🔑 Most sellers waste 30–50% of their Amazon PPC budget by applying Google match type logic to Amazon campaigns. The fix is a three-campaign structure with deliberate cross-campaign negatives — not a single campaign with all match types mixed together.
Amazon match types look identical to Google's — broad, phrase, exact — but the mechanics differ enough that applying Google logic to Amazon campaigns is one of the most costly mistakes new sellers make. Three months of running Amazon like Google will leave your ACoS climbing and your data unreadable.
Broad Match: Discovery Tool, Not Performance Budget
Amazon broad match is simpler and more literal than Google broad. It matches your keyword in any order, plus close variants and related terms. 'Protein powder' broad could trigger for 'whey protein,' 'protein shake mix,' or 'protein supplements for muscle gain.'
Treat broad match like a research budget, not a performance budget. Bid it 30–50% below your phrase match bid, cap the daily budget, and review the search term report every week.
Phrase Match: Your Workhorse
Phrase match requires your keyword to appear in the search query in order. 'Chocolate protein powder' and 'protein powder for women' both trigger your phrase match keyword 'protein powder' — but 'powder protein' does not. This is where the majority of your budget should live.
| Match Type | Best For |
| Broad | Discovery — find new terms you'd never guess |
| Phrase | Core coverage — respects product intent reliably |
| Exact | Proven converters — maximum bid control |
Exact Match: Promote, Don't Guess
Run phrase match for 4–6 weeks, then pull your search term report. Any term with 3+ orders at or below your target ACoS moves to a dedicated exact match campaign with a 20–40% bid premium. Build your exact match library from real purchase data — not guesswork.
Note: Amazon's exact match includes close variants — minor misspellings, singular/plural forms, and function word additions. '[Protein powder]' can show for 'proteins powder' or 'a protein powder.' This is generally a positive, not a problem.
Negative Keywords: Half the Job
Auto Campaigns: Mine These First
Before building manual match type campaigns, run an auto campaign for 2–4 weeks at a modest budget. Amazon's auto targets four sub-types simultaneously: close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements. Split these into four separate ad groups and bid each differently.
The gold from an auto campaign isn't the auto campaign itself — it's the search term report that comes out of it. Mine it for phrase and exact match candidates before you write a single manual keyword list.
The Three-Campaign Structure That Works
Do NOT mix all match types in one campaign. You'll have zero visibility into what's driving sales — and you'll lose the ability to bid differently based on intent confidence. Separation creates clarity.
Monthly Maintenance: Promote and Prune
Over 6–12 months, this process gradually shifts spend toward exact match — where bid control and conversion certainty are highest. Your broad campaign budget often shrinks as exact match absorbs proven terms. That's healthy. The broad campaign keeps finding new terms while exact match converts them at scale.
📚 Sources: Amazon Advertising Help — Sponsored Products Keyword Targeting (advertising.amazon.com); Jungle Scout — State of the Amazon Seller 2024 (junglescout.com); Amazon Seller Central Help — Keyword match types (sellercentral.amazon.com); eMarketer — U.S. Retail Media Ad Spending 2024 (emarketer.com).
