Amazon PPC Campaign Structure: How to Organise Campaigns, Ad Groups and Match Types in Australia

A good Amazon PPC campaign structure on Amazon.com.au splits discovery from proven performers. Run an automatic campaign and a broad-match campaign to find search terms, then move converting terms into phrase and exact campaigns where you control bids tightly, and block waste with negative keywords. Amazon's targeting options are automatic targeting, manual keyword targeting with broad, phrase and exact match, and product targeting. Keep each product group, targeting type and ad format in its own campaign so you can read the results.

What are the building blocks of an Amazon ads account?

An account has campaigns. A campaign holds a budget, a schedule and a bidding strategy. Inside a Sponsored Products campaign, ad groups hold the products and the targeting. This matters because budget and bidding strategy sit at campaign level, while keywords and bids sit lower down. If you want different budgets or strategies for different jobs, you need different campaigns.

Amazon.com.au sellers can run three self-service ad types: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display. See the Amazon ads overview for Australia for eligibility. This page deals mostly with Sponsored Products structure, because it is the format Amazon recommends launching first.

What targeting types do you have to organise?

Amazon's guide lists these.

• Automatic targeting: close match, loose match, substitutes and complements.
• Keyword targeting: broad match (any order, variations and related terms), phrase match (all terms in the same order) and exact match (word for word, same order).
• Product targeting: specific products, categories or brands.
• Negative targeting: keywords, products or brands to exclude.

For definitions, see match types and negative keywords. How you sort them into campaigns decides how clearly you can see what works.

What is a simple structure to start with?

For one product or a tight group of near-identical products, this layout works for most Australian sellers.

Each row is a separate campaign with its own budget. The aim is that you can answer "what does exact match on our top terms earn?" without untangling a mix.

The layout is a starting point, not a rule from Amazon. Amazon's pages describe the targeting options, not a required account structure. With a very small budget, start with A and D only, and add the rest as data grows. The new-seller ads budget guide covers how thin you can spread money.

How do you move search terms between campaigns?

This is the loop that makes the structure pay.

1. Run the automatic and broad campaigns for long enough to gather search terms.
2. Open the search term report. Pick terms with orders at an acceptable ACoS.
3. Add those terms as phrase or exact keywords in campaigns C and D.
4. Add the same term as a negative exact in the discovery campaign, so the discovery campaign stops competing against your proven campaign for that query.
5. Add terms with many clicks and no sales as negatives. Amazon recommends evaluating a negative keyword after it has at least 20 clicks, and letting negatives run for two weeks or more before changing strategy.
6. Repeat on a regular schedule.

Step 4 is often skipped. Without it, two of your own campaigns bid against each other for the same search.

Amazon keyword research for Australia covers where seed keywords come from.

How many products belong in one ad group?

Few. Group items only if shoppers would treat them as substitutes and their margins are similar. One bestseller with a 40% margin and a clearance item with a 10% margin do not belong together, because they need different ACoS targets. See what a good ACoS is on Amazon Australia. A single-product ad group is the cleanest to read. For a range of variations of one parent product, one group is usually fine.

How should you separate ad formats and branded terms?

• Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display in their own campaigns. They have different creative, targeting and billing. Sponsored Brands needs Brand Registry; see Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display.
• Branded and non-branded terms apart. Branded searches convert well and flatter blended ACoS. Reporting them separately shows how much non-brand traffic really costs.
• Launch and mature products apart. A new product may justify a higher ACoS for a period; see Amazon PPC launch strategy.
• Event campaigns separate. Sale periods change traffic and conversion; see Prime Day ads in Australia.

What should you name campaigns?

Pick a convention and keep to it. One that works: product code, then ad type, then targeting, then match or purpose. For example, "KettleBlk | SP | Exact | Top terms". Anyone can then filter by "SP | Exact" to compare all exact campaigns. Add a date or a version number when you restructure, so older reports still make sense.

How do budgets and bids fit the structure?

Budget goes to the campaigns with the best return, not equally. Amazon notes that daily budgets are not paced through the day, so a small budget can be spent quickly when interest is high. Amazon lists a recommended minimum daily budget of 15 in local currency for Australia (A$15; confirm it in your ads console).

Give exact and phrase campaigns room to run all day, and cap discovery campaigns. Bidding strategy choices live at campaign level and are covered in Amazon PPC bidding strategy for Australia.

How often should you review the structure?

Weekly for search terms and negatives while a campaign is young; monthly once it is steady. Every quarter, check whether campaigns still match your goals. The Amazon PPC audit checklist turns this into a list. Whether to do it yourself is a separate question; see agency vs in-house.

FAQ

What is the best Amazon PPC campaign structure? There is no single best layout, and Amazon does not mandate one. A common approach separates automatic and broad discovery campaigns from phrase and exact campaigns for proven terms, with branded terms and each ad format in their own campaigns.

Should I use one campaign or many? Many, once you have budget for it. Separate campaigns let you set different budgets, bids and strategies for discovery and proven terms. With a tiny budget, start with one automatic and one exact campaign and expand later.

What is the difference between broad, phrase and exact match? Broad matches queries containing your terms in any order, with variations. Phrase needs all terms in the same order. Exact matches word for word in the same order, including plurals.

Why add negative exact keywords between my own campaigns? It stops your discovery campaign bidding on a search that your exact campaign already handles. Otherwise two campaigns compete for the same query and you cannot tell which one earned the sale.

How many keywords per ad group? Amazon does not publish a recommended number on its public pages. Keep groups tight enough that one bid suits every keyword in them, and split a group when keywords need very different bids.

Does the same structure work for Sponsored Brands? Partly. Sponsored Brands use keyword and product targeting too, but keep them in separate campaigns because creative, placements and billing differ.

Next step

Build the six-campaign layout for your top product, run the term-promotion loop weekly, and audit it monthly. Blooprint offers Amazon Ads management for Australian sellers if you would rather hand over the build. The Australia hub has related guides.