Exact-Match Keywords: AMS Advertising

AMS exact match keywords

AMS Ads: Exact-Match Keywords

The Power of Exact Match Keywords in Amazon Advertisements for Authors

Greetings, fellow authors. Welcome back to our shared digital dojo, where we forge our words into the tools of our trade and learn how to wield them effectively. Today, we embark on an exciting journey into the heart of Amazon advertisements. Specifically, we will explore the use of exact-match keywords, a potent weapon that can supercharge your book promotion endeavors.

In our previous two articles, we examined broad-match and phrase-match keywords and how they fit into your campaign strategy. Now we turn up the heat. Exact-match keywords deliver the highest conversion rates to authors advertising through AMS.

Ready to take your Amazon advertising game to the next level? Strap in and let’s get started. But remember, there are no shortcuts to success. Mastery comes from putting in the work and embracing the process. Let’s leave our excuses at the door and dive right in.

The Importance of Keywords in Amazon Advertising

Keywords are the magical phrases that connect your books with potential readers. They’re the signposts that guide readers along the winding paths of the Amazon jungle, right to your book’s doorstep. But how can you ensure these signposts are doing their job most effectively? That’s where exact-match keywords come in.

What are Exact-Match Keywords?

Exact-match keywords are the precise terms or phrases that Amazon shoppers type into the search bar. Unlike broad or phrase match , which show your ads for similar phrases or related searches, exact-match keywords only trigger your ad when shoppers type in your exact keyword or very close variants of it. Don’t want to pay for wasted clicks? Exact match is for you.

Using exact-match keywords allows you to zero in on your target audience with laser-like precision. Remember, specificity is power. The more specific you are in your keywords, the more likely you are to attract readers who are genuinely interested in your work.

How to Use Exact-Match Keywords Effectively

  1. Research: Start with comprehensive keyword research. Tools like Publisher Rocket can help you identify popular exact-match keywords in your genre or related to your book’s subject matter.
  2. Funnel Search Results: Remember those phrase and broad match advertisements you ran? Check your search term reports and determine which keywords led to sales. These are excellent candidates for an exact-match AMS ad.
  3. Refinement: Refine your list of keywords by focusing on those that receive a lot of traffic but aren’t overly competitive. You want keywords that strike the perfect balance between popularity and competitiveness. Don’t overpay for success.
  4. Testing and Adjustment: Advertise with your chosen keywords and monitor the results. If some keywords aren’t performing well, don’t hesitate to make changes. Feel free to raise or lower bids for individual keywords depending on their success rates. Experimenting with different keywords will help you find the ones that work best for you.
  5. Bid Smartly: Your bid on an exact match keyword should be determined by its potential return. High-performing keywords might warrant higher bids, while low-performing ones should receive lower bids or be phased out entirely.

Amazon’s Suggested Keyword Tools

Amazon provides a powerful suite of tools to aid authors in their advertising campaigns. The platform’s suggested keyword tool is a key weapon in our arsenal. When setting up a manual campaign, Amazon provides a list of suggested keywords that are relevant to your book. These suggestions are based on your book’s metadata, customer search data, and other related factors.

To use this tool effectively, follow these steps:

  1. Start Your Campaign: Begin setting up a manual campaign for your book. When you reach the keyword selection step, you’ll see Amazon’s suggested keywords.
  2. Assess Relevance: Go through the list and pick out the ones that are most relevant to your book. This means focusing on the keywords that reflect your book’s genre, theme, or subject matter.
  3. Narrow Down: From the relevant keywords, identify those that are most likely to be used by your target audience as search terms. This is where the ‘exact match’ comes into play.

The purpose of exact match keywords is to reach potential readers who are specifically searching for what your book offers. While the suggested keywords from Amazon can be a great starting point, ensure you’re selecting those that truly resonate with your book and audience.

Leveraging Amazon’s Automatic Advertisements

Amazon’s automatic advertisements serve as another effective tool in unearthing potential exact match keywords. These campaigns are automatically managed by Amazon. The platform uses its algorithms to match your ad with relevant customer searches.

To find exact match keywords through automatic advertisements:

  1. Set Up an Automatic Campaign: Begin by setting up an automatic ad campaign for your book.
  2. Monitor Performance: After the campaign runs for a few days, review the Search Term Report in the campaign performance section. This report provides detailed insights into which keywords led shoppers to your book.
  3. Identify Exact Match Candidates: Identify high-performing search terms that are relevant and targeted, then transition these into your exact match keywords in manual campaigns.

Amazon’s automatic campaigns and suggested keyword tools can provide a treasure trove of valuable data. Use these tools to your advantage to refine and optimize your keyword strategy.

Understanding Exact-Match Keyword Bidding

To successfully advertise on Amazon using exact match, you need more than just well-chosen keywords—you also need to bid on them wisely. In Amazon’s pay-per-click model, you compete with other advertisers for the visibility of your ad. The higher your bid, the better your chances of winning that competition. But higher visibility doesn’t always equate to higher profits. So, how do you strike a balance?

Profitable Bidding: A Three-Step Strategy

  1. Know Your Budget and ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales): Before placing your bid, establish a clear budget and understand your ACoS, which is the percentage of your sales spent on advertising. If your ACoS is greater than your profit margin, you’re losing money. Keep your bids and overall ad spend in line with your budget and profit margin.
  2. Start Small, Then Adjust: Begin with a modest bid. Amazon provides a suggested bid range, which can be a helpful guide, but don’t shy away from starting at the lower end. Monitor your ad’s performance over time, and gradually increase your bid if you’re not getting enough impressions or clicks.
  3. Bid Higher on High-Performing Keywords: If you notice certain keywords are bringing in substantial sales, it might be worth increasing your bids on those. Higher bids can lead to more visibility and, hopefully, more sales. But remember to keep an eye on the ACoS—bidding higher should still align with your profitability goal.

Leveraging Amazon’s Bid+ for Exact-Match Keywords

If you’re running manual campaigns, consider using Amazon’s Bid+ feature. This allows Amazon to increase your bids by up to 50% in auctions where your ad is likely to win the top spot. Be mindful, though, that while this can increase your ad’s visibility, it can also eat into your budget faster.

Before we jump into the pros and cons, let’s understand what Bid+ is. Exclusive to manual campaigns, Bid+ is a feature that allows Amazon to increase your bid by up to 50% in auctions where your ad is competitive and has a chance of winning a top-of-search placement. It aims to increase the visibility of your ads, thus potentially driving more clicks and conversions.

The Advantages of Using Bid+

  1. Increased Visibility: With Bid+, your ads have a greater chance of appearing at the top of search results, thus catching the eyes of potential readers more effectively.
  2. Competitive Edge: In the high-stakes auction of ad placement, Bid+ can give you an edge, allowing you to outbid competitors for premium ad spots.
  3. Automatic Adjustment: Bid+ automatically adjusts your bids in situations where it predicts success, saving you the effort of constant manual adjustments.

The Disadvantages of Using Bid+

  1. Higher Ad Spend: Because Bid+ can increase your bid by up to 50%, your ad spend can add up quickly, potentially straining your advertising budget.
  2. Less Control: Bid+ operates automatically, which means you’re giving up some control over your bids. It can raise your bid even in situations where you might prefer not to.
  3. No Guarantee of Conversion: While Bid+ can boost visibility and clicks, it doesn’t guarantee conversions. Increased clicks without corresponding sales can lead to a high ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales), diluting your profits.

Is Bid+ the Right Choice for You?

Like many strategies in Amazon advertising, the effectiveness of Bid+ is contingent on your specific situation. It might work well for a well-reviewed, competitively priced book in a popular genre. On the other hand, for a new author with a niche book, the increased ad spend might not translate into proportional sales.

Profitability Over Popularity

We’re not just authors—we’re also entrepreneurs. We aim for profitability, not just popularity. It’s easy to get caught up in the thrill of a bidding war for a highly competitive keyword, but don’t let it lead you astray. If a keyword is too expensive, don’t hesitate to look for more affordable alternatives that are still relevant to your book.

Remember, it’s not about finding more time to advertise; it’s about making the most of the time you have. Instead of getting lost in a sea of irrelevant keywords, invest your valuable hours in honing your exact-match keyword strategy. It’s a powerful technique that, when used effectively, can help you connect with your ideal readers and accelerate your author journey.

Here, we strive for continuous improvement. Keep testing, refining, and perfecting your Amazon advertising strategy. Each step, no matter how small, is progress.

And every progress marks a victory in our ongoing adventure. 

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