Overview

Amazon’s pay‑per‑click (PPC) advertising remains a top source of traffic for many marketplace sellers, yet unchecked spend can quickly erode profit margins. In a recent “TACoS Tuesday” episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, host Shivali Patel and guest Chris Rawlings broke down the most effective tactics for raising conversion rates on Amazon ads. Sellers need to master these tactics because tighter PPC control directly reduces Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS) and lifts overall Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

Key Points

• Keyword Segmentation — Grouping broad, phrase and exact match terms into separate ad groups lets you bid aggressively on high‑intent keywords while keeping spend low on exploratory queries.
• Negative Keyword Expansion — Adding irrelevant search phrases as negatives blocks wasteful impressions; for example, a brand selling “organic cotton sheets” would exclude “synthetic” or “polyester” to avoid unrelated clicks.
• Bid Optimization by Placement — Raising bids for top‑of‑search slots typically boosts click‑through rates, whereas lowering bids for lower‑visibility placements conserves budget without hurting sales.
• Search Term Report Review — Frequent analysis of the report uncovers hidden high‑performing keywords that can be promoted to exact match, turning opportunistic clicks into reliable conversions.
• Ad Copy Alignment with Listings — Mirroring the most compelling bullet points and product benefits from the detail page in the ad headline and description improves relevance scores and encourages clicks that convert.

How Amazon PPC Optimization Works

1. Audit Existing Campaign Structure — Export the current campaign data, then sort keywords by match type, spend, and conversion metrics; a seller of “stainless steel water bottles” might find that exact match keywords deliver a conversion rate 30 % higher than broad match.
2. Refine Keyword List — Relocate high‑performing exact match terms into dedicated ad groups with higher bids, while moving low‑performing broad terms into a “test” ad group with reduced bids; this isolates spend and clarifies which keywords truly drive sales.