Why didn't my rule run?

A rule whose conditions are met runs. When nothing happened, one of three things is usually true.

1. The rule is not enabled

Check its Enabled switch. A configured rule that was never switched on evaluates nothing and reports nothing, which reads exactly like a rule that ran and found no matches.

2. The ASIN is not automated

A rule only touches products that are enabled in Automated ASINs. A product that is disabled there is outside every rule on the account, however the rules are configured.

Check the rule is assigned as well — a rule attached to no ad group has nothing to evaluate.

3. The conditions did not match

The most likely answer once the first two are ruled out. Read the rule’s criteria against a target you expected it to act on, over the same Data Window the rule uses.

Three things that make criteria look stricter than they are:

The recent days are excluded. The default leaves out the two most recent days, because Amazon’s attribution is still arriving for them. A rule looking for recent activity may be looking just past it.

The trigger reads its own window. Performance Deterioration scores its Historical Window and Momentum Guard its baseline, not the rule’s Data Window. See Anatomy of a rule.

A negation rule skips terms that sold. The 365-day orders checkbox is on by default, so a term with an order in the trailing year is left alone.

Still nothing

Cooldown. A Bidding rule that changed this target recently holds it until the countdown expires. A bid needs traffic before it can be judged again. See Anatomy of a rule.

The change was already made. If the value is already what the rule wants, there is nothing to change. Check Change History for what has already moved.

You excluded the row from Automation. An exclusion created in Performance or Search terms keeps the protected action out of both Preview and scheduled runs until the hold expires or you remove it. The hold does not cover Dayparting, Agent proposals or direct user changes.

Amazon kept undoing the change. After Amazon repeatedly reverses an action that the App applied, Automation stops retrying it. Rule Health reports Amazon keeps undoing this change — Automation stopped retrying.

Amazon permanently rejected the keyword text. The App does not retry a keyword Amazon cannot accept. This includes a Negative Phrase longer than 4 words and a Negative Exact longer than 10.

Use Rule Health first

The Rules table and Preview Changes show the same three health fields:

• Stopped by names the clause that blocked the most candidates in the current evaluation.
• Firing follows consecutive evaluations and identifies whether the rule is unassigned, had no candidates or repeatedly failed Criteria.
• Days silent counts consecutive days without a change. It is hidden by default and can be shown for sorting.

A red Stopped by icon usually points outside the rule, such as a Campaign setting. Amber means a rule limit or guardrail held the value in place. Open the tooltip for the remaining reasons and examples.

To see what a rule would do at its next run without waiting for it, open Preview Changes.