# PPC Bid Rules

{% hint style="info" %}
**Difficulty:** 🔴 Advanced · **Reading time:** \~15 min
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" icon="rocket" %}
**Open this page in your dashboard:** [**Go to PPC Bid Rules \[BETA\] →**](https://dashboard.sellermagnet.com/ppc/bid-rules)
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" icon="triangle-exclamation" %}
**BETA:** The PPC Manager is currently in beta. Some features may behave unexpectedly or change based on user feedback. Please report any issues at <info@sellermagnet.com>.
{% endhint %}

## 📋 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](#5-essential-bid-rules-every-seller-should-have) section below. These pre-built rules cover the most common scenarios and can be activated in under two minutes.

***

## Summary KPIs

| Card                 | Description                                  |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| **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.

| Feature                        | Smart Bid Optimization          | Manual Bid Rules                        |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| **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.

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

#### Step 1: Choose a Strategy

| Strategy                  | Icon   | Description                                        |
| ------------------------- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **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:**
>
> 1. Set strategy to **Aggressive / Growth** in April-May to build ranking and capture early impressions.
> 2. Switch to **Balanced** in June-July when demand peaks and competition is high.
> 3. Move to **Conservative / Profit** in August-September as demand tapers off and you want to protect margins on remaining inventory.
>    {% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### Step 2: Configure Parameters

| Parameter           | Description                          | Default  |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------ | -------- |
| **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  |

{% hint style="warning" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="danger" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

**Lookback Period Guidance**

| Lookback Period | Best For                                                  |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| **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                 |
| {% endstep %}   |                                                           |

{% step %}

#### Step 3: Calculate & Review

Click **Calculate Suggestions** to generate optimized bids. Results appear in a table:

| Column            | Description                                             |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| 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.
> {% endstep %}
> {% endstepper %}

### Results KPI Strip

After calculation, a results summary appears:

| Metric                | Description                           |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| **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

| Metric             | Before Optimization | After Optimization | Change   |
| ------------------ | ------------------- | ------------------ | -------- |
| **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

![SellerMagnet PPC Bid Rules](/files/AA8FNrIEyMb5Q9naoprN)

### 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

{% hint style="info" icon="lightbulb" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

**Section 2: Conditions** Build one or more conditions (ALL must match):

| Metric      | Operators       | Example            |
| ----------- | --------------- | ------------------ |
| 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.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

**Section 3: Action**

* **Value:** e.g., `15` for a 15% change
* **Unit:** Percentage (%) or Absolute (currency)
* **Schedule:** Daily, Weekly, or Monthly

**Section 4: Scope**

* **Apply to:** All Campaigns, or select specific campaigns

{% hint style="danger" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

***

### 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

| Setting        | Value                      |
| -------------- | -------------------------- |
| **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

| Setting        | Value                                    |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| **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

| Setting        | Value                         |
| -------------- | ----------------------------- |
| **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

| Setting        | Value                              |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **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

| Setting        | Value                                     |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| **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.

{% hint style="success" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

***

## Managing Rules

![PPC Approval Center: review AI suggestions before applying](/files/ghZ5dsuNnNuCA5IOZrI5)

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:

| Column      | Description                         |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------- |
| **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.

| Metric              | Day 1 (Before Rules) | Day 30 (After Rules) | Improvement |
| ------------------- | -------------------- | -------------------- | ----------- |
| **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.

***

<details>

<summary><strong>⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid</strong></summary>

{% hint style="danger" %}

* **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 > 20` or `Spend > EUR 10` as 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.
  {% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
**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.
{% endhint %}

</details>

\## 🔧 Troubleshooting

### Rule is not executing

| Check                             | Solution                                                         |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 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

| Check                                 | Solution                                                                    |
| ------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 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

| Check                             | Solution                                                      |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 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

<details>

<summary><strong>Can I use Smart Optimization and Manual Rules at the same time?</strong></summary>

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.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>How often should I run Smart Optimization?</strong></summary>

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.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>What happens if a rule tries to set a bid below EUR 0.02?</strong></summary>

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.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>Can I undo a bid change made by a rule?</strong></summary>

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.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>Do rules run on paused keywords?</strong></summary>

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.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>How is the lookback period applied?</strong></summary>

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.

</details>

***

## ➡️ What's Next?

{% content-ref url="/pages/kw3mb3OSwMEFnPlRPVag" %}
[PPC AI Optimizer](/ppc-management-beta/ppc-manager-overview/ppc-ai-optimizer.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/xUaJFWbcCTCya95L64xQ" %}
[PPC Approval Center](/ppc-management-beta/ppc-manager-overview/ppc-approval-center.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


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