11:45
Amazon PPC
Amazon PPC auto targeting campaigns can become some of a seller's lowest-ACoS, most profitable campaigns if set up with proper match-type isolation and negative targeting, and the video's core reveal is an internally-discovered strategy of running the same auto campaign at four different bid levels to find a disproportionately high-performing 'sweet spot' bid.
Autotargeting means giving Amazon full control over keyword, category, audience, and product targeting instead of specifying it manually.
Under Automatic Targeting Settings, choose 'set bids by targeting group' (not 'set default bid') to unlock separate bids for the four match types.
The four auto match types are close match, loose match (search-term based) and substitutes, compliments (product-based).
Best practice is to isolate match types — one match type per ad group or one per campaign, never mixed together.
Negative keyword targeting (negative exact and negative phrase) is one of the few levers sellers retain in auto campaigns, used to exclude irrelevant search terms like 'metal' or 'chrome' for a wooden phone holder.
Negative product targeting excludes specific ASINs/product pages that data shows don't convert, sourced from search term reports and existing auto/broad/expanded campaigns.
Campaign bidding strategy should default to 'down only'; 'up and down' is used temporarily only if impressions aren't coming in, then reverted once a working bid is found.
Bid adjustments include 'top of search' (not typically needed for auto campaigns since they aren't ranking-oriented) and 'audiences' (highly likely to purchase, clicked/added to cart, already purchased), both left at zero initially and tuned after data comes in.
Close match and substitutes are claimed to generally perform better than loose match and compliments when starting with only a few auto campaigns, though testing is described as necessary to confirm this per product.
The 'secret' strategy: launch four otherwise-identical auto campaigns at four different bids (e.g., 30¢, 40¢, 50¢, 60¢), starting at Amazon's minimum suggested bid and stepping up by 10 cents to just below the maximum suggested bid, to find which bid performs best.
The strategy was discovered by Sophie Society teammates Chris Pollock and Patrick during internal testing and shared in an internal mastermind session, not originated by Chris Rawlings himself.
Autotargeting (Automatic Targeting) — A Sponsored Products targeting mode where Amazon, not the seller, selects all keywords, categories, audiences, and products to advertise on. Apply: In Sponsored Products under Targeting, select 'Autotargeting' instead of 'Manual targeting' when creating the campaign.
Set bids by targeting group — An automatic targeting settings option that lets a seller assign a separate bid to each of the four match types instead of one flat default bid. Apply: Choose 'set bids by targeting group' rather than 'set default bid' so close match, loose match, substitutes, and compliments can each carry their own bid.
Close match — An auto match type where Amazon targets search keywords closely matched to the terms shoppers normally use to find the product. Apply: Run it as its own isolated ad group or campaign; it's flagged as one of the two match types likely to perform best when starting with only a few auto campaigns.
Loose match — An auto match type that gives Amazon more leeway to test unusual or 'exotic' keywords not normally associated with the product. Apply: Isolate it into its own ad group/campaign and expect it to underperform close match and substitutes at first, though it should still be tested.
Substitutes — An auto match type where Amazon advertises the product on detail pages of the same type of product, e.g., other water bottle listings for a water bottle. Apply: Isolate it into its own ad group/campaign; treat it as one of the two match types likely to perform well early on.
Compliments — An auto match type where Amazon advertises the product on detail pages of different but complementary products, e.g., a cheeseboard ad shown on a knife-set listing. Apply: Isolate it into its own ad group/campaign and expect it, along with loose match, to typically underperform close match/substitutes.
Match type isolation — The best practice of never mixing all four auto match types within a single campaign or ad group. Apply: Launch one match type per ad group, or one match type per full campaign, depending on desired granularity and portfolio size.
Negative keyword targeting — A control that tells Amazon not to advertise on a specific search term (negative exact) or on any term containing a given word (negative phrase). Apply: Add words like 'metal' or 'chrome' as negative phrase targets for a wooden phone holder, sourcing the list mainly from the auto campaign's own search term report data after it has run.
Negative product targeting — A control that tells Amazon not to advertise the product on specific ASINs or product detail pages. Apply:
Campaign bidding strategy: down only / up and down — Amazon's setting for whether it may only lower the bid you set (down only) or may also raise it (up and down). Apply: Default to down only; switch temporarily to up and down only if the auto campaign isn't getting impressions, then lock in the working bid and revert to down only.
Top of search bid adjustment — A placement-based bid modifier that raises bids for top-of-search placements, primarily useful for ranking-oriented campaigns. Apply: Don't set it when first launching an auto campaign since auto isn't for ranking; add it later only if the data shows top-of-search is performing well.
Audiences bid adjustment — A bid modifier covering three purchase-intent segments: shoppers highly likely to purchase based on recent activity, shoppers who clicked/added the brand's product to cart, and shoppers who already purchased the brand's product. Apply: Start all three at zero, then after analyzing which segment performs well, apply a bid adjuster to focus more budget there.
Multi-bid 'sweet spot' testing strategy — Running four otherwise-identical auto campaigns at four different bids (e.g., 30, 40, 50, 60 cents), discovered internally by Sophie Society teammates Chris Pollock and Patrick, based on the premise that different bids place the ad in different competitive inventory placements and a mid-range bid can dramatically outperform both lower and higher ones. Apply: Start at Amazon's minimum suggested bid, increase by 10 cents per campaign up to just below the maximum suggested bid, run all four in parallel, then scale whichever bid delivers the best performance.
Different bid amounts are claimed to place the same auto campaign into different competitive 'inventory placements' on Amazon's ad platform, meaning the bid ladder strategy works by changing who you compete against, not simply by spending more or less.
In the internal example shown, the 40-cent bid produced dramatically better performance (18% ACoS against a 35% target) than the 30-, 50-, and 60-cent bids combined, defying the intuitive assumption that either the lowest or highest bid should win.
Auto campaigns are described as unsuited to ranking goals (that's reserved for exact-match/multi-keyword manual campaigns), which is why the video says not to start with a top-of-search bid adjustment on auto campaigns.
Chris explicitly caveats that the multi-bid sweet-spot strategy 'doesn't work on every brand' or 'every product,' framing it as a high-upside but inconsistent tactic rather than a guaranteed win.
«By the end of this video, you'll have the power to make Amazon PPC auto campaigns that print.»
— 00:00
«What this means is you're basically giving Amazon the wheel.»
— 01:07
«So, we've got four auto targeting campaigns running. uh one at 40 cents, 60 cents, 50 cents, and 30 cents.»
— 08:06
«So our a cost target for this brand is 35% but we're actually getting an 18% a cost on these auto campaigns because of this secret bidding strategy.»
— 08:28
«actually you never know what bid is going to produce the best results.»
— 08:56
«And the way to choose the bid is start at the minimum suggested bid that Amazon gives you and then increase it by 10 cents until you get not at the maximum suggested bid range, but somewhere just below the maximum.»
— 09:37
«Auto campaigns are very sensitive to the bid.»
— 09:51
«this doesn't work on every brand. It doesn't work on every product, but when it does work, it can help you find a real gemstone of just a slot that works super well for you.»
— 10:01
Reception
Viewers are highly engaged and appreciative of the practical PPC bidding strategy, flooding the comments with detailed clarifying questions and gratitude rather than criticism.
The video is a standard mechanics walkthrough of Amazon auto-campaign setup (match types, negatives, bid adjustments) built around a single centerpiece tactic — a four-bid testing ladder — that Chris frames as a proprietary internal discovery rather than an Amazon-documented practice, with his own caveat that it doesn't work for every brand or product.
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