How to Structure Amazon PPC Campaigns for Control and Growth

Open many Amazon ad accounts and you will find the same thing. Dozens of campaigns built at different times, by different people, with no clear logic. Keywords overlap. Budgets compete. Nobody can say why a campaign exists.

A clear structure fixes that. It makes bids easier to manage, waste easier to spot and growth easier to plan. Here is the structure we use as a starting point for most brands.

The core idea: separate discovery from performance

Every account needs two kinds of campaigns.

• Discovery campaigns find new search terms. Auto targeting and broad match keywords live here.
• Performance campaigns spend on what is proven. Exact match keywords and specific product targets live here.

Discovery gets a smaller budget and lower bids. Performance gets most of the budget and tighter control.

The basic structure per product group

Group products that share a similar price, margin and audience. For each group, build:

1. Auto campaign. Low bids, used to discover search terms and product targets.
2. Broad or phrase campaign. Your researched keywords, also for discovery.
3. Exact campaign. Proven keywords with the bids you control most closely.
4. Product targeting campaign. Competitor ASINs where your product looks like a good choice.

Add separate brand campaigns

Put your branded keywords, like your brand name plus product words, in their own campaign. Branded searches convert very well and cost little. Mixing them with generic keywords hides how your generic keywords really perform.

Harvesting: how it all connects

Every week or two:

1. Download search term reports from discovery campaigns.
2. Move search terms that convert into the exact campaign.
3. Add them as negative exact in the discovery campaign, so the two do not compete.
4. Add negatives for search terms that waste money.

Over time, your exact campaigns grow with proven winners, and discovery keeps finding new ones.

Naming conventions

Use a simple, consistent naming system so anyone can understand an account at a glance. For example:

SP | Yoga Mats | Exact | Generic

Ad type, product group, match type and keyword type. It sounds boring, but it saves hours.

Where Sponsored Brands and Display fit

• Sponsored Brands: run on your best exact keywords and broader category terms, with separate campaigns for brand and generic.
• Sponsored Display: run defensive targeting on your own product pages and views remarketing, as we explained in our remarketing guide.

Budgets and bids

Set bids by product group using ACoS targets based on margin, as covered in our post on ACoS targets by product. Give performance campaigns enough daily budget that they rarely run out.

The bottom line

A good structure separates discovery from performance, keeps brand traffic apart and uses regular harvesting to connect them. It turns a messy account into one you can actually manage. If you want help restructuring your ads, see our Amazon PPC management service or request a free audit.

FAQs

How many Amazon PPC campaigns should I have?

It depends on your catalog. A common setup is four campaigns per product group (auto, broad or phrase, exact and product targeting) plus separate brand campaigns.

What is keyword harvesting on Amazon?

It means moving converting search terms from discovery campaigns into exact match campaigns, then adding them as negatives in the discovery campaigns.

Should branded keywords be in a separate campaign?

Yes. Branded keywords convert much better and cost less, so keeping them separate gives you a clear view of generic keyword performance.