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Placement optimizer

Amazon lets you bid differently depending on where your ad shows up. A spot at the top of search converts differently than one buried in the rest of results or sitting on a product detail page. The Placements tab in the Sponsored Ads Manager measures how well each placement pays off for a campaign (using Revenue Per Click) and suggests bid adjustments that push spend toward the placements actually earning their keep. A direct link to this page redirects into the manager tab automatically.

Before you start​

  • At least one Amazon account connected
  • Active Sponsored Products (SP) and/or Sponsored Brands (SB) campaigns
  • Campaigns with placement data (at least 30 days recommended for reliable suggestions)

How it works​

Amazon ads can appear in three placement types:

  • Top of Search: the first row of search results
  • Product Pages: on product detail pages (SP campaigns only)
  • Rest of Search: all other search-results positions

Each placement carries its own bid adjustment percentage. A 50% adjustment on a $1.00 bid means Amazon can bid up to $1.50 when your ad is eligible for that placement. The optimizer compares Revenue Per Click across a campaign's placements and suggests adjustments that lean spend toward the higher-returning ones. Changes are capped per run (configurable in settings) so bids move gradually rather than swinging all at once. Campaigns on the Rank Smart Bidding goal keep a Top of Search floor: the optimizer can raise that placement when it earns more per click, but it never suggests a Top of Search value below 30% for a Rank campaign, and it never lowers a value you set below 30% yourself. See Smart Bidding for how Rank sets the initial 30%.

SP vs SB differences

SP campaigns support all three placements. SB campaigns support only Top of Search and Rest of Search. Placement adjustments range from 0% to 900% for both SP and SB.

Reading the table​

Each row is a single placement of a campaign, so one campaign that runs in all three placements appears as three rows. This is what lets you tune, reset, or optimize placements individually instead of in bulk.

Key columns:

ColumnWhat it tells you
PlacementWhich placement this row represents
StatusA health signal for the placement (see below)
RPCRevenue Per Click, the core signal the optimizer weighs
Mod %The current bid adjustment, editable inline
Sug. %The suggested adjustment, with a color-coded delta vs. the current value
% of SpendThis placement's share of the campaign's spend
% of SalesThis placement's share of the campaign's sales

Alongside these are the usual performance columns: impressions, clicks, CTR, spend, CPC, orders, sales, CVR, ACOS, and ROAS. The table is sorted by Spend descending by default; click any header to re-sort. Drag a column header into the grouping zone to group rows by placement, campaign type, state, status, portfolio, or campaign.

Above the table, a row of metric cards summarizes performance across everything currently shown: Spend and Sales are charted by default. Click a card to add or remove it from the daily chart, and use the column/metric visibility controls to show metrics like RPC, CPA, or AOV that are hidden by default.

Understanding placement statuses​

Every placement row carries a status describing its current state. Hover any status pill to read its description.

StatusMeaning
EligibleHas enough data and is ready for placement optimization
High BidsPlacement bids are extremely high with very poor returns, consider resetting to 0% first
No SalesSpending money but has zero sales, review targeting before adjusting placements
Weak PlacementA placement is heavily negative and dragging down performance
Reset NeededA placement's ACOS is above target, reset to let Amazon redistribute traffic
Budget CapHitting the daily budget limit, consider raising budget before adjusting placements
ImbalancedOver 90% of spend goes to one placement, leaving the others without enough data
Low DataNot enough clicks or sales yet, allow more time for data to build up
IneligibleCampaign is paused or the advertising token is inactive

Statuses the optimizer can act on (optimize or reset): Eligible, Reset Needed, High Bids, No Sales, and Weak Placement. The rest are held back until they have the data or headroom to move safely.

Filtering the table​

Status presets​

Below the toolbar, a row of preset chips filters rows by status: Eligible, Broken, Reset Needed, Budget Cap, Imbalanced, Low Data, and Ineligible. Select several at once, or click All to clear them. The Broken preset is a shortcut that matches all three broken statuses: High Bids, No Sales, and Weak Placement.

Search and filters​

  • Search: filter rows by campaign name
  • Filter: opens a stackable filter bar (up to 10 conditions). Attribute filters cover ad type, state, placement, portfolio, campaign name, tags, and target ACOS; performance filters cover spend, sales, ACOS, ROAS, RPC, CPC, clicks, impressions, CTR, CVR, and orders. The button highlights when any filter is applied.

Edit a placement manually​

To change a single placement's adjustment, edit its Mod % cell:

  1. Click the Mod % cell for any row
  2. Type a new whole number
  3. Press Enter to save, or Escape to cancel

The allowed range is 0% to 900% for both SP and SB placements. The change is sent straight to Amazon, and a toast confirms the update (or reports the error).

Optimize placements​

To apply the suggested adjustments to several placements at once:

  1. Select rows with the checkboxes (or the header checkbox to select all)
  2. Click Optimize Placements: the button shows the selection count
  3. Review the preview, which shows each placement's current value, suggested value, and delta, plus a summary of how many will be optimized, reset, or skipped
  4. Confirm to submit

Changes go to Amazon through a background job. When it finishes, the table refreshes; if any individual changes failed, a message tells you how many.

danger

Optimizing pushes changes directly to your Amazon Ads account. Review the preview before confirming.

Reset placements to 0%​

To clear adjustments back to 0% for selected placements:

  1. Select rows with the checkboxes
  2. Open the Actions menu and choose Reset to 0%
  3. Review the affected placements in the confirmation modal
  4. Confirm

This removes the bid adjustments from Amazon, letting Amazon redistribute traffic without your overrides.

Settings​

Click Settings to open the configuration panel. Settings are saved per account.

Max Change Per Run sets how far a placement can move from its current value in a single optimization run, as a percentage of that value. It has two limits: a Max Increase Limit and a Max Decrease Limit, each defaulting to 25%. Splitting the two lets you, for example, cut wasteful bids quickly while letting winners climb more cautiously. Placements sitting at 0% are exempt, so the optimizer can set them freely.

The remaining sliders set hard boundaries:

SettingRangeDefaultWhat it does
SP Max Placement %100-900%200%Ceiling for SP placement adjustments
SB Max Placement %100-900%200%Ceiling for SB placement adjustments
SB Min Placement %-99 to 0%-99%Floor for SB placement adjustments
Struggling Campaign Cap10-100%30%Ceiling for campaigns whose ACOS is above target, to limit exposure on underperformers
Budget Cap Threshold50-100%90%Campaigns spending above this share of their daily budget are flagged Budget Cap and left out of optimization
Spend Balance Threshold50-100%90%If one placement uses more than this share of total spend, the campaign is flagged Imbalanced and left out

Click Reset to Defaults to restore the defaults, then Save to apply.

Automatic optimization​

Instead of running optimizations by hand, you can let SellerJar apply them on a schedule. Two switches control this: one in the toolbar here, labeled Auto-optimize · 1st & 15th, and one on the Automation page in Essentials mode. Both control the exact same setting, so flipping either one updates the other.

When it's on, SellerJar runs an optimization for you on the 1st and 15th of every month, using this page's saved settings and caps: the same Max Change Per Run, placement ceilings, and thresholds you'd get from a manual run. Only campaigns enrolled in Smart Bidding are eligible; campaigns on static bids are left alone.

If an account already had a placement optimization run (manual or automatic) within the last 14 days, the scheduled run is skipped so changes don't stack too quickly. Every automatic change is logged to History Vault under Placement automation, so you can review or revert it the same way you would a manual change.

See Automation for the other automations available in Essentials mode.

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