What is Amazon PPC Advertising (Pay Per Click): Guide For 2026

Pick the products you want to promote

Your first step is choosing which items you’ll include in your ads. Whether you’re launching Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, or Sponsored Display campaigns, you’ll typically select a handful of products to feature. For Sponsored Brands specifically, think about how the products complement each other to encourage more clicks and conversions.

A few things to consider when choosing your products:

• Sales performance, rankings, and demand
  For instance, you might highlight a best-selling item in a Sponsored Brands ad to increase brand exposure. On the other hand, you could use Sponsored Products to help a new, low-visibility item gain traction.

Conduct keyword research

After choosing your products, the next step — for manual campaigns — is finding the keywords you want to target. Amazon gives you two options: automatic and manual targeting. Automatic campaigns let Amazon select relevant keywords based on your product listing.

Manual campaigns, however, require you to choose the keywords yourself. Amazon suggests starting with automatic targeting to gather initial data and then transitioning into manual campaigns as you learn more.

If you prefer to find keywords on your own, you can use keyword tools like Keywords Everywhere, Sonar, or similar Amazon-focused research platforms. These tools show helpful metrics such as monthly search volume, estimated CPC, and keyword competitiveness.

When selecting keywords, make sure they align with your product and the shopper’s intent. For example, if someone searches for “wooden toilet paper holder” but your item is metal, that keyword would not be a good fit for your campaign.

Optimize Your Product Listings

Before you create ads, ensure your product listing is fully optimized. Your title, bullet points, description, images, and backend keywords should be clear, complete, and keyword-rich. High-quality photos and compelling copy answer buyer questions and improve conversion rates. In fact, a well-optimized listing “improves your ad relevance and conversion rates”. In contrast, a common beginner mistake is to skip listing optimization – driving ads to an unprepared page only wastes spend.

Choose an ASIN that is eligible for ads (e.g. Buy Box eligible with no policy violations) and has some sales history or clear demand. For your first campaign, you might focus on one strong SKU or a small group. Also check your inventory: don’t run ads on an item low on stock, or your ads will simply pause if you run out. Finally, set profit expectations up front – compute your product’s profit margin and estimated break-even ACoS (advertising cost of sale). This will help guide your bid levels and budget.

Create a Sponsored Products Campaign

Log in to Seller Central and go to the Advertising tab. Open Campaign Manager and click Create campaign, then select Sponsored Products. Give your campaign a descriptive name (e.g. “Blue Widgets – Launch Campaign”) so you can identify it later. Add the product(s) you want to advertise – either one ASIN or a small ad group of similar items. Once you’ve selected the ASIN(s), you’ll set campaign-level details:

Budget and Dates:

Set a conservative daily budget to start (for example, $10–$30/day is common for beginners). This controls your maximum spend per day. You can run the campaign indefinitely or set an end date. Make sure the start date is “today” so the campaign launches immediately.

Campaign Duration:

Plan to run the campaign at least 7–10 days to gather meaningful data. The guide recommends a brief test period of about one week before making big changes.

Additional Settings:

You can optionally set an end date, and Amazon may allow advanced settings (e.g. dynamic bidding rules). For now, you can leave most advanced options at default if you’re a beginner.

Once these settings are defined, launch the campaign. Amazon’s support doc summarizes the process: “Select the products you want to advertise, choose your targeting, set your budget and bid, then launch”.

Define Targeting: Automatic vs. Manual

Amazon offers two targeting modes for Sponsored Products:

Automatic Targeting:

Amazon’s algorithm chooses relevant search terms and products on your behalf. This is ideal for a first campaign, as it requires no upfront keyword research. Auto campaigns use default strategies (like “close match” and “loose match”) to match your ad to shopper searches. Official guidance suggests starting with an automatic campaign to “learn how your product is being discovered”. Let the auto campaign run for ~2 weeks, then review the search term report to see which queries converted.

Manual Targeting:

You specify exactly which keywords or products to target. Manual keyword targeting lets you bid on specific search terms (using Broad, Phrase, and Exact match types). Manual product targeting lets you target competitor ASINs or entire categories (so your ad appears on their detail pages or related search results). Manual gives you more control but requires more setup.

Recommendation:

Many experts advise running both. For your first run, start with an automatic campaign to gather data on which keywords and products resonate. Then, after ~1–2 weeks, use the automatic campaign’s search term report to identify top-performing search terms and ASINs. You can add those into a manual campaign with higher bids. Amazon’s docs say automatic targeting “is a great supplement to manual campaigns” and that you should “let your automatic campaign run for about two weeks before creating a manual campaign”. In practice, launch an auto campaign first, then spin up manual campaigns (keyword-based or product-based) once you have some data.

Keyword Match Types (Manual Campaigns)

When creating a manual keyword campaign, choose one of three match types:

Broad Match:

Ads can appear for searches that include any combination of your keywords (including synonyms or related terms). This gives wide exposure. Example: The keyword “sneakers” (broad) could match “canvas sneakers,” “athletic shoes,” “trainers,” etc.

Phrase Match:

Ads appear only for searches containing the exact keyword phrase in order (though there can be extra words before/after). This narrows reach to more specific phrases.

Exact Match:

Ads appear only when the search term is exactly your keyword or a close variant. This is the most restrictive but ensures very tight relevance.

It’s best to test multiple match types for your high-priority keywords. For example, add a keyword in broad, phrase, and exact match with different bids. As a rule of thumb, set highest bids on Exact, a bit lower on Phrase, and lowest on Broad. Testing different matches for ~1–2 weeks will reveal which performs best; you won’t “bid against yourself” by using multiple match types for the same word.

Select Keywords and Set Bids

For manual campaigns, you’ll need an initial keyword list. You can use Amazon’s suggested keywords for your product, or tools to find relevant terms. Focus on keywords highly relevant to your product’s features and use cases. Include both generic terms and some long-tail ones. Don’t forget branded keywords (your own brand or closely related brands) as a defensive strategy if competitors might bid on them.

Next, set your bid (max cost-per-click) for each keyword. A good starting point is to use Amazon’s suggested bid, or a fraction of it if you want to be conservative. Remember your break-even ACoS: if you know how much profit you make per unit, you can compute how high you can bid while still breaking even on sales. Keep bids lower if you have a tight margin. Monitor the Suggested Bid feature when setting up your manual campaign – these are based on recent auction data.

Also, plan for negative keywords. Even early on, you can add negatives to avoid irrelevant traffic. For example, if you sell men’s hiking boots, add “women’s,” “kids,” or “cheap” as negative keywords to prevent your ad showing on those unrelated searches. Negative keywords help stop wasted clicks and improve overall ad efficiency.

Budgeting and Launching Your Campaign

Before launching, double-check that you have: chosen the correct products, defined targeting (auto or manual), entered your keywords and bids, and set budget/date settings. When you click Launch, your ads will become eligible to start running immediately.

Keep the budget modest for this initial run. Experts recommend “set a daily budget of $10–30 and monitor results for 7–10 days”. Another expert tip: treat the first ~7–10 days as a test phase to gather data on clicks, spend, and early sales. Don’t panic if performance is low at first; Amazon’s A9 ranking and AI systems take time to learn.

Do not pause or cut the campaign too quickly. Instead, let it run for at least a week unless budget exhaustion or critical issues occur. During this phase, monitor impressions and clicks daily. If you see zero impressions after a couple of days, you may need to raise bids or check targeting.

Monitor Performance and Optimize

As soon as the campaign is live, check it frequently (daily or every few days) to ensure everything is running smoothly. Look at the key metrics: impressions, clicks, CTR (click-through rate), conversions, and ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale). Use Amazon’s Campaign Manager or Seller app dashboards for this.

After the initial test period, download the Search Term Report. This report shows which actual customer searches triggered your ads and led to clicks or sales. Identify the top-performing search terms (high clicks and sales) and the poor performers. Then take action:

Add Winning Terms:

For an automatic campaign, copy the best search terms into a new manual campaign and bid more aggressively on them. For manual keyword campaigns, you can raise bids on keywords that are performing well (to win more impressions).

Pause/Negate Losing Terms:

If a keyword or search term consistently gets clicks but no conversions, lower its bid or add it as a negative keyword to prevent waste. Likewise, in product-targeting campaigns, remove or exclude poorly performing ASINs.

Adjust Bids:

Increase bids on keywords/ASINs that are selling profitably; decrease bids or pause those with poor ACoS. A common strategy is highest bids on Exact match winners, lower on Phrase, lowest on Broad.

Refine Targeting:

You may create new campaigns (or ad groups) for different match types. For example, one campaign might use broad-match for discovery, while another uses exact-match for your best keywords. This lets you manage budgets and bids more precisely.

Repeat this optimization cycle regularly. Effective PPC is an ongoing process: “Your top-performing keywords can shift dramatically… review the keyword data regularly”, then reallocate budget to the proven winners. Over time, you’ll build out a set of high-converting keywords and weed out the losers.