1. 🔍 Overview
A Sponsored Products health check is a structured review of your Amazon PPC campaigns to identify wasted spend, missed opportunities, and optimization gaps. It helps sellers understand whether their ads are working efficiently and aligns ad spend with business goals. In this guide, you’ll learn how to audit Sponsored Products campaigns step by step, from basic setup checks to advanced performance tuning.
2. 👥 Who This Is For
🆕 Beginner sellers
Running Sponsored Products for the first time
Unsure why ads are spending without consistent sales
Need a repeatable way to review campaigns
🚀 Advanced sellers
Managing multiple ASINs or large catalogs
Looking to reduce wasted spend and improve ROAS
Preparing campaigns for scale or peak seasons
3. 📘 Key Concepts You Need to Know
📦 Sponsored Products
Keyword- or product-targeted ads that promote individual listings in search results and product detail pages.📉 ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
Ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales. Used to evaluate efficiency.📊 TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales)
Ad spend divided by total sales. Helps measure overall ad impact beyond attributed sales.🔎 Search Term
The actual customer query that triggered your ad, visible in the Search Term Report.🎯 Match Types
Broad: Wide reach, exploratory
Phrase: Moderate control
Exact: High precision
4. 🛠️ Step-by-Step Sponsored Products Health Check
Step 1: 🧱 Confirm Campaign Structure
Separate campaigns by:
Match type (Broad / Phrase / Exact)
Auto vs Manual targeting
Ensure each campaign has a clear purpose (discovery vs performance)
⚠️ Common pitfall:
Mixing multiple match types in one campaign, making performance data harder to interpret.
💡 Pro tip:
Simple structure beats complex setups—clarity improves optimization speed.
Step 2: 💰 Review Budget and Bid Coverage
Check if campaigns are:
Running out of budget early
Barely spending at all
Compare Daily Budget to average daily spend
🔍 What to look for:
High-performing campaigns limited by budget
Low spend caused by bids that are too low
💡 Pro tip:
Budget should support winners, not prop up underperformers.
Step 3: 📈 Analyze Core Performance Metrics
Review at the campaign and ad group level:
👁️ Impressions → Visibility
🖱️ CTR (Click-Through Rate) → Relevance
🔄 Conversion Rate → Listing effectiveness
💸 ACoS → Efficiency
🧠 Guideline checks:
High impressions + low CTR = relevance issue
Good CTR + poor conversion = listing or pricing issue
Strong conversion + high ACoS = bid too aggressive
Step 4: 🧹 Mine Search Term Data
Open the Search Term Report and review:
Search terms with:
Spend but no sales
Strong sales at acceptable ACoS
Timeframe: minimum 14–30 days
✅ Actions to take:
Add converting terms as Exact keywords
Add wasteful terms as Negative keywords
💡 Pro tip:
Search terms—not keywords—are where real optimization happens.
Step 5: 🧭 Validate Keyword Intent
Check whether keywords align with buyer intent:
Generic terms → discovery, higher ACoS
Long-tail terms → higher intent, better efficiency
⚠️ Common pitfall:
Judging all keywords by the same ACoS target regardless of intent.
Step 6: 📍 Review Placement Performance (Advanced)
Analyze Top of Search vs other placements:
Identify placements driving:
Strong conversion
Disproportionate spend
Adjust Placement Bid Multipliers carefully
💡 Pro tip:
Placement optimization only works when keywords are already profitable.
5. 🧪 Real-World Example
Seller profile:
Mid-size private label seller, 12 ASINs, $40k/month revenue
Problem:
Sponsored Products spend increasing, ACoS above target
Action taken:
Ran a full health check
Moved converting search terms into Exact campaigns
Added negatives for high-spend, no-sale terms
Reduced bids on broad keywords with weak CTR
Result:
📉 ACoS reduced by 18%
📆 More stable daily spend
🧩 Clear separation between discovery and performance campaigns
6. 🚫 Common Mistakes to Avoid
⏱️ Optimizing too frequently
Why: impatience
Instead: allow enough data before changes
🙈 Ignoring search term reports
Why: relying only on keyword metrics
Instead: review search terms weekly
🎯 Chasing low ACoS at all costs
Why: fear of ad spend
Instead: balance ACoS with growth goals and TACoS
7. ✅ Expected Results
After applying this health check consistently, sellers should see:
💸 Reduced wasted ad spend
🔍 Clearer insight into what drives sales
📊 More predictable performance
📦 Campaigns that scale more reliably during promotions
8. ❓ FAQs
How often should I run a Sponsored Products health check?
Every 2–4 weeks for active accounts, more often during peak seasons.
What timeframe should I analyze?
At least 14 days; 30 days is ideal.
Is ACoS the only metric that matters?
No. Use ACoS, TACoS, and conversion rate together.
Should beginners use Auto campaigns?
Yes, but only as a discovery tool—not a long-term structure.
Use the attached PPC Health Check checklist to follow along and validate each step as you review your campaigns.