How to set up AI bid management for Amazon ads

An AI profile manages the bids of the campaigns you give it. Every morning it reads each keyword's and product target's numbers against your target ACoS and recommends what to change: bids, pauses, and if you want them, keywords to harvest, searches to block and placement adjustments. You approve each change, or let it send bid changes itself within set limits.

This guide builds one profile from start to finish, with a screenshot of each step (the control to use is ringed and numbered). It takes about six minutes.

1. Step 1 · Open AI Automations

   In the side menu, under Automation, click AI Automations (Growth and Professional plans). It lists your AI profiles with their target ACoS, aggression, campaigns and status. Click Create AI Profile (1).

   

2. Step 2 · Name it and set the target ACoS

   Give the profile a name (1); a description is optional. Set the Target ACoS (2): the AI raises bids on keywords selling well under it, lowers them on keywords selling above it, and leaves alone those just under it.

   

3. Step 3 · Enter your product price

   Approx. Product Price (1) tells the AI what one sale may cost in ads: your price times your target ACoS ($7.50 on a $24.99 product at 30%). A keyword with 10 or more clicks and no sale is recommended for pausing once it has spent 1.5 times that, or the Max Spend Before Pause (2) you set; one that has spent 3 times that is recommended for pausing whatever its clicks. Left blank, the AI uses a fixed amount by aggression level instead: $10, $15 or $20.

   

4. Step 4 · Choose how boldly it moves

   Aggression Level sets how much evidence the AI waits for and how big its changes are. Conservative (1) acts earlier, at 75% of break-even spend, with smaller changes. Moderate (2), the default, acts at break-even. Aggressive (3) gives keywords more room, up to 125% of break-even, and makes larger changes.

   

5. Step 5 · Set the bid guardrails

   Bid Nudge for Idle Keywords (1) raises keywords with no clicks or spend yet, 5% at a time by default, to see whether they can win traffic. Max Bid Change Per Action (2) caps any one change (15% by default); a cut on a keyword spending with no sales can go deeper. The AI keeps bids between your Minimum Bid (3) and Maximum Bid (4). Tick Only nudge when Amazon's suggested bid supports it (5) to skip the nudge when your bid is already at or above Amazon's suggested bid.

   

6. Step 6 · Pick the lookback and the campaigns

   Data Lookback Period (1) is how many days of numbers each decision rests on: 14, 30 (the default), 60 or 90. Tick the campaigns this profile manages (2). A campaign already managed by another AI profile or rule set shows its name (3), and moves to this profile when you save: each campaign has one manager at a time.

   

7. Step 7 · Turn on keyword harvesting (optional)

   Switch on AI Keyword Harvesting (1) to have the AI move converting searches into the campaigns you choose: keywords into keyword campaigns, ASINs into product-targeting campaigns. It harvests terms at or under 1.5 times your target ACoS; one between your target and that ceiling goes in as exact match, so you can bid it down. A harvested keyword starts at its search's own cost per click, within your minimum and maximum bid. Add Negative to Source Campaign (2) blocks the search where it came from, so the two don't compete. Tick a match type for each destination (3, 4).

   

8. Step 8 · Choose what else it suggests

   Suggest negative keywords (1) is on by default: when a search keeps spending well past break-even with no orders and looks irrelevant, the AI suggests blocking it as a negative exact keyword. Suggest placement bid adjustments (2), for Sponsored Products, raises or lowers a placement's bid adjustment when its own ACoS runs below or above your target: at most 15 points a run, and never past 50%. Both always wait for your approval.

   

9. Step 9 · Decide whether it applies changes itself

   With Apply automatically off, every change waits on AI Recommendations for you. Turn it on and it asks first (1): bid changes from a 25% cut to a 15% raise then go straight to Amazon, while pauses, negatives, new keywords and targets, placement changes and bigger bid moves still wait for your approval.

   

10. Step 10 · Create the profile

    With Apply automatically on (1), the card repeats what goes straight to Amazon and what waits. Click Create Profile (2). The profile runs every morning around 7 AM Eastern (6 AM in winter), after the nightly data sync.

    

11. Step 11 · Run it now (optional)

    To see recommendations without waiting for the morning, open the profile with Edit and click Run Now (1), beside Save Profile. A profile can run at most once an hour. The result counts everything it recommended: bid changes, harvests, negatives and placement changes.

    

12. Step 12 · Manage it from the list

    On AI Automations, the Auto switch (1) turns auto-apply on or off for a profile (it asks before turning it on), Last Analyzed (2) is when the AI last ran it, and Pause or Activate (3) stops or restarts it. Edit, Duplicate and Delete sit beside them; a duplicate starts paused, with no campaigns.