Auto-campaign targeting — the four match buckets and how to bid them.
Auto campaigns are Sponsored Products' built-in keyword research engine. Close match, loose match, substitutes, complements — what each bucket actually does and the bid-per-bucket pattern that turns auto into a real harvesting tool.
Auto campaigns are Sponsored Products' built-in keyword-discovery engine. Amazon decides which queries to match against the ad using the product detail page as its only input. The campaign has four sub-targets, each with its own bid: close match, loose match, substitutes, complements. Most operators leave all four bids identical and treat auto as a single bucket. That is the mistake.
The four buckets
Close match. Queries Amazon judges very close to the ASIN's primary intent — typically the head terms you would have written down anyway. Highest conversion rate of the four.
Loose match. Queries loosely related to the ASIN — broader, lower conversion rate, but the source of most new-keyword discoveries.
Substitutes. Detail-page placements on ASINs Amazon judges substitutable for yours — competitor pages. Conversion rate varies wildly; usually the second-highest of the four when it works.
Complements. Detail-page placements on ASINs Amazon judges complementary — products that pair with yours. Typically the lowest conversion rate of the four; treat as discovery, not as revenue.
The per-bucket bidding pattern
Bid each bucket based on its expected CVR relative to your derived target CPC:
- Close match: full derived CPC.
- Loose match: 50–70% of derived CPC.
- Substitutes: 70–90% of derived CPC, with frequent review.
- Complements: 40–60% of derived CPC.
The point is not the specific percentages; the point is that loose match and complements should be bid down relative to close match, because their CVR is structurally lower.
The harvesting loop
Auto campaigns are most valuable as a discovery layer feeding manual exact-match campaigns. The pattern: any search term in the auto search-term report that meets your conversion threshold (typically: ≥2 orders, ACOS at or below your target) graduates to a manual exact campaign with a calculated bid, and is added as a negative exact in the auto campaign so the same query does not get auctioned twice.
Auto campaigns need a small budget on purpose
Auto is a discovery tool, not a revenue tool. Budgets for harvesting autos should be deliberately small — typically 10–25% of the matching manual campaign's budget. Once a converting query has been harvested into exact, the manual is where the revenue should sit, not auto.
Watch Episode 15: Auto-campaign targeting (German)
The German walkthrough — the four auto-targeting buckets and per-bucket bidding.
Turn auto campaigns into harvesting machines.
AMALYZE graduates winning search terms out of auto into your manual exact campaigns automatically — so the harvesting loop closes without you babysitting it.