Amazon PPC Ads Not Showing: Why It Happens and How to Fix It

As an experienced Amazon seller, I know how frustrating it can be when your PPC ads suddenly stop showing without warning. One day you‘re getting great impressions and clicks, the next your product ads have seemingly vanished.

I‘ve been in your shoes before, so I wanted to provide this comprehensive troubleshooting guide. By the end, you‘ll understand exactly why your Amazon ads may not be showing and how to get them back on track.

Why Did My Amazon PPC Ads Disappear?

There are 5 main reasons your Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads may have stopped showing:

1. Daily Budget Too Low

The most common issue is setting your daily budget too low for your keyword bids. With Amazon‘s auction-style system, your ads have to bid high enough to consistently rank on page 1.

If you don‘t allocate sufficient budget, your ads will likely spend out early in the day before reaching those all-important evening shopping hours when conversion rates peak.

Data from Feedvisor shows conversion rates climb steadily from 10 AM, peak at 8 PM, and remain elevated until 11 PM. So running out of budget midday means missing out on prime sales opportunities!

To keep your ads showing throughout the day, you‘ll want to gradually increase your budget. I suggest incrementally raising it by 15-20% until you find the optimum daily budget for your keywords.

Monitor your campaign metrics regularly to see if a budget boost helps increase your impressions and clicks. But avoid drastic increases, as you don‘t want to overspend. Find the budget sweet spot.

2. Irrelevant Targeting Terms

Another reason your ads may not be displaying is if your targeting is off. Here are two common targeting issues that could be reducing your ad visibility:

• Bidding on overly broad keywords – If you‘re targeting wide, high-volume keywords that aren‘t closely aligned with your products, your ads will show for many irrelevant searches. This wastes budget without leading to sales.

• Overly restrictive negative keywords – Similarly, if you‘ve added too many negative keywords, you may be blocking your ads from appearing for searches that would actually convert.

Carefully review your match types, keyword themes, and negative keywords. Ensure you‘re targeting tightly related search terms so your ads display for searches with high purchase intent.

3. Violation of Amazon‘s Advertising Policies

Amazon maintains strict advertising policies around ad content, trademarks, and prohibited products. If any part of your campaign violates these guidelines, Amazon may suppress your ads without warning.

Be sure to thoroughly read through Amazon‘s latest advertising policies and ensure your ads, targeting, and products comply. Some key things to avoid:

• Making false, misleading claims about your product or brand
• Using inappropriate or offensive images
• Bidding on trademarks without authorization
• Promoting prohibited, unsafe or illegal products

Staying compliant gives your ads the best chance of showing up and converting.

4. Technical Errors

In some cases, your ads may have stopped showing due to a technical glitch out of your control. Issues on Amazon‘s end or with your Seller Central account could temporarily disrupt ad delivery.

Check Seller Central for notifications about any Amazon technical issues that may be impacting advertising. If the problem persists, contact Amazon Advertising support for troubleshooting.

5. Increased Competition

Finally, heightened competition for your target keywords could also knock your ads off page 1, causing impressions and clicks to nosedive.

When more advertisers start bidding on your terms, it can quickly become more expensive to maintain your first page rank. Upper page placements get squeezed out.

Carefully monitor your impression share metrics. If your impression share is falling but your budget isn‘t spent, increased competition may be the culprit.

Optimizing Your Campaigns to Regain Lost Visibility

If your Amazon PPC ads have vanished, take the following steps to get your campaigns back on track and your products back in front of searchers:

1. Review Campaign Performance Data

The first step is analyzing your campaign data to identify where the issues lie. Look for:

• Which match types or products are underperforming?
• Are impressions declining or is click-through rate dropping?
• Is budget being spent too quickly?
• How does daily spend look – is budget exhausted early?

Compare recent trends to historical performance to pinpoint what may have changed to impact visibility. These insights inform what specifically needs optimization.

2. Expand Your Budget Carefully

As discussed, running out of budget prematurely is a major reason ads disappear later in the day. Try conservatively increasing budget by 10-20% to keep ads running through the evening.

Incremental budget increases are best. Avoid drastic hikes, and closely monitor spend to find the optimum daily budget for your keywords.

3. Refine Targeting with Negative Keywords

If your ads are wasting budget on irrelevant clicks, add negative keywords to filter out searches unrelated to your products. This focusing of your ads on more conversion-ready searches can be a gamechanger.

Leverage Amazon‘s search term report to discover what search queries are currently triggering your ads. Mine this for potential negative keywords and granular phrase matches.

4. Boost Bids on Valuable Keywords

Diving into your keyword metrics, identify ones delivering sales and revenue. Increase bids on these winner keywords to maintain or improve their ad rank.

Simultaneously, lower bids on underperforming keywords to reallocate budget to high-converting terms. Don‘t leave money on the table!

5. Optimize Ad Copy with A/B Testing

Ad creative has a major influence on click-through rate and conversions. Try A/B testing different versions of your ad copy to find what resonates most with searchers.

Improve ad relevance by incorporating keywords. Clearly highlight your product benefits and offers. Find what makes searchers click over competitors.

6. Verify Your Ads and Products Are Policy Compliant

Double and triple check that your campaigns are following all Amazon advertising and selling policies. As mentioned earlier, violations can cause your ads to be restricted without notice.

A few key areas:
– Ad content and images
– Trademarks
– Accuracy of product info and claims
– Banned products

7. Contact Amazon Advertising Support

Even if you‘ve optimized extensively, if your ads remain MIA, it‘s smart to contact Amazon advertising support. Explain the issue and they can review your account‘s delivery to spot any problems.

With consistent optimizations, monitoring, and determination, you can regain lost visibility and get your Amazon PPC back on track. Don‘t allow low visibility to continue dragging down sales. Follow these tips, and you‘ll keep your product ads showing strong for high-intent searchers.

You‘ve got this! Let me know if you have any other questions.