How to Audit an Underperforming PPC Campaign (Checklist)

Every Amazon seller hits a point where a once-profitable PPC campaign starts bleeding money. ACOS creeps up, click-through rates drop, and you're spending more for fewer results.

Instead of making random adjustments, run this 7-step PPC campaign audit. It's the same checklist Fortune 500 agencies use — and you can complete it in 30 minutes.

Step 1: Check Your Campaign Structure

Bad structure is the root cause of 60% of underperforming campaigns. Check these three things:

Are your match types separated? Exact, phrase, and broad keywords should never be in the same ad group. Broad keywords eat budget from exact-match winners.

Are there too many keywords per ad group? Maximum 15-20 keywords per ad group. Best practice: 5-10 exact-match keywords per ad group.

Is your budget properly allocated? If one campaign spends 50% of your budget at 60% ACOS while another spends 10% at 20% ACOS, shift budget. Simple reallocation can cut overall ACOS by 15-30%.

Step 2: Analyze the Search Term Report

Download the last 30-60 days of search term data. Sort by spend descending. Look for:

• Any term spending $50+ with zero conversions? Pause these immediately or add as exact negative.
• Any term with ACOS above 200%? Reduce bid by 50% or pause.
• Any existing keyword not appearing in search terms? If your keywords have zero search volume, pause them.

Step 3: Audit Negative Keywords

Most sellers don't maintain their negative keyword list. This is the easiest optimization in PPC.

Add these immediately:

• Your own brand name (if you already rank #1 organically)
• Competitor brand names (unless you specifically target them)
• Terms like "free", "cheap", "used", "how to", "repair"
• Irrelevant modifiers that don't apply to your product

Check your search term report weekly for terms to add as negatives.

Step 4: Check Placement Performance

Compare ACOS across placements:

• Top of Search: Usually 30-50% higher CPC but 2-3x higher conversion rate
• Product Pages: Lower CPC, lower conversion, useful for remarketing
• Rest of Search: Baseline performance

If top-of-search ACOS is 80% while product pages are 15%, you're overpaying for top placement.

Step 5: Review Impressions and Impression Share

Low impressions mean either:

• Your bids are too low (impression share under 30%)
• Your keywords have low search volume
• Your advertising budget runs out too early

If impression share is under 50% on a profitable keyword, increase bid by 10-15%.

Step 6: Check Campaign Budget Utilization

Does your campaign cap out daily? Check which hours it's spending. If your entire budget goes in the first 8 hours, you might be paying premium CPCs for morning shoppers while missing the evening window.

Consider dayparting: start with default 24-hour delivery but monitor spend velocity.

Step 7: Verify Conversion Tracking

Finally, the most overlooked issue: make sure Amazon is correctly attributing sales to your PPC campaigns.

If your organic conversion rate is 10% but your PPC conversion rate is 1%, something is wrong — either your ad creative is misleading, your landing page doesn't match your ad, or your attribution window is incorrect.

Cross-check the last 7 days: compare ad-attributed sales vs total sales for your top keywords.