Ad Structure for Amazon PPC

Part 3 of 11 – This is the third part of a multi-step guide on how to succeed with Amazon ads. In this third part, I will go over how to set up structures for your ads. This is crucial to achieve the most optimal results from your campaigns.

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Now I’m going to explain how you should structure your ads to achieve maximum results. I will start with the Sponsored Products ad type. Then, I will also cover how to structure the other ad types. Structures might seem boring, but they are directly critical to the success of your ads. The structure is far more important than most people realize. Without a good structure, it’s impossible to succeed with your ads. Why? Because without a solid structure, you won’t be able to use Amazon’s different ad types and match types effectively, and if you can’t use them effectively, your competitors will outpace you.

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1. What Are the Goals of a Campaign Structure?

The structure we will set up will allow us to accomplish two main tasks. One part will focus on discovering new high-converting keywords, and the other part will focus on squeezing as much sales as possible out of the best keywords. I call these different parts Explore and Winner.

1. Explore - Keywords are tricky, and you never know which ones will convert well until you test them. Therefore, part of your ads will be structured to discover new high-converting keywords. These ads are not intended to generate large profits. Instead, they are meant to find the best keywords for the future. These keywords are invaluable and will then be moved over to your other section, Winner.
2. Winner - Once you’ve found keywords that convert, it’s important to continue using those keywords to maximize your sales. Some keywords can, of course, be included here from the start, such as those strongly tied to your brand. The keywords you include in this part of your structure have a history of converting well, so you can confidently invest more in them.

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2. What Campaigns Make Up the Different Parts?

The campaign structure I recommend is based on using certain campaigns to explore new keywords (Explore) and others to drive in the profits (Winner). But what really distinguishes these campaigns? The answer is match types.

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Match types are something that is technically set at the keyword level. This means that campaigns can contain keywords with various match types. But you don’t want it that way. Instead, you will want to separate the keywords and place all keywords with a specific match type in a specific campaign. As you’ll remember from previous posts, we have match types like Broad, Exact, and Product, and these will be separated. You’ll have a campaign with only Broad match type, one with only Product, and a campaign with only Exact match type. You will also have a campaign of the Auto type.

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3. What Campaigns Will You Use?

Remember, I’m now focusing on the Sponsored Products ad type. More information on the other ad types will come later. These are the campaigns you will want to use:

• Auto Campaign (Explore) - This is an essential part of every advertiser’s campaign structure. Auto campaigns are the best and easiest way to find new keywords that convert. Auto campaigns have no match type, and it’s really just a matter of getting started and efficiently collecting keywords. Since Amazon itself finds the keywords with Auto campaigns, these ads will bring out new keywords that convert and that you probably never thought of.
• Broad Match Campaign (Explore) - In this campaign, you will only include keywords with the Broad match type. This is another way for you to find even more winning keywords. You start here with keywords that you guess will convert well for various reasons and can use these to find even more keywords for your Winner campaigns.
• Exact Match Campaign (Winner) - This is your money tree and where you reap the profits. This campaign contains only keywords with Exact match, and you will fill it with keywords that you already know convert well.
• Product Targeting Campaign (Winner) - Since Amazon allows us to advertise on other product pages, we also want a campaign for that. Targeting type, as we discussed before, is set at the AdGroup level, so we could have a campaign with both Exact match and Product targeting. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I prefer to separate them into different campaigns. So, you’ll have an Exact match campaign, as mentioned above, but you’ll also have a separate one for Product targeting.

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4. One Campaign and Portfolio Per Product Category

Okay, so you’ll want four different campaigns. But are these all the ads you need? No. These are the ads you need for a specific product category. You’ll want to repeat this ad structure with four campaigns for each product category you sell in.

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What do I consider a product category? I’m mainly thinking of products that could be advertised with the same keywords. For example, if you sell bike helmets and skateboard helmets, there’s a good chance you’ll want to advertise for the same keywords in some cases. For example, “Blue helmet” or “Helmet for kids.” If, on the other hand, you sell skateboard helmets and skateboards, this is probably not the case. You will separate all individual products into AdGroups later, so this step isn’t crucial for performance. It’s mainly about making it clear for yourself.

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Example of a Product Category

If Apple were to advertise its products on Amazon, I would use a categorization similar to the one below. Each category would have four campaigns, and all products within those categories would be placed in their respective campaigns. The categories would likely be:

• iPhone
• Laptops
• iPad
• Desktop Computers
• Watches
• Headphones

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5. When Should You Use a Portfolio?

I suggest creating a portfolio for each product category and group of campaigns. This is not a requirement, and it won’t affect the results. But it gives you, as an advertiser, structure, and you’ll find it easier to navigate your ad account. So, if we take the example of Apple above, I would recommend creating a Portfolio for each product category listed above. If your company has many product categories, you can also group them into broader portfolios (but this shouldn’t affect the campaigns).

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6. One AdGroup Per Product

Okay, so we have the campaigns, but now let’s go a step further down the hierarchy and structure your AdGroups. The principle here is very simple. Each product (SKU) should have its own AdGroup in each campaign that the product belongs to.

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This means that if you have a product, for example, a blue bike helmet, you should have an AdGroup for this product in its product category’s Auto, Broad, Exact, and Product campaigns. If you have multiple products, whether they are just color variations or have more significant differences, each product should have its own AdGroup.

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Why One AdGroup Per Product?

The reason you want to use one product per AdGroup is to give you maximum control and precision. If you were to have multiple products per AdGroup, you wouldn’t be able to track results or assign keywords to specific products. You wouldn’t know which keyword generated a sale for which product. But by dividing each product into its own AdGroup, you know this, and you also know exactly how much the clicks cost, the conversion rate, etc.

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Additionally, the precision of your ads can suffer if you don’t make this division at the AdGroup level. Suppose you sell t-shirts in two different colors, purple and white. If you then include the keywords and products in the same campaign, you won’t be able to control which product is shown for which keywords. If a customer searches for “Purple t-shirt” and you have that keyword in your campaign, the result might be that you advertise the white t-shirt for a keyword that is clearly intended for the purple t-shirt. But if you have each product in its own AdGroup, you can avoid this and achieve maximum results.

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Exception

If you sell products that come in variations where there is no obvious or only a very slight difference between the products, you can group these in the same AdGroup. Examples of this are size variations of t-shirts and shoes. In these cases, the size doesn’t affect the product’s function or use, and the keywords will almost always be the same.

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7. Sponsored Products Campaign with a Focus on Branding (Only for Established Brands)

Now we’ve covered the main campaign structure. But there’s one part I haven’t covered, and that’s campaigns focused on branding. This is particularly relevant for brands with an established following. Brands that have successfully built awareness among their target audience.

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Take Nike, for example. They have plenty of products, and customers might search for specific products. But they also search for more general brand terms, like “Nike,” “Nike news,” “Nike deals,” etc. These keywords don’t fit into product category campaigns but apply to all of Nike’s products.

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Therefore, it can be useful to set up a campaign with two AdGroups. One will use Broad match keywords, and the other will use Exact match keywords. Both AdGroups will include all of the brand’s products, and you’ll fill them with general brand terms. You can also create temporary campaigns that target new arrivals or special offers. Here, it’s important to analyze the products and the keywords customers use to understand patterns and tailor your ad strategy accordingly.

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Brands with Greater Needs

In some unique cases, brands should set up an even more detailed structure for their branding ads. This is especially true for brands that focus on a specific product category, such as watches, headphones, or shoes, where customers primarily search for the brand. Examples of this are Rolex, Beats by Dre, and Ugg.

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In these cases, a more in-depth analysis of the brand should be conducted, and the ad structure adjusted accordingly. I recommend consulting with an agency or an expert you can trust.

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But What About Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display?

I’ve now covered how to structure Sponsored Products ads, but I haven’t touched on Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display. The reason for this is that they will be structured quite differently, and I recommend starting with Sponsored Products campaigns. However, I will, of course, cover the other ad types as well, but that will come later in this guide. For now, I want to dive into how you actually set up the ads in the next part of the series.

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How Do You Set Up Ads?

Structure is crucial, and now you know what it should look like. In the next part, I’ll go over how to actually set up the ads. Don’t miss it!