Amazon PPC for Beginners: Step-By-Step Guide

Getting noticed on Amazon can feel tough, especially when you’re just starting out.

That’s where Amazon PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising comes in to save the day, helping your product shine and reach the right customers.

For beginners, Amazon PPC is an easy and effective way to get your product in front of shoppers. By bidding on keywords your audience is already searching for, your product can appear at the top of their results.

The best part? You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, so it’s a budget-friendly way to drive traffic to your listing.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics of Amazon PPC and show you how to set up your first campaign step by step—so you can start boosting visibility and making those all-important first sales.

Key Takeaways

  • Amazon PPC helps new sellers quickly gain visibility and drive targeted traffic to their products.
  • Setting up a campaign involves selecting keywords, bids, and targeting strategies to optimize ad performance.
  • Monitoring key metrics and making adjustments over time is essential for maximizing results and staying within budget.

What Is Amazon PPC and How Does It Work?

Amazon PPC is an advertising system that lets you promote your products by bidding on keywords to appear in key spots like the top of search results. When someone searches for those keywords, your ad can show up, putting your product front and center.

Here’s how it works in a nutshell:

  1. Pick your keywords: You choose the words or phrases shoppers might use when searching for products like yours.
  2. Set your bid: Decide how much you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad.
  3. Amazon runs an auction: Every time someone searches for those keywords, Amazon holds a mini auction. If your bid and ad relevance are high enough, you win a spot.
  4. Your ad gets shown: If you win, your ad pops up in front of potential buyers, either in search results or on competitor product pages.
  5. You only pay for clicks: You only get charged when someone actually clicks on your ad—so you’re only paying for real interest.

Why Is Amazon PPC Important for Your Business?

Amazon PPC is a game-changer for new sellers trying to stand out. Here’s why it matters:

  • Get Seen Faster: As a new seller, it’s tough to climb the ranks naturally. PPC gives your product the spotlight, helping you get noticed by shoppers right away.
  • Attract Ready-to-Buy Shoppers: These ads are shown to people who are already searching for products like yours, so the traffic you’re driving to your listing is highly targeted—and more likely to turn into sales.
  • Boost Organic Rankings: More clicks and sales from PPC can help push your product higher in organic search results, meaning it gets even more exposure without you paying for ads down the road.
  • Stay in Control of Your Budget: You set the budget, and since you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, you’re always in control of how much you spend.

What Are the Main Types of Amazon PPC Ads?

Amazon PPC offers three main types of ads, each serving a different purpose.

As a new seller, you’ll want to understand these ad types to choose the best fit for your goals.

amazon sponsored product

These are the most common and beginner-friendly ads on Amazon. Sponsored Product Ads promote individual products and appear right in search results or on product pages.

Best for: Driving traffic to specific products, especially new launches or items with low visibility.

Where they appear: Search results, product listings, and “related products” sections.

amazon sponsored brand

Sponsored Brand Ads showcase your brand and up to three products at a time. These ads appear at the top of search results and help increase brand awareness.

Best for: Building brand recognition and promoting multiple products in one ad.

Where they appear: At the top of search results, in banner form, or as video ads.

Sponsored Display Ads are designed to retarget shoppers. These ads show up on Amazon, as well as across the web, to remind shoppers of products they’ve viewed.

Best for: Retargeting customers who have visited your product pages or those of competitors.

Where they appear: Amazon product pages, homepages, and external sites.

How to Create an Amazon PPC Strategy?

To ensure you get the most out of your ad spend, you’ll need a solid strategy in place. Here’s how to get started:

  1. Set clear objectives: Start by defining your goals. Whether you want to boost product visibility, increase sales, or grow brand awareness, knowing what you’re aiming for helps shape your entire approach.
  2. Choose the right ad type: For new sellers, Sponsored Products ads are the way to go. They’re simple to set up and highly effective at getting your products in front of the right audience. Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display ads, while powerful, require more advanced strategies and are better suited for established sellers with multiple products or a larger brand presence.
  3. Set a manageable budget: To avoid overspending, begin with a budget of around 10-15% of your sales revenue. This ensures you’re investing enough to see results but not stretching your budget too thin.
  4. Monitor key metrics: Keep an eye on key indicators like Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS), click-through rates, and impressions. Tracking these will give you insights into what’s working and what needs tweaking.

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork for your strategy, it’s time to jump into the practical steps of creating your first PPC advertising campaign.

How to Create Your First Amazon PPC Campaign?

Setting up your first Amazon PPC campaign is easier than it sounds. Follow these steps to get started:

Step #1: Set Up Your Ad Campaign

  1. Log into Seller Central: Head to your Amazon Seller Central account, click on the Advertising tab, and select Campaign Manager.
  2. Create a New Campaign: Click on Create Campaign and choose your campaign type. I suggest Sponsored Products, the best option for new sellers.
  1. Name Your Campaign: Use a clear naming format that works for you, but for beginners, we suggest including the product name, the ad type, and the targeting type (such as manual keyword targeting). For example: “Wireless Earbuds – Sponsored Product – Manual Keyword.” Feel free to create a naming style that makes the most sense for your campaigns.

Step #2: Set Up Your Ad Group and Choose Products

  1. Ad Group Settings: Set up an ad group for your campaign. You can name it the same as your campaign to keep things simple.
  2. Select Products: Choose the product or ASIN you want to advertise within this ad group. For example, your “Wireless Earbuds with Noise Cancellation.”

Pro Tip: Advertise only one ASIN per ad group to keep your targeting specific and tailored to the individual product.

Step #3: Choose Your Targeting and Keywords

  1. Targeting Options: Choose between manual and automatic targeting. Manual targeting lets you select keywords or product categories to target, while automatic targeting allows Amazon to choose the best placements and keywords for your ads. For this guide, we recommend starting with Manual Targeting for more control.
  2. Keyword or Product Targeting: Decide whether to target keywords or specific products (ASINs or categories). Keyword targeting will show your ad when shoppers search for specific terms, while product targeting places your ads on competitor listings or related product detail pages.
  3. Provide a List of Keywords: You can input keywords in three ways—use Amazon’s suggested keywords, manually enter your researched keywords, or upload a file with a list of keywords.

Pro Tip: For beginners, I suggest starting with Amazon’s suggested keywords and mixing in your own for better coverage.

  1. Set Bids for Keywords: Choose between Suggested Bid, where Amazon suggests a competitive bid, or Custom Bid, where you manually set the bid for each keyword.
  2. Match Types: Choose how closely search terms should match your keywords—Exact Match for an exact match, Phrase Match for a sequence that includes your keyword, or Broad Match for related search terms.
  3. Add Keywords: Click “Add Keywords” to finalize your list.

Step #4: Set Up Bidding and Budget

  1. Negative Keyword Targeting: Add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant search terms, which is especially useful for Broad or Phrase Match. This step is less necessary for Exact Match.
  2. Campaign Bidding Strategy: Choose from three options—Dynamic bids (down only) where Amazon lowers your bid if a conversion seems unlikely, Dynamic bids (up and down) where Amazon adjusts your bid based on conversion likelihood, or Fixed bids where your bid remains the same.

Pro Tip: Choose Dynamic bids – down only to avoid overspending.

  1. Adjust Bids by Placement (Optional): You can increase bids for specific placements like top-of-search results. For now, leave this at 0% and adjust after collecting performance data.
  2. Set Your Daily Budget: Start with a manageable daily budget of around $10 to $20. Amazon might spend slightly more or less, but it will stay within your monthly budget.

Step #5: Launch and Monitor Your Campaign

Launch Your Ad Campaign: Review all your settings and click Launch Campaign. Your ad will go live, and you’ll start seeing impressions and clicks soon after.

Congrats! You’ve successfully launched your first campaign. Now, it’s time to gather performance data and fine-tune your strategy.

Best Tools for Managing Amazon PPC Campaigns (Beginner-Friendly)

Managing Amazon PPC campaigns manually can quickly become overwhelming as your business grows. Thankfully, there are tools designed to make this process easier. I’ve even put together a dedicated guide on the best Amazon PPC tools for both beginners and advanced sellers. But if you’re just getting started or have a basic understanding, here are two beginner-friendly tools you should check out:

Helium 10 (Adtomic)

Helium 10 adtomic tool

Helium 10 is a popular all-in-one platform for Amazon sellers, and its PPC tool, Adtomic, helps streamline your campaigns through automation and data-driven insights. With Adtomic, you can automate bid adjustments, track performance, and conduct in-depth keyword research to improve visibility and sales.

Why it’s perfect for beginners:

  • Automated bidding: Automatically adjust bids based on campaign performance, saving time and improving efficiency.
  • Advanced analytics: Access detailed reports to better understand your ad performance and fine-tune your strategy.
  • Keyword research: Discover high-converting keywords easily and add them directly to your campaigns.

Plus, Helium 10 offers a 10-20% discount for RevenueGeeks readers, making it an affordable choice for those on a tighter budget. If you’re interested in a deeper look, check out our full Adtomic review for more details.

Quartile

Quartile is an AI-driven tool that takes PPC optimization to the next level. By using machine learning and real-time data, it automates complex tasks like bid adjustments and keyword targeting. This makes it ideal for sellers who want to scale their PPC campaigns without managing every detail manually.

Here’s why Quartile is beginner-friendly:

  • AI-powered automation: Quartile continuously optimizes your bids and targeting for better performance, letting you focus on other parts of your business.
  • Real-time adjustments: The platform adjusts your ad spend dynamically to ensure your budget goes to the best-performing keywords and products.
  • Easy scalability: Whether you’re just starting or scaling your campaigns, Quartile takes care of the heavy lifting.

Quartile is also offering 40% off for the first 3 months, which is a great deal for beginners on a budget. However, keep in mind that it’s on the pricier side compared to Helium 10, so it’s best to choose Quartile if you’re planning to focus heavily on PPC management.

More Guides from RevenueGeeks

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, Amazon PPC is easy to learn for beginners, but it takes practice to fully master. With a basic understanding of keywords, bidding strategies, and campaign management, sellers can start running ads effectively. Over time, optimizing for better performance becomes easier with experience.

Launching your Amazon PPC strategy and campaigns right after creating a new listing is advisable. In addition to increasing visibility for your new product, launching your Amazon PPC advertising campaign early will also enable you to gather essential ad insights on the product. Consequently, this helps you refine and optimize your campaign accordingly.

It’s best to let an Amazon PPC campaign run for about 2-3 weeks to gather enough data to make informed decisions regarding any necessary changes to your PPC campaign.

Master Your First PPC Campaign With Confidence

Starting your Amazon PPC journey can feel like a big step, but with the right strategy, it’s totally achievable.

Focus on setting clear goals, targeting the right keywords, and monitoring your campaign’s performance.

Whether you’re optimizing bids or refining keywords, the key is to stay flexible and learn as you go. Tools like Helium 10 and Quartile can simplify the process, but your strategy will make the biggest difference.

Ready to take action? Get the best tool for your Amazon ad campaigns​ and start growing your Amazon business today!

Limited-time exclusive offer

Get Helium 10 subscription now with up to 35% off!
Get Helium 10
Helium10 logo
LIMITED-TIME February OFFER!
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
SHOW SPECIAL OFFER
127 users have already explored this offer
Subscribe for the Latest Amazon Seller Tips & Tricks. Get Exclusive Discounts!