spend with No Sales
This account management finds terms where you are burning cash without a single return. You need to set a threshold for how much pain you are willing to take. A common rule is 50% of your product’s sale price.
- The Logic – If you sell a $30 item, you should not spend more than $15 on a keyword that has zero orders.
- The Action – Take every search term that hits this limit and add it as a negative keyword in that specific ad group.
Filter 2: High ACOS with Low Orders
This finds keywords that get sales but cost too much to be profitable. You should set a max ACOS you are willing to accept, such as 85%. This is vital if you are seeing High ACOS Amazon campaigns that are draining your account balance.
- The Logic – Look for terms with an ACOS over 85% and very few orders (between 1 and 4).
- The Caveat – Be very careful here. Do not negative a keyword that has a high ACOS if it drives a high volume of sales, as that drives your organic ranking.
The Action – Only add these terms as negative keywords if the order volume is low.
Smart PPC budget spending:
- Stop spending on keywords that don’t convert; pause or negative low-performing ones.
- Focus budget on profitable search terms to maximize ROI.
What is the best Negative keyword strategy?
Your negative keyword strategy should focus on “cleaning” discovery campaigns rather than restricting exact match targets. You should apply the negative keywords identified in the steps above to Auto, Broad, and Phrase campaigns.
Do not apply these negatives to Exact match or Product Targeting campaigns. If a keyword in an Exact match campaign is performing poorly, you should control it by lowering the bid or pausing it, not by adding a negative. Negating a target inside its own Exact campaign defeats the purpose of the campaign structure.
How do I scale keywords that are actually working?
Once you stop the bleeding, you need to double down on what works. The goal is to find profitable search terms and launch them into new, dedicated campaigns.
Use that same Search Term Report and filter for highly profitable terms. These are terms with an ACOS between 0.1% and 30%. Before you launch them, check if you are already targeting them in Broad, Phrase, or Exact match types.
If you are not targeting them, launch the term in a new campaign. I recommend adhering to a strict PPC campaign structure known as the 1-1-5 method.
What is the 1-1-5 PPC campaign structure?
This structure is critical for giving your keywords the best chance to perform.
- 1 Campaign.
- 1 Ad Group.
- Max 5 Keywords.
If you put too many keywords in one ad group, Amazon will dump the budget into the top few and starve the rest. By limiting it to five keywords in a single ad group, you ensure every keyword gets a fair shot at the budget.
Use only one ad group per campaign. When a campaign has multiple ad groups, Amazon often splits the budget unevenly and unpredictably between them.
How to structure PPC campaigns:
- One campaign per product, 1–5 keywords to prevent cannibalization.
- Use auto for research, manual for performance targeting.
What is the Search Query Performance strategy?
This is an advanced method that uses data from Brand Analytics. You should use the Search Query Performance report to see the total conversion rate for a keyword, combining both paid and organic data.
You are looking for “hidden gem” opportunities. These are keywords where you have a High Purchase Share but a Low Impression Share.
- What it means – When customers actually see your product for this query, they buy it. The problem is that not enough customers are seeing it.
- The Plan – You need to aggressively increase your impression share here.
To do this, overlay your SQP data with your Search Term Report and a tool like Helium 10 Cerebro. Sort the list by Purchase Share. If you find a term where you have a low sponsored rank and low impression share, you need to push it.
- Action – If you are targeting it, increase the bid and budget aggressively.
- Action – If you aren’t targeting it, launch a new campaign immediately with a strong budget.
Search Query PPC Insights
- Track impression and conversion share per keyword.
- Adjust bids and revisit paused keywords.
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Bids, Budgets, and Management
How should I manage my daily budgets?
Managing budgets is one of the most misunderstood parts of PPC. Many sellers lower budgets to save money, but you should never decrease a budget just to reduce spend.
If a campaign is spending too much at a bad ACOS, you must lower the bids on the keywords, not the campaign budget. Choking the budget just makes the campaign run out of money faster, which hurts your performance.
On the flip side, you should use budgets to scale. Look for campaigns that have a profitable ACOS (under 30%).
- The Hack – Even if this profitable campaign is not hitting its daily cap (e.g., spending $35 of a $100 budget), you should increase the budget to $300.
- The Result – This signals to Amazon’s algorithm to be more aggressive. You will often see the daily spend rise to $70 or $80 while keeping that same high return.
How do I optimize Amazon PPC bids properly?
The “Targeting” tab is where you should manage bids. You need to look at the data over the last 7 days, but always skip the most recent 2 days to account for attribution delays. When you are ready to Optimize Amazon PPC bids, avoid making large emotional changes.
For Scaling (Winners)
Filter for keywords with an ACOS under 30% and more than 1 order. Increase these bids by small, fixed amounts like $0.05 or $0.10. Do not use percentages. A 10% increase on a $3.00 bid is a huge jump that can ruin your efficiency.
For Profit (Losers)
Filter for “bleeders,” which are keywords with an ACOS over 80%.
- Check Sales: If it has a lot of sales, be careful. Lowering the bid might kill your velocity.
- Action: If it has high ACOS and only 1-2 orders, lower the bid by $0.10.
- Zero Sales: If a keyword has spent over $20 with zero sales, lower the bid.
Optimize PPC bids:
- Adjust bids gradually by performance and placement.
- Add negatives and launch profitable terms carefully.
Should I use AI for bid optimization?
Mina advises against using AI tools that change bids hourly. The problem is that these tools make decisions without enough data.
If a bid changes and then changes back an hour later, that decision was based on nothing. When things go wrong, it is impossible to trace the AI’s logic. You can’t see why the change happened, so you can’t fix it. Amazon PPC optimization strategies on bidding should be a human, deliberate action based on days of data, not hours.
Advanced Tactics and DSP
What is the difference between Amazon PPC vs DSP?
Understanding Amazon PPC vs Amazon DSP is crucial for knowing how to scale. Amazon PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is your foundation. It targets customers who are actively searching for products like yours on Amazon using keywords. You pay when they click.
Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) is for scaling. It targets audiences based on behavior, both on and off Amazon. You pay for impressions (CPM).
- PPC Goal: Capture high-intent shoppers. This should be 90% of your spend.
- DSP Goal: Build a full funnel. You can retarget people who viewed your product but didn’t buy, or target people who looked at your competitor’s listing.
When am I ready for DSP?
Do not rush into DSP. It is an advanced tool. You are ready for DSP only if:
- Your PPC is already optimized, stable, and profitable.
- You are spending at least $10,000 to $15,000 per month on PPC.
- Your product has a strong conversion rate.
If you sell cheap products (under $20), DSP is usually a bad fit because the costs are too high. It works best for products in the $30-$60 range or high-ticket items over $200. Consumables are also great for DSP because you can target past buyers to drive loyalty and subscriptions.
Is DSP right?
- Use DSP only after PPC is profitable.
- Best for brands spending $10k+ on PPC with consumable or mid-to-high priced products.
What are some specific Amazon advertising tips for placement?
One of the best Amazon advertising tips involves adjusting bids based on where your ad appears. You can check this in the “Placements” tab.
If “Top of search” has a significantly better ROAS than other placements, add a positive bid adjustment. For example, a 50% adjustment tells Amazon you are willing to bid up to 50% more if it wins that specific placement.
Conversely, if “Product pages” perform poorly, you can add a negative bid adjustment to spend less there.
PPC Placement Strategy
- Increase top-search bids, reduce low-CTR.
- Adjust gradually for revenue/profit.
Vetting Agencies
When should I consider hiring an Amazon agency?
The decision regarding hiring an Amazon PPC agency depends on your business model and stage. You should hire one if you are a brand that needs specialist help in a specific area, like PPC or creatives. It also makes sense for “omnipresent” brands that have a strong business off-Amazon and want to hand off the Amazon channel to a dedicated team.
Do not hire an agency if:
- Amazon is your primary or only business. You should not outsource your core competency.
- You have a bad product. An agency can improve ads, but we cannot save a product that nobody wants.
What questions must I ask before hiring an agency?
Asking the right questions protects your bank account. Here are the ones Mina suggests you must ask:
- “Can I speak to 2-3 clients similar to my brand?” If they are afraid to let you talk to current clients, that is a major red flag.
- “Can you describe three client failures?” Asking for examples of client failures is a critical test of accountability.
- “Can I meet the actual team working on my account?” You need to avoid the “bait-and-switch”. Agencies often sell you with a senior founder but hand you off to a junior account manager.
- “What is your cost structure?” Look for a flat fee retainer. Avoid “Percentage of Ad Spend” models. That model incentivizes the agency to spend more of your money regardless of results.
Hiring an agency for PPC
- Check credentials, references, and team access.
- Confirm costs, reporting, and training.
Avoiding Mistakes
Should I use "Keyword Isolation" strategies?
You might hear people say you should “isolate” keywords. This means if a term works in an Auto campaign, you move it to Exact match and negative it in the Auto campaign.
Do not do this. It is a major mistake.
If a search term is profitable in an Auto or Broad campaign, let it run. If you negative it, you are actively blocking a stream of traffic that is already making you money. Often, the new Exact match campaign won’t perform as well, and you will have killed your original source of sales.
Keyword Isolation Tips:
- Keep hero keywords in old campaigns; duplicates are fine.
- Broad match can capture impressions.
Is a flat ACOS target good for my account?
No. Setting a single ACOS target (like 30%) for every campaign is a mistake.
- The Problem- It forces you to overspend on branded terms that should be cheap, and it starves your ranking campaigns that need more room to grow.
- The Fix – Look at total profit dollars. A ranking campaign might need a 45% ACOS to gain market share, while a brand defense campaign should be at 5%.
Why shouldn't I use the same strategy for all products?
Most brands follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of your revenue comes from your “hero” products. You should focus your spend there.
If you have slow-moving inventory, do not waste time building complex campaigns. Create a single “Catch-All Auto” campaign for the bottom 80% of your catalog. Set a very low bid (like $0.15) and let Amazon find cheap sales for you.
Not all products are the same.
- Each product needs a tailored strategy; spreading budget evenly limits growth.
- Invest in top performers first; slow movers rarely boost revenue.
5 Commonly Asked Questions About Amazon PPC
Optimize Your PPC Now
PPC is not about guessing. It is about using the data you are already paying for. Whether you are scrubbing your Search Term Reports for negative keywords or using the SQP report to find impression share gaps, the data is there.
Follow these steps, keep your bids steady, and don’t let tools or agencies complicate the basics.
Do you have questions about your PPC strategy? Reach out to us at My Amazon Guy.
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