Adding keywords to campaigns — the three sources, the one workflow.

Keywords come from three sources in a working account: the research file you built before campaign launch (Module 2 keyword work), the search-term reports from your auto and broad campaigns, and Amazon's own suggested-keyword list inside the console. All three feed the same set of manual campaigns. Without a workflow they cause duplicates and double-bidding within hours.

Source 1 — the research file

This is the spreadsheet from your keyword research: bucketed by funnel stage, scored on volume × relevance, and stripped of obvious branded misfits. The research file seeds the initial manual exact and phrase campaigns at launch and gets revisited monthly.

Source 2 — auto and broad harvests

Search terms from auto and broad campaigns that have met your harvest threshold (typically ≥2 orders within an ACOS that beats your target). Harvested winners are added to manual exact campaigns with a bid derived from their realised CVR and CPC, and added as negative exacts in the source campaign.

Source 3 — Amazon's suggested keywords

The console shows suggested keywords when you add keywords to an ad group. These are derived from your ASIN's category, related ASINs, and competitor data. Useful as a sanity check for what Amazon thinks your product is about; not a substitute for the research file. Filter ruthlessly — most suggestions are too broad to belong in an exact-match ad group.

The one workflow

For every keyword being added to any campaign:

1. Check it is not already present (in any match type) in the destination campaign.
2. Check it is not already present in any sibling campaign on the same ASIN — duplicates across campaigns are how you bid against yourself.
3. Set a bid derived from CVR × target ACOS, not the suggested-bid box.
4. If sourced from a harvest, add the matching negative to the source campaign in the same change.
5. Record the source (research / harvest / Amazon-suggested) somewhere — a spreadsheet column or a tag — so you can audit win-rate by source later.

Why de-duplication matters more than people think

If the same keyword exists in two of your campaigns on the same ASIN, Amazon picks one of them per auction — and you have two bids competing internally for the same impression. The realised CPC for that keyword goes up, sometimes by a lot, because you are bidding against your own ceiling. The fix is not to "let Amazon decide"; the fix is to put each keyword in exactly one campaign per ASIN.