Amazon PPC Audit: 10 Steps to Audit an Amazon Ads Account

When did you last give your Amazon PPC account a checkup?

Regular Amazon PPC audits are crucial to ensure the optimal performance of your ads and maximize the ROI from your advertising budget.

Think of it like a health check for your advertising strategy – it helps you find hidden opportunities, fine-tune performance, and stand out from the competition.

In this blog post, we'll walk you through 15 essential steps to conduct a comprehensive audit of your Amazon PPC account.

1. Right Campaign Structure

Creating a well-organized campaign structure is crucial for making the most out of your Amazon PPC budget. It simplifies management and ensures your money is spent wisely. When evaluating your campaign setup, ask yourself:

• Distinct Campaigns for Different Product Types or Categories:

Keep things clear by putting different product types or categories in their own campaigns. This makes it easier to tweak targeting for each group.

• Optimal Product Count in Each Ad Group:

Don't overload ad groups with too many products. Having the right number ensures you can manage things effectively.

• Optimal Keyword/target Count in Each Ad Group:

Don't overload ad groups with too many keyword/product targets. Having the right number ensures you can manage things effectively.

• Segregation of Different Match Types:

Divide keywords by match types into different campaigns or ad groups. This gives you better control over where your ads show up.

• Clarity in Campaign Naming Conventions:

Can someone easily understand a campaign's goal by reading its name? Clear and consistent names make managing multiple campaigns straightforward.

When your campaign structure meets these basic criteria, you're on the right track. If not, starting with a solid campaign structure sets the stage for more effective adjustments down the road.

2. Ads-Type Utilization and Performance

Amazon offers various ad options, including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Sponsored Brands Video, and Sponsored Display Video. Each ad type serves a specific purpose in engaging shoppers at different stages of their buying journey.

Start by evaluating the performance of each ad type based on conversion rate, click-through rate, ad spend, ad sales, and return on ad spend.

If you find that certain ad types consistently drive positive results and you are not utilizing them for specific products, then there is an opportunity to launch new campaigns for such products.

On the other hand, if you find that certain ad types are constantly not meeting the desired goals, consider reducing spending on these underperforming ad types to reallocate the budget towards more effective campaigns.

3. Match Type Utilization and Performance

Similar to ad types, Amazon offers various match types for targeting, including broad match, phrase match, exact match, product targeting, category targeting, audience targeting, etc.

Each match type is useful for different purposes. For example, broad and category matches help you constantly discover new keywords, broad and phrase matches are used for maintaining sales velocity on important keywords, and remarketing is useful for engaging with shoppers who have already interacted with our ads.

Start by evaluating the performance of each match type based on conversion rate, click-through rate, ad spend, ad sales, and return on ad spend.

If you find that certain match types consistently drive positive results and you are not utilizing them for specific products, then there is an opportunity to launch new campaigns for such products.

On the other hand, if certain match types are not working at all, then consider reducing the spend on such targets and allocate it to a more effective targeting type.

4. Wasted Ad Spend

Identify and compile a list of search terms and targets that are depleting your ad budget without delivering satisfactory results. This encompasses terms that generate minimal or no orders and exhibit an unusually high Advertising Cost of Sales. Next, within your Discovery campaign, which utilizes auto, broad, phrase, and category targeting, add  identified search terms as negatives to prevent unnecessary ad spending.

Conversely, in your efficiency campaign utilizing ASIN and exact match keyword targeting, simply pause the targets that are contributing to wasteful ad spend.

5. Target Harvesting Opportunity

It is a common practice in Amazon ads to harvest order-driving search terms from one campaign and move them to other campaigns with different match types.

Begin by pinpointing the search terms that generated orders in the discovery campaign but are not currently targeted in the efficiency campaign using exact match or exact ASIN targeting.

Similarly, move those search terms to missing discovery match types such as broad and phrase to discover more related keywords.

6. Bidding Strategy Performance

Amazon offers three bidding strategies: fixed bid, up and down, and down only. During an audit of an Amazon PPC account, identify the most effective bidding strategy—whether it's down-only, fixed bidding, or up and down.

We've observed that the down-only bidding strategy typically delivers better performance. If you discover campaigns using a strategy other than down-only, consider switching to down-only for optimal results.

7. Placement Performance and Optimization

Amazon provides data for three distinct ad placements: top of search, product page, and rest of search. It's possible that one placement outperforms another within the same campaign, or vice versa.

When conducting an Amazon PPC audit, focus on campaigns where you haven't applied any placement modifier, but a specific placement is delivering good results. Consider adding a placement modifier in such campaigns. Conversely, reduce the placement modifier for a placement that isn't performing well despite having a high modifier.

8. Bids Optimization

It is recommended to optimize your target bids at least once a week. This is crucial because your performance can vary daily on the same target, influenced by changes in CPC and conversion rates. Therefore, adjusting your bids based on performance becomes essential.

During an audit, if you find a campaign where the bids haven't been changed for a significant period, as verified from the ad group change history tab, it could signal a valuable opportunity to enhance the campaign's performance.

9. Branded VS Non-Branded Terms Performance

It's crucial to invest in branded keywords to connect with shoppers familiar with your brand. Simultaneously, it is also important to allocate a large portion of ad budget for generic keywords to reach potential customers who aren't yet aware of your brand.We often come across brands with either an excessive spend on branded keywords or none at all.

During an account audit, ensure that the brand allocates a significant portion of its ad budget to generic keywords while capitalizing on opportunities in branded searches.

10. Share of Voice and Search Rank of Important Keywords

To sustain and enhance sales momentum for the brand, it is crucial to analyze market share and search rankings for key keywords that significantly contribute to ad-generated sales.

If you notice a brand with a low search ranking or a limited share of voice for a keyword already driving substantial sales, it suggests an opportunity to capture more market share. Consider adopting an aggressive advertising approach for those keywords to maximize impact.

Final Thoughts on Amazon PPC Audit

Whether you're a brand managing your own account or an agency onboarding a new one, conducting an audit is crucial to grasp the current standing of the brand and identify growth opportunities. We hope the 10 points shared in this blog will serve as a helpful guide during your Amazon PPC audit.