The best keywords for Amazon advertising are the search terms that real shoppers use when they want exactly your product, and that convert profitably at a bid your margin can carry. Search volume matters far less than people think, in my view. A modest term that converts at a healthy rate beats a huge term that spends without selling, every time.
Choosing them is a process rather than a one-off list: find candidates, judge relevance, pick match types, set bids from your break-even, then let real search term data tell you what to keep. This guide walks through each step.
Step 1: find candidate keywords
Start wide, then narrow. Good sources, roughly in order of usefulness:
- Your own search term report. Once campaigns run, this shows the exact searches that led to clicks and sales. Nothing beats it, because it is your data.
- An automatic campaign. Amazon matches your ads to searches based on your listing. Run one with a modest budget as a discovery tool, then mine its search terms.
- Amazon’s suggested keywords inside Campaign Manager when you build a manual campaign.
- Amazon’s own search bar. Autocomplete shows what shoppers actually type.
- Brand Analytics, if you are brand registered, for search query data about your category.
- Your listing and competitors’ listings. Phrases that recur in strong competitors’ titles are a vocabulary list.
Step 2: judge relevance before volume
For each candidate, ask one question: would someone searching this be happy to find my exact product? If the honest answer is “maybe”, it is a weak keyword, whatever its volume.
I’d sort candidates into three groups:
| Group | Example for a stainless steel water bottle | How to treat it |
|---|---|---|
| Core, highly relevant | “insulated steel water bottle 32 oz” | Exact match, highest priority |
| Related, worth testing | “gym water bottle” | Phrase or broad, lower bid |
| Loose or ambiguous | “bottle” | Avoid, or very low bid only for discovery |
Branded terms deserve their own campaign. Searches for your own brand convert well and cost little, which flatters averages. Keep them separate so you can see what your generic keywords really do.
Step 3: choose match types
Amazon Sponsored Products offers three keyword match types:
- Broad: your ad can show for searches containing your terms in any order, plus close variations. Good for discovery.
- Phrase: the search must contain your phrase in order. A middle ground.
- Exact: the search must match your term closely. Most control, usually the best efficiency once a term is proven.
My default structure: discover with automatic and broad, prove terms in phrase, then scale winners in exact with their own bids. Our guide to Amazon PPC campaign structure shows how to lay this out, and our guide to keyword targeting vs product targeting covers when to target competitor products instead of search terms.
Step 4: set bids from your break-even, not Amazon’s suggestion
Work out your break-even ACoS first: your profit margin before advertising. If a product earns $9 before ads on a $30 price, break-even ACoS is 30%. Then bid so each keyword’s ACoS can sit below that, except where you are deliberately buying launch rank. Our guide to what ACoS stands for explains break-even and target ACoS in full.
Suggested bids are a starting point, not an instruction. I’d begin near or slightly below them for core terms, lower for exploratory ones, and let a couple of weeks of data move them.
Step 5: run the harvest and negative loop
This is where keyword choice keeps paying off. Every week or two:
- Harvest: search terms that converted in automatic, broad or phrase campaigns move into exact match with their own bids.
- Negate: search terms that spent meaningfully without a sale get added as negatives. Our guide to optimizing negative keywords on Amazon covers the routine.
- Adjust: raise bids on exact terms that convert well below break-even, trim those above it.
Run this loop consistently and your keyword list improves itself. Skip it and even a well-chosen list decays. Honestly, the loop matters more than the starting list.
Mistakes that waste ad spend
- Chasing the biggest search terms first. Broad, high-volume terms are expensive and often only loosely relevant.
- Stuffing one ad group with dozens of unrelated keywords. You lose the ability to see which ones work.
- Ignoring the listing. If a relevant keyword gets clicks but no sales, the problem is often the page, not the keyword.
- Judging too early. A few days of data says little. Give terms enough clicks before deciding.
If you would rather have this run for you, that is our Amazon advertising management service. We are an Amazon Ads partner, and one result published on that page is a client that went from 5 to 489 units a day through our custom PPC strategies.
FAQ
How do I choose the best keywords for Amazon advertising?
Gather candidates from your search term report, an automatic campaign, Amazon’s suggested keywords and its search bar, then keep the ones a shopper would be glad to find your exact product for. Test them by match type, bid from your break-even ACoS, and keep harvesting winners and negating losers.
Should I target high-volume keywords on Amazon?
Not first. High-volume terms are usually expensive and less precise. Start with highly relevant, more specific terms that convert, then expand to broader terms once you have data and margin to spare.
What match type is best for Amazon PPC keywords?
Use broad and automatic campaigns for discovery, phrase for testing, and exact for proven terms you want to control tightly. Most well-run accounts use all three, each for its job.
How many keywords should I use in an Amazon ad group?
Enough to cover one tight theme. Small, closely related groups make performance readable and bids manageable, while large mixed groups hide which keywords actually work.
How often should I update Amazon PPC keywords?
Review search term reports every week or two: move converting terms into exact match, add wasteful terms as negatives, and adjust bids against your break-even ACoS.
What if a keyword gets clicks but no sales?
Check relevance first. If the keyword is genuinely relevant, the listing may be the problem: main image, price, reviews or detail page content. If it is not relevant, add it as a negative.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. Amazon Ads features and match type behavior change; Campaign Manager and Amazon Ads documentation carry the current details. Source: Amazon Ads, what is ACOS.
