Amazon wants to optimize Sponsored Ads partly on its own in the future. So far, this has only been announced for the US. In Germany, nothing changes for now. Here you can read what exactly Amazon announced, what of it applies in Germany and why rules of your own still matter.
What did Amazon announce?
On 22 September 2026, Amazon presented three new features for Sponsored Ads:
- AI campaign insights: A dashboard with insights and suggested actions on targeting, bids and budgets. You can apply, edit or skip each suggestion. According to Amazon, the dashboard sits on the campaign overview page. Launch: US, October 2026.
- Auto-optimization: Amazon adds relevant keywords, pauses weak ones, expands product targeting and identifies seasonal opportunities. All of this happens within your existing campaign settings. You switch it on with a single click in your campaign settings and can edit or reverse every action. Launch: US, January 2027.
- Ads data manager for Sponsored Ads: It connects your own customer data, for example visits to your website or your email contacts, with Amazon’s shopping, browsing and streaming signals. According to Amazon, this lets you reach existing and potential customers, now with Sponsored Ads too. Your data stays protected and is used only for your own campaigns. According to Amazon, you need no additional budget or data expertise. It is available now to all advertisers worldwide, Germany included. Where to find it: Amazon describes access directly through the navigation of your advertiser or manager account.
Amazon does not mention bids and budgets for auto-optimization. It works with keywords and product targets. Suggestions on bids and budgets come from the AI insights dashboard, and there you decide on every suggestion yourself.
What applies in Germany?
AI insights and auto-optimization are announced for the US only. Amazon gives no date for Germany. That does not mean they will never come. It only means: you cannot plan with them today.
For Amazon Ads Agent, Amazon lists Germany too. The Agent is an AI assistant you talk to in order to plan, manage and analyse campaigns. For Sponsored Products, it is meant to give recommendations on bids and budgets, among other things. It is only available in a closed beta for eligible advertisers, though. According to Amazon, you register your interest through your Amazon Ads account team.
Why rules of your own still matter
This is our assessment, not a statement by Amazon. Amazon’s optimization works within your campaign settings. It only knows your goal if you set it. Three reasons why rules of your own still count:
1. Every product has its own goal. A product in its launch phase needs a different strategy than a bestseller or an item you are selling off. We did not find in Amazon’s announcements whether you can set a separate strategy per product for Amazon’s optimization. In PPC-Butler you set target values per product and assign your campaigns to workflows, such as “launch phase” and “growth phase”. After the launch, you move the campaign to the growth phase, and it is steered by the new workflow right away.
2. You want to know who changed what. In PPC-Butler every change is recorded in the history: which rule triggered it, with which formula, when, and the old and new value. The bid history is also recorded when someone changes bids by hand, through another tool or via Amazon. Our recommendation from practice: steer each campaign in one way only, either with your rules or with Amazon’s optimization. Then it is always clear where a change came from.
3. A rule decides the same way every time. Whether a suggestion fits your margin is your decision. In PPC-Butler you capture that decision as a rule. From then on it runs automatically and decides by the same logic every time. Beforehand, a test run shows you what the rule would change.
What you can do now
- Do not switch anything. Auto-optimization is not announced for Germany.
- Write down target values per product. They are the yardstick against which any optimization can later be measured, Amazon’s included.
- Interested in the Agent beta? Talk to your Amazon Ads account team.
- If the feature launches in Germany: test it on a few campaigns first and compare before and after.
- One steering per campaign: your rules or Amazon’s optimization, not both.
How it works in PPC-Butler
This is what PPC-Butler does today, regardless of Amazon’s plans:
- Target values per product: With product variables you set a value once and use it in every workflow, as often as you like.
- Workflows per phase: You group campaigns by phase, such as launch and growth, and move them when needed.
- Bid rules of your own with conditions, formulas, and minimum and maximum bids.
- Test run and approval: Changes run as update jobs that you can check and approve.
- Undo: with one click or automatically with a timer.
- History: triggering rule, formula, time, old and new value. Bid changes made by hand, from other tools or via Amazon show up there as well.
- Rule Health: finds dead, duplicate, faulty or overlapping rules.
An example rule: IF the ACoS is above the target of 20%, THEN lower the bid by 10%. The history then shows why the bid was lowered.
More on this: Amazon Ads AI vs. PPC Butler, Amazon Ads MCP vs. PPC-Butler MCP and PPC-Butler MCP for access with AI assistants.
Source
- Amazon Ads: Tools for sponsored ads, 22 September 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026
- Amazon Ads: Conversational experience in Amazon Ads Agent, 29 September 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026
- Amazon Ads: New Ads data manager experience, 30 September 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026
- Amazon Ads: Amazon Ads Agent, 29 September 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026