The yin and yang of Amazon PPC are two competing but balanced forces that operate within every Amazon campaign. We refer to them as expansion and optimization. Understanding how to optimize on Amazon requires mastering both of them.

In exchange for a higher ad spend, expansion increases clicks and conversions. When you concentrate on optimization, you get less clicks and conversions, but it’s simpler to keep a strict control on your spending. In the end, it’s a trade-off, and to expand your campaigns while stretching your budget, you need to find a balance between the two.

Here, we’re expecting that you have a clear idea of what you want your campaigns to achieve. If you haven’t done so already, spend some time writing a clear, well-defined goal for your Amazon PPC campaign.

Let’s explain Amazon PPC optimization and expansion, how they differ, and the typical strategies you would do for each, without further ado.

Amazon PPC Expansion

Expansion in Amazon PPC is exactly what it sounds like: you grow your campaigns by using more resources, which, if everything goes according to plan, should result in more sales and momentum.

Examining the range of your account and all of its campaigns to see if anything is missing is one activity for Amazon PPC expansion. Checking your search term report is the time-tested approach to taking this action. From there, you may determine where to promote, develop new campaigns, or focus even more on your top earners. Because you base your Amazon PPC expansion choices on actionable facts, this is regarded as the greatest and simplest approach to expand.

When completing your portfolio with the missing pieces, you have two options. 
You may either build on what you already have and grab any latent potential there, or you can experiment with whole different ad types, targeting approaches, etc.
Right now, Sponsored Display is probably the simplest win. It is underused by most sellers, and it allows for remarketing to buyers nearly anywhere they go on the Internet as opposed to only on Amazon. Consider experimenting with Sponsored Display if your account is ready. If not, make sure to use all of the available campaign and targeting options in your Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands skilltree before moving on to the following ad type.
Amazon PPC Expansion Budgeting

Perhaps it’s time to boost the ad budget ceiling a little bit if your campaigns are succeeding but are frequently running into it. By increasing that budget, you enable your already successful campaigns to generate even more revenue. Additionally, you gain access to additional useful data.

If your advertisement just allows for one click, you have essentially wasted your money since you have no useful information as a result of that click. Your reports do a better job of capturing an ad’s actual efficacy the more clicks, conversions, and impressions it receives.

Having saying that, always make modest changes to your finances. You can end up with a lot more ad spend than you anticipated if you push the gas pedal and let your campaigns run wild.

Bid Optimization in the Expansion Style

When click volume is the main consideration, bid optimization is an activity for Amazon PPC expansion. Try increasing your bids on your A-list keywords to see if you can attract even more orders if you are under your target ACOS at the keyword or ad group level.

Even though not all keywords fall into this category, there are some that, given a second shot, can perform far better than they did the first time around. Consider using those keywords again if your listings have undergone major modifications since you last used them, such as better listing optimization or more reviews. They might have simply required the ideal circumstances in order to shine.

Contrary to popular belief, adding new keywords to your campaigns is not an optimization activity because it costs more money. Instead, it is an expansion activity.

Increase your testing by incorporating more keywords and keyword testing if your entire campaign is performing below its target ACOS. For finding new all-star keywords while maintaining a manageable ACOS, we advise using our RPSB method.

Make all of your bid adjustments incrementally, just like you would with budget adjustments. You may determine the precise bids for your keywords that produce the best ROI by doing this. The same principles apply when including more keywords. Select only the top 10 to 100 results from a keyword research tool that returns 1,000 possible keywords.

Amazon PPC Optimization

The most straightforward way to explain how Amazon PPC optimization is different from growth is that its primary focus is on subtraction rather than addition. When you have keywords or targets that didn’t respond well to expansion-style tactics or when you’re above your target ACOS, you should prefer optimization-based tactics.

Focusing on Amazon PPC optimization will turn your focus away from what is missing also on what isn’t working. Perhaps you have some targets or ad groups that use an excessively significant amount of your overall ad budget compared to the outcomes they produce. Another example is if a product simply doesn’t work well with a particular ad kind. In any event, now is the time to make savings in order to reduce your ACOS and save money on advertising.

Lowering Bid Optimization using ACOS

When bid optimization is carried out after exceeding the desired ACOS, it is frequently seen as an optimization activity. To return to that target ACOS, you want to gradually drop your bids. Throughout the process, you can even discover that some ads would do considerably better with lower bids in the rest of the search!

You will observe that as your bids drop, so do your clicks. It’s ideal to get more clicks and conversions for every dollar spent on advertising. For example, if you gradually reduce your budget from $100 to $50, you will succeed if you reduce your clickthrough rate from 80 to 50.

Negative and Pause-Based Amazon PPC Optimization

Finding and collecting negative keywords and negative targets is another Amazon PPC optimization task that almost every Amazon seller takes. The simplest way to reduce unnecessary ad spend is frequently by scanning your search term report for unwanted search phrases and adding them as negative keywords. You may direct part of that money toward your top performers to obtain more conversions for less money and have more control over where your ad spend is going.

Another well-liked method of Amazon PPC optimization is to pause inefficient ad spending. Put problematic keywords and targets totally on hold, or reduce their bids as much as you can until you can return to them.

Remember that it might not be the greatest idea to pause a term that has only received one or a few clicks. Before stopping a keyword or search phrase or adding it as a negative, you need to have enough information about it.

Combining Amazon PPC Expansion and Optimization

Maintaining a synergistic relationship between the two is essential for maximizing Amazon PPC optimization and growth. Certainly, it’s a phrase that has been overused in the business world, but bear with us.

It is simple to carry out growth activities in some ad groups while simultaneously carrying out optimization tasks in other ad groups. You should always be expanding and optimizing to some degree, and you should be aware of which one you’re doing and why.

The objective is to gradually expand or optimize things rather than making dramatic, abrupt alterations. This will eventually form a kind of cycle where you optimize a little, then grow a little, and so on. By doing this, you can continue to develop and take advantage of new opportunities while staying as close as possible to your target ACOS.

Certain circumstances might call for a stronger emphasis on one side over another. For example, when launching a new product, you should focus on expansion to give it the necessary head start. On the other side, you will normally favor optimization for your consistently successful products. You can still gain from carrying out both kinds of activity in these situations.

Key Takeaways

It only tells half the story to say that optimizing and sustaining your Amazon PPC ads is “optimization.” Actually, it’s a delicate balancing act between expansion and optimization.

Spending more money on Amazon PPC expansion will result in higher benefits. You examine your campaigns during expansion to determine what is lacking. Adding additional keywords to your campaigns, increasing bids and budget limits, and testing different ad formats or bidding tactics are all common expansion tasks.

On the other side, Amazon PPC optimization takes a more cautious strategy, reducing clicks and conversions in order to conserve money. Adding negatives, setting or tightening budget constraints, and dropping bids when a campaign exceeds its goal ACOS are actions that are typical of optimization in Amazon PPC.

Ideally, you will be utilizing both expansion and optimization techniques simultaneously. To stay at the goal ACOS of your campaign, make little adjustments to your optimization and expansion strategies over time, almost like a course correction. You could lean more one way than the other in certain circumstances, but striking a balance between the two is crucial.

Make sure you have enough information to make a well-informed decision for both, make all adjustments gradually, and keep an eye on your most crucial metrics.

Now strike a balance between your optimization and growth efforts to master Amazon PPC!