Single Keyword Campaigns in Amazon PPC: Are They Still Worth It?

Your Amazon PPC strategy isn’t delivering the results you need. You’re spending hours tweaking bids and organizing campaigns, but your ACOS is still too high. One common strategy you might have heard about is single keyword campaigns (SKCs). But are they still effective in today’s Amazon landscape?

Many Amazon sellers swear by SKCs, while others find them outdated and inefficient. In this article, we’ll dive into the pros and cons of single keyword campaigns, explore when they might be useful, and discuss alternative strategies that could be a better fit for your business. Let’s get started.

What are Single Keyword Campaigns (SKCs)?

A single keyword campaign, or SKC, is exactly what it sounds like: a campaign targeting only one keyword. The idea is to give that specific keyword maximum control and budget, allowing you to precisely manage bids and track performance.

Here’s what’s happening: SKCs were popular in the early days of Amazon PPC when campaign structures were more rigid. Sellers believed that by isolating keywords, they could achieve better control over ad placement and ACOS.

The Arguments For Single Keyword Campaigns

So, why did sellers use SKCs in the first place? Here are some of the key arguments in their favor:

• Precise Control: SKCs allow for granular control over bids, enabling you to optimize for specific keyword performance.
• Targeted Ad Copy: You can create ad copy tailored to the single keyword, potentially improving click-through rates and conversion rates.
• Clear Performance Tracking: It’s easy to track the performance of a single keyword without being diluted by other keywords in the campaign.

Let’s look at a real example: A seller selling “organic dog treats” could create an SKC specifically for that keyword. They could then write ad copy highlighting the organic nature of the treats and closely monitor the campaign’s performance.

The Arguments Against Single Keyword Campaigns

While SKCs offer some advantages, they also have significant drawbacks in today’s Amazon PPC environment:

• Management Overhead: Creating and managing numerous SKCs can be incredibly time-consuming, especially for large catalogs.
• Data Fragmentation: Spreading keywords across multiple campaigns can dilute your data, making it harder to identify trends and optimize effectively.
• Algorithm Limitations: Amazon’s algorithm has become more sophisticated, making SKCs less necessary for achieving optimal performance.
• Wasted Budget: If a keyword doesn’t perform well in its own SKC, you might waste budget on it instead of allocating it to more profitable keywords.

The reality is, managing hundreds of SKCs can quickly become overwhelming, especially when you need to make changes to multiple campaigns frequently.

When Might SKCs Still Be Useful?

Despite their limitations, SKCs can still be useful in specific situations:

• High-Value Keywords: If you have a keyword that drives a significant portion of your sales, an SKC might be justified to ensure it gets maximum attention.
• Troubleshooting Performance: If a keyword is underperforming in a broader campaign, isolating it in an SKC can help you diagnose the issue.
• Testing New Products: When launching a new product, an SKC can help you quickly assess the performance of specific keywords.

Let me break this down: If you’re launching a new line of “keto protein bars,” you might create an SKC for that keyword to see how it performs before incorporating it into broader campaigns.

A More Efficient Alternative: Tightly Themed Campaigns

Instead of relying solely on SKCs, consider using tightly themed campaigns. These campaigns group related keywords together, allowing Amazon’s algorithm to optimize more effectively while still providing a reasonable level of control.

Here’s how to fix it: Group keywords based on product type, feature, or customer intent. For example, a campaign for “running shoes” could include keywords like “best running shoes,” “trail running shoes,” and “men’s running shoes.”

• Reduced Management Overhead: Managing fewer, more comprehensive campaigns saves time and effort.
• Improved Data Analysis: Consolidating data makes it easier to identify trends and optimize bids effectively.
• Algorithm Optimization: Tightly themed campaigns give Amazon’s algorithm more flexibility to find the best placements and bids.

Most sellers don’t realize that Amazon’s algorithm is designed to optimize campaigns based on a variety of factors, not just individual keywords.

Real-World Results with Tightly Themed Campaigns

We implemented tightly themed campaigns for a client selling kitchen gadgets. By grouping related keywords into fewer campaigns, we saw a 15% reduction in ACOS and a 20% increase in sales within 60 days.

Here’s why that matters: Tightly themed campaigns allow you to scale your Amazon PPC efforts without getting bogged down in the complexities of managing hundreds of individual SKCs.

Make the Right Choice For Your Business

Single keyword campaigns can offer precise control, but they often come at the cost of increased management overhead and data fragmentation. Tightly themed campaigns offer a more efficient and scalable alternative for most Amazon sellers.

The key takeaway is to choose a strategy that aligns with your specific goals and resources. If you’re struggling to manage your Amazon PPC campaigns effectively, consider exploring tightly themed campaigns or partnering with a specialized PPC management solution like AdLabs. Our clients see significant improvements in ACOS and sales while saving time and effort. As Scott H. said in their 5-star review: “TACOS is down significantly while sales are now happening across our entire catalog.”

Key Discussion Points from the Episode

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

I had a question for you, Elizabeth, based on your experience with the agency, because I think what you mentioned must be hard for very many agencies where, you know, you might want to push on certain keywords that makes them, quote, unquote, unprofitable. Right. But they, they serve pushing the product up and you’re looking at target, sorry, take costs instead.

But those conversations must be really tough because, you know, they just got to look at the, the numbers of, from the ad reports and be nervous. I’d like to jump in with two with A question for Keith here. So on that topic of the low data problem, I have a little bit of a two pronged question here.

Number one, and you started talking about this a little bit at the very beginning, but about the keyword harvesting and how that actually works, how that actually looks like. Because in traditional best practices at least what’s the most popular method is, you know, you have your auto campaign or that’s, that’s doing a bunch of research. You’re a.

No auto campaign ever, Keith? Yeah, we seriously, Keith has so many really interesting ideas. We’re going to need to have you come on for a lot more debates or even just us, maybe just me and Andrew versus you on talk on some of these things.

But point being. Well, let me just try to add on the second part of the question. It’s also around that low data problem and harvesting potentially lower search volume keywords.

Keywords that only get searched or one click like a month. Do you have criteria for what? Do you have any kind of threshold or cutoff?

What’s your, what’s your single keyword only harvesting criteria? And then also how, if you could speak a little more detail into how do you try to bundle those problems for the keywords that only ever get one click a month.

This article is based on Episode 40 of That Amazon Ads Podcast. Subscribe for weekly Amazon PPC strategies.