Amazon’s ad business continues to grow at a steady clip, with the latest numbers reporting a 26% year-over-year growth for the e-tail giant.
While those numbers spell good news for Amazon, they translate into steeper competition for advertisers. As Amazon continues to eat into the ad revenue share of Google and Meta (formerly Facebook), advertisers must become ever savvier to keep ad spend low and meet (or surpass) their ROAS goals.
So, if you’re ready to win at Amazon ads this year, read on. Get ready to boost your Amazon sales with our ultimate Amazon ads checklist for 2024.
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Weekly Amazon Ads Checklist 2024
Keep your Amazon ad campaigns performing at a high level with these three essential steps. Repeat these steps on a weekly basis, if possible.
1. Remove negative keywords
On a weekly basis, download and review your Amazon Search Term Report. (You can find this report in Seller Central. Go to your Campaign Manager, and navigate to the Measurement & Reporting section.)
Once you have the Excel file, you can identify irrelevant keywords and add them as negative keywords to your campaign. For example, if you sell athleisure, you probably don’t want your ads showing when people are searching for formal wedding wear. You can find the negative keywords by reviewing the list and spotting any that are clearly irrelevant to your brand or products.
Once you’ve got your list of negative keywords, go back into Amazon and navigate to your ad group for the campaign. Click on “Add negative keywords” under negative targeting. Ensure “Negative exact” is selected, and copy and paste your list of negative keywords. Then click the “Add keywords” button.
2. Remove low-performing keywords
Removing irrelevant keywords from your campaign can help boost the relevancy, profitability, and click-through rates of your ads. Removing low-performing keywords can do the same thing.
To find these, sort your Excel file by click-through rate. Then, add keywords with a low click-through rate to your negative keywords list using the same steps above.
3. Optimize your bids based on ACOS
Advertising cost of sales, or ACOS for short, measures how cost-efficient your campaigns are. You can calculate it by dividing total ad spend by total ad sales, and multiplying by 100. You can optimize your spend by adjusting your bids based on ACOS, which is helpfully included as another column on the same Amazon Search Term Report.
You can sort your Excel file by the ACOS column. Determine a target ACOS for your campaign, and then adjust the bid accordingly for keywords. For keywords with the highest ACOS, reduce your bids to make your Amazon campaigns more profitable.
Monthly Amazon Ads Checklist 2024
The above three steps are the most important part of any Amazon ads checklist. But, there’s always more you can do to improve your Amazon ads in 2024. If possible, carve out time to review the following on a monthly or quarterly basis.
1. Optimize your product listings
In a way, advertising is a bit like a relay race. Your ads run the first leg of the race, before passing the baton on to your product listing. Once there, it’s up to your Amazon listing to capture the sale.
Regularly review your Amazon product listings to ensure that you have a keyword-rich title and product description that clearly lists the unique benefits and selling points of your product. Upload stellar product photos, answer questions, and generate new reviews for your products. Finally, do some research and see how your listings compare against your competitors.
2. Explore different ad types
Remember, there are three main types of ads you can use on Amazon:
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Display
Each of these has something to offer advertisers. Consider which ones will be most persuasive for your audience, and test your assumptions with ad campaigns.
3. Experiment with different targeting options
You can also experiment with different targeting options on Amazon. When you’re just getting started selling on Amazon, automatic targeting can do a lot of the work for you. With this targeting option, Amazon automatically targets keywords for your campaign based on your product type.
As you get more experience with Amazon advertising, you may want to look into manual targeting. With this targeting option, you can select between broad match, phrase match, and exact match keyword targeting. You can also choose to target keywords exclusively, or, you can target products instead. With product targeting, Amazon will display your ads on your competitors’ listing as related products.
Ready to supercharge your Amazon campaigns this year? Check off your 2024 Amazon ads checklist with Your Marketing People. Our Amazon advertising experts can review your existing campaigns and spin up new ones, ensuring you’re set up for success — and, even better, sales — in 2024.
