Running Amazon ads without a clear strategy is like lighting money on fire and hoping for a return.
Amazon PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is one of the most powerful tools to grow your brand, boost visibility, and increase sales. But here’s the truth most sellers won’t admit: most PPC campaigns are full of costly mistakes—burning budgets with little to show for it.
As a brand strategist who’s optimized dozens of Amazon accounts, I’ve seen the same five PPC mistakes Amazon sellers make again and again.
Let’s break them down—and fix them.
1. Running Auto Campaigns Without Optimization
Auto campaigns are great for beginners, but if you “set it and forget it,” you’re wasting money. Amazon picks the keywords. It decides the placements. And guess what? Amazon doesn’t always know what’s best for your brand.
What’s the Mistake?
- You leave auto campaigns running with no keyword harvesting.
- You rely solely on Amazon’s algorithm to match your ads.
Fix It:
- Run auto campaigns only to discover new keywords.
- After a few days, analyze the Search Term Report.
- Move high-converting terms to manual exact campaigns.
- Add irrelevant terms as negative keywords to avoid wasted spend.
Think of auto campaigns as keyword miners, not money-makers.
2. Bidding on Too Many Keywords Too Soon
It’s tempting to go broad and bid on 100+ keywords thinking more reach equals more sales. But this shotgun strategy almost always leads to wasted spend and poor performance data.
What’s the Mistake?
- You bid on a massive list of keywords with no segmentation.
- You don’t know which ones are working—and which ones are burning your budget.
Fix It:
- Start with 10–15 tightly relevant keywords per product.
- Use exact and phrase match types initially for tighter control.
- Once you gather enough data, scale slowly with more keywords.
A focused campaign outperforms a bloated one every time.
3. Ignoring Your ACOS and TACOS
Too many sellers only chase sales without checking their ad spend profitability. If you’re making $100 in sales but spending $60 to get it, you’re not building a business—you’re building losses.
What’s the Mistake?
- You don’t track ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales).
- You ignore TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales), which shows how ads impact your total sales.
Fix It:
- Keep your ACOS below your breakeven margin.
- Track TACOS to ensure your organic sales are growing.
- Aim to decrease TACOS over time—this means your brand is gaining traction beyond paid ads.
Sales are vanity. Profit is sanity. Track both.
4. Not Segmenting Campaigns by Match Type or Goals
Lumping all your keywords into one campaign or mixing different match types is a recipe for chaos. You’ll never know what’s working and what’s not.
What’s the Mistake?
- You run a “Frankenstein campaign” with broad, phrase, and exact match types together.
- You combine brand, competitor, and generic keywords into one mess.
Fix It:
- Create separate campaigns for each match type.
- Use campaign naming conventions like “Exact – Main KW – Product A.”
- Segment keywords by intent:
- Branded (people searching for your brand)
- Competitor (risky but high-reward)
- Generic (discovery)
Clean structure = clean data = smart decisions.
5. Treating PPC as a Short-Term Sales Hack
Amazon PPC isn’t a magic bullet. If you’re expecting instant results and shut down campaigns after a week, you’re missing the real value—long-term brand positioning.
What’s the Mistake?
- You stop campaigns too soon because ACOS looks high early on.
- You don’t reinvest in campaigns that are building ranking and visibility.
Fix It:
- Be patient. Amazon ads usually take 7–14 days to stabilize.
- Use PPC strategically to boost product rankings, not just chase profits.
- Invest in retargeting ads and Sponsored Brands once your product gains traction.
Amazon PPC is not an expense—it’s an investment. Treat it like one.
Final Thoughts: Master PPC, Master the Marketplace
Amazon is a game of data, patience, and strategy. Sellers who win in 2025 won’t be the ones who spend the most—they’ll be the ones who spend the smartest.
Let’s recap the biggest PPC mistakes Amazon sellers make:
- Relying blindly on auto campaigns.
- Bidding on too many keywords too fast.
- Ignoring ACOS and TACOS.
- Poor campaign structure and segmentation.
- Treating PPC as a quick sales fix.
Fix these, and you’ll do more than get clicks—you’ll build a brand.