An Amazon advertising strategy is a plan for which products you advertise, which ad types, keywords and placements you pay for, and what target ACoS each campaign must hit. Set that target per product from its margin, harvest converting keywords from auto campaigns into manual campaigns, and review and adjust bids about every two weeks. Add a keyword as a negative only after at least 20 clicks, and let negatives run 2 weeks or more before you change them.
This guide comes from our daily work on 50+ Amazon accounts. Below, we cover what Amazon advertising is, the 3 ad types, how to build the strategy, and 22 tips that lower ACoS. For campaign structure and bid math in depth, read our Amazon PPC management guide, and for search-ad tactics only, see 22 Amazon PPC strategies.
TL;DR
What is Amazon advertising?
Most Amazon advertising runs on Amazon PPC, Amazon's pay-per-click ad system: you bid on keywords or products, and you pay only when a shopper clicks your ad. ACoS (advertising cost of sale) is ad spend divided by the ad sales it generates.
Amazon Ads says Sponsored Products ads may appear at the top of, alongside, or within shopping results and on product pages. You choose the keywords your ads target, or let Amazon target automatically.
Advertisers bid on keywords, and the Amazon Ads cost-per-click guide says the auction considers factors beyond bid. Amazon Ads also says a more competitive bid makes your ad more likely to be displayed when it matches a shopper's query.
How do you build an Amazon advertising strategy?
How you set up your Amazon advertising strategy depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Advertising on Amazon can launch new products, build momentum for bestsellers, and liquidate old inventory.
According to Amazon's Q2 2026 earnings release, worldwide advertising services revenue reached $19.8 billion, up 26% year over year. More ad spend means more competition for the same keywords. An account without a clear structure and a target ACoS per product pays more for every sale.
Start your Amazon advertising strategy by choosing your ad types. The table compares the 3 main Amazon ad types.
| Ad type | What it promotes | Who can use it | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored Products | Individual listings in shopping results and on product detail pages | Professional sellers, vendors, KDP authors and agencies | Cost per click (CPC) | Selling individual products and winning shoppers on similar products' pages |
| Sponsored Brands | Your brand and multiple products through collection, Brand Store spotlight and video formats | Brand Registry sellers, vendors and agencies | CPC or viewable cost per thousand impressions (vCPM), with no minimum spend | Building brand awareness and introducing new products |
| Display, video and audio ads (formerly Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP) | Display, video, audio and streaming TV ads on Amazon properties such as Prime Video, Twitch and Fire TV, plus third-party sites and apps | Advertisers who sell on Amazon and those who don't, self-service or managed service | Set per campaign; Amazon Ads quotes managed-service pricing | Retargeting shoppers and reaching new audiences beyond search |
According to Amazon Ads, Sponsored Brands are open to Brand Registry sellers, vendors, and agencies, with no minimum spend and CPC or vCPM pricing. Read the table as a division of labor: Sponsored Products sell individual listings, and Sponsored Brands add brand-level reach once you're in Brand Registry. Amazon DSP is now part of Amazon Ads Agent, the unified platform Amazon announced at unBoxed 2026, which runs display, video and audio campaigns next to sponsored ads, so most brands add those once search campaigns are profitable. The 22 tips below help you increase sales whatever your overall goal is.
22 Amazon advertising strategy tips that lower ACoS
1. Set your goal
You need to answer 2 questions before you spend any of your marketing budget.
- Why are you running the campaigns?
- What is the most you're willing to spend to meet your goal?
If your goal is sales, determine your target ACoS and your maximum budget. Expect higher costs at first while you test and optimize.
If your goal is brand awareness, decide how many impressions you want to reach and the budget you'll set to get those views.
Your goal and budget guide the ad types you run and the placements you aim for. For example, video formats take more search real estate and suit brand-building goals.
2. Advertise the right products
Not all products are meant to be advertised. Advertising your lowest-selling products can look like an easy boost. Skip ads on your lowest sellers.
The products that perform best in ads are your best sellers. Your customers already love them, and other shoppers likely will too.
To move a low-selling product, run a coupon campaign or lightning deal instead. You can run ads to the coupon to give it a boost.
When you advertise a parent listing with several child listings, always choose your most popular option. It keeps your ads from competing against each other, and every child listing gets a boost from the traffic.
New launches also need ad support. Amazon Ads calls its new product campaigns one powerful way to accelerate a launch.
3. Create clear, conversion-driven product pages
Once your ad gets the click, your product page needs to finish the job. Ad spend sent to a listing that doesn't convert is wasted. That's why our Amazon listing optimization service treats the product page as part of the ad.
Call out every product benefit in both your bullets and your product photos. That way, whether your customer browses the copy or the photos, they'll know what they're getting.
Keep every part of your listing clear and to the point so it's easy for customers to scan. Include essential details like materials, size, and colors in your description when customers need them to decide.
Ask yourself what questions you'd need answered before you bought the product, and answer them in your listing.
4. Choose your ad placement
Amazon offers different ad placement options, and who can use them and what they cost vary. The ad-types table above compares Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and display ads, which Amazon Ads formerly called Sponsored Display.
According to Amazon Ads, Sponsored Products ads can appear at the top of search, throughout search results, or on product pages.
Amazon Ads reports that Sponsored Products campaigns with video saw 67% higher CTR and 9% higher CVR than campaigns without video (US, June 2026). CTR (click-through rate) is the share of ad views that get a click, and CVR (conversion rate) is the share of clicks that buy.
Test the placement options to see where your product performs best. The Amazon Ads cost-per-click guide says that generally, the more visible the placement, the higher the advertising costs. Check your placement report to see whether top of search sales cover that cost.
If you sell a higher-priced item that customers compare against several options, like in technology, test ads on your competitors' product pages.
From our accounts: across the Sponsored Products accounts we manage, product-page placements ran a 39% median ACoS against 26% at top of search, and top-of-search clicks converted 2x as often. Competitor-page targeting can work, but give it its own campaign and a lower bid instead of the bid you use on search.
Sellers and vendors in Brand Registry get access to special ad placements that other sellers can't use.
5. Test Sponsored Brands compared to Sponsored Products
If you're part of Amazon's brand registry, you have Sponsored Brands placements available to you. But are the ad types reserved for registered brands the best option for your campaigns?
For brand awareness or new product introductions, Sponsored Brands ads showing multiple products at the top of search results are the right choice. New-to-brand (NTB) shoppers are people buying from your brand for the first time in the last 12 months. Amazon Ads reports that Sponsored Brands advertisers who raised bids by 100% or more for new-to-brand shoppers saw 2x more new-to-brand orders on average.
If you're trying to win customers from another brand, use standard Sponsored Products ads on similar products' pages. They usually cost less too.
Test both Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products placements to find which gives you the lowest ACoS for your campaign goals. Exclusive placements earn their budget only when the test data says so.
From our accounts: 87% of Sponsored Brands sales in the accounts we manage came from shoppers new to the brand. Sponsored Display drew 78% of its sales from new-to-brand shoppers at a 21% median ACoS, so we use both to win new customers, not only to retarget.
6. Let campaigns run before making changes
It's tempting to make constant changes to your campaigns. If you change them too early and too often, you won't end up with conclusive data.
The Amazon Ads targeting guide recommends testing match types for at least 1 to 2 weeks before you pause any keywords. Wait for at least 20 clicks before you add a keyword as a negative, as tip 10 covers.
The time it takes to reach that threshold varies by category. Some categories get hundreds of thousands of sales a day, while others get only hundreds. Factor in your product's category when you decide how long to let a campaign run.
Once the campaign reaches the threshold, comb through the data and make your changes.
7. Make advertising decisions at the product level
When you have multiple variations under one listing, you may be lumping them together to set profit margins and ad decisions. If that's what you're doing, stop now.
Every variation has a different sales volume and possibly a different manufacturing cost. Grouping them punishes your most profitable products.
Treat each variation as an individual product when you run your calculations. You'll then know which variations get you the best return on your ads.
Another perk: your product ads stop competing against each other, which happens when you run campaigns for every scent, flavor, color, or size. You might be surprised how little sales of your lower-selling variations drop when you only advertise the top seller.
From our accounts: in every one of the 11 accounts we checked during audits, 10% to 68% of ad sales landed on a different product from the one in the ad, mostly a sibling variation. That share is why we judge ads on total product-family sales and usually advertise only the top variation.
8. Use the flywheel effect
On the surface, ads drive customers to your listing right then. But what happens after that?
Amazon Ads' new product launch guide says Sponsored Products can help increase detail page views and product reviews. For new products, the Amazon Ads new ASIN playbook says sending Sponsored Brands video traffic to the product page can help boost organic rankings.
In our experience, the sales and reviews that ads bring also lift organic rank over time. Higher organic rank lowers your ACoS and lets newer listings close the gap on older ones. We call this the flywheel effect, and the lower ACoS lets you afford more advertising.
From our accounts: of 357 keywords we track for the brands we manage, 23 rank in the organic top 10. 18 of those 23 also hold an ad slot. Ads and organic rank move together, so we keep ads on the keywords a brand ranks for.
9. Utilize category-specific targeting parameters
Amazon offers less audience targeting than Meta, but it lets you control where your listing appears. Product Attribute Targeting lets you target specific ASINs (Amazon's product IDs) or categories, including brands, ratings, and prices.
Per the Amazon Ads targeting guide, you can only access this targeting in manual campaigns. So if you don't want your product to show on competitor pages with much lower-priced products, it won't.
10. Don't forget to use negative keywords
Amazon doesn't always know best. The algorithm knows nothing about your product beyond what you share in your listing.
The algorithm can't know that your women's sweatshirt doesn't come in red unless you say so. Tell Amazon you don't want your listing in the results for "women's sweatshirt red," or you risk paying for clicks that won't convert.
You tell Amazon by adding negative keywords to your campaigns. The Amazon Ads targeting guide recommends phrase or exact negative match and evaluating a keyword after at least 20 clicks before adding it as a negative.
You have limited space for negative keywords, so let each negative run 2 weeks or more and check your reports before adding more. Look for keywords with no clicks, keywords with high click volume and no conversions, and keywords costing more than your target ACoS.
11. Have a moving target ACoS
Your target ACoS needs to vary across your campaigns. Every product costs a different amount to win a sale, and the target for the same product also changes over time.
Start from break-even ACoS, the ad cost share at which a sale earns zero profit. The formula is break-even ACoS = profit margin before ad spend ÷ price. For example, a $40 product with a $14 margin before ads breaks even at 14 ÷ 40 = 35%.
Say you're launching an updated version of your product. You might expect the same target ACoS for version 1.0 and version 2.0 since it's the same product. That rarely holds.
Your goal for version 1.0 is to liquidate the remaining inventory, so you might price it slightly lower. Version 1.0 also has sales history and reviews. Given this, version 1.0 will have a lower ACoS, often much lower.
Version 2.0 is a product launch, which carries a higher target ACoS, even as a relaunch of the same product.
A target also needs an exit rule. On the accounts we manage, a keyword that runs at 2x its break-even ACoS for 14 days gets paused. Our Amazon PPC guide covers the full rule.
The bottom line: weigh the product type, circumstances, goals, and profit margin of each product (including variations) to set the target ACoS for each campaign.
Don't count a campaign out just because it has a higher ACoS than another campaign.
TACoS is ad spend divided by total sales, paid and organic, so it shows what ads do for the whole business. For example, $500 in ad spend against $5,000 in total sales is a 10% TACoS. Track TACoS across your catalog before you cut a campaign.
For Balanced Tiger, a protein bar brand, we grew Amazon revenue 171% in 2 months and cut ACoS 50% in 60 days.
From our accounts: 10 of the 15 Amazon accounts we audited most recently had no break-even ACoS set for any product, so every campaign ran against one blended target. On the accounts we manage, each product gets its own. Coat Defense, which we have managed on Amazon since 2023, runs at a 24.91% ACoS with a 31% profit margin because its targets start from margin.
12. Use auto campaigns to find keywords
It's hard to give up control of your advertising, but Amazon may know something you don't.
With manual campaigns, you tell Amazon which keywords to use based on your research. With automatic campaigns, Amazon uses its knowledge of what's working and picks keywords for you.
Automatic campaigns can surface successful keywords that weren't on your radar or that you wrote off in error.
The Amazon Ads targeting guide calls automatic campaigns a source of keyword discovery for your manual campaigns. It recommends letting an automatic campaign run for about two weeks before you create a manual campaign. Then pull the converting keywords from your search term report into your manual campaigns.
13. Use auto campaigns to hone in on the right bids
How do you know if you're bidding too high on your keywords?
Amazon gives you a suggested bid, based on winning bids for similar ads. Amazon Ads describes it as the bid most likely to help deliver impressions for similar ads.
In our view, bidding at or above the suggested bid usually overpays.
Run automatic campaigns to check whether you're overspending. You can't choose the keywords in an automatic campaign, but they will be similar, so the winning bids will be similar too.
While your automatic campaigns find new keywords, watch what those keywords cost per click. If it's lower than what you pay in your manual campaigns, adjust your bids.
14. Keep optimizing your bids by keyword and placement
Using automatic campaigns to evaluate cost per click (CPC) is one way to optimize your bids.
You can also set your default bid at the keyword level instead of the ad level. Keyword-level bids keep you from overpaying because of your weaker keywords.
Optimizing your bids requires a hard look at your data. Evaluate each keyword and placement to set your default bid and decide whether to use bid multipliers.
15. Make your title compelling
Your customers won't know which keywords your ads target, so your product title has to earn the click.
Include your most vital keywords, your brand, the product type, and the size, materials, color, scent, or flavor as applicable. Give customers all the information they need without keyword stuffing or letting vital details get cut off on mobile.
Front-load your title with your most valuable keyword to catch customers' attention on desktop, mobile, or the app.
16. Utilize match types
Broad, phrase, and exact match keywords all have their place.
Broad keywords help you find new long-tail keywords to use in your listings and campaigns. Phrase and exact match keywords only work when you know specifically what your customers search for.
The Amazon Ads targeting guide recommends setting the highest bid on exact match, a lower bid on phrase match, and the lowest bid on broad match. As you learn more about your keywords, match types give you advanced control over when your ads show. They also keep you from competing for keywords that aren't worth the price.
From our accounts: phrase match had the lowest median ACoS in the accounts we manage (29%) and exact match the highest (43%), because exact carries the most contested head terms. Moving a keyword to exact gives you control over its bid, not a lower ACoS by default, so judge every exact keyword against its break-even ACoS.
17. Use your ad keywords in your listing
Make sure the keywords you target in your campaigns match the phrasing on your page. If a customer clicks a Sponsored Products ad for a sofa and your listing calls it a couch throughout, it could throw them off.
Use as many of your campaign keywords in your listing as possible, so the customer knows the ad they clicked was the right choice.
Using the same keywords in your ad and your listing also adds to the flywheel effect from tip 8.
18. Develop an organizational system for your campaigns
Organize your campaigns so you can accurately track and monitor the data. We use the 1-1-1-1 Scaling Method, our proprietary campaign structure: one keyword, one match type, one target, one ad group. Each proven keyword gets its own budget and bid, so spend follows the terms that convert and every campaign's data answers one question.
Keep discovery in separate automatic and broad match campaigns, then move converting search terms into their own 1-1-1-1 campaigns. For MatchaBar, this structure was part of an account rebuild that added $114,305 in monthly Amazon revenue.
19. Bid on competitor keywords
Have you looked into which keywords your successful competitors target? If not, you should.
You can work it out manually by checking which keywords appear in their listings, then entering them as search terms. Or do it the easy way with a tool that offers reverse ASIN lookup to show you the keywords.
Build the list from there with our free Amazon keyword research tool. These methods show search volume without keyword performance metrics, which is enough to prioritize.
20. Use dynamic bidding according to performance
Further optimize your bids with dynamic bidding. Amazon Ads offers 3 options: dynamic bids up and down, dynamic bids down only, and fixed bids.
The Amazon Ads Sponsored Products best practices guide says down only can lower your bid in real time, while fixed bids use the exact bid you enter. According to Amazon Ads, up and down bidding can raise or lower bids by up to 100%, so a $1.00 bid can reach $2.00. Fixed bids keep your bid exactly where you set it.
Amazon uses its knowledge of customer patterns to make your ad budget go further.
21. Don't forget to use long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords win on cost and conversion rate.
A long-tail keyword like women's large black leather purse has far fewer competitors than the broad keyword leather purse. Your customers have fewer listings to browse before making a choice.
Shoppers entering a long-tail keyword know exactly what they're looking for and will buy it if they find it.
From our accounts: for CHILEMOY, a multi-brand CPG business, we built single-keyword ad groups on high-intent, long-tail keywords across its priority products, and monthly Amazon revenue grew from $20,000 to $192,814. Long-tail is where you find winners cheaply. Volume still sits at the head: in our accounts, a product's top 10 searches bring in 57% of its keyword sales, so we move proven long-tail winners up to the head terms once they hold their target.
22. Analyze data to improve your advertising
Amazon gives you plenty of data on what is and isn't working in your campaigns.
First, download your search term report. It tells you which keywords get you clicks and conversions.
If the search term report is hard to read, add the data to a spreadsheet to reorganize and visualize your metrics.
What these strategies did on accounts we manage
The tips above are the same playbook our account managers run every day. Here is what it produced on five accounts:
| Brand | What we changed | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Inito (8-figure fertility tech) | Took over the Amazon account in August 2026 | Sponsored Products ACoS went from 17.4% to 15.1% as sales scaled; year-over-year growth went from 82% to 114% (Seller Central) |
| Capalbo's Gift Baskets | Amazon account management and PPC | Amazon US sales +1,698% year over year (January to September 2026 vs 2025, Seller Central) |
| CHILEMOY | Single-keyword ad groups on long-tail terms, one launch playbook | $20,000 to $192,814 in monthly Amazon revenue |
| Wedge Guys | Account rebuilt around profit | +$305,771 in monthly revenue at a 17% lower ACoS |
| Dreamfarm (7-figure kitchen tools) | Took over the Amazon account | Amazon US sales +45% year over year; US growth rate went from 41% to 60% after we took over |
How we handle Amazon advertising strategy at Olifant
Olifant Digital is a full-service Amazon and e-commerce marketing agency for established brands that want profitable growth, managing $100M+ in annual Amazon client revenue across 50+ Amazon accounts. Senior account managers with a minimum of 7 years of experience handle every account, and we do not staff juniors.
The service includes a PPC account audit and a custom growth plan built for the brand's goals, category competitiveness and seasonality. We then rebuild the campaigns on the 1-1-1-1 Scaling Method (one keyword, one match type, one target, one ad group) and add Sponsored Brands, display and video ads, and Amazon DSP where they fit the goal.
Senior human expertise backs every bid decision. Our in-house platform, Olifant AI, analyzes every account daily and flags spend, budget and scaling decisions against each brand's profit margin target, so our account managers act the same day. Keyword and category research includes weekly search term report analysis. Budget follows profit goals, seasonality and promotions. Reporting is written in plain language, and you get a dedicated Slack channel and a weekly call.
We cover Seller Central (3P) and Vendor Central (1P) across every major Amazon marketplace, plus Walmart and Target. Olifant Digital's services start from $2,000 per month and are custom for each project, based on the complexity and workload required, and every engagement comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee: if you're not happy in the first 60 days, we refund your management fees.
Key takeaways
- Every product needs its own target. Divide margin by price, and a $40 product with $14 margin loses money above 35% ACoS.
- Negatives start at 20 clicks. Give a keyword at least 20 clicks before you negate it, and let each negative run 2 weeks or more.
- Exact match gets the top bid. Bid highest on exact, lower on phrase, and lowest on broad, following Amazon Ads guidance.
- Match the ad type to the goal. Sponsored Products sell listings, Sponsored Brands build brand reach, and display and video ads reach shoppers beyond search.
- Judge ads on the whole product family. In our audits, 10% to 68% of ad sales landed on a different product from the one in the ad.
- Up and down bidding can double bids. Amazon can move a bid up or down by up to 100%, so a $1.00 bid can cost $2.00.
Amazon advertising strategy FAQ
What is a good ACoS on Amazon?
A good ACoS sits at or below the break-even ACoS for that specific product. Calculate it as profit margin before ad spend ÷ price, so a $40 product with a $14 margin breaks even at 35%. Set the target per product and per campaign, higher for launches and lower for products with sales history and reviews.
How often should Amazon PPC campaigns be optimized?
An Amazon advertising strategy needs you to review and adjust bids about every two weeks, the review cadence in the Amazon Ads dynamic bidding guide. Add a keyword as a negative only after at least 20 clicks.
Let negative keywords run 2 weeks or more before you judge them. On managed accounts, we optimize daily and analyze search term reports weekly.
What is the difference between Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands?
Sponsored Products promote individual listings in shopping results and on product detail pages, priced per click.
Sponsored Brands promote your brand and multiple products through collection, Brand Store spotlight, and video formats. They are open to Brand Registry sellers, vendors, and agencies, priced by CPC or vCPM, with no minimum spend. Use Sponsored Brands for awareness and launches, and Sponsored Products to win shoppers on similar products' pages.
How do I create a PPC campaign on Amazon?
Start by setting the campaign goal, your maximum budget, and a target ACoS for the product. Launch an automatic campaign to find keywords and realistic bids.
Move the converting keywords into manual campaigns with exact, phrase, and broad match, bidding highest on exact. Add negative keywords once your reports show which terms waste spend.
How much does Amazon advertising management cost?
At Olifant Digital, services start from $2,000 per month and are custom for each project, based on the complexity and workload required. Ad spend is billed separately, and every engagement comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee: if you're not happy in the first 60 days, we refund your management fees.
What's the best Amazon advertising strategy to start with?
The best Amazon advertising strategy to start with sets a target ACoS per product, harvests auto campaign keywords, and adjusts bids on a fixed cadence. Amazon advertising offers no shortage of strategies, and you don't need all 22 at once.
Our recommendation: start with tips 1 and 11. Calculate break-even ACoS for every product, set each campaign's target from it, then add one tip at a time until your campaigns are fully optimized.
Related articles
.webp)
Alex is the founder and CEO of Olifant Digital, where his team manages over $100M in annual client revenue across 50+ e-commerce brands. He sets the agency's strategy and methodology, audits client accounts, and reviews the team's work to make sure every brand is on track to hit its growth and profitability goals. He also leads team training, so the performance data and lessons from across all accounts shape how every account manager runs their clients.
.png)
Mike reviews every Amazon article on this blog for strategic and technical accuracy before it publishes. As Director of Amazon Growth at Olifant Digital, he sets marketing strategy across client accounts and personally audits PPC at every stage of growth. He brings 8 years of daily Amazon operations across 7 and 8-figure brands including Beauty by Earth, Ekster, and Bullstrap, the kind of hands-on depth most agency directors delegate away.
