Automation Rules

Automation Rules is the Pilot builder for rules that act on keywords, product targets or campaigns when your conditions are met: bid changes, pauses, budget changes, placement changes, and negatives. The page has three tabs, Targeting Rules, Campaign Rules and Negative Targeting, and two editors: the bid-rule editor behind the first two tabs and the negation-rule editor behind the third. Words such as ACoS, match type and placement are explained in the Amazon advertising glossary; Pulse Pilot's own words, such as Autopilot, Copilot and hit counter, are on Pulse Pilot Vocabulary.

Open Automations → Automation Rules. Each editable control below is marked Required, Optional or Preselected. Required means Save stops until it is filled.

The rules list

Each tab shows counters (Total Rules, Active, Inactive, and the tab's own count) and a table with one row per rule: the active switch, number and name, a chip for what it applies to, and a badge when the rule is excluded on campaigns that Copilot manages; When, the schedule or the hit counter; If, the first condition with its lookback and a "+N more" chip; Then, the actions; Last Run; Next Run. Row actions: Run now, Preview matches, View rule log, Edit rule, Duplicate rule, Delete rule (asks to confirm), and a chevron that expands the row to show every condition, every action with its floor and ceiling, the schedule and the scope.

Filters. On the Targeting tab, All / Keywords / Product Targets; on every tab, All / Active / Inactive; and a Tag Scope bar when the account has campaign tags.

Selection bar. With rules ticked: Run Now (bid rules only, live), Pause, Enable, Delete (asks to confirm) and Clear.

Run now opens a window with a Dry Run checkbox, Optional and off: ticked, the run logs what it would do and changes nothing. Preview what would change first opens the preview instead. The button reads Test Run or Run Live — this will make real changes.

Preview matches evaluates the rule against current data and lists each matching entity with its numbers, current value and the new value the first action would set.

View rule log lists the rule's receipts, newest first, 500 at a time, with a search box.

The bid-rule editor

Rule Name. Required.

Apply To. Preselected (Keywords on the Targeting tab; Campaigns on the Campaign tab). Keywords or Product Targets. Changing it resets the actions.

Schedule. Preselected (Daily). Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly. Daily shows Run Every (1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days); Weekly shows Day of Week; Monthly shows Day of Month (1 to 28). All but Hourly show Run Time, eight three-hour slots in Pacific time, Preselected (6 AM). First Run Date is Optional; set, the rule waits for that date. The schedule strip is hidden for a Hit Counter rule, which runs after each data sync instead.

Out-of-stock guard. Preselected (on). On, the rule skips products that have no buyable offer; they qualify again when they are back in stock.

Trigger. Preselected (Threshold). Threshold fires when the conditions below are met. Hit Counter fires when a total since the rule last ran reaches a value: a metric (Preselected Clicks; Impressions, Spend or Orders) and a number, Required, above zero.

Click Gate. Optional; off. Threshold rules only. On, the rule fires only for entities with at least Min clicks over the chosen lookback.

IF Conditions. One or more condition rows in groups; every row in a group must be true, and the rule fires when any group is. + AND adds a row to the group, + OR (additional condition) adds a group, × removes a row. A Hit Counter rule may have no conditions. Each row:

• Metric. Preselected (ACoS). Performance metrics: ACoS, ROAS, CPA, Clicks, Impressions, CVR, CTR, CPC, PPC Orders, Spend, Sales, Top of Search IS, Units Sold, NTB Orders, NTB Sales, NTB Rate. Snapshot metrics: Current Bid, Days at current bid, TOS Modifier. Keyword Text, with text operators. Match Type, a fixed list. Campaign Target ACoS, ROAS, CVR and CPA, which compare against the campaign's own target. Rank metrics for keywords: Organic Rank (7d avg), Organic Rank (latest pull), Organic Rank trend, Stably in Organic Top N, Sponsored Rank (latest pull), and Rank Tracked. Rank and text metrics are offered for keyword rules only; campaign rules omit the bid snapshots.
• Operator. Preselected (>). >, <, >=, <=, =. Keyword Text offers contains, starts with, ends with, equals, does not contain, has word, has any of, has all of, has none of, word count and character count.
• Value. Required for a Threshold rule; a blank value stops the save. A number, with $ or % shown for money and percentage metrics; a text or a list for Keyword Text; a choice for Match Type and Rank Tracked. Campaign Target metrics take no value.
• Lookback. Preselected (7 days). 1 to 7, 14, 30, 60, 90 days or All time; counts complete days only. Hidden for snapshot, rank, enum and campaign-target metrics.
• Exclude. Preselected (Today only). Today + 1, 2, 3 or 7 days: skips that many of the most recent complete days as well.

THEN Take Action. One or more actions; + Add Action adds one, × removes one. For keywords and product targets: Set Bid to ($), Increase Bid ($), Increase Bid (%), Decrease Bid ($), Decrease Bid (%), Revenue per Click, Set to CPC, CPC × Target ACoS / ACoS, Bid × Target ACoS / ACoS, Enable Targeting, Pause Targeting, Add as Negative (with Exact or Phrase). For campaigns: Increase or Decrease Budget (% or $), Set Budget ($), Pause, Enable, Adjust Placement Bid (%) with a placement, an operation and a percentage from 0 to 900. Floor $ and Ceiling $ are Optional on the bid actions; a raise rule on a Threshold trigger is Required to have a Ceiling and a Daily or slower schedule. Budget dollar actions are Required to be positive and at most Amazon's maximum daily budget.

Apply To Campaigns and Apply To Campaign Tags. Required, one of: at least one campaign, at least one tag from the Campaign Tags page, or the Apply to all campaigns in this account checkbox. A campaign that Copilot or Autopilot manages shows a Suspended badge: the rule is saved but benched there and resumes when the campaign is released.

Rule is Active. Preselected (on). Create Rule or Update Rule saves; Cancel with unsaved edits asks "Discard changes?".

The negation-rule editor

Negative Type. Preselected (Negative Keywords). Negative Keywords blocks the search phrase; Negative Product Targets blocks the product page the ad showed on, evaluates only ASIN-shaped terms, and lands each negative in the ad group the term served in.

Rule Name. Required. Schedule, Run Every, Run Day, Run Time (PT) and First Run Date as in the bid-rule editor; Run Time is Preselected (06:45).

Trigger. Preselected (Threshold). Hit Counter creates the negative after the conditions have held for N consecutive daily evaluations; N is Required, at least 1, and any day the conditions fail resets the count.

Click Gate. Optional; off. On, a term needs at least the given clicks over 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days.

Source Campaigns. Required, at least one. Sponsored Products campaigns whose search terms the rule reads; each with an ad group choice, Preselected (All ad groups). Find them by search or by Campaign Tag.

IF Conditions. Required, at least one complete row. Preselected rows: Clicks >= 10 over 30 days and Orders = 0 over 30 days, both editable. Metrics: Clicks, Impressions, Spend, Sales, Orders, ACoS, ROAS, CTR, CPC, CVR, CPA, the four Campaign Target comparisons, and Search Term Text with text operators. Each row has its own Lookback.

THEN Add As Negative. Required, at least one destination. Add destination finds a campaign by search or tag and adds an ad group or, for keyword rules, the entire campaign; the sources are pre-listed. Each destination row has Neg Exact and Neg Phrase pills, both on, and at least one must stay on.

Preview matches. Evaluates today's data and shows how many terms match, how many are held by the click gate, the hit counter or an existing negative, and, per destination, how many negatives of each kind would be created.

Rule is Active, Create Rule / Update Rule and Cancel as above.

Good to know

1. Threshold and Hit Counter are different clocks. A Threshold rule runs on its schedule and checks conditions over a lookback. A Hit Counter bid rule has no schedule and runs after each data sync, firing when the metric total since its last run reaches the value. A Hit Counter negation rule fires only after the conditions hold on N consecutive daily passes.
2. A raise rule needs a Ceiling. Increase Bid on a Threshold trigger will not save without a Ceiling and a Daily, Weekly or Monthly schedule.
3. Managed campaigns are benched, not blocked. A rule can be scoped to a campaign under Copilot or Autopilot; it is saved with an exclusion there, the list shows the count, and it resumes when the campaign leaves management.
4. Dry Run differs by tab. For bid rules it is a live run in log-only mode. For negation rules it is an instant evaluation that writes nothing.
5. Phrase negatives have a word limit. A term longer than Amazon's limit for phrase negatives gets an exact negative only; the preview marks these.
6. Recently harvested terms are protected. A term a harvest rule just promoted is not negated by a negation rule.