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Amazon PPC: How Does it Work? – Part 1

Amazon PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising model has become a very powerful marketing tool to give Amazon seller’s products the visibility they need to achieve their PPC goals and increase their sales. However, every year Amazon grows and so does the number of people leveraging Amazon PPC’s potential, so it’s important to plan ahead to take the most advantage out of it. Here, we’ll talk about the basics of Amazon PPC and what you need to know to get started.

amazon ppc explained

Amazon PPC is an advertising model in which advertisers pay a fee to Amazon when a shopper clicks on their ad (pay-per-click). There are 3 Amazon ad types available: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display Ads. The latter is a new and extended version of the former Product Display ads – PDAs.

types of ppc

Sponsored Products

Sponsored Product ads are the most common type of Amazon PPC ad. SP ads show on the search results page on Amazon. When a customer is looking for a product on Amazon, the first items in the list (and often the one that customers will look at and click on the most) are usually a Sponsored Product PPC ad.

amazon ppc

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Sponsored brands

Only available to Brand Registered sellers, Sponsored Brand ads show ads at the top of the search results, right below the search bar. It allows brands to promote a custom headline, brand logo, and up to 3 products.

amazon sponsored brands

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Sponsored Display

Sponsored Display ads are a more traditional internet ad in that they appear in various places on Amazon and their affiliate sites (remarketing).

amazon sponsored display

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how amazon ppc works

The process is similar for the different ad types, but to make it simple, we’re going to focus on Sponsored Products for now.

Ad placement is the process by which Amazon matches the search terms the customer types in the search bar with the keywords related to your product. When you set up an Amazon PPC Sponsored Product campaign, you’ll create Ad Groups in that campaign that you can assign product ASINs to.

You’ll then add keywords to that ad group that are relevant to your product and tell Amazon how much you’re willing to pay (your bid) if a user clicks on your product ad. Essentially, when those keywords match customer’s search terms and you win the bid auction, your product will show in the search results.

In the next blog, we’ll talk about the basics of building blocks of Amazon PPC. Key concepts, terminology, etc. that sellers need to know when starting out with Amazon Sponsored Ads.

Resources

Amazon PPC: The Ultimate Guide (2021 Update)

Everything You Need to Get Started with Amazon PPC

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