By Nojus Latvinskas
June 13, 2023
Look at the metrics such as your CVR, and CTR, and compare them to your industry average.
Is it higher or lower? If it's significantly lower, do not even consider ranking on that keyword. You need to work on your listing and dial in every element that impacts conversions prior to launching a ranking campaign.
Target the keyword in an exact match since you want to limit your search queries to the exact keyword you are trying to rank for.
Some people might argue and tell that they would put in all match types to show up for as many variations of that keyword as possible. I have a different approach here.
Set a high bid. Obviously higher than the suggested bid. Set a ToS bid modifier of 30% or 50% right off the bat at the campaign level.
Set a high daily budget. You can start of with $50 and then gradually increase when you see good results. How do you know if the strategy is working in your favor? Your organic position keeps improving week by week gauged by the listing moving up the search page.
Launch the campaign.
Upon doing that, ensure that your listing is showing up on top of the page (in the first 4 ad spots, above the fold).
Open up the "Incognito" tab as it clears any cache and shows you true information. Then head over to Amazon and look up the keyword by searching.
If your product appears in the first 4 ad spots, then you can proceed to the next steps. If it doesn't appear, increase your bid until your product is sure to stay there.
Open up the "Brand Metrics" tool within the advertising dashboard. Look at the category average CVR and then compare it to yours.
As you are running these campaigns, keep a close look at your CVR at the very beginning to check if your assumptions are true for selecting the right keyword to execute this strategy for. CVR is a great indicator as to whether you are likely to rank and solidify your listing on top of the page or the chances are actually slim.
If you see that it's considerably low, pause the campaign. You need to have been running it for 7 days before deciding on whether to pause it or let it run to gather enough data. The great theory of statistical significance.
You should be moving up the page from position 40, 20 to 11, 10, and 9, then drop back to 17, but see the positive trajectory trending toward the top of the page for that particular keyword.
Increase your budget if you can allow to spend more on the strategy to expand your sales volume and drive as much traffic as possible.
But only bump up the budget if CVR holds true. It should be somewhat similar or higher than your competition, or in other words said - your industry average.
Now every 4-7 days take a look at your ToS IS (top of search impression share).
If it's 30%, 50%, or 70%, there is room for improvement. You could be showing more on top of the page of all eligible impressions to be received from that keyword.
What do you do? You raise the bid for the keyword. A higher bid translates into more impressions which adds up to more exposure. This ultimately drives more traffic to your listing which results in more sales.
Also, go ahead and check your placements at a campaign level. If you see that either ToS or PPs are performing better, you can update your bid modifier to capitalize on each ad dollar and squeeze out that extra profitability juice.
We are not concerned here about profitability though! Looking at metrics such as ACOS, ROAS or CPA is a fallacy because this does not show the real impact of your ranking efforts.