Amazon PPC Optimization: A Comprehensive Guide

You’ve made a compelling Amazon PPC strategy and published it as well. Now you’re expecting it to perform in its full swing for at least 6 months. So, it’s time to burst the bubble as this won’t happen. Instead, the chances are very high that your campaign may crash or at least won’t generate your expected results. But even after an excellent execution, what’s setting behind? It’s the lack of Amazon PPC campaign optimization. What sets apart an outperforming campaign from an average one is continuous Amazon PPC optimization. How to do it in the right way? Let me tell you in this comprehensive guide. 

Understanding Amazon PPC Optimization 

If I simply put down what Amazon PPC optimization is, it’s the process that comes after the step of building Amazon PPC strategy and execution. It includes continuous refinement and strategic management of your Amazon advertising campaigns. If you are aiming for high-performing Amazon PPC campaigns, you can’t ignore this one. 

It’s because Amazon PPC optimization lets you have higher conversion rates in a designated budget. Here, you need to think beyond just tweaking budgets. Instead, you need to understand the complex factors like the A9 algorithm, keyword selection, ad types, and long-term profitability.

How to Do Amazon PPC Optimization? 

To fully understand how to optimize PPC campaigns on Amazon, you need to be clear on the basics first. So, here’s all that you need to know to understand the nits and grits of Amazon PPC campaign optimization. 

Types of Amazon PPC Campaigns

If you need to optimize your Amazon PPC campaigns like a pro, you need to be aware of the different types of Amazon PPC campaigns and what they are for. This will help you keep your budget focused on the one that can drive results for you. 

1. Sponsored Products

Looking for the most direct and efficient way to drive conversions? I highly advise you to go for the sponsored products type. They provide high visibility for your products as they appear within search results and product detail pages. 

Pros:

• Targeted traffic: These ads target the high-intent customers. So if the keyword targeting is on point, the chances of closing the deals are really high. 
• Granular control over targeting: You are allowed to use manual targeting (exact, broad, and phrase match) for highly specific keyword control.

Cons:

• Competitive CPC: They may suck up your budget due to high cost-per-click (CPC).
• Limited brand visibility: The product may get the traction but your brand won’t get noticed.

When to Use Sponsored Products? When you already have high-converting keywords or you want instant conversions.

2. Sponsored Brands

Want to step ahead of selling just your products and now looking up for your brand to be noticed? Sponsored brands are the ones for you. They have a more holistic ad format where your logo, headline, and multiple products are shown at the top of search results. 

Pros:

• Brand awareness: If you want to invest in your branding, they are best for the brand’s visibility and long-term growth. 
• Customizable creatives: Can customize your headlines and the showcased product yourself. 

Cons:

• Higher cost: Might be pricier on pocket as these ads tend to have a higher CPC due to their premium placement.
• Indirect conversion focus: While excellent for brand recognition, Sponsored Brands may not generate the immediate sales that Sponsored Products can drive.

When to Use Sponsored Brands? Use them for positioning your brand as an authority.

3. Sponsored Display

Most customers don’t convert right away. But a bit of retargeting can substantially boost up your conversion rates. Cropink says that retargeting can increase the conversion rates up to 150%. This is exactly what sponsored display is for. With this, you can retarget the customers who have already interacted with your product, either by viewing it or adding it to their cart.

Pros:

• Retargeting potential: Remarketing boosts conversion rates by targeting users who have shown interest.
• Off-Amazon reach: You can extend the reach of your ads beyond Amazon to external websites.

Cons:

• Less targeted: You can’t control where your ads show up off-Amazon. Sometimes the placement can be really irrelevant.
• Longer customer journey: The impact of Sponsored Display ads may not be immediate but over a longer customer cycle.

When to Use Sponsored Display? Ideal for remarketing to customers who have viewed your products but didn’t purchase.

Advanced Keyword Structuring and Organization

Keyword organization and structuring are core to Amazon PPC optimization. You need to align your keywords with buyer intent and organize them effectively for a highly targeted, cost-efficient PPC campaign.

1. Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs)

SKAGs (Single Keyword Ad Groups) are an advanced strategy where you create an ad group for each individual keyword. This ensures maximum relevance and also gives you control over bid adjustments. As they are highly relevant, they give a better CTR and lower CPC. But the CPC may increase if the niche is saturated. However, you need to monitor them continuously. 

2. Broad vs. Exact Match: Which One to Choose? 

The choice of broad and exact match keywords directly influences the performance of your PPC campaigns. So, below I’m listing all the pros and cons that can help you select which aligns with your use case. 

Match Type	Best Use Case	Advantages	Challenges
Broad Match	For broad targeting and mining out the high-converting keywords.	Higher reach	Irrelevant clicks
Exact Match	For high-converting, low-competition keywords.	Lower CPC	Limited reach

3. Negative Keywords

Don’t want to spend any of your money on irrelevant search terms? You need to follow a negative keyword strategy for that. In it, you exclude the irrelevant search terms to keep your PPC campaign only focused on the right terms. By doing so, ads will only show for truly relevant searches and give you a better CTR and low ACoS. 

Advanced Bid Strategies and Adjustments

After optimizing the campaign structure and keywords, then comes the part of Amazon PPC bid optimization. Amazon has dynamic bidding options and utilizing them smartly lets you perform even in a competitive market. 

1. Dynamic Bidding- Up and Down

Amazon’s dynamic bidding allows you to adjust your bids in real-time. You can increase the bids if there’s any likelihood of a conversion is high and decrease them when it’s low. They are best for high-converting keywords and help you achieve the maximum ROI.

2. Bid+ and Custom Bidding

Bid+ and custom bidding strategies give you control over placement and device-based bidding. What does this simply mean? Next level optimization. 

Bidding	When to Use	Advantages	Challenges
Bid+	To increase bids for top-of-search placements.	Drives top placement for high-converting keywords.	Higher CPC
Custom Bidding	For detailed control over ad placement and devices.	Allows you to customize bids by device, placement, or keyword type.	Not so very instant results

Pro Tip: 
“Use Bid+ for your top-performing keywords to secure prime placement at the top of search results. Use custom bidding for specific devices or placements to optimize cost-efficiency.”

Campaign Segmentation for Better Precision

In Amazon PPC campaign optimization, proper campaign segmentation is crucial. It makes sure the proper and efficient allocation of budget. Here’s how to do it: 

Segmentation Strategy	When to Use	Benefits	Challenges
By Product	For a diverse product portfolio.	Targeted ads	Requires multiple campaigns to manage
By Audience	Based on customer behavior (e.g., repeat customers, first-time buyers).	High relevancy	Requires detailed customer segmentation data
By Geography	If different regions or countries show varying performance.	Geographic focus	Requires constant analysis of regional performance.

The Amazon PPC Optimization Checklist for Advanced Sellers

By now, you must be clear on what Amazon PPC optimization covers which areas. But for your convenience, I am sharing an Amazon PPC optimization checklist to make this Amazon PPC complete guide for optimization more comprehensive.

Tools and Softwares for Amazon PPC Campaign Optimization 

1. Helium 10

The most popular one among the Amazon sellers, Helium 10 is specifically designed for Amazon PPC campaign optimization. Be it keyword research, bids management, or scaling Amazon PPC campaigns, it does everything and I personally use this one the most. 

2. Sellics

Sellics is an all-in-one tool that provides Amazon PPC optimization alongside other e-commerce management features. This is basically for the Amazon sellers working on a large scale and looking for a comprehensive Amazon PPC optimization service. It comes with powerful automations that streamline the overall optimization. I would suggest you have this one if you’re planning to scale. 

3. Teikametrics

Teikametrics is an advanced Amazon advertising automation platform that seeks help from machine learning and data analysis for the Amazon PPC campaign optimization. It is Ideal for scaling campaigns, especially if you’re managing multiple products and need advanced bid automation and optimization.

4. PPC Entourage

PPC Entourage is a specialized tool for Amazon sellers focused specifically on PPC campaign optimization and cost-efficiency. A simple yet effective tool for smaller to medium-sized Amazon sellers, focusing on cost reduction and performance tracking.

5. Bid Automation by XpertSea

Vouching for maximum profitability but within a budget? XpertSea is the solution. It automates bid strategies for Amazon PPC and ensures your campaigns stay within budget. Specially for the sellers who are looking for excellent bid management automation that requires little to no manual intervention, XpertSea is the best one.  

6. Amazon Campaign Manager (Amazon’s Built-in Tool)

Amazon’s own Campaign Manager provides direct access to your PPC ads and Campaign Insights. Ideal for new Amazon sellers who are getting started with PPC campaigns and don’t need overly complex tools. It’s a great starting point for basic Amazon PPC campaign optimization.

Final Words 

Concisely, an Amazon PPC campaign which is not optimized may generate temporary results for you but it can never become a revenue generating engine. So, you need to be really vigilant with Amazon PPC campaign optimization to make the most of your Amazon PPC budget. Include the regular monitoring and tweaking a part of your routine, identify the issues, and resolve them firsthand before they become an elephant in the room. 

The above Amazon PPC optimization checklist, tools and the concepts are the comprehensive guide for Amazon PPC guide for optimization. However, if you find yourself still falling behind, my team and I at AMZDUDES, an Amazon PPC optimization agency, are more than happy to assist. Book a free consultation call right now and let us identify the areas that need to be optimized. 

FAQs

Q1: What is Amazon PPC optimization and why is it necessary?
Amazon PPC optimization is all about refining the campaigns continuously in order to improve performance. It’s necessary for maximum and consistent ROI.  

Q2: How do I choose the right type of Amazon PPC campaign for optimization?
Use Sponsored Products for conversions, Sponsored Brands for brand awareness, and Sponsored Display for retargeting.

Q3: What are Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) and why should I use them?
SKAGs focus on one keyword per ad group, improving relevance, CTR, and CPC. It helps with better control and optimization.

Q4: How should I use bid strategies for Amazon PPC optimization?
Use dynamic bidding for high-converting keywords, Bid+ for top placements, and custom bidding for specific devices and placements.

Q5: What are the best tools for Amazon PPC optimization?

• PPC Entourage
• Helium 10
• Sellics
• Teikametrics