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Ad Manager & Bid Optimization

Michael Erickson Facchin
By Michael Erickson Facchin
• 19 articles

Bid Engine: Your Bidding Strategy Overview

The Bid Engine is a unified dashboard that brings your entire bidding strategy into one clear view. By grouping Bids by Badger, Dayparting, and Manual management side-by-side, you can finally see the "big picture" of your account's automation health. This view allows you to instantly audit your coverage—showing you exactly how many campaigns, keywords, and targets are being optimized versus how many are still being handled manually. It’s the fastest way to spot opportunities to scale your automation and ensure no campaign is left unoptimized. Accessing the Bid Engine 1. Navigate to the Automations tab in the left-hand sidebar. 2. Select Bid Engine from the dropdown menu. Understanding the Strategy Pillars The dashboard is divided into three sections, representing the different ways your bids are managed: 1. Bids by Badger (Algorithmic Optimization) This section shows the reach of our proprietary bidding algorithm. - Campaigns Enrolled: The number of campaigns currently benefiting from autonomous bid optimization. - Keywords/Targets Optimized: The total count of individual targets the algorithm is managing. - Bid Changes (30 days): A high-level count of how many times the algorithm has adjusted your bids in the last month to hit your goals. - Last Run: Displays the exact timestamp of the algorithm's most recent optimization cycle. 2. Dayparting (Time-Based Adjustments) This section tracks your custom scheduled bidding rules. - Active Schedules: How many unique dayparting rules you have created. - Campaigns Covered: The number of campaigns currently following a timed schedule. - Manage Dayparting: Click this link to jump directly to your schedule builder to add or edit rules. 3. Manual (No Automation Active) This section highlights the "unmanaged" portion of your account. - Audit Opportunity: If you see high numbers here, it means those keywords and targets are not being touched by Bids by Badger or Dayparting. These are prime candidates for enrollment into an automation strategy to save you time and improve efficiency. ⚡ New Feature: Actionable Bidding Directly from the Dashboard! We’ve upgraded the Bid Engine by adding a "Create Bid Automation" dropdown menu in the top right corner, turning your high-level overview into an actionable workspace. When you use the side-by-side cards to audit your account coverage, you don't have to leave the page to take action. If you spot campaigns running manually or ones that need a schedule adjustment, you can instantly launch a new strategy directly from this screen—keeping you completely in the zone and eliminating unnecessary menu hopping. Dropdown Options: - Bids by Badger: Launch our autonomous, algorithmic bid optimization for your chosen campaigns. - Dayparting: Set up custom rules to raise or lower bids by hour of the day or day of the week. How to Enroll Campaigns in Bids by Badger If your audit reveals unmanaged campaigns in your Manual card, you can easily enroll them into our fully managed algorithmic bidding engine without leaving the dashboard: Step 1: Select Campaigns Click Create Bid Automation and select Bids by Badger. In the setup modal, click the green Select Campaign(s) button.  A side drawer will open allowing you to filter, search, and bulk-select the campaigns you want to automate. Click Save Selected Campaigns when done. Step 2: Review Conflicts & Overrides The wizard will analyze your selection and display helpful status indicators alongside your selected campaigns: - ⚠️ Blue Warning Symbol: Indicates that the campaign is already enrolled elsewhere. Proceeding will override its existing settings. - ⏰ Orange Clock Symbol: Indicates that a Dayparting rule is currently running on this campaign. Enrolling it will automatically pause Dayparting, as the core algorithm takes priority. - ✔️ Green Checkmark: Indicates a clean campaign with no conflicting active automations. - 🗑️ Trash Can Icon: If you accidentally selected the wrong campaign during bulk selection, click the red Trash Can icon next to its listing to remove it from the activation group before moving forward. Step 3: Configure Your Targets Click Next: Settings to set your performance guardrails: - Max Bid / Min Bid: Define the absolute ceiling and floor for your bids. The algorithm will dynamically adjust within these limits but will never cross them. - Target ACOS: Set your goal target percentage. Ad Badger uses this anchor to optimize your keyword and target bids daily. Step 4: Finalize and Launch Review your summary details, then click Enable BBB for Campaigns.  The system will confirm your activations with a green Success verification. Click Close to return to your updated dashboard. How to Enroll Campaigns in Dayparting Automation The setup process is broken down into three easy steps: Step 1: Configure 1. Select Campaign(s): Choose the campaigns you wish to automate. 2. Name Your Automation: Give it a clear name (e.g., "Weekday Morning Boost"). 3. Set Change Limits: Define your Min Bid and Max Bid. This acts as a safety net; Ad Badger will never push your bids outside of these boundaries. 4. Click Continue to Schedule. Step 2: Schedule (Defining Your Events) In this section, you create "Events" to tell Ad Badger exactly how to change your bids. 1. Choose Your Change Type: - Bid Amount Up/Down: Change the bid by a specific dollar amount (e.g., +$0.50). - Bid Percent Up/Down: Change the bid by a percentage (e.g., -20%). - Enable/Pause Campaign: Fully toggle the campaign on or off during specific times. Why Use Dayparting? - Bid Control: Automatically raise bids during high-conversion hours and lower them when traffic is less likely to buy. - Set and Forget: Events repeat weekly based on your chosen schedule—no manual adjustments needed. - Automatic Reset: Bids revert to their original value once a scheduled event ends—no "cleanup" rules required. 💬 Need Help? Reach out to our Support Team anytime through the Live Chat bubble in the lower-right corner of the tool.

Last updated on May 24, 2026

Understanding Bids by Badger Behavior at Minimum Bids

Why Does Ad Badger Reduce Bids to Minimum Bid? A bid may reach the minimum bid threshold in two key scenarios:     1.    High ACoS Performance Adjustment     •    If a keyword has orders but is consistently exceeding the target ACoS, Ad Badger will lower the bid to bring performance in line with the goal.     •    The system will continue adjusting to reach the target ACoS efficiently.     2.    High Clicks, No Conversions     •    If a keyword is accumulating a lot of clicks but no orders, Ad Badger will gradually reduce the bid to minimum to prevent wasted ad spend.     •    This helps cut losses on underperforming keywords. What Happens Once a Keyword Reaches Minimum Bid? Once a keyword is at the minimum bid, Ad Badger evaluates its impact on campaign performance: Scenario 1: The Keyword Hits Target ACoS at Minimum Bid     •    If the keyword performs well at the minimum bid and helps achieve target ACoS, it will continue running at that level.     •    This is the ideal outcome. Scenario 2: The Keyword Loses Clicks and Becomes Suppressed     •    If the keyword continues to perform poorly even at minimum bid, Ad Badger will begin to suppress it for a period of time.     •    The length of suppression depends on overall campaign performance:     •    If the campaign is performing better than target ACoS, Ad Badger enters a more aggressive testing mode, meaning it may attempt to increase bids on some suppressed keywords.     •    If the campaign is over target ACoS, Ad Badger remains conservative, keeping underperforming keywords suppressed longer. How Can You Influence Whether a Keyword Reaches or Stays at Minimum Bid? If you want to adjust how Ad Badger handles minimum bids, you have several options: 1. Adjust Minimum Bid Settings     •    You can increase the minimum bid on a per-keyword or per-campaign basis.     •    This prevents Ad Badger from lowering bids too far while still maintaining automation. 2. Make One-Time Bid Adjustments     •    You can manually select multiple keywords at minimum bid and apply a percentage-based bid increase.     •    Ad Badger will then adjust from this new bid level while maintaining automation. 3. Monitor Campaign ACoS Trends     •    Since Ad Badger adjusts bidding strategy based on overall campaign performance, improving the campaign’s ACoS may allow more flexibility in bid adjustments.     •    For example, if your campaign is below target ACoS, Ad Badger may allow suppressed keywords to re-enter bidding with slightly higher bids.

Last updated on May 24, 2026

How do I use the Single Keyword/ Target Campaign Builder?

Learn how to create a brand new single keyword or target campaigns from inside Ad Badger's Ad Manager. Table of Contents 1. Getting Started 2. Campaign Options 3. Bidding Options 4. Bids by Badger Automatic Optimization 5. Ad Group Options 6. Summary of Targeting Getting Started To create a new single keyword/ target campaign, you will need to select a keyword or target. All you need to do to select your keyword or target is find the entity you wish to work with and click on the blue button in the Actions column of the table. **Note** **The ""Create Single Keyword/ Target Campaign"" action will only appear in keyword and target tables in the Ad Manager. Campaign Options The first step of creating your new Single Keyword/ Target Campaign is to set some campaign options. 1. Name Your New Manual Campaign 2. The Badger has already prefilled a suggested campaign name for you. However, you can make this anything you want! 3. Add Your New Campaign to an Existing Portfolio 4. This step is completely optional. If you want to put your new campaign in a portfolio that already exists, you can check this box and select a portfolio from the dropdown. 5. Choose a Start and End Date 6. The Badger has prefilled the start date as the date on which you are creating the campaign. However, you can set this to whatever you want! 7. By default, the end date is set to no end. You can change this if you would like to do so.  That's it for campaign options! You have completed the first section of the Single Keyword/ Target Campaign Builder. Next up are bidding options. Bidding Options Now it's time to set your new campaign's bidding options. The Badger has even included suggestions to get you started on your options, such as daily budget and starting bid. You can see these suggestions in the green italic text. **NOTE** **You do NOT have to use any of The Badger's recommendations. You can input any relevant value into any of these settings. 1. Set a Daily Budget 2. Here you will need to set your new campaign's daily budget. This setting will be inherited by the new campaign's ad group and keyword/ target. 3. **Badger Suggestion: **The Badger will tell you how much your selected keyword/ target has spent on average over the last 30 days. This informs our suggestion, which is prefilled in the daily budget input slot by default. You can also choose from The Badger's range of recommendations using the outlined buttons next to the input slot. 4. Set a Starting Bid 5. Here you will need to set your new campaign's starting bid. This setting will be inherited by the new campaign's ad group and keyword/ target. 6. **Badger Suggestion: **The Badger will tell you what starting bid your selected keyword/ target previously had set. This informs our suggestion, which is prefilled in the starting bid input slot by default. 7. **Note** **Amazon requires your bid to be less than 50% of your budget. 8. Select a Bidding Strategy 9. Here you will select your new campaign's bidding strategy. This setting will be inherited by the new campaign's ad group and keyword/ target. 10. **Badger Suggestion: **The Badger pre-selects Fixed Bids by default. This is particularly helpful if you decide to turn on Bids by Badger optimization. Turn On Bids by Badger Automatic Bid Optimization 1. If you would like to turn on Bids by Badger automatic bid optimization -- check this box! After checking this box, you will see a few more settings that you need to fill out in order to continue. 2. Set Target ACOS 3. Here you will set your new campaign's target ACOS. This setting will be inherited by the new campaign's ad group and keyword/ target. 4. **Badger Suggestion: **The Badger will tell you what your keyword/ target's average ACOS has been over the last 30 days. This informs our suggestion, which is prefilled in the target ACOS input slot by default. You can also choose from The Badger's range of suggestions using the outlined buttons next to the input slot. 5. Set Minimum Bid 6. Here you will set your new campaign's minimum bid. This setting will be inherited by the new campaign's ad group and keyword/ target. Reminder: The minimum bid is the smallest bid that our algorithm will set your keyword or target to during optimization. 7. **Badger Suggestion: **The Badger has prefilled the minimum bid slot with a recommendation that we calculated based on the suggested starting bid. 8. Set Maximum Bid 9. Here you will set your new campaign's maximum bid. This setting will be inherited by the new campaign's ad group and keyword/ target. Reminder: The maximum bid is the highest bid that our algorithm will set your keyword or target to during optimization. 10. **Badger Suggestion: **The Badger has prefilled the maximum bid slot with a suggestion that we calculated based on the suggested starting bid. **Reminder** **You do NOT have to use any of The Badger's suggestions. You can input any relevant value into any of these settings. Ad Group Options The third step of creating your new Single Keyword/ Target Campaign is to set the options for the new campaign's ad group. (Except for Sponsored Brands, of course.) 1. Name Your New Ad Group 2. The Badger has already prefilled a suggested ad group name for you. However, you can make this anything you want! 3. Review Your List of Available Product Ads 4. Here you will determine which product ads you would like to include in your new campaign. The available list comes from the selected keyword/ target's source. 5. **By default, all product ads are selected and will be added to your new ad group. **However, you can de-select individual product ads using the (-) button or bulk de-select with the << button. 6. **Note** **You need to have selected at least one product ad. Summary of Targeting The final step of creating your new single keyword/ target campaign is to review your targeting. The options in this section will be different based on what type of keyword or target you are creating the campaign from. So, if you see a setting in this help documentation that you do not see in the app - don't worry! You just don't need to set that option. 1. Summary of Target 2. This first section will show you exactly what keyword or target is being added and how it is being added. (E.g. Adding a specific keyword as 'exact') 3. Apply Same Ad Group Negative Keywords from Source Ad Group 4. By default, Ad Badger will add all of the source ad group negative keywords to your new ad group. 5. You will see a chooser similar to how you picked your product ads. Just select the negative keywords you wish to apply to your new ad group and leave the rest in the ""Available"" column. 6. Uncheck this box if you do not want Ad Badger to add any of your source ad group negative keywords to your new ad group. 1. Apply Same Ad Group Negative Product Targets from Source Ad Group 2. By default, Ad Badger will add all of the source ad group negative product targets to your new ad group. 3. 4. You will see a chooser similar to how you picked your product ads. Just select the negative product targets you wish to apply to your new ad group and leave the rest in the ""Available"" column. 5. Uncheck this box if you do not want Ad Badger to add any of your source ad group negative product targets to your new ad group. 1. Pause Keyword/ Target in Source Ad Group 2. Check this box if you want to pause the selected keyword or target inside of the ad group from which you originally selected it.  3. Add As Negative Exact/ Negative ASIN in Source Ad Group 4. If you selected a keyword, check this box to add the selected keyword as a negative exact to the ad group from which you originally selected it. This is called 'blocking' the keyword in the source ad group. 5. If you selected a target, check this box to add the selected target as a negative ASIN to the ad group from which you originally selected it. This is called 'blocking' the target in the source ad group. Finished! That is all the steps you have to complete to create your brand new single keyword or target campaign. All that is left to do is to click the big yellow button that says ""Create Single Keyword (or Target) Campaign."" Questions? If you have any questions about this process or if you believe something to not be working as expected, please contact us at ppc@adbadger.com.

Last updated on May 24, 2026

How do I use the Max/ Min Bid setting for the Bids by Badger algorithm?

You turned on Bids by Badger, set your target ACOS for your campaigns, but you don't know what your max bids should be. You may not even know what a max bid is or the purpose of it. Well, all of this information is provided in this article! What is a Max Bid? A max bid is the maximum amount that the Bids by Badger algorithm will set your bid to with each keyword or product target. Why Set a Max Bid? Ad Badger's Bid Algorithm, Bids by Badger™️, offers the following checks before assigning a new bid to a keyword or product target. - It calculates a new bid (let's say $7.00 for a very profitable keyword). - Before it sets the new bid, it checks your max bid. - If you have a max bid of $2.00, then The Badger will not increase your bid over $2.00, and it will be ""capped"" at $2.00. - Ad Badger will still calculate a new bid daily. If that new calculated bid is over your cap, it will hold at your max bid. How To Set & Adjust Your Max Bid Setting a max bid is quick and easy. You can set your max bid at the campaign, ad group, and target levels. How do you edit your min/max bid?  **1. **Navigate to the Ad Manager **2. **Find the entity (Keyword, Target, etc)  you wish to edit and enter Bids by Badger Mode 🦡 (By selecting the 'Table Mode' option in the top right of the table).  **3. **When you do, you'll be able to access some Bids by Badger Specific options, such as, changing your minimum or maximum bid. You can find them in the bulk actions menu (the 3 dots in the top left of the table). Fill in the input field for Max Bid (and for Min Bid, if you need to adjust that as well) and click 'Update'. Once you change your max bid, Bids by Badger will take this number into consideration as it makes its daily calculations to make sure you reach your target ACOS while maintaining traffic and conversions. Why is my Average CPC higher than my Max Bid? Let's start with some definitions: - Average CPC: Your total amount of ad spend over the number of clicks for a certain scope and timeframe. You can look at the average CPC at the campaign level, account level, ad group level, product level, and of course keyword level. - Max Bid: The highest Ad Badger will set your CPC Bid for a single keyword. Let's say you have a keyword or campaign that generated clicks at an average CPC of $2.00 for the past 30 days. Then you came to Ad Badger and set a Max Bid of $1.50. Therefore, all of your future clicks will not be higher than $1.50. However, if you're viewing your average CPC for the past 30 days, you will likely have an average for the month to be close to $2.00. Your average for the day-- see the difference-- will not be over your Max Bid because you're just looking at the cost and clicks for a single day when the max bid was activated. Another scenario where your bid might be higher than your Max Bid is when you look at your ad group default bids. Ad Badger does not optimize your ad group default bids because when you have an active keyword bid in Amazon, Amazon uses your keyword bid, not your ad group bid. Questions?  If you have any additional questions, contact us at ppc@adbadger.com.

Last updated on May 24, 2026

Why Hasn't Bids by Badger Changed My Bids

If you’re viewing your bid changes in Ad Badger, you might see a day where your bids weren’t changed or updated by Ad Badger. Reason 1: Brand New Campaign Or Keyword When Ad Badger identifies a brand new campaign, it studies the data's behavior with your default bid on the first day. Ad Badger begins optimizing this campaign within the first 48 hours of a new campaign or keyword. Reason 2: You Are New To Ad Badger The second reason why Bids by Badger may not optimize your bids is that you are a brand new customer to Ad Badger. For the first 48 hours, Ad Badger is studying, observing where your current levels are. We do this to help establish a baseline. Reason 3: Your Bid is Stable Already The third reason why your bids haven’t been updated is that yesterday’s bid is still the optimal bid. If Ad Badger calculates your bid on Monday and you haven’t received statistically different clicks or conversions, then it maintains the previous bid. Don’t worry, if things start to change, Ad Badger will respond at its next optimization cycle. PRO-TIP: Ad Badger Lists Changes For You – Daily Inside Ad Manager, you can see the detailed history for every single keyword, product target, and auto-target. We save this data for you so you can always refer back to what changes Ad Badger has made and how that improved your performance. We hope this article is helpful. If you still have questions, please contact us at ppc@adbadger.com. Thank you for checking us out!

Last updated on May 24, 2026

Bids by Badger Algorithm Not Hitting Target ACOS

Mathematically, the perfect bid is a calculated metric and there is no emotion to it. Your bid (CPC) should be set to your ACOS target percentage of your average RPC (revenue generated per click). For example, if your average RPC is $1 and you’re targeting a 30% ACOS, then your average CPC should be $0.30. Let’s look at a few pieces of the Bids By Badger Algorithm to understand why we might be more than 10 points away from target ACOS. The most common scenario: Your short-term data is much different from your long-term data.  In our analysis of all clicks running through the Ad Badger platform, we found that the average CPC does not change by a great deal month to month or week to week.  Let’s assume you have a 30% Target ACOS, but you are currently at 60%. There are really only two ways to get your ACOS down from 60% to 30%.  1. Double your conversion rate. (Doubling the number of sales from the same ad cost.) 2. Cut your CPC in half. (Reducing the ad cost by half, while maintaining the same revenue generated per click.) PPC can only influence the CPC in this equation, which is why Amazon Sellers should always try to increase the conversion rate on their product pages. Let’s say we look at 90 days of data and see that you have a 10% conversion rate. However, in the most recent 30 days, your conversion rate is just 5%. In general, this is a massive, atypical, abnormal drop in conversion rate. In our research, products do not change this dramatically. Most likely there is competition selling a similar product with more reviews and maybe even a cheaper price point.  This could also be caused when your product goes out of stock or if you get a bad review. Bids by Badger will update daily with your new 40-day conversion rate and continue to scale down your bids. Within 1-3 weeks, this will usually correct itself as your 40-day conversion moves closer to the newer conversion rate.   Scenario 2: Low conversion data confidence. Mathematically, it’s correct, but there will be swings. In this scenario, we likely have a low level of data confidence. Let’s say you have just 10 conversions of data and 20 clicks. That’s a massive 50% conversion rate.  Mathematically, your bid will be set to reflect this huge conversion rate. But we need to wait for more data confidence to get this number closer to what your eventual, leveled-off conversion rate will be. Note: You can set a custom bid cap so that the algorithm will never exceed whatever limit you set.  The biggest issue with low-conversion data is the swings. One day you may have a 50% conversion rate, and another it might be 25%, and another it might be 75%. More data confidence will keep this stable. As we continue to learn more about bidding on Amazon, we’ll update our algorithm to be more confident with less data.   Scenario 3: No Conversion Data. We’re buying data right now.  We wanted to build Bids By Badger into a system you can turn on from Day 1. Want to drop 100 keywords and turn on the bid algorithm? Do it. We’ve got your back.  We have special systems to balance data discovery (can we get more clicks?) and not spending too much (we want more clicks but don’t want to break the bank). Once it gets a conversion, we’ll start calculating bids based on the revenue generated per click. Until then, we’ll inch it up and inch it down based on how many clicks we have.  We hope this article helped you understand why the Bids by Badger Algorithm might not always hit your target ACOS.   Scenario 4: Lots of Keywords without Conversions The biggest reason customers see a high ACOS in their Amazon PPC Campaigns is because of too many keywords without a conversion. We call these keywords ""Testing keywords"" or ""Untested Nonconverters"". Starting October 4, 2020 - Every Monday, you'll get a report from Ad Badger on the number of keywords in your account that are in ""learning mode."" These learning mode keywords are typically the result of a strategy known as ""Keyword Dumping"" - where advertisers drop in dozens of keywords into an ad group that are untested. If you have 15 keywords with no conversions, and then have an average conversion rate of 10%, it can be possible you will get 100 clicks total without a conversion and your ACOS will look unhealthy. Have a lot of keywords without a conversion? Here's what to do: 1. Set a low bid cap. The bid cap should be about your average CPC or less. Generally, this could be a cap of 1 dollar for all untested keywords. 2. Delete keywords that have high spend and no conversions -> a very fast way to improve ACOS. Important Resources for Scenario 4: - Information about Keyword Dumping - How to handle keywords with 0 sales If you have any more questions for us, chat with us using the bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen or email us at ppc@adbadger.com. Thank you for choosing Ad Badger!

Last updated on May 31, 2026