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What are Amazon Sponsored Brands? Previously known as Amazon Headline Search Ads, these banner ads cater to the top of your advertising funnel. Used by ~38% of third-party Amazon sellers currently, these PPC ads display your brand logo, custom tagline, and multiple products at the top of Amazon search results. Amazon Sponsored Brands allow shoppers to find your products and boost your brand awareness. Once clicked, these ads send your prospects to your storefront or landing page and push them farther down the funnel. Who can Use Sponsored Brands? Amazon sellers having a verified Amazon Brand Registry account can use sponsored brand ads. Visible on both mobile and desktop, these increase brand visibility while promoting your products. How do Sponsored Brand Ads Work? We already mentioned that Sponsored Brand Ads are PPC (pay-per-click) ads that target keyword searches in a way similar to Sponsored Product ads. As a seller, you have control over your bids for each keyword and the daily budget for each of your campaigns as well.  There are 3 types of Ad Formats available: Product Collection: These ads drive product awareness when the products are less visible organically. With these, you can target up to three of your brand products from a landing page of your liking. A prospect can comfortably browse a collection of your products all in one place without any distraction from competitor ads. Product collection ads could be particularly useful to expand your reach of bestselling products within a particular category. Store Spotlight Ads: These ads are available only to brand-registered sellers who have an Amazon storefront with at least three sub-pages, each sub-page having at least one unique product. Store spotlight ads offer an excellent opportunity to direct and boost traffic towards your personal e-commerce website on Amazon. Neither there is any distraction like that from a product detail page nor there are any ads on your storefront. Sponsored Brands Video: This format enables brands and sellers to highlight a product with an auto-playing video. These are game-changing as they take advantage of the recently much-hyped and growing video content to make a product stand out in search results. A 15–30 second informative video makes a good sponsored brands video ad. How to Set Up Amazon Sponsored Brands? Step 1: Go to the “Advertising” tab in Seller Central and click on “Campaign Manager” first and then on “Create campaign.” Step 2: Next, under “Choose your campaign type”, you click on “Sponsored Brands”  Step 3: Then, under “Settings” you have to enter your campaign name, the date range for your ad run time, a daily budget, and the brand you want to advertise.  Step 4: Next, you have to select your Ad format (Product collection, Store spotlight, or Video ad). Let’s take Product collection as this example. Step 5: Next, you need to choose at least three brand products to feature.  Step 6: Then you have to add your creative content- a custom headline, your logo, a custom image and decide the order of your products. Step 7: Lastly, you have to choose your targeting. Put in your target keywords and set your bid for every keyword.  Once you’ve chosen all the keywords you want, click the “Submit for review” button. Amazon takes a maximum of 72 hours to review ads. Once approved, your ad should be up and running. BIE can take over this responsibility and more to have your Sponsored Brands ads running successfully in no time.  Why Use Sponsored Brand Ads? Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads are for upper-funnel advertising and are highly effective in building brand awareness. They can perform better than sponsored products because of their strong CTR. Their RoAS is the highest among the Amazon PPC ad types  They convert better by directing traffic to stores where there is no distraction due to competitor ads. They are versatile. These ads help improve advertising efforts. They offer a unique reporting tool called New-to-Brand metrics, which informs you if a sale came from a new customer or an existing one.  Final Thoughts If you need any help with setting up your Amazon Sponsored Brands ads or want the entire management of your PPC initiatives to be taken care of, BIE is there for you. 

In this guide, we are covering all the essential things you need to know about Sponsored Product ads to add to your PPC advertising strategy. For any other expert PPC assistance, contact BIE. What are Amazon Sponsored Products? These are keyword or product-targeted ads that boost the visibility and sales of the desired product listing in Amazon’s search results. These look very similar to organic search results. Sponsored Products are created automatically based on the advertised product listing, and are only indirectly customizable. Amazon claims that these ads give you the best chance to “show off your products, create with ease, control your costs, and track your success.” These ads perfectly align with your goal of increasing sales and attracting traffic. Here’s more to convince you about them: They are the most popular type of PPC ad. They have a high conversion rate. They help display your products to shoppers at the lower stages of the sales funnel with a higher likelihood of making a purchase. They are more economical and direct than Google Ads. As these ads increase sales by promoting products that then influence rankings on the platform, you can boost your organic rankings with these ads. Where are they displayed? In the beginning, middle, end of, or next to the search result As display carousels on product pages Sponsored Products are inevitable to the success of your buyer’s customer journey as they appear on almost every page. Who Can Use Sponsored Products on Amazon? Amazon allows professional sellers, vendors, and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) authors to use Amazon Sponsored Products without any Brand Registry formalities. If your account is standing well with Amazon, and it can ship products to the country where you’re advertising and finds your payment method acceptable, you will be eligible. What Do You Need to Set Up Amazon Sponsored Product Ad Campaigns? Campaign goals If you are not tracking your campaign execution status against your campaign spend, then you can experience a loss. You need clarity on your goals from the beginning to be able to gauge the performance of your Amazon PPC campaigns. Goals can be of two types: Maximizing sales, for example, a new product’s launch or maximizing impressions to raise brand awareness. The costs are typically kept at a break-even level which is emulated by the so-called target KPI ‘break-even ACoS’. Generating gradual sales while achieving a specific profit margin which is emulated by the so-called target KPI ‘target ACoS’. Campaign targeting Automatic targeting is where Amazon uses product information to target the ads to all relevant searches. Here, Amazon holds the power over the choice of keywords and bids.  Advantages of Automatic Targeting Excellent for beginners as they allow easy setup  No hassle of entering keyword bids Amazon can store data for use in upcoming campaigns. It usually takes 2-4 weeks to collect enough data to find which campaigns are performing well. These campaigns allow you to play around without putting in much effort.  They give you visibility even on long-tail search keywords you may have never thought people use to find you. Manual targeting allows you to pick up your keywords as a seller or vendor, naturally giving you more control over the bid price. It enables you to tweak your bids either to achieve your target ACoS or maximize revenue. Its success depends on carrying out keyword research before executing the campaign. Advantages of Automatic Targeting Excellent for those with enough time to set up campaigns with this targeting. Allows you to maximize your sales volume and perfect your ACoS. More precise targeting can lead to more sales. You can reduce bids or pause low-performing words. Steps to Set up the Campaign(use screenshots to explain each step) Step 1 Navigate to the Campaign Manager in Amazon Seller Central and stay on the Amazon Sponsored Products tab. Step 2 Click on the “Create Campaign” button. Put in the How To Description while adding an image relevant to it. Step 3 Enter your campaign name, budget, and duration. Use the sponsored products name along with your Target ACoS for your campaign names. Step 4 Choose between an automatic or a manual targeting campaign. Can Automatic Targeting and Manual Targeting Work Together? Yes, they can.  To do this, you have to create an automatic campaign for a particular product and wait for the data to get collected from where you will know which keywords are useful and profitable. And, then you can enter them in a manual campaign with higher bids.  What you are doing is using automatic campaigns for keyword research and manual campaigns for their customizability, giving you the perfect balance of efforts. Final Thoughts  Running Amazon PPC campaigns may have many elements but it is an indispensable part of your advertising success story with Amazon. With BIE, you get all your PPC needs to be taken care of in one place. No hassles, guaranteed!

Did you know that the right bidding strategy can save you money and improve the performance of your Amazon PPC campaigns? Combining a winning bid strategy with proper keyword targeting, worthwhile sales history, and the knowledge of the best placement of PPC are together responsible for the success of an ad campaign. But this is not the end. Continuous monitoring (for Sponsored Products campaigns) is key to grabbing every opportunity to convert and not overspending the budget. You have work cut out to understand the bidding options Amazon provides you and how to take advantage of them. Or you can <book a free consulting call> with BIE today and let the experts take charge. What are the Different Types of Amazon PPC Bidding Strategies? At the end of 2020, Amazon introduced two new bidding features: Campaign Bidding Strategies: Allow sellers and advertisers to adjust and set bidding based on relevancy via the Amazon algorithm. Adjust Bids by Placement: Allow sellers and advertisers to fine-tune and set bidding based on your ads’ placement. Dynamic Bidding Strategy Also known as the Amazon PPC Campaign Bidding Strategy, this allows you to optimize bids based on relevancy. Out of the 3 bid options available, two of them are dynamic. Dynamic bids – down only: Your bids will be decreased by a maximum of 100% when it is likely to lose the auction. You take historical campaign data into account for this. Dynamic bids – up and down: Amazon will raise or lower your bid(max by 100% in each case), depending on the competitors’ bids and your higher possibility of winning. Then there’s the third one: Fixed Bids: With these, Amazon will not alter bids on the likelihood of them converting. It will utilize the exact bid you have set and any other manual adjustments you make.   Amazon Bids by Placement:   To understand this Amazon Marketing PPC Bidding Strategy, one needs to know what placements are. Placements are the different areas where ads get displayed across Amazon search pages. Adjust Bids by Placement allows you to increase your bids further depending on the placement. It offers three settings: Product pages, Rest of Search, and Top of search(page one). Product Pages: This means the sponsored products are seen on the Amazon product details page and any other placements outside the SERPs, for example, on the add-to-cart page. Rest of Search: This includes all the other placements in the Amazon SERPs that come after ‘Top of Search.’ Top of Search( page one): Sponsored product ads are viewed on the top row on the first page of SERPs. For the Top of Search and Product Page placement auctions, you can increase the bid by up to 900%. Can Dynamic Bid and Placement Bid Work in Tandem? Amazon is very transparent about how it will calculate the bid if both strategies are in play. The adjusted bids by placement get calculated before the dynamic bid strategy. What Should be the Amazon PPC Bidding Strategy for New Campaigns? It is ideal to choose the “Dynamic Bid – down only” campaign bidding strategy while keeping all your placement adjustments at 0% on both the Top of Search and Product Page options.  Why do this? You have set up a new campaign or probably have a new product launch. So, you lack any background data. To test your campaign against your ads/keywords combinations economically, Amazon’s data is the next best thing. It will decide the relevance of keywords/targets you will bid for. How does this help? You now understand which keywords are converting and which placement is performing well. Then, you can set the Amazon PPC bidding strategy to the “Dynamic Bid – up and down” option.  Final Thoughts Amazon’s PPC advertising ecosystem can be like entering a maze. Running successful PPC campaigns can be challenging for any Amazon seller, whatever the size of their business. But it is only natural to adapt to the ever-evolving nature of the e-commerce platform and adopt the new Amazon advertising features rolling out as soon as possible. To energize your PPC furthermore, take expert assistance from BIE PPC specialists who can manage A-Z aspects of your campaigns and connect with your ideal consumers.

Any seller who is thriving to sell his products online understands that Amazon is a great marketplace to prosper but it is equally competitive. If you want to acquire primary product ranking spots on Amazon then you need to understand its ranking aspects. Once you understand the factors that generate a high ranking, you can optimize your product listing and generate better results. How do you attain better rankings on Amazon? Here’s a list of strategies that you may consider in order to boost your product rankings: Optimization of Product Listing Optimizing product listings is crucial to boosting your search rankings on Amazon. If you think about it, you wouldn’t click on a product if the listing appeared confusing, inaccurate, or amateurish. If users don’t click on your products, you can forget about ranking and selling. An effective listing incorporates user-centric keywords and a description with the buyer in mind, not the algorithm.  Use Relevant Keywords The first thing Amazon looks to rank you at the top is keyword relevancy. The objective is to offer relevant products that match the maximum keywords searched. Amazon aims to incorporate pertinent search results that prompt users to click and purchase. You should use highly specific and searched keywords for your products to show up in searches. There are some great keyword research tools that can help with this or you may consider taking the help of an expert. Costing As customers, we all seek the best products at the cheapest rates. So you need to price your products appropriately if you want high product rankings on Amazon. To set up genuine and user-attractive rates for your products you should preferably run a comparison check with your competitor’s product listings for your keywords and proceed from there. Don’t overprice your products because Amazon’s algorithm will ensure that you have a low conversion rate because of a higher cost point and your product will rank low as a result. Listing Images “What is seen, is what is sold.” Listing images plays a supreme role in providing a boost to your product rankings on Amazon. Amazon has strict requirements on how to use images and display them in listings and complying with them is very much important. To improve conversions, you should offer as many high-quality images as possible. On the same note, your images must highlight your product from all angles to give customers a feel for your product since they cannot hold it physically. Amazon permits you to include videos as well, so offer additional videos and images when possible. This type of image optimization can yield higher conversions. Abide By Authentic Customer Ratings Bill Gates once said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. This is the market key as reviews matter a great deal to Amazon. Shoppers use these reviews as a reference before purchasing any product and hence they in a way influence product rankings. Amazon knows that customers depend on reviews to make informed buying decisions. Reviews provide social proof that you’re a dependable seller whose products correspond with their description. To establish your grip on Amazon, it is important that you as a seller, keep a track of the customer reviews you get for your products. 

SEO- the “It” factor Image by STATUS LABS (https://statuslabs.com/defining-seo-best-practices/) You might look at the heading and wonder what the “it” factor really is.  Well, the “it” factor is a quality that makes someone or something special.  In this case, that quality, or rather the process, is your SEO, and that special something is your website’s pages.  In short, SEO makes your website special. In what way you ask? SEO or search engine optimization is the process of fine-tuning a website to increase visibility on the search engine results page of Google or any other search engine when people search for products or services related to a business or brand. This will in turn improve the quality and quantity of website traffic as well as exposure to your company or brand. (https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/why-search-engine-marketing-is-necessary) The best part is that it is absolutely free.  Well, not exactly free as you do have to put in the time and effort.  The traffic a website gets through SEO is called organic search traffic or unpaid traffic because you literally don’t have to pay for ads in order for people to find and reach your website.  The search engine algorithm senses a user’s intent and makes the website pop up if it is relevant to the user’s search terms. With perfect optimization, you can be sure that a website comes up with the first few results on the search engine results page. That essentially means “score” for you. Congratulations. You’ve hacked the algorithm and are now driving traffic to your website for zero monetary investment.  Being aware of your audience’s intent like what they search for, what words they use, and the type of content they wish to consume, is only half the battle won. The idea is to ensure this knowledge is transcribed in a way that search engine crawlers can find and comprehend. Now that is the winning ticket. A closer look Image by WordStream (https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2020/09/09/google-ranking-factors) Search engines like Google’s main goal is to provide users with relevant and trustworthy results for a query. In order to do this, the search engine goes through various ranking factors to come to a conclusion about how a search result looks for a particular question or query. (https://statuslabs.com/defining-seo-best-practices/)  The most important ranking factors that search engines look for are: Relevance: How much to the point a webpage or website is to the user’s query is a considerable ranking factor.  Site Speed: The speed at which your website loads is important because no one has time to wait for a website that takes countless hours to come up and spill its contents.  Mobile friendliness: A formatted website ensures that the website performs well on all mobile devices. This is very important when people are on the go and can seriously put people off if your website is not user-friendly.  Backlinks: The quality and quantity of backlinks your website receives is a key determinant of ranking.  Engagement: Click-through rates, time spent on the website, and bounce rates also determine a website’s overall ranking.  Content: How well the content on a webpage tackles the searcher’s query is a major ranking factor. Take a look at this video that captures important ranking factors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN5Dmst6p0M- 9 Google Ranking Factors How do search engines do this? Image by LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-simple-tips-improve-your-crawl-rate-indexing-rohit-vedantwar?trk=read_related_article-card_title) Search engines do this in three ways: Crawling: Spiders, web crawlers, or virtual creepy crawlies as I like to call them, are bots that search engines use to scour the internet in search of code and content for each URL they get their fangs on. Indexing: The storing and organizing of this captured content is called indexing. Once indexed, it is ready to be displayed as a result to relevant queries in the SERP. Ranking: Ensuring you provide content that is relevant to a searcher’s query allows the search engines to furbish the index for content which is then ordered by relevance and served up to the searcher. This ordering is known as ranking.  Higher the relevancy means that the search engines decide that a particular page is the better answer to a searcher’s question and shows the page higher up in the SERP.  Here’s a video that better explains crawling, indexing, and ranking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5qOuoj_dwA- Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking  We know you want in, but how? From the sound of it, who wouldn’t want in? Like it was said before, If you want your website optimized, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort.  The algorithms we spoke about earlier consider thousands of ranking factors to establish the rankings of their SERPs. There are, however, three fundamental metrics that search engines gauge to find out the quality of a website and how it should rank on the search engine results page. (https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/search-engine-optimization/#:~:text=How%20SEO%20works,the%20rankings%20of%20their%20SERPs.) Let’s take a peek at these. Links: Backlinks from websites with authoritative domains are considered a good thing because a high-quality website owner will only link to other high-quality websites. The link is then seen as a vouch for quality. If your website gathers links from a bunch of other websites, it garners authority. In simple terms. Respect.  Content: Keywords are key. A big part of SEO is creating unique content that involves weaving in keywords that search engine users are searching for. These search engines inspect the content of a webpage to determine its relevance for any search query.  (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q81tdvanpp_-H5oKhDSg8v8U7IYTJSSZCMzg-_J8Xgg/edit) Page Structure: Webpages are written in HTML code and the structure of these codes influences the search engines’ potential to assess a particular webpage. Having relevant keywords in the URL, title, and headers of a webpage makes sure the site is crawlable and helps with the SEO of a website.  Take a look at this video that establishes the foundation of good SEO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxUe9zut2zY- How to start with good SEO- Mozlow hierarchy of needs  Complete optimization will ensure a website is ranked higher in the SERP.  Being ranked or placed number one on the SERP means that you will receive 40 to 60 percent of the