Amazon Ranking Campaigns: How to Get Results with PPC

Your new product launch is stalled. You’re trying to boost organic rankings, but your Amazon PPC campaigns aren’t delivering. You’re throwing money at ads, but you’re not seeing the sales lift you expected.

This is a common frustration for Amazon sellers, especially when trying to break into competitive niches. The good news is that with the right strategy, PPC can be a powerful tool for ranking your products.

In this article, we’ll break down how to run effective ranking campaigns on Amazon, focusing on the strategies that actually drive results. We’ll cover keyword research, campaign structure, bidding tactics, and more. Let’s dive in.

Why Amazon PPC Ranking Campaigns Matter

Most sellers think of PPC primarily as a sales driver. But the reality is, well-executed PPC campaigns can also significantly improve your organic rankings on Amazon. Here’s why that matters:

• Increased Visibility: Higher organic rankings mean more shoppers see your product when they search for relevant keywords.
• Higher Sales Velocity: As your product climbs the rankings, increased visibility leads to more sales.
• Reduced Long-Term Ad Spend: Once your product ranks organically, you can often reduce your reliance on paid ads.

Think of PPC ranking campaigns as an investment. You’re front-loading ad spend to achieve long-term organic growth.

Step 1: Perform Keyword Research for Ranking

You need to identify the right keywords to target. This is the foundation of any successful ranking campaign. Here’s how to approach it:

Focus on High-Intent Keywords

Don’t just target broad, generic terms. Instead, focus on keywords that indicate a strong purchase intent. For example, instead of “coffee maker,” target “best automatic drip coffee maker with grinder.”

These longer, more specific keywords (also known as long-tail keywords) tend to have lower competition and higher conversion rates.

Use Amazon’s Search Suggest Feature

Start typing your product’s main keyword into the Amazon search bar. Amazon will suggest related terms that shoppers are actually searching for. These are great candidates for your ranking campaign.

Analyze Competitor Listings

Take a look at the top-ranking products in your category. What keywords are they using in their titles, bullet points, and descriptions? You can use tools like Helium 10 or Jungle Scout to extract this data.

Step 2: Structure Your Amazon PPC Campaigns for Ranking

The way you structure your campaigns significantly impacts their effectiveness. Here’s a proven approach:

Create Separate Campaigns for Ranking

Don’t mix ranking campaigns with your regular sales-focused campaigns. This allows you to allocate budget and optimize bids specifically for ranking purposes.

Use a Tiered Keyword Structure

Group your keywords into tiers based on their relevance and search volume:

• Tier 1: High-volume, highly relevant keywords (e.g., “automatic drip coffee maker”)
• Tier 2: Medium-volume, more specific keywords (e.g., “automatic drip coffee maker with thermal carafe”)
• Tier 3: Low-volume, long-tail keywords (e.g., “best automatic drip coffee maker for small apartments”)

Create a separate campaign for each tier. This gives you granular control over your bids and budget allocation.

Step 3: Optimize Your Bidding Strategy for Ranking

Bidding is where many sellers go wrong. They either bid too low and don’t get enough impressions, or they bid too high and waste money. Here’s how to strike the right balance:

Start with Aggressive Bids

Initially, you need to be aggressive to get your ads seen and start driving sales. Don’t be afraid to bid higher than the suggested bid range. The goal is to get your product on page one for your target keywords.

Monitor Your ACOS Closely

Keep a close eye on your ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sale). If your ACOS is too high (e.g., above 50-60%), gradually reduce your bids until you find a profitable level.

Use Manual Bidding

Avoid smart bidding algorithms, at least initially. Manual bidding gives you more control over your bids and allows you to react quickly to changes in performance.

Leverage AdLabs’ Bid Automation

Once you’ve established a baseline, consider using AdLabs’ advanced bid automation features to optimize your bids at scale. AdLabs helps you achieve campaign group goals while allowing you to remain in control. This is how one of our clients, Scott H. brought TACOS down significantly while sales were now happening across their entire catalog.

Step 4: Continuously Monitor and Optimize

Ranking campaigns require ongoing monitoring and optimization. Don’t just set them and forget them.

Track Your Keyword Rankings

Use a tool like Helium 10 or Jungle Scout to track your organic keyword rankings over time. This will tell you whether your campaigns are actually working.

Analyze Your Search Term Reports

Regularly analyze your search term reports to identify high-converting keywords and negative keywords. Add the high-converting terms as exact match keywords and negate the irrelevant terms to improve your campaign performance. One AdLabs user loves the search term analysis tool and negating terms directly from the interface.

Adjust Your Bids Based on Performance

Continuously adjust your bids based on your ACOS and ranking data. If a keyword is performing well, increase your bid to capture more traffic. If a keyword is underperforming, decrease your bid or pause it altogether.

Real Example: Ranking a New Coffee Maker

Let’s say you’re launching a new automatic drip coffee maker. Here’s how you might implement these strategies:

1. Keyword Research: You identify the following keywords: “automatic drip coffee maker,” “best coffee maker,” “coffee maker with grinder,” and “small coffee maker.”
2. Campaign Structure: You create four separate campaigns, one for each keyword.
3. Bidding: You start with aggressive bids (e.g., $1.50 – $2.00 per click) for each keyword.
4. Monitoring: You track your keyword rankings daily and monitor your ACOS closely.
5. Optimization: After two weeks, you analyze your data and adjust your bids accordingly. You also identify several negative keywords (e.g., “used,” “cheap”) and add them to your campaigns.

After 60 days, you see a significant improvement in your organic rankings for your target keywords, and your sales have increased by 20%.

Conclusion

Running effective ranking campaigns on Amazon requires a strategic approach and a willingness to invest in the long term. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can improve your organic rankings, drive more sales, and reduce your reliance on paid advertising. Consider using AdLabs software to give you the speed of bid automation towards campaign group goals while allowing you to remain in control so each campaign aligns with your goals.

Remember, PPC is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay patient, stay persistent, and you’ll see results.

This article is based on Episode 102 of That Amazon Ads Podcast. Subscribe for weekly Amazon PPC strategies.