Running a successful Amazon store requires more than just great products and compelling listings. It also demands a strategic approach to advertising – especially when it comes to Amazon PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Yet, too many sellers make costly mistakes that hurt their visibility, drain their budgets, and limit their growth.
In this article, I’ll share the 10 most common Amazon PPC mistakes—and show you how an Amazon PPC Specialist or Amazon PPC Expert can help turn things around.
Table of Contents
Using Broad Match Too Often
One of the biggest mistakes new sellers make is relying heavily on broad match keywords. While broad match can capture a wide audience, it often leads to irrelevant clicks. An Amazon PPC Expert knows how to structure campaigns with the right mix of match types—broad, phrase, and exact—to optimize for relevance and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Failing To Optimize For Negative Keywords
Without a proper negative keyword strategy, your ads may show for irrelevant searches. This wastes budget and lowers campaign performance. An Amazon PPC Specialist can identify these wasteful terms and add them as negatives to prevent further losses.
Setting It & Forgetting It
Amazon PPC isn’t a one-time setup. It requires ongoing optimization, analysis, and adjustments. Many sellers make the mistake of launching campaigns and then leaving them untouched for weeks or months. A true Amazon PPC Expert monitors performance daily and makes data-driven changes to keep your campaigns sharp and competitive.
Overbidding On Irrelevant Keywords
Just because a keyword is trending doesn’t mean it’s right for your product. Overbidding on high-volume but unrelated terms can burn through your ad budget quickly. A knowledgeable Amazon PPC Specialist evaluates keyword relevance, not just volume, to ensure that every click is a qualified one.
Ignoring Campaign Structure
A poorly structured campaign is hard to manage and even harder to scale. Throwing dozens of unrelated keywords into a single ad group leads to confusing data and ineffective ads. An Amazon PPC Expert will organize your campaigns logically—by product type, keyword intent, or target audience—for cleaner reporting and better performance.
Not Tracking ACoS & TACoS
Many sellers focus only on ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales) and forget to look at TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales). TACoS gives a more accurate picture of how ads impact your overall revenue. An Amazon PPC Specialist pays attention to both metrics, ensuring that your ads contribute to business growth, not just short-term sales.
Overlooking Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords may have lower search volume, but they often convert better because they reflect high buyer intent. Sellers who ignore these terms miss out on cost-effective traffic. An Amazon PPC Expert can identify profitable long-tail keywords that your competitors may have missed.
Ignoring Product Targeting & Sponsored Display Ads
Amazon offers more than just keyword targeting—product targeting and sponsored display ads are powerful tools that many sellers neglect. A seasoned Amazon PPC Specialist can help diversify your ad strategy and capture customers at different points in the buying journey.
Poor Budget Allocation
Some sellers spread their ad budget too thin across too many campaigns, while others put all their money into one. Neither approach is ideal. An Amazon PPC Expert analyzes campaign performance to allocate budget where it matters most—maximizing returns while minimizing waste.
Trying To Do It All Alone
Perhaps the most costly mistake of all is trying to manage Amazon PPC without the proper expertise. Amazon’s advertising platform is constantly evolving. What worked last year—or even last month—may no longer be effective today. An experienced Amazon PPC Specialist keeps up with the latest changes, tools, and strategies so you don’t have to.
Let VAA Philippines Handle It
Virtual Assistant Academy Philippines (VAA Philippines) – is a company that provides highly trained virtual assistants specialized in supporting Amazon sellers – understands the challenges Amazon sellers face, because its team works with them daily. Unlike freelancers sourced from random job boards, VAA’s Amazon PPC Specialists and Amazon PPC Experts are carefully handpicked, thoroughly vetted, and trained in-house to master the complexities of Amazon advertising and marketplace operations.
Whether a seller is launching their first product or scaling a well-established brand, VAA provides a dedicated Amazon PPC Expert who treats the client’s business with the same care and commitment as their own. From campaign setup and optimization to strategy and reporting, VAA’s specialists integrate seamlessly into the client’s team, allowing them to focus on growing their business
As VAA Philippines founder and owner Gilad Freimann says: “I’ve seen firsthand how the right PPC strategy can transform an Amazon business. If you’re ready to stop wasting money and start seeing results, let’s talk”.
