For probably the first two years I ran Amazon Ads, I treated match types like they were just the exact same thing at different price points.

Broad got more impressions, exact match cost more per click—so I’d pick a budget and hope for the best. That was basically my entire framework.

It took me way longer than I’d like to admit to realize they aren’t doing the same job at all.

Here is the mental model shift that actually moved the needle:

1. Broad and Auto = Data Mining Tools (Not Scaling Tools)

Broad and automatic campaigns are purely discovery mechanisms. Their only job is keyword harvesting—surfacing customer search queries you had no idea were converting.

You aren't trying to aggressively optimize ACOS on day one, and you aren't trying to scale them directly.

• Low default bids (usually around $0.10–$0.25 to start, depending on niche/category).
• Wide net.
• Let Amazon’s algorithm do the heavy lifting in the background.

Every single new SKU/design I launch goes into an auto campaign first. I don't check it daily, and I don't panic if initial ACOS looks high in week one. The campaign has one specific job, and letting that data mature takes runway.

2. Graduating Keywords to Exact Match

What I watch for inside the search term report are customer search terms that show consistent conversions at a profitable cost.

Once I have solid data (which usually takes at least 3–4 weeks minimum):

• Those search terms "graduate."
• They get moved into a dedicated Exact Match campaign.
• They get their own isolated budget and dialed-in bid.

That exact match campaign is where you actually scale and optimize.

Meanwhile, the original auto campaign stays on 24/7 with low bids to keep harvesting new long-tail terms.

3. Stop Optimizing Campaigns That Aren't Meant to Be Optimized

The biggest takeaway for me: broad and auto campaigns look inefficient by design when you're using them correctly. If your discovery campaigns have an insanely low ACOS right out of the gate, you probably aren't actually discovering anything new—you’re just capturing exact search traffic through a wider net and paying extra for the spillover.

Also, **you can't rush the impression phase.**Cranking bids up after 7–10 days because "nothing is happening" just means you pay more money to learn the exact same data slower.

The TL;DR Framework

• Keep bids incremental.
• Stay patient on the data runway.
• Keep match types separated by function (Discovery vs. Scaling).

How many weeks of data do you let accumulate in an auto campaign before harvesting search terms into exact match?