Overview

In early 2024 Helium 10 released a new episode of its PPC Talk series that zeroes in on three tactics Amazon advertisers can use to tighten targeting, cut wasted spend, and tap the growing power of video ads. The discussion walks sellers through mining past campaign data, timing the addition of negative keywords, and shifting budgets between Amazon DSP and Sponsored Brand video placements—strategies that can directly lift return on ad spend (ROAS) and brand visibility.

Key Points

• Historical Data Review — Analyzing the last month of campaign metrics uncovers the keywords and audiences that deliver the highest return, allowing sellers to reallocate budget toward proven performers.
• Strategic Negative Matching — Adding negative keywords only after a campaign has spent enough to reveal low‑conversion traffic prevents premature throttling of the learning algorithm while still eliminating wasteful clicks.
• DSP Budget Flexibility — Re‑assigning a portion of DSP spend to top‑selling SKUs during high‑traffic windows, such as holiday weekends, can nudge overall ROAS upward by a modest single‑digit percentage.
• Sponsored Brand Video Expansion — Video creatives now appear on both desktop and mobile search result pages, delivering higher click‑through rates (CTR) than static ads and giving brands a richer storytelling canvas.
• Incremental Scaling Tactics — Combining modest daily budget lifts, time‑of‑day bid adjustments, and layered audience segments creates a balanced growth path that limits risk while scaling successful ads.

How Negative Matching Works

1. Initial Learning Phase — Deploy the campaign with a broad match type and let it run for 48–72 hours. For instance, a new “organic tea” Sponsored Products campaign might spend roughly $150 while Amazon’s algorithm gathers search‑term data.
2. Performance Review — Scan the search‑term report for clicks that generate little or no sales. In the tea example, the term “tea kettle” could appear frequently but only convert at 0.2 %, indicating poor relevance.
3. — Add the under‑performing term as a negative keyword or exclude the associated ASIN category. This stops the ad from showing for “tea kettle,” freeing budget for higher‑value queries such as “organic green tea.”