Here are four specific PPC techniques that will help you master Amazon Ads, and chances are you’ll be very familiar with these concepts from your time managing Google and Microsoft ads:

1. Add negative keywords: Be proactive about stopping wasted spend on irrelevant queries. In Google, we mastered this process with negative keyword mining for Search and Shopping Ads. We can increase profitability by cutting out clicks that cost money but don’t convert.
2. Mine search queries for new keywords: Identify good new keywords and manage their bids to reach your goals, for example, a target ACOS that helps reach profitability. Essentially, if a query looks promising — driving conversions, for example — add it as a keyword. This signals to the engine you like this keyword and want to continue showing for it. When you add the query as a keyword, you’ll gain greater control of the bid and be able to more readily hit your target.
3. Manage bids to keep ads visible: Think of the value of ad slots above the organic content on Google. In a similar fashion, Amazon helps you set bids to maintain strong visibility. In Amazon lingo, these are called “suggested bid” and “suggested bid range,” and their values are updated daily. Update your own bids on the same daily schedule to remain in the competitive sweet spot.
4. Manage bids for profitability: Focus your goals on profit. While this seems absolutely intuitive, it can be easy to lose sight of the profit goal in the complexity of all of the automations of the various platforms. Amazon advertisers can set bids based on a target ACOS that delivers profitability. It’s similar to using target ROAS on Google.

These concepts are nothing new but how you implement them on Amazon is a bit different from Google Ads. In fact, Amazon’s system is probably more similar to the earlier versions of AdWords where management was tedious because the data needed to make good decisions was in a different part of the tool (reports) than where it could be used for optimization (campaign management).