If you’re a seller or vendor on Amazon, a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategy is essential to your success. A great Amazon PPC strategy gets you in front of thousands of eyes via the search results page. More than that, it’s now imperative to have one in place to meet your sales goals and KPI’s.
If you’ve never had to put an Amazon PPC strategy together, and you don’t know where to start, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to helping you get started. Luckily, Amazon has made PPC a pretty seamless process on its platform. All you need are a few pointers.
What is Amazon PPC?
Amazon PPC is a form of advertising. You place ads on Amazon for your items and pay per click based on keywords you’ve selected. There are three different ways to attract clicks with PPC ads.
- Sponsored Products – This is essential when you want to promote a single product and use a list of keywords to ensure it shows up in those search results.
- Sponsored Brands – If you want your whole brand highlighted, this is the right zone for you. You can create a customized ad with your logo and a shop page.
- Product Display Ads – PDAs are available for vendors and use either the product itself or interests to target ads to shoppers.
Ad Appearance
Amazon ads appear in several places across the platform. They’re always in optimal locations that allow shoppers to see them easily and hopefully click through to your product or page.
Here’s where you can find each of these individual ads:
- Sponsored ads can appear in two locations:
- The search results page
- Amazon Product detail page
- Sponsored Brand Ads appear on the Amazon results page above the fold or in three various placements below the fold
- Product Display Ads below the “Add to Cart” button or in the right rail of search results
Your strategy and goals should help you determine which ad and placement will work best for you.
How does PPC work?
PPC is a cost-per-click advertising option. Generally, the highest bidder for a set of keywords will win the when and where of the advertising options.
Obviously, the highest bidder sits in the #1 ranked spot. Once you have that number one spot, you’re not charged unless someone clicks on it. From there, your winning bid amount is what you’ll be charged per click.
Clicks on Amazon range anywhere from $.02-$3 normally. However, it’s highly dependent on your category or subcategory.
Terms to Know
There are several terms to keep in mind as you start to put a strategy in place. They are:
- Targeting – Where you choose to target your ad based on keywords, ASIN, and categories
- Search Terms – The search based on what the customer types into Amazon
- Keyword Match Types – The degree of the match between the search and your keywords
- Negative Targeting – Keywords you exclude from your campaign
- Dynamic Bidding – Amazon will adjust your bid in real-time based on conversion estimations
- Adjust Bid Placement – Modify your bids to aim for top placements on Search or Product Detail pages
There’s a lot to know about developing an Amazon PPC strategy. With these facts in your mind, you can get started on a strategy that gets you clicks and buys.