How to Run Amazon Ads in 2025? Beginner to Advanced Level Guide

Running ads on Amazon in 2025 isn’t just about setting a few bids and hoping for the best. It’s about showing up where your customers are searching, outsmarting your competitors, and turning every click into profit. With ad placements evolving and competition growing fast, having a smart Amazon PPC strategy is no longer optional, it’s a must.

Why does it matter? Amazon pulled in over $56.2 billion in ad revenue in 2024. That means more sellers than ever are using ads to grab visibility, including on your brand keywords. So, if you do not run ads on Amazon, your competitors probably are.

So, consider this blog as a step-by-step setup guide for running Amazon ads like a pro.Whether you’re just getting started or looking to sharpen your edge, this guide gives you everything you need to run Amazon ads profitably in 2025.

What Types of Ads Can You Run on Amazon in 2025?

Before getting into how to Amazon ads, it’s crucial to know the types of Amazon ads. There are four core Amazon ad types you can run:

1. Sponsored Products
2. Sponsored Brands
3. Sponsored Display 
4. Amazon DSP 

1. Sponsored Products

Sponsored Products are conversion-driven ads that show when a shopper matches your keyword or product targets. They appear in high-visibility spots like search results and product detail pages. This format suits all sellers and is essential for sales velocity and ranking.

2. Sponsored Brands

Sponsored Brands promote multiple products with custom headlines, videos, and store links. These ads dominate top-of-search real estate and drive branded traffic. Available only to Brand Registered sellers, they’re key for brand equity and visibility.

3. Sponsored Display

Sponsored Display uses audience signals to retarget shoppers based on behavior, interests, or product views. It runs both on and off Amazon, ideal for upselling and cart recovery. Brand Registry is required, and strategic use improves ROAS.

4. Amazon DSP

Amazon DSP enables programmatic ad buying across Amazon’s ecosystem and third-party sites. It offers precise audience segmentation using Amazon’s first-party data. Best suited for large-scale retargeting and brand campaigns with $50K+ in ad budget.

Which Amazon Ad Type Fits Your Goal?

Campaign Goal	Recommended Ad Type
Launching a new product	Sponsored Products + Auto
Building brand awareness	Sponsored Brands Video
Retargeting past visitors	Sponsored Display or DSP
Protecting brand keywords	Sponsored Products (Exact)
Capturing competitor traffic	Sponsored Display + Product Targeting

Pre‑Campaign Setup to Run Amazon Ads

To run Amazon ads effectively in 2025, you need two essentials:

1. Retail-ready product listings
2. Clearly defined campaign goals

1. How to Optimize Listings? 

Amazon’s ad algorithm ranks ads based on listing quality and relevance. Sending traffic to a weak listing bleeds a budget.

Minimum listing requirements for high conversion:

• High-resolution product images (min. 1000x1000px, zoom-enabled)
• Clear and keyword-optimized title (≤ 200 characters)
• 5 bullet points highlighting benefits, not just features
• A+ Content or Enhanced Brand Content (if Brand Registered)
• 4.0+ star review rating with ≥ 10 reviews
• Competitive pricing + Prime shipping

2. Define Your Campaign Goal 

What are your Amazon Ads trying to achieve? The most common goals are:

Goal Type	Example KPI	Recommended Ad Strategy
Launch	Reach 50 sales in 2 weeks	High-ACoS tolerance, exact + auto ads
Profit Growth	ACoS ≤ 25%, TACoS ≤ 10%	Manual campaigns + keyword isolation
Retargeting	ROAS ≥ 3x from repeat users	Sponsored Display + DSP
Awareness	1M impressions/month	Sponsored Brands Video, Store Spotlight

Keyword Research & Competitor Targeting

Winning on Amazon starts with targeting the right search terms. In 2025, smart sellers blend AI tools, Amazon data, and competitor strategies to uncover profitable keywords fast. Here are the 5 ways through which you can find the keywords to run Amazon ads. 

1. Amazon Search Bar (Autocomplete)

Start with Amazon’s own autocomplete suggestions. These reflect real-time buyer search behavior and reveal high-intent long-tail keywords. Typing a root keyword like “vitamin C” may surface variations such as “vitamin C serum for face” or “vitamin C gummies for kids.” These terms are gold for discovery-phase targeting.

2. Search Term Reports

Pull data from your existing ad campaigns to find keywords that actually convert. Search Term Reports show which queries triggered clicks, sales, or wasted spend. Use this data to promote high-performing terms and eliminate underperformers with negative keywords.

3. Helium10 / Jungle Scout

These third-party tools help you assess keyword search volume, competition score, and organic rank. You can also monitor keyword trends over time and estimate CPCs by category. They’re ideal for identifying scalable, mid-to-low competition terms before your competitors do.

4. Reverse ASIN Lookup

Tools like Cerebro (Helium10) or Keyword Scout (Jungle Scout) allow you to input a competitor’s ASIN and see which keywords they rank for. This uncovers untapped opportunities and reveals which terms drive traffic to top-performing listings. It’s a core strategy in competitive conquesting.

5. Brand Analytics Reports

If you’re Brand Registered, use Amazon’s Brand Analytics dashboard to access click share, conversion share, and top search terms per ASIN. These reports show how shoppers interact with your brand versus competitors. It’s critical for prioritizing keywords with both volume and buyer intent.

Competitor Keyword Targeting: What It Is & Why It Works

Competitor targeting means bidding on the keywords your competitors rank or advertise for, especially brand names and high-performing ASINs. It’s recommended to do this because: 

• Capture ready-to-buy traffic already primed by your competitor’s brand
• Appear on competitor product pages via Sponsored Display or ASIN targeting
• Push their CPCs up while gaining visibility

Keyword Structure

To build a high-performing keyword strategy, sellers should combine different intent layers within their campaigns. Mixing branded, generic, long-tail, and competitor-focused keywords gives broader reach while maintaining targeting precision. This approach improves control, relevance, and scalability across match types. Here’s an example for better understanding: 

• Branded Keywords: “Nike running shoes”
• Generic Category Terms: “men’s running shoes”
• Long-Tail Keywords: “lightweight trail running shoes size 11”
• Competitor ASINs & Brand Terms: Target directly with product display ads

Rule: Start with 5-8 keywords per ad group, split by match type (Broad, Phrase, Exact).

How to Run Amazon Ads? 4 Steps Process

Building an effective campaign involves choosing the right products, structuring ad groups by intent, and using match types and bidding strategies aligned with your goals.

Step 1: Choose the Right Product(s) to Advertise

In order to create a campaign ad, begin by selecting high-potential ASINs that are likely to perform well in paid campaigns. Focus on bestsellers or top-reviewed products with proven demand, new launches that need visibility, and underperforming SKUs with excess inventory. Also include profitable variations with enough margin to absorb your target ACoS.

Step 2: Structure Your Campaign

A clear Amazon ads campaign structure improves performance tracking and budget control. Organize your campaigns by ad type, intent, and match strategy to isolate data and optimize faster. This setup ensures better targeting and easier scaling.

• Campaign Structure Elements 

1. Ad Type: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Display
2. Objective: Awareness vs. Conversion vs. Retargeting
3. Match Type: Broad, Phrase, Exact in separate ad groups
4. Target Type: Generic, Branded, Competitor, Long-tail

• Example Campaign Setup:

Campaign Name	Type	Target
SP_CoffeeBeans_Broad_2025	Sponsored Product	Broad Keywords
SP_CoffeeBeans_Exact_2025	Sponsored Product	Exact Keywords
SP_CoffeeBeans_Competitors_ASIN	Sponsored Display	ASIN Targeting
SB_CoffeeBrand_Video_Launch2025	Sponsored Brands	Branded Awareness

•  Match Type Overview

Match types determine how Amazon matches your keywords to shopper searches. Picking the right one helps you control reach, relevance, and spend. Each type plays a different role depending on whether you’re aiming for discovery or high-intent clicks. Here’s how they work:

Match Type	Example Keyword	Will Trigger For	Use Case
Broad	Organic coffee	“best organic coffee beans”, “coffee organic”	Discovery Phase
Phrase	Organic coffee	“strong organic coffee”, “organic coffee 1kg”	Mid-stage targeting
Exact	Organic coffee	Only “organic coffee” or close variants	High-intent, lowest ACoS

Step 3: Bidding Strategy for Amazon PPC in 2025

Choose from:

• Dynamic Bids – Down Only: Low-risk. Amazon lowers your bid if low conversion chance.
• Dynamic Bids – Up & Down: Aggressive. Amazon raises bid up to 100% for high-converting placements.
• Fixed Bids: Full control. No bid adjustments.

Step 4: Placement Adjustments & Budgeting

a. Daily Budget Suggestions

• New Products: $30–$75/day for faster data gathering
• Established Products: 10–15% of daily sales revenue

b. Placement Bid Multipliers

• Boost bids by +100% for Top of Search when targeting branded exact match keywords
• Helps dominate high-converting positions and improve CTR/CVR

What Should You Do After Launching Your Amazon Ads?

The first 14 days are crucial. Amazon’s algorithm gathers data to understand where your ads perform best. Your job is to monitor, refine, and optimize early without overreacting too fast.

What to Expect in the First 2 Weeks? 

The first two weeks of any Amazon Ads campaign are critical for learning, not rushing. Instead of making early changes, let the data guide you. Here’s a simple timeline to follow:

• Days 1–3: Focus on data collection, avoid making changes
• Days 4–7: Monitor key metrics like CTR, CPC, ACoS, and CVR
• Days 8–14: Add negative keywords, pause poor-performing targets
• Day 15+: Begin refining bids and adjusting match types based on results

Key Metrics to Track for Amazon Ads

Metric	Good Benchmark (2025)	Notes
ACoS	20–30%	Lower = more efficient; under 15% = exceptional
TACoS	5–12%	Shows ad impact on total sales
CTR	0.35–0.50% (avg.)	High CTR = strong image/title relevance
CVR	9–12% avg (SP), 12–15% top sellers	Varies by category
CPC	$0.28–$1.39 (category-dependent)	Higher CPC = more competitive niche

Add Negative Keywords Weekly

To protect your ad budget from irrelevant clicks, you should add negative keywords on a regular basis. Apply them at both the campaign and ad group level to block unqualified traffic. 

For example, if you’re selling “premium espresso beans,” you’ll want to exclude terms like “instant coffee,” “cheap coffee samples,” or “free trial coffee.” Sellers who skip this step often end up wasting 30–40% of their ad spend on low-quality traffic.

Keyword Refinement Process (Every 7–10 Days)

Refining your keywords every week helps you double down on what’s working and cut out what’s not. Start by downloading your Search Term Report. Add high-converting, low-ACoS terms as Exact Match, and block non-converting terms that are draining spend. Also, move top-performing keywords from auto campaigns into manual ones to gain more control. This ongoing process helps many sellers lower ACoS by 15–30% within 60 days.

Advanced Amazon Ads Tactics (2025 Edition)

How can advanced tactics give your Amazon Ads a competitive edge in 2025?

Once your basic campaigns are stable, you can unlock aggressive growth using retargeting, audience segmentation, video creatives, and competitive conquesting strategies.

1. Audience Targeting & DSP Retargeting

Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) gives you powerful tools to reach shoppers beyond Amazon. You can retarget people who visited your product pages but didn’t buy, show ads to similar audiences, and run display or video ads on platforms like IMDb, Twitch, and Fire TV. It’s perfect for building awareness and staying top of mind across the web. That said, DSP usually requires a bigger budget (around $50K), so if you’re a smaller brand, Sponsored Display is a great alternative for retargeting shoppers directly on Amazon.

2. Sponsored Brand Video & Amazon Stores

Sponsored Brand Video ads help you stand out by telling a visual story right in the search results. These autoplay videos grab attention, especially on mobile where they appear mid-page having one of the highest CTR placements available. Brands that use video often see a 20–30% lift in conversion on branded terms. To make the most of it, lead with key benefits, text overlays, and a quick product-in-use demo within the first five seconds.

Pair your video ads with a well-designed Amazon Store. This acts as a landing page for your Sponsored Brand campaigns, letting shoppers explore your product collections, bundles, and bestsellers in one place. Brands that combine video with a Storefront typically see stronger ROAS and better brand recall.

3. Mobile Optimization & Promotions

With over 70-75% of Amazon traffic coming from mobile in 2025, optimizing your listings for smaller screens is non-negotiable. Focus on tight image cropping with the product centered, keep bullet points under 200 characters for easy scanning, and test A/B pricing strategies like coupons versus strikethrough pricing to see what drives more clicks.

Promotions also play a key role in boosting visibility and conversions. Coupons can increase click-through rates by up to 40%, while Lightning Deals are perfect for driving urgency during seasonal spikes like Q4. Prime Exclusive Discounts work especially well during major events like Prime Day and Black Friday, helping you capture high-intent traffic.

4. Competitor Tracking Tools

Track how your rivals are bidding, ranking, and performing using competitor tracking tools. In below table, you can find some of the top-performing tools along their use cases:

Tool	Use Case
Helium10 Cerebro	Reverse ASIN to find competitor keywords
Jungle Scout	Track BSR trends + PPC share
Eva Commerce	Price elasticity + ad cost optimization
m19	AI bidding suggestions by category

How Do You Scale Amazon Ads Without Wasting Budget?

Once your campaigns hit target ACoS and CVR, it’s time to scale intelligently not just spend more, but spend smarter. This includes budget growth, automation, and data-driven decisions.

1. Increase Budgets Based on Performance

Once your campaigns start delivering consistent results, scaling becomes a matter of doubling down on what works. Instead of increasing budgets blindly, use performance data to guide your next move. Here are the key indicators and actions to take:

• ACoS < 20%: Raise your daily budget by 20–30%
• High CTR + High CVR: Increase bids on your top 10 converting keywords

2. Use Automation & Rules-Based Tools

As your campaigns grow, managing them manually becomes time-consuming and inefficient. Automation tools help you scale faster by optimizing bids, budgets, and targeting in real time based on performance data. Here are some top tools and what they offer:

Tools	Features
Jungle Scout	Budget optimization, keyword performance tracking
Eva Commerce	Smart bid rules, price elasticity tuning
Marin Software	Cross-channel spend + TACoS insights
m19	Dayparting, AI keyword harvesting

3. Track TACoS to Know If You’re Truly Growing

TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales) gives a clearer picture of how ads impact your overall business growth. It measures ad spend as a percentage of total sales, both paid and organic. Unlike ACoS, which reflects short-term campaign efficiency, TACoS shows whether your ads are helping to boost organic performance over time. It’s best to track TACoS on a monthly basis to understand long-term trends and make informed scaling decisions.

TACoS Benchmark Interpretations:

• 5–12%: Healthy range; ads are supporting organic ranking effectively
• >15%: Over-reliance on ads; time to optimize your listing SEO
• <5%: Too conservative; consider scaling ad spend to drive more growth

5 Common Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them

Even experienced sellers can make mistakes that hurt performance or waste ad spend. Here’s how to recognize and fix the most common issues while running ads on Amazon.

1. Ignoring Negative Keywords

Wasting spend on irrelevant clicks is one of the fastest ways to drain your budget. If you don’t add negative keywords regularly, Amazon will keep showing your ads for unqualified terms. Review your Search Term Reports weekly and add negatives to improve targeting. This alone can reduce ACoS by 20–40% within a month.

2. Weak Ad Creatives or Listing Copy

Click-throughs won’t convert if your listing doesn’t match shopper expectations. Blurry images, generic titles, and missing review stars lower trust. Improve your main image, include benefit-driven copy, and test creatives using Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments (for Brand Registered sellers).

3. Mismanaged Budgets

Many sellers overspend on broad keywords while neglecting proven converters. Shift your budget to exact match keywords with conversion rates above 10%. Use portfolio caps and automated rules to keep spend in check and focus on high-ROAS segments.

4. Ignoring Brand Defense

If you’re not bidding on your own brand terms, competitors will and they’ll steal loyal customers. Set up exact match campaigns targeting your brand name and top products. Brand defense is essential to protect visibility and maintain control of your funnel.

5. Relying Only on Ads Without Organic Strategy

Paid ads can drive traffic, but long-term growth comes from combining PPC with organic efforts. Optimize listings for SEO, gather reviews, and build a strong product page. Use ads to accelerate organic rank, not replace it, especially since Amazon’s A10 algorithm rewards sales velocity and relevance, not just ad spend.

Final Thoughts: How to Run Ads on Amazon in 2025

Winning on Amazon in 2025 means more than just launching ads, it’s about having a clear strategy, optimizing constantly, and making every click count. Whether you’re launching, scaling, or defending your brand, a solid PPC foundation is key.

At AMZDUDES, we’ve been managing Amazon ads and helping brands lower ACoS, boost sales, and scale with confidence. We handle everything from keyword targeting to campaign automation so you can focus on growing your business.

Book your free strategy call now and let’s build Amazon ads that actually perform.

FAQs 

Q1: How to create ads on Amazon?
Start with a retail-ready listing, select the right campaign type, and set up Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, or Sponsored Display. Monitor and refine for better performance.

Q2: How to make ads on Amazon?
Choose the ad type based on your goal, like Sponsored Products for sales or Sponsored Brands for awareness. Optimize targeting and bid settings for effectiveness.

Q3: How to create an ad campaign on Amazon?
Define your goal, select products, build a keyword strategy with branded and generic terms, set up campaigns, and adjust based on performance data.

Q4: What is the best way to create ads on Amazon for new products?
Use Sponsored Products with automatic and exact match targeting. Consider Sponsored Brands with a video ad or brand store for faster visibility.Q5: How do I create an ad campaign on Amazon to scale my sales?
Structure campaigns by keyword intent, increase budgets for top-performing ads, add negative keywords, and use Amazon DSP for retargeting and wider reach.