Amazon PPC Strategy for New Sellers | Marknology

Amazon PPC: Why It's Non-Negotiable in 2026

Here's the truth: organic rankings on Amazon are earned through sales velocity. And in 2026, the fastest way to generate sales velocity is through Pay-Per-Click advertising. If you're a new seller trying to launch without PPC, you're essentially hoping customers stumble across your listing on page 47 of search results.

Insights from Andrew Morgans and the Marknology team in Kansas City.

That's not a strategy. That's a wish.

At Marknology, we manage millions in ad spend across hundreds of accounts. This guide strips away the theory and gives you what actually works when you're starting out.

Understanding Amazon's Ad Types

Before you spend a dollar, you need to know what's available.

Sponsored Products

These are your bread and butter. Sponsored Products ads appear in search results and on product detail pages. They look like regular listings with a small "Sponsored" tag. For new sellers, this is where 80%+ of your budget should go. Explore our Amazon SEO for expert support.

Sponsored Brands

These banner-style ads appear at the top of search results and showcase your brand logo, a headline, and up to three products. You need Brand Registry to use them. They're great for brand awareness and driving traffic to your storefront, but they're a secondary priority for new sellers.

Sponsored Display

Display ads appear on and off Amazon, targeting shoppers based on behavior, interests, or specific product views. These are more advanced and typically perform best when you have established products with strong conversion rates.

Where to Start

New sellers: focus on Sponsored Products first. Get those running profitably, then layer in Sponsored Brands. Save Sponsored Display for month 3+.

Campaign Structure That Scales

The biggest mistake new sellers make is running one auto campaign and calling it a day. Here's a structure that gives you control and data from day one. Learn more in our Amazon advertising hub.

The Foundation: Auto Campaign

Create one auto campaign per product. Set a daily budget of $25-50. Amazon will match your ad to relevant search terms based on your listing content. This campaign serves two purposes: generating sales and discovering keywords you haven't thought of.

Let it run for 7-14 days before making changes. You need data, and premature optimization is the enemy of learning.

Manual Exact Match Campaign

Take your top 10-15 target keywords and put them in a manual campaign with exact match type. These are the keywords you know your customers are searching. Bid aggressively (above suggested bid) because you want top placement for these terms.

Manual Phrase Match Campaign

Use the same keywords in phrase match. This captures longer-tail variations you might miss with exact match. For example, if your exact match keyword is "stainless steel water bottle," phrase match will also capture "stainless steel water bottle for kids."

Product Targeting Campaign

Target your top 5-10 competitor ASINs directly. Your ad will appear on their product pages. This works especially well if you have a lower price point or better reviews than the competitor.

Naming Convention

Use a clear naming system: [Product] - [Match Type] - [Campaign Type]. Example: "Water Bottle - Exact - Manual." Future you will thank present you when you're managing 50 campaigns.

Keyword Research: Finding the Right Terms

Your keyword strategy determines who sees your ads. Get this wrong and you're paying for clicks that never convert.

Start With the Obvious

Type your product into Amazon's search bar and look at the autocomplete suggestions. These are real search terms from real shoppers. Write them all down.

Use Brand Analytics

If you have Brand Registry, the Search Query Performance dashboard shows you exactly what customers are searching and how those terms perform. This is first-party Amazon data. It doesn't get more accurate than this.

Competitor Reverse ASIN Lookup

Tools like Helium 10's Cerebro let you see which keywords your competitors rank for. Plug in the top 5 competitor ASINs and look for keywords where they rank well but you don't. Those are your opportunities.

Search Term Reports

After your auto campaign has been running for two weeks, pull the search term report. Sort by sales and identify the terms driving actual purchases. Move winners to your manual campaigns with exact match. Add irrelevant terms as negative keywords.

Long-Tail Keywords

Don't ignore long-tail keywords (3+ words). They have lower search volume but typically higher conversion rates and lower CPCs. "Insulated water bottle 32 oz with straw" converts better than "water bottle" because the searcher knows exactly what they want.

Bidding Strategy: What to Spend and When

Bidding on Amazon PPC isn't about finding the cheapest clicks. It's about finding the most profitable ones.

Launch Phase (Weeks 1-4)

Bid above Amazon's suggested bid by 20-30%. Your goal is visibility and data collection, not profitability. You're buying information about which keywords convert. Expect an ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales) of 40-60% during this phase. That's normal.

Optimization Phase (Weeks 5-12)

Now you have data. Start adjusting:

• High-converting keywords: Increase bids to win more impressions
• Low-converting keywords: Reduce bids by 15-20%
• Zero-sale keywords (after 20+ clicks): Pause or add as negative
• High-ACoS keywords with sales: Reduce bid slightly, don't kill them

Scaling Phase (Month 3+)

Your target ACoS should align with your profit margins. If your product has 30% margins before ad spend, aim for a 20-25% ACoS to maintain profitability. Some keywords will run at a higher ACoS but drive organic ranking, that's intentional.

Bid Adjustments by Placement

Amazon lets you adjust bids for Top of Search and Product Page placements. Top of Search typically converts 2-3x better than other placements. Consider a 30-50% bid increase for Top of Search placement once you've confirmed it converts well for your product.

Budget Management

Don't set your daily budget so low that campaigns run out of budget by noon. Amazon's algorithm favors campaigns that run all day. Better to bid lower on more keywords than to bid high and run out of budget at 2 PM.

Negative Keywords: Your Budget's Best Friend

Every dollar spent on an irrelevant click is a dollar wasted. Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing for terms that won't convert.

Types of Negative Keywords

Negative exact: Blocks that specific term. Negative phrase: Blocks any search containing that phrase.

Common Negatives to Add Immediately

• Competitor brand names (unless you're intentionally targeting them)
• Irrelevant modifiers ("free," "cheap," "used," "DIY")
• Wrong product types that share keywords with yours
• B2B terms if you're selling B2C (and vice versa)

Ongoing Negative Keyword Process

Review your search term report every week. Any term with 10+ clicks and zero sales should be evaluated. If it's clearly irrelevant, negative it. If it's borderline, give it another week of data.

Common PPC Mistakes New Sellers Make

Mistake 1: Only Running Auto Campaigns

Auto campaigns are a discovery tool, not a strategy. Without manual campaigns, you have no control over which keywords you bid on or how much you bid.

The pressure of managing Amazon advertising without the stress is real. Drew Morgans dives into it on Business Therapy -- honest conversations about the challenges sellers actually face.

Mistake 2: Optimizing Too Early

Making bid changes after 3 days of data is like judging a restaurant after one bite. Give campaigns at least 7-14 days before making adjustments. Amazon's attribution window means some conversions take days to appear in your reports.

Mistake 3: Ignoring Conversion Rate

PPC can't fix a bad listing. If your conversion rate is below your category average, fix your listing first. Throwing more ad spend at a poorly converting listing just burns money faster.

Mistake 4: Setting and Forgetting

PPC requires ongoing management. The market changes weekly. New competitors enter, search behavior shifts, and Amazon's algorithm updates. Check your campaigns at least twice a week.

Mistake 5: Not Tracking Total ACoS (TACoS)

ACoS only measures ad spend against ad revenue. TACoS measures ad spend against total revenue (organic + paid). As your organic ranking improves, your TACoS should decrease even if your ACoS stays flat. That means your ads are driving organic growth.

Mistake 6: Giving Up Too Soon

PPC is a 90-day game minimum. The first month is learning. The second month is optimizing. The third month is when you start seeing real returns. Sellers who quit after 30 days never get to the profitable phase.

Measuring Success: The Metrics That Matter

• ACoS: Ad spend / ad revenue. Lower is better, but context matters.
• TACoS: Ad spend / total revenue. The most important metric for long-term growth.
• CTR (Click-Through Rate): Impressions / clicks. Below 0.3%? Your main image or price needs work.
• Conversion Rate: Clicks / orders. Below category average? Fix your listing.
• Impression Share: How often your ad shows vs. how often it could show.

When to Get Help

PPC is manageable when you have 1-3 products. Once you scale to 10+ ASINs with multiple campaign types, the complexity multiplies fast. That's when most sellers either hire in-house or bring in an agency like Marknology.

The cost of an agency is almost always less than the cost of wasted ad spend from self-managing poorly.

The Bottom Line

Amazon PPC is not complicated. It's just not simple either. Follow the structure outlined above, commit to weekly optimization, and give it 90 days. The data will tell you what's working. Your job is to listen to it.

Want Help With Your Amazon Advertising?

We manage PPC for brands doing $100K to $50M+ on Amazon. Talk to our team and let's build a strategy that actually makes you money.