Amazon match types look identical to Google's on the surface — broad, phrase, exact. But the underlying mechanics are different enough that applying Google logic to Amazon campaigns is one of the most common and costly mistakes I see from sellers moving between platforms.
How Amazon Broad Match Actually Works
On Google, broad match in 2025 uses intent signals, audience data, and landing page context to decide what queries to enter. On Amazon, broad match is simpler and more literal — it matches your keyword in any order, plus close variants and related terms. 'Protein powder' broad could trigger for 'whey protein' or 'protein shake mix.' This is more predictable than Google broad, but still wide enough to waste budget fast without a solid negative keyword foundation.
Phrase Match Is Your Workhorse
For most Amazon Sponsored Products campaigns, phrase match is where you want the majority of your budget. It requires your keyword to appear in the search query in the same order, which means 'chocolate protein powder' and 'protein powder for women' both trigger your phrase match keyword 'protein powder' — but 'powder protein' does not. This gives you coverage without the chaos of broad.
Exact Match for Your Proven Winners
Run phrase match for 4-6 weeks and pull your search term report. Any term with 3+ orders at or below your target ACoS goes into a dedicated exact match campaign with a higher bid. This is how you systematically build a high-performance campaign structure — not by guessing which exact match terms to start with, but by letting real purchase data tell you.
The Campaign Structure That Works
Run three separate campaigns per product: one broad match at low bids for discovery, one phrase match at medium bids for your core terms, and one exact match at aggressive bids for your proven converters. Use campaign-level negative keywords to prevent cannibalization between them. This structure gives you data at every funnel stage and lets you allocate budget to what's actually working.
Most sellers consolidate everything into one campaign because it's simpler to manage. That simplicity costs them visibility into what's actually driving sales — and the ability to bid differently on terms at different stages of the funnel.
