Amazon Advertising Campaign Structure for Maximum ROI: A Comprehensive Guide
No fluff here. Amazon Ad campaign structure isn’t just about looking organized; it’s your secret weapon for scaling and boosting ROI. After 8+ years in Amazon advertising, we’ve seen two types of accounts—those with structure and those without. Guess which ones win?
If your campaigns feel like chaos, it’s time to rethink your strategy. Let’s dive deep into how to build Ad campaigns that give you more control, more data, and better returns.
Why Campaign Structure Matters
Your campaign structure isn’t just about keeping things tidy. It’s the backbone of your entire advertising strategy. Done right, it’ll give you control over budget, targeting, and reporting. Done wrong, and you’ll overspend, undersell, and struggle to scale.
99% of accounts we audit? Lack proper structure. And every single one of them is leaving money on the table because of it. Let’s change that.
1. Segregated campaigns for Individual Products
One of the worst things you can do is bundle multiple products into a single campaign. It’s a recipe for chaos. Imagine you have a hero product that’s crushing it, but it’s trapped in the same campaign as five slow movers. You want to boost the hero, so you increase the bid. Now every product gets that bid bump, even the slow sellers. What happens next? The budget gets drained, and your hero product doesn’t get the love it deserves.
Here’s the move: one campaign, one product. This gives you surgical control over your bids, placement, and budgets for each product. Every dollar you spend goes exactly where it needs to go.
2. Campaigns split by different Targeting levels
Targeting is everything in Amazon Ads, but lumping all your keywords into one campaign? mistake.
You need to treat high-relevance keywords like gold and give them their own campaigns with bigger budgets, since they have a higher conversion.
Meanwhile, broader keywords? They’re your explorers. They’ll bring in traffic but not always conversions. Set up separate campaigns for them with smaller budgets. You’re basically testing the waters without risking too much of your budget.
This kind of segmentation gives you flexibility. You can throw big money at the winners while still testing new ground with the broader terms.
3. Match Type Segmentation: Broad, Phrase, and Exact
Here’s a common rookie mistake: mixing broad, phrase, and exact match keywords in the same campaign. Each match type behaves differently, so blending them is like throwing darts in the dark.
Our advice? Separate campaigns for each match type. Broad match gets a lower budget because it’s volatile, and exact match gets more, because it’s precise. Phrase match sits in the middle, giving you some flexibility. This lets you allocate your budget where it counts.
Quick Tip: Broad Match Modifiers (BMM) Save the Day
Broad match is powerful but risky. You want reach without the risk? Use BMMs. A simple ‘+’ before key terms in your broad match keywords ensures your ads show for relevant searches. If you’re targeting ‘+running +shoes,’ your ad will only show up when both terms appear, cutting out irrelevant searches like ‘basketball shoes’ or ‘shoes for toddlers.’
This way, you can still cast a wide net without catching every irrelevant fish.
4. Limited Keywords Per Campaign (15-20 Keywords)
You might think more keywords equals more chances to convert. Wrong. When you cram too many keywords into one campaign, most of them will just sit there, getting zero impressions.
We tested this. We had a campaign with 40+ keywords—most didn’t even get a look-in.
We split that into multiple campaigns with 15-20 keywords each. Suddenly, those ‘invisible’ keywords started generating impressions and sales. Check out our case study here:
Moral of the story: less is more. Stick to 15-20 keywords per campaign for the best results.
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Thematic grouping
When splitting keywords into smaller groups, don’t just pick 15-20 at random. Thematic grouping is key.
Organize your keywords by two factors:
This prevents high-traffic keywords from hogging all the impressions and gives lower-volume keywords a fair chance. It also helps you control budgets. For high-volume keywords, go bigger. For low-volume but relevant terms? Keep them funded, but don’t overcommit.
5. Single Keyword Campaigns: Use with caution
The one extreme of segregated campaign strategy is - Single Keyword campaigns. Single Keyword Campaigns sound great on paper—full control over one keyword. But here’s the catch: low-traffic keywords in SKCs struggle to get impressions.
Instead of throwing them into solo campaigns, group 5-10 related keywords together. This gives Amazon more data to work with, leading to better campaign history, stronger performance, and more consistent sales.
6. Auto Campaign Segmentation
Auto campaigns in Amazon PPC can be powerful, but only if managed carefully. Auto campaigns generally target four different groups: close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements. By default, Amazon lumps these together, but segregating auto campaigns by targeting type—one for keyword-targeted groups (close and loose match) and another for product-targeted groups (substitutes and complements)—yields better performance.
This gives you more control over your spend and makes analyzing performance data way easier.
6. Portfolio Usage for Better Organization
If you’re running multiple products or product lines, portfolios are like your personal assistant—keeping everything in check. Portfolios help group campaigns by product category, brand, or objective, making it easy to track your spend and performance across various segments.
Why do they matter? Control. You can assign monthly budget caps at the portfolio level, preventing any one product line from draining your budget. You get a high-level view of your entire ad spend in one place, and when you hit that cap, spending stops automatically—no nasty surprises at the end of the month.
It’s not about creating more work; it’s about simplifying and optimizing. Set it up right, and managing 10 campaigns feels like managing one.
7. Separate Product and Category Targeting
Here’s a common mistake: mixing product targeting (going after specific ASINs) with category targeting (targeting an entire category). These two strategies serve completely different purposes. Product targeting is sniper-precision, helping you take down competitors’ ASINs directly, while category targeting is a wider net aimed at an entire product group.
Lumping them together muddles your data, making it hard to see which strategy is actually driving results. Keep them separate. This allows you to track how each targeting method performs and fine-tune your bids accordingly. More clarity, better results.
8. Branded vs. Non-Branded Segregation
Branded keywords are your low-hanging fruit. Customers searching for your brand are already halfway to purchasing. On the flip side, non-branded keywords are more competitive—they’re for attracting new customers who may not know your brand.
Why split them? Mixing branded and non-branded keywords skews your data. Branded keywords usually perform better, artificially lowering your ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales) and making your non-branded keywords look more successful than they are.
Segregating them allows you to allocate budgets more strategically. You can invest in non-branded campaigns to drive new customer acquisition while keeping a closer eye on your brand’s performance without mixing signals.
9. The Role of Naming Conventions
This might sound minor, but trust us—having a consistent naming convention for your campaigns makes a world of difference. With dozens of campaigns running, a clear naming system helps you instantly recognize what’s working and what needs attention. This makes it easier to run filters, generate reports, and make informed decisions based on performance data.
For instance, by using a consistent naming convention, you can quickly filter for all your exact match or branded campaigns to see how each segment is performing, making it easier to adjust strategies accordingly.
Final Thoughts: Build for Scale and Profitability
Optimizing your Amazon PPC campaigns is all about structure. Set it up right, and you’ve laid the foundation for long-term growth and profit. Separate campaigns by product, split targeting levels, match types, and limit keywords to 15-20 per campaign. By restructuring campaigns, you unlock data-driven decisions, prevent wasted spend, and scale smartly.
When we take over accounts, the first step is always the same: restructuring campaigns. Why? Because it works. Clean, structured campaigns are the foundation of a profitable PPC strategy.
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