Amazon Product Targeting: Why Your Search Term Reports Hold the Key

Your Amazon product targeting campaigns aren’t performing as expected. You’re seeing irrelevant placements and wasted ad spend, even though you’ve carefully selected your target ASINs.

This is a common frustration for Amazon sellers. Many believe product targeting is a “set it and forget it” strategy. The reality is, you’re missing crucial insights hidden within your search term reports that can dramatically improve your product targeting performance.

In this article, we’ll reveal how to use search term reports to refine your product targeting, eliminate wasted spend, and boost sales. Let’s get started.

How Search Term Reports Unlock Product Targeting Success

Most sellers treat product targeting as separate from their keyword targeting. They analyze search term reports for keyword campaigns but neglect to apply those insights to product targeting.

Here’s the thing: Amazon’s algorithm learns from all your campaign data. Search term reports reveal exactly what customers are searching for before they click on your product ads, even on product pages. By analyzing these reports, you can uncover valuable insights to improve your product targeting strategy.

Understanding the Connection Between Search Terms and Product Targets

The first step is understanding how search terms relate to product targets. When a customer sees your ad on a product page, they likely searched for something specific before landing there.

Here’s what’s happening:

• Customer searches: A shopper enters a search term on Amazon.
• Amazon shows products: Amazon displays a list of relevant products, including sponsored ads.
• Customer clicks a product: The shopper clicks on a product, potentially yours.
• Customer views product page: They arrive on the product detail page of the product they clicked on (or another product via organic search).
• Your ad appears: Your product targeting ad shows on this product page.

The search term that led the customer to that product page holds valuable information. It tells you what the customer was actually looking for.

Analyzing Search Term Reports for Product Targeting Insights

Now, let’s look at how to analyze your search term reports for product targeting.

1. Identify High-Converting Search Terms

Start by identifying search terms that lead to conversions on your product pages through keyword targeting.

Here’s how:

• Download your search term report: Go to Amazon Seller Central, Advertising, Reports, and download a Sponsored Products search term report.
• Filter for converting search terms: Filter the report to show search terms with a high conversion rate (e.g., over 2%).
• Analyze relevant ASINs: Identify the ASINs of the products where these search terms led to conversions.

These ASINs are highly relevant to your product and should be prioritized in your product targeting campaigns.

2. Discover Irrelevant Search Terms

Just as important as finding good targets is identifying bad targets. Search term reports can reveal ASINs where your ads are showing but not converting.

Here’s how to find them:

• Filter for low-converting search terms: Filter your search term report to show search terms with low or zero conversions and high impressions.
• Identify irrelevant ASINs: Analyze the ASINs associated with these non-converting search terms.

These ASINs are likely irrelevant to your product and should be negated in your product targeting campaigns.

Example: You’re selling a premium leather wallet. Your search term report shows your ads are appearing on the product pages for cheap nylon wallets, but with a 0% conversion rate. Those nylon wallet ASINs should be immediately negated.

3. Uncover Unexpected Search Terms

Sometimes, search term reports reveal unexpected search terms that are converting well. These are opportunities to expand your product targeting strategy.

Here’s how to find them:

• Look for outliers: Scan your search term report for search terms that you wouldn’t have initially considered relevant to your product but are performing well.
• Analyze the associated ASINs: Investigate the ASINs where these unexpected search terms are converting.

These ASINs may represent untapped potential for your product targeting campaigns.

Example: You’re selling a coffee grinder. Your search term report reveals that “french press coffee maker” is converting well on a specific brand of French press. You could add that French press ASIN to your product targeting.

4. Apply Learnings to Your Product Targeting Campaigns

Once you’ve analyzed your search term reports, it’s time to apply those insights to your product targeting campaigns.

• Add high-converting ASINs: Add the ASINs associated with high-converting search terms to your product targeting campaigns.
• Negate irrelevant ASINs: Negate the ASINs associated with low-converting search terms to prevent wasted ad spend.
• Test new ASINs: Experiment with the ASINs associated with unexpected search terms to uncover new opportunities.

Important: Continuously monitor your search term reports and adjust your product targeting accordingly. Amazon’s algorithm is constantly evolving, so your strategy should too.

Real-World Example: Boosting Sales with Search Term Insights

Let’s look at a real-world example of how analyzing search term reports can improve product targeting.

A seller was running product targeting campaigns for a set of resistance bands. Their initial ACOS was around 35%, which was too high.

Here’s what they did:

• Analyzed their search term report: They discovered that their ads were appearing on the product pages for fitness DVDs, but with a low conversion rate.
• Negated irrelevant ASINs: They negated the ASINs of the fitness DVDs in their product targeting campaigns.
• Added relevant ASINs: They identified that search terms like “pull up assist bands” and “exercise bands for legs” were converting well on specific brands of pull-up bars and ankle weights. They added those ASINs to their targeting.

The result: Within 30 days, their ACOS dropped from 35% to 22%, and their sales increased by 15%.

Don’t Ignore Your Search Term Reports

Most sellers don’t realize the goldmine of information hidden within their search term reports. By using this data to refine your product targeting campaigns, you can reduce wasted ad spend, improve your ACOS, and boost your sales.

Ready to take control of your Amazon PPC?

Key Discussion Points from the Episode

Here are some of the most valuable insights Andrew and Stephen shared during the full episode discussion:

Almost exclusively those, those product targets in sponsored brands are going to search terms which would kind of make you believe. And we were just checking before this like we looked at that breakout between keywords and product targets being triggered and then we looked at a placement report, a sponsored brand placement report and saw that about the same amount of spend was spent at top of search for that same date range. So it could be indicative of placements and we could utilize some combinations of reporting search term report with a placement report to kind of gut check and get a gauge of, of how, how accurate that is and if it is indicative of the placements.

So stay tuned for that. We’ll definitely continue diving in and, and bringing you the latest. Yeah, also Andrew, I’m on the page of some competitor race and that apparently I’m, I’m targeting.

It’s like it’s not ne. It’s not super accurate to what we have, but it’s some scaffold tool holder and I’m getting lit up with display ads for vanilla pea protein for one of your clients. So you have some retard.

You must have some retargeting stuff going on there. Maybe. Is it, does it look good?

Shoot. Well, you work out, dude. You need some, you need some good protein from vanilla.

Keep it top of mind. Vanilla P Just doesn’t sound good though. By the way, I just recorded a lengthy tutorial video for how to bulk launch sponsor display retargeting campaigns using multiple different timeline look backs.

That’s exclusively for the Masterclass. I don’t know if we ever mentioned that before when we said that the Masterclass was out but if you get access to the Masterclass, you have lifetime access, including all additional content. We’re not done building the masterclass.

It will never be done. We’ll always be adding more content to it. So if you’re curious about how to bulk launch these sponsor display campaigns like what Andrew has going on here, even though he did it without my help.

Yeah, he didn’t need the tutorial. But, but that, that is in there. Just as a quick aside, but I, I get distracted here.

The. I, I do wonder. I’m not seeing any actual sponsored brand placements on this detail page in particular.

I was only seeing those sponsored display ads. So, so, but, but sponsored brands can appear. Oh, I’m seeing sponsored brand videos now.

This article is based on Episode 41 of That Amazon Ads Podcast. Subscribe for weekly Amazon PPC strategies.