Amazon’s Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is one of the most important tools sellers on the platform can use to get their products seen by as many potential customers as possible. Not having a clear strategy and not focusing on the right things can quickly become a very costly mistake. So, what are some common mistakes new sellers make, and how do you avoid them? Let’s find out!
1. Running Broad Match Keywords Without Controls
Broad match keywords are among the most used types of keywords by sellers on Amazon. Overusing this kind of keyword is a trap most new Amazon sellers fall into. Broad match allows your ads to appear for a wide range of related search terms, but that flexibility comes at a price – it can quickly burn through your budget by showing ads for irrelevant or low-converting searches.
Without tight controls, you might end up paying for clicks from shoppers who aren’t really looking for what you’re selling. For example, if you sell “leather laptop bags” and use a broad match for “laptop bag,” you could show up for searches like “kids school bag” or “camera bag,” which probably won’t convert.
To avoid this issue, when starting out, you should focus on phrase match or exact match keywords, which gives you more control over when your ads appear. As your business grows and you are able to gather more data and analyze it, you can gradually test broad match keywords. Once you start with broad match keywords, monitoring the search term reports closely and adding negative keywords to block irrelevant traffic is very important. Doing this will help you stretch your budget and attract more qualified shoppers.
2. Ignoring Campaign Structure and Organization
A lot of new Amazon sellers make the mistake of putting all their products and keywords in a single Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign and hoping the platform will sort things out. But all this leads to is messy data, unclear performance insights, and wasted ad spending. Without a well-organized campaign structure, you won’t know which products drive results, which keywords are underperforming, or where your budget is being drained.
A strong campaign structure groups products and keywords logically – for example, by product category, target audience, or marketing goal (such as branded vs. competitor keywords). Separating automatic campaigns (where Amazon chooses the keywords) from manual campaigns (where you set them yourself) also gives you more control and lets you test and refine more effectively. If you don’t believe you can manage this properly yourself, consider hiring an Amazon PPC advertising agency; then, you will have a team of professionals that will help your campaigns thrive.
When making your campaigns, you need to use a clear naming system and ad groups so you can quickly know what each campaign is targeting. You will also need to review the performance of each campaign type and adjust your structure if you find that certain products or keywords deserve their own focused attention.
3. Not Optimizing Bids and Budgets Regularly
Another one of the most common mistakes that new sellers make is setting up their PPC and forgetting about it, expecting it to function on its own. But, what they fail to understand is that Amazon’s advertising landscape is competitive and constantly shifting. If you don’t regularly adjust your bids and budgets, you risk overpaying for low-performing keywords or missing out on high-potential opportunities.
For example, if you never lower bids on keywords with poor conversion rates, you’re throwing money at traffic that doesn’t bring sales. On the flip side, if you don’t increase bids on top-performing keywords, you might be leaving easy wins and extra profit on the table.
To avoid this becoming an issue, you can schedule a weekly PPC review to look at performance data. This way, you can lower bids on keywords with high advertising costs of sales or poor conversions and increase bids on your best performers to maximize their reach. Also, watch your budget; a little hands-on optimization goes a long way.
4. Neglecting Product Listing Quality
Many new sellers assume that sales will follow if they just spend enough on PPC. But no amount of ad spend can fix a poorly made listing. So, even if your ads bring plenty of traffic, visitors won’t convert to customers if the listing doesn’t look put together and professional, lacks key information or has weak images. This leads to wasted ad spend and disappointing results.
Remember, your PPC ads drive clicks, but your product page closes the sale. If your photos are low quality, your title is unclear, or your bullet points don’t highlight key benefits, shoppers are more likely to bounce – and Amazon will take note, lowering your ad performance over time.
To avoid this as an issue before you ramp up your PPC campaigns, go through your listings carefully. If you use high-resolution images, craft a clear and benefit-driven title, write detailed bullet points, and aim for solid customer reviews, you will maximize the chances that visitors will turn into paying customers.
5. Overlooking Data and Not Using Reports
One of the bigger mistakes that new sellers make on Amazon is ignoring the wealth of data that Amazon provides through its advertising reports. Many sellers run campaigns blindly, without checking which search terms drive clicks, which placements perform best, or how much they spend per sale. Without these insights, you won’t know what is working, or worse, keep putting money into underperforming ads without realizing it.
Amazon offers detailed reports like search term reports, placement reports, and performance metrics (ACOS, CTR, conversion rate) that can guide smart decisions. For example, the search term report reveals which customer searches lead to conversions, helping you refine keywords and add negative terms. The placement report shows whether top-of-search placements are worth the higher cost.
To ensure you take advantage of all the tools that Amazon offers, you make it a habit to download and review your PPC reports regularly. Going through all that data, you can start recognizing patterns of which terms and ads bring profitable sales and which just burn through your budget. This way, you can optimize your PPC campaigns and ensure you get the most profit.