PPC Bid Rules
Create automated rules that adjust keyword bids based on performance conditions, or use Smart Bid Optimization for AI-calculated suggestions.
Difficulty: 🔴 Advanced · Reading time: ~15 min
Open this page in your dashboard: Go to PPC Bid Rules [BETA] →
BETA: The PPC Manager is currently in beta. Some features may behave unexpectedly or change based on user feedback. Please report any issues at [email protected].
📋 Overview
Bid Rules let you automate keyword bid adjustments based on performance conditions you define. Set rules like "If ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) > 35% and Clicks > 50, decrease bid by 15%" : and let SellerMagnet execute them on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. For a faster approach, use the built-in Smart Bid Optimization engine to get AI-calculated bid suggestions in one click.
New to bid automation? If you have never used automated bid rules before, start with the Starter Rule Templates section below. These pre-built rules cover the most common scenarios and can be activated in under two minutes.
Summary KPIs
Active Rules
Number of currently enabled automation rules
Total Executions
Cumulative number of rule executions to date
Avg Bid Change
Average bid adjustment per execution
Last Execution
Timestamp of the most recent rule run
Reading the KPIs: If your Avg Bid Change is consistently negative over several weeks, your rules may be too aggressive at cutting bids. Consider loosening your ACoS thresholds or adding a minimum bid floor to protect visibility.
Smart Bid Optimization vs Manual Rules
Before diving into the details of each approach, here is a comparison to help you decide which method fits your workflow.
Setup time
Under 1 minute
5-10 minutes per rule
Scheduling
On-demand (you click Calculate)
Automated (daily, weekly, monthly)
Customization
Strategy + 4 parameters
Fully customizable conditions & actions
Best for
Quick one-time analysis
Ongoing, hands-off automation
Learning curve
Beginner-friendly
Intermediate
Granularity
All keywords at once
Filter by campaign, metric thresholds
Review before applying
Yes (always preview first)
Optional (runs on schedule)
AI-powered recommendations
Yes
No (rule-based logic)
Best of both worlds: Many sellers use Smart Optimization for monthly portfolio-wide reviews and Manual Rules for day-to-day guardrails (e.g., pausing zero-conversion keywords automatically).
Smart Bid Optimization
The Smart Bid Optimization engine calculates optimal bid adjustments for all your keywords in one step.
Step 1: Choose a Strategy
Balanced
Scale
Equal weight on growth and profitability (default)
Aggressive / Growth
Rocket
Prioritize impressions and sales volume
Conservative / Profit
Shield
Focus on lowering ACoS and protecting margins
Profit Maximizer
Chart
Maximize net profit per keyword
Choosing the right strategy: If you are in a product launch phase and need visibility, start with Aggressive / Growth. Once you have steady sales and enough conversion data (at least 30 days), switch to Balanced or Conservative / Profit to dial in profitability.
Use Case: Selecting a Strategy for a Seasonal Product
Scenario: You sell outdoor furniture and summer is approaching. You want to capture early-season traffic before competitors ramp up.
Recommended approach:
Set strategy to Aggressive / Growth in April-May to build ranking and capture early impressions.
Switch to Balanced in June-July when demand peaks and competition is high.
Move to Conservative / Profit in August-September as demand tapers off and you want to protect margins on remaining inventory.
Step 2: Configure Parameters
Target ACoS (%)
Your target advertising cost of sale
25%
Min Bid
Minimum allowed bid
EUR 0.02
Max Bid
Maximum allowed bid
EUR 5.00
Lookback Period
Days of data to analyze
14 days
Setting your Target ACoS: Your target ACoS should reflect your actual profit margin. If your product has a 30% profit margin before ad spend, setting a 25% target ACoS leaves you with 5% net profit per sale. If you are unsure of your margins, use the SellerMagnet Profit Calculator before configuring this value.
Min Bid too low? Setting the minimum bid below EUR 0.10 on competitive keywords can effectively kill their visibility. Amazon's auction rarely surfaces ads at very low bids in competitive categories. Only use very low minimums for long-tail or branded keywords.
Lookback Period Guidance
7 days
Fast-moving products, flash sales, time-sensitive promos
14 days
Standard products with steady daily traffic (recommended)
30 days
Low-traffic products that need more data for accuracy
60 days
Niche products with very few daily clicks
Step 3: Calculate & Review
Click Calculate Suggestions to generate optimized bids. Results appear in a table:
Checkbox
Select for bulk application
Keyword
Keyword text
Match Type
Broad, Phrase, or Exact
Current Bid
Your current bid amount
Suggested Bid
AI-calculated optimal bid
Change
Percentage or absolute change
Confidence
Visual bar (0-100%) indicating data reliability
Reason
Human-readable explanation (e.g., "High CTR, low ACoS")
Understanding Confidence Scores: A confidence score below 50% means the keyword has limited data. Consider extending your lookback period or waiting for more traffic before applying changes to low-confidence keywords.
Bulk actions:
Select Increases Only: Select only bid increase suggestions
Select Decreases Only: Select only bid decrease suggestions
Apply Selected: Execute all selected bid changes
Quick win: After your first calculation, use Select Decreases Only to quickly apply all bid reductions on wasteful keywords. This is the lowest-risk action and often saves 10-20% of wasted spend immediately.
Results KPI Strip
After calculation, a results summary appears:
Total Suggestions
Number of keywords with bid changes
Increases
Count of suggested bid increases
Decreases
Count of suggested bid decreases
Avg Change
Average change across all suggestions
Est. Spend Impact
Estimated daily spend difference
Before/After Example: Smart Optimization on a Real Campaign
Daily Spend
EUR 85.40
EUR 72.10
-15.6%
Daily Sales
EUR 310.00
EUR 298.00
-3.9%
ACoS
27.5%
24.2%
-3.3 pts
Total Keywords
142
142
:
Avg CPC
EUR 0.68
EUR 0.54
-20.6%
In this example, a seller running the Balanced strategy with a 25% target ACoS reduced daily spend by EUR 13.30 while only losing EUR 12 in sales, a net improvement of EUR 1.30/day in profit. Over 30 days, that adds up to EUR 39.
Manual Bid Rules
Creating a Rule
Click Create Rule to open the rule builder modal:
Section 1: Basics
Rule Name: Give your rule a descriptive name
Rule Type: Increase Bid, Decrease Bid, Pause Keyword, Enable Keyword, or Set Bid to Value
Naming convention tip: Use a consistent naming format like [Action]-[Condition]-[Scope]. For example: Decrease-HighACoS-AllCampaigns or Pause-ZeroSales-BrandCampaign. This makes rules easy to identify summary view when you have many active.
Section 2: Conditions Build one or more conditions (ALL must match):
ACoS
>, >=, <, <=, =
ACoS > 35%
Clicks
>, >=, <, <=, =
Clicks > 50
Orders
>, >=, <, <=, =
Orders = 0
Spend
>, >=, <, <=, =
Spend > EUR 20
Sales
>, >=, <, <=, =
Sales < EUR 10
CTR
>, >=, <, <=, =
CTR < 0.5%
CVR
>, >=, <, <=, =
CVR > 10%
Impressions
>, >=, <, <=, =
Impressions > 1000
Click Add Condition to add multiple conditions.
Important: All conditions use AND logic. This means every condition must be true for the rule to trigger. If you need OR logic (e.g., ACoS > 40% OR Spend > EUR 50 with 0 orders), create two separate rules.
Section 3: Action
Value: e.g.,
15for a 15% changeUnit: Percentage (%) or Absolute (currency)
Schedule: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly
Section 4: Scope
Apply to: All Campaigns, or select specific campaigns
Scope warning: When applying rules to "All Campaigns," the rule will also run on any new campaigns you create in the future. If you want a rule to only apply to specific campaigns, always select them explicitly.
Use Case Scenarios
Scenario 1: Automatically Lower Bids on High-ACoS Keywords
Goal: You want to reduce bids on keywords that are eating into your margins.
Rule configuration:
Name: Decrease-HighACoS-AllCampaigns
Type: Decrease Bid
Conditions: ACoS > 40% AND Clicks > 20
Action: Decrease by 10%
Schedule: Daily
Scope: All Campaigns
Why Clicks > 20? This prevents the rule from reacting to keywords with too little data. A keyword with 3 clicks and 0 orders might show 100% ACoS temporarily, the click threshold ensures you only act on statistically meaningful data.
Scenario 2: Boost Bids on High-Converting Keywords
Goal: You want to scale up keywords that convert well but might not be getting enough visibility.
Rule configuration:
Name: Increase-HighCVR-LowACoS
Type: Increase Bid
Conditions: CVR > 12% AND ACoS < 15% AND Impressions > 500
Action: Increase by 15%
Schedule: Weekly
Scope: All Campaigns
Expected result: Keywords that are profitable and converting well get a weekly bid bump, gradually winning more impressions and sales.
Scenario 3: Pause Keywords with Zero Conversions After Significant Spend
Goal: Stop bleeding money on keywords that get clicks but never convert.
Rule configuration:
Name: Pause-NoSales-HighSpend
Type: Pause Keyword
Conditions: Orders = 0 AND Spend > EUR 15
Action: Pause
Schedule: Daily
Scope: All Campaigns
Recovery plan: Review paused keywords monthly. Some may have failed due to listing issues (out of stock, poor images) rather than being bad keywords. Re-enable them after fixing the root cause.
Scenario 4: Protect Brand Campaign Efficiency
Goal: Keep your branded keywords highly profitable while maintaining top-of-search position.
Rule configuration:
Name: Decrease-BrandACoS-BrandCampaign
Type: Decrease Bid
Conditions: ACoS > 10% AND Clicks > 30
Action: Decrease by 5%
Schedule: Weekly
Scope: Brand Campaign only
Why only 5%? Branded keywords typically have low competition. Small adjustments are enough to optimize without losing your top position.
5 Essential Bid Rules Every Seller Should Have
These starter templates cover the most common optimization scenarios. Activate them as a set for a solid baseline automation strategy.
Template 1: The ACoS Cutter
Name
ACoS-Cutter
Type
Decrease Bid
Conditions
ACoS > 35% AND Clicks > 25
Action
Decrease by 10%
Schedule
Daily
Scope
All Campaigns
Purpose: Automatically rein in keywords that are spending above your profitability target.
Template 2: The Growth Accelerator
Name
Growth-Accelerator
Type
Increase Bid
Conditions
CVR > 10% AND ACoS < 20% AND Clicks > 15
Action
Increase by 12%
Schedule
Weekly
Scope
All Campaigns
Purpose: Give more budget to keywords that are converting efficiently. These are your best performers, help them win more auctions.
Template 3: The Money Drain Stopper
Name
Money-Drain-Stopper
Type
Pause Keyword
Conditions
Orders = 0 AND Spend > EUR 20
Action
Pause
Schedule
Daily
Scope
All Campaigns
Purpose: Automatically pause keywords that have spent a meaningful amount without a single conversion.
Template 4: The Low-CTR Reducer
Name
Low-CTR-Reducer
Type
Decrease Bid
Conditions
CTR < 0.15% AND Impressions > 2000
Action
Decrease by 20%
Schedule
Weekly
Scope
All Campaigns
Purpose: Keywords with very low CTR despite many impressions indicate poor relevance. Lowering bids saves budget for better-performing keywords.
Template 5: The Bid Floor Guardian
Name
Bid-Floor-Guardian
Type
Set Bid to Value
Conditions
ACoS < 10% AND Orders > 5 AND Clicks > 30
Action
Set bid to EUR 1.00
Schedule
Weekly
Scope
All Campaigns
Purpose: Ensure your best keywords never fall below a competitive bid floor, even if other rules have decreased them over time.
Getting started: Activate Templates 1, 2, and 3 first. These three rules alone cover the most impactful scenarios: cutting waste, scaling winners, and pausing losers. Add Templates 4 and 5 after your first week when you are comfortable with the system.
Managing Rules
Each active rule displays as a card showing:
Rule name and status badge (Active / Paused)
Rule type (Increase, Decrease, Pause, etc.)
Conditions in human-readable format
Scope (All campaigns or specific ones)
Schedule and last run time
Actions: Toggle on/off, Edit, Delete, View Log
Pausing vs Deleting: If you are unsure whether a rule is helping, pause it for a week instead of deleting it. Compare your campaign performance before and after. You can always reactivate it or adjust its conditions.
Execution Log
Track every bid change made by your rules:
Date
When the rule executed
Rule
Which rule triggered the change
Keyword
The affected keyword
Old Bid
Previous bid amount
New Bid
Updated bid amount
Reason
Explanation of why the rule matched
An Optimization History Chart shows the cumulative impact of bid rule executions over time.
Monitoring best practice: Check the Execution Log at least once a week. Look for patterns like the same keyword being decreased repeatedly (it might be better to pause it) or bids hitting your minimum floor (your floor might be too high).
Before/After: Impact of Bid Rules Over 30 Days
Here is a real-world example of what a well-configured rule set can achieve over one month.
Active Keywords
312
287 (25 paused)
:
Monthly Spend
EUR 2,560
EUR 2,180
-14.8%
Monthly Sales
EUR 9,200
EUR 9,050
-1.6%
ACoS
27.8%
24.1%
-3.7 pts
TACoS
8.2%
7.0%
-1.2 pts
Wasted Spend
EUR 410
EUR 95
-76.8%
The seller used the 5 starter templates above. The biggest impact came from Template 3 (Money Drain Stopper), which paused 25 keywords that had collectively wasted EUR 315 in the first 30 days without a single sale.
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake 1: No minimum click threshold. Creating a rule like "ACoS > 40%, decrease bid" without a click threshold means the rule fires on keywords with 2 clicks and 0 orders (which technically shows infinite ACoS). Always add a clicks or spend condition to ensure statistical relevance. Fix: Add
Clicks > 20orSpend > EUR 10as an additional condition.Mistake 2: Setting percentage changes too high. A daily rule that decreases bids by 30% will reduce a EUR 1.00 bid to EUR 0.08 in just one week (1.00 × 0.70^7). Your keywords will lose all visibility before you notice. Fix: Keep percentage changes between 5-15% and use daily schedules only for moderate adjustments.
Mistake 3: Conflicting rules. Rule A increases bids when CVR > 8%, while Rule B decreases bids when ACoS > 30%. A keyword with CVR of 12% and ACoS of 32% matches both rules, creating a tug-of-war. Fix: Add non-overlapping conditions. For example, add "ACoS < 30%" to Rule A and "CVR < 8%" to Rule B.
Mistake 4: Not setting a Max Bid. Without a maximum bid cap, aggressive increase rules can push bids to unsustainable levels. A 15% weekly increase on a EUR 1.00 bid reaches EUR 2.01 in just 5 weeks. Fix: Always configure Smart Optimization with a Max Bid, and review the Execution Log for keywords approaching your ceiling.
Mistake 5: Running rules on new campaigns too early. New campaigns need 7-14 days of data before bid rules can make meaningful decisions. Applying rules on Day 1 leads to premature pauses and bid cuts. Fix: Exclude new campaigns from your rule scope for the first two weeks, or add an Impressions > 1000 condition.
## 🔧 Troubleshooting
Rule is not executing
Is the rule toggled to Active?
Open the rule card and confirm the status badge shows "Active"
Does the schedule match?
A weekly rule only runs once per week. Check the "Last Run" date
Are conditions too restrictive?
Temporarily loosen one condition to test if the rule fires
Is the campaign paused in Amazon?
Rules cannot modify bids on paused campaigns
Rule is executing but bids are not changing in Amazon
Is your Amazon API connection active?
Go to Settings and verify your Amazon Advertising API credentials are valid
Has the bid hit Min or Max?
If the calculated new bid exceeds your floor/ceiling, no change is made
Is there a sync delay?
Amazon can take up to 1 hour to reflect bid changes in the console
Smart Optimization shows 0 suggestions
Enough data in lookback period?
Extend the lookback to 30 or 60 days
Are all keywords already optimal?
If bids are already near the AI target, no changes are needed
Campaigns have active keywords?
Paused keywords are excluded from optimization
❓ FAQ
Can I use Smart Optimization and Manual Rules at the same time?
Yes. Smart Optimization is an on-demand tool that you run manually. Manual Rules run on their own schedule. They operate independently, but be aware that a Manual Rule could modify a bid that Smart Optimization just set. To avoid conflicts, run Smart Optimization first, then review your Manual Rules to ensure they do not override the changes.
How often should I run Smart Optimization?
For most sellers, every 2-4 weeks is ideal. Running it too frequently (e.g., daily) does not allow enough time for bid changes to generate meaningful new performance data.
What happens if a rule tries to set a bid below EUR 0.02?
The system enforces a minimum bid of EUR 0.02 (Amazon's minimum). If a decrease rule would push a bid below this floor, the bid is set to EUR 0.02 instead.
Can I undo a bid change made by a rule?
There is no one-click undo, but you can see the old bid value in the Execution Log and manually set it back. For important campaigns, consider using Manual Review mode in the Approval Center so you can approve/reject changes before they go live.
Do rules run on paused keywords?
No. Only active (enabled) keywords are evaluated by bid rules. If a rule pauses a keyword, that keyword will not be evaluated by any other rules until it is re-enabled.
How is the lookback period applied?
The lookback period defines the time window for performance data. If set to 14 days, the system evaluates clicks, orders, spend, ACoS, etc. from the last 14 calendar days only. Older data is ignored.
➡️ What's Next?
PPC AI OptimizerPPC Approval CenterLast updated