Google Ads for Amazon Products: Campaign Structure Guide

When running Google Ads to promote your Amazon products, a well-structured campaign is key to maximizing your return on investment (ROI). From keyword match types to campaign organization, every element plays a crucial role in ensuring that your ads are targeting the right audience while minimizing irrelevant clicks. This guide will walk you through the essential aspects of structuring a successful Google Ads campaign for Amazon products.

1. Choose the Right Campaign Types for Amazon Products

The right campaign type is crucial for targeting the correct audience. Here are the best campaign types for promoting Amazon products:

• Search Campaigns: Focuses on targeting users who are actively searching for your products on Google. It is the best option for product-specific or brand-awareness campaigns.
• Display Campaigns: Useful for reaching potential customers through banner ads across Google’s Display Network. Great for retargeting or raising awareness of your products.
• Shopping Campaigns: If you have a registered Amazon Store, Google Shopping campaigns allow users to see your products directly with images and prices. This can increase click-through rates (CTR) and conversions.

2. Keyword Match Types: Optimizing Your Reach and Relevance

Choosing the right keyword match type is critical to controlling how broadly or narrowly your ads are triggered. Here’s a breakdown of the most common match types and their uses:

• Broad Match: Useful for increasing visibility, broad match triggers ads for related searches that don’t necessarily match the exact keyword. While this can attract more traffic, it can also result in irrelevant clicks, so it’s ideal for brand awareness campaigns but not for highly specific product targeting.
• Phrase Match: A more controlled approach, phrase match triggers ads for searches containing your keyword in the exact order, with additional words before or after. This helps narrow down your audience while still reaching related searches.
• Exact Match: The most restrictive option, exact match shows ads only when the exact keyword (or very close variations) is used. This is perfect for highly targeted, conversion-focused campaigns.

Recommended Approach:

Use a mix of phrase match and exact match to target relevant audiences while avoiding unnecessary ad spend. For exploratory campaigns, consider limited broad match keywords to capture new potential queries, but closely monitor and add negative keywords to control costs.

3. Brand-Specific vs. Generic Product Keywords: Separate Ad Groups or Campaigns?

For Amazon products, it’s often beneficial to create separate ad groups or even campaigns for brand-specific and generic product keywords. Here’s why:

• Brand-Specific Keywords: Users searching for brand-specific terms are typically further down the sales funnel and more likely to convert. Grouping these keywords in a dedicated campaign or ad group allows you to allocate a specific budget and adjust bids to focus on high-intent searches.
• Generic Product Keywords: These keywords can capture users in the awareness or consideration stages of the funnel. They tend to generate more impressions but may have a lower conversion rate. By keeping them in separate ad groups, you can tailor bids and ad copy to match the broader intent.

4. Organize Campaigns by Product Category

For Amazon sellers with a wide range of products, organizing campaigns by product category is crucial. Here’s how to do it:

• Separate Campaigns for Each Category: If you sell products across different categories (e.g., electronics, home goods, apparel), create separate campaigns for each category. This allows you to set unique budgets and bidding strategies that match each category’s specific performance.
• Single Campaign for Smaller Catalogs: If you have a limited number of products, a single campaign with ad groups organized by product type or keyword intent can work. Keep in mind, though, that this limits your control over budget allocation between product categories.

3. Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs): Are They Still Relevant?

Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) involve creating one ad group for each keyword with tightly focused ads. While SKAGs offer a high degree of control and relevance, they require significant maintenance and can result in hundreds of ad groups. With Google’s machine learning improvements, SKAGs have become less essential. Instead, a tightly themed ad group strategy with a handful of highly related keywords is more efficient while still providing relevance and control.

5. Structuring Your Campaign

Structuring your Google Ads campaign can make a big difference in performance. Here are some essential guidelines:

• Separate Campaigns for Different Product Categories: If you sell multiple product types (e.g., electronics, apparel, or home goods), create separate campaigns for each category. This allows you to set distinct budgets, bids, and targeting strategies tailored to the specific category.
• Single Campaign for All Products: For sellers with a smaller catalog, a single campaign with multiple ad groups organized by product type can work. However, be mindful that this can limit your control over budget allocation between product categories.
• Testing New Products with Dedicated Campaigns: If you’re launching a new product, create a separate campaign to test its performance. This setup allows you to allocate budget specifically for this product, ensuring accurate data on performance without impacting existing campaigns.

6. How Many Ad Groups to Create Within a Campaign?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the number of ad groups you should create. However, a good rule of thumb is to have 2-5 ad groups per campaign, each targeting a specific set of keywords or product variations. This structure allows for clear targeting while maintaining manageability.

7. Organizing Ad Groups: By Product Type, Specific Keywords, or Both?

• By Product Type: If you offer a variety of products, organizing ad groups by product type is often the simplest and most effective method. For instance, one ad group could target “laptops,” while another targets “smartphones.”
• By Keywords: For more precise targeting, you may opt to organize ad groups by keyword intent (e.g., brand-specific terms vs. generic terms). This strategy is useful if you’re focusing on different types of user intent across your product lines.
• Combination of Both: A hybrid approach where you organize by both product type and keyword specificity offers more control over targeting. For instance, you could have an ad group for “brand-name laptops” and another for “affordable laptops.”

8. Managing and Updating Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are essential for reducing irrelevant clicks and ensuring your ads only appear for the most relevant searches. Regularly reviewing and updating your negative keyword list is critical to saving money and improving campaign performance.

• Initial Setup: Start by adding common irrelevant terms, such as competitors’ names or unrelated product categories.
• Ongoing Maintenance: Use the Search Terms Report to find irrelevant queries that are triggering your ads. Continuously refine your negative keyword list to filter out low-intent or irrelevant searches.

Start Slow and Scale Gradually

When launching a Google Ads campaign for Amazon products, it’s best to start with a conservative budget and a limited number of campaigns or ad groups. Running a smaller campaign initially allows you to gather valuable data on keyword performance, audience behavior, and ad effectiveness without overspending.

• Optimize Before Scaling: By starting slow, you can monitor which keywords, match types, and ad copies are driving the best results. Make adjustments based on this initial data to ensure that you’re investing in strategies that work.
• Adjust Budget Incrementally: Once you identify high-performing keywords and ad groups, gradually increase your budget. This approach minimizes the risk of wasted ad spend and allows you to scale only what’s working, resulting in a more efficient and profitable campaign.

Starting slow gives you control over spending and enables you to make data-driven decisions that will benefit your Amazon product promotions in the long run.

Final Thoughts

Running Google Ads for Amazon products requires a well-planned structure to ensure that your ads are targeted effectively while staying within budget. By using the right keyword match types, structuring campaigns and ad groups thoughtfully, and managing negative keywords, you can maximize your ad performance and drive higher conversions. Regular monitoring and optimization are essential to ensuring sustained success in a competitive landscape.

Related Links:

• How Do Google Ads Help Your Amazon Store Stand Out?
• [New Feature] Performance Charts for Your Amazon-Focused Google Ads Accounts
• Create a Winning DSA Campaign for Your Amazon Store