How to Use Amazon Search Term Report for PPC

  • #Scale Insights Team
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Struggling with slow Amazon sales? The Amazon Search Term Report could be the key to unlocking your growth. It’s a crucial resource that reveals the search terms customers use to find your products, offering a major advantage for both paid and organic visibility.

Our guide takes you step-by-step through using the report to pick out the best keywords, sharpen your PPC campaigns, and tune your listings for Amazon’s search system. 

Read our guide to be armed with this information, so you can align more closely with what your customers are looking for and give your sales a significant boost. 

Understanding the Amazon Search Term Report

Search terms refer to the exact phrases that customers type into the Amazon search bar. These are the unfiltered queries that lead users to your products or advertisements. 

Keywords, on the other hand, are the terms you bid on in your PPC campaigns, which you predict will match these customer search terms.

Examples of these are the following:

  • Customer Search Term: "waterproof hiking backpacks"

  • Keyword: "hiking backpacks"

Importance of Search Term Data

Amazon Search Term Report lists the search terms that led to views and clicks on your products and provides insight into their performance. By analyzing this data, you can identify the following:

  • Relevant Keywords: Those that directly correlate to high-performing search terms leading to conversions.

  • Irrelevant Keywords: Ones that may generate traffic but do not convert, indicating a mismatch with customer intent.

By scrutinizing the report, you can do the following:

  1. Optimize Existing PPC Campaigns: Enhance your bid strategy on high-performing search terms.

  2. Create Manual Campaigns: Use precise search terms to target specific customer groups.

  3. Observe Consumer Trends and Behavior: Adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences.

  4. Optimize your listings for relevant search terms: Update titles, bullet points, and descriptions to match high-converting search terms.

  5. Optimize Backend Search Terms: Insert pertinent keywords in the backend of your product listing to improve organic searchability.

Being adept with this data lets you fine-tune your advertising efforts on Amazon, potentially increasing your return on investment and maintaining a competitive edge.

How To Access the Amazon Search Term Report

To effectively use the Amazon Search Term Report, you must set it up in Seller Central initially. This process will help you understand what terms customers use to find products like yours and is crucial for adjusting your PPC strategy.

Accessing Seller Central

Begin by logging into your Seller Central account. This is your central hub for all Amazon selling activities and where you'll find valuable resources, such as reports that can help you manage and improve your product listings.

Navigating to the Reports Section

Once logged in, look for the Reports tab in the navigation menu. Here, you can access various reports, but for now, focus on the Advertising Reports section. This is where you'll gain insights into the performance of your sponsored products and keywords.

Selecting the Right Report Type

Under Advertising Reports, locate the option to Create Report. You will be presented with several report types. Select the Search Term Report for a detailed overview of which terms customers are using that lead to views and sales of your products. After choosing this option, simply follow the prompts to download your report.

Analyzing Report Data

A computer screen displays Amazon search term report data with charts and graphs

When reviewing your Amazon Search Terms Report, focus on the performance of keywords, the effectiveness of campaigns, and the core metrics that speak to the success of your advertising efforts.

Evaluating Keyword Performance

To effectively measure keyword performance, scrutinize the data for clicks, impressions, and the conversion rate of each term:

  • Clicks: Count how many times shoppers clicked on your ad after searching for the term.

  • Impressions: Note how often your ad was displayed for the search term.

  • Conversion Rate: Calculate the percentage of clicks that led to a sale.

A beneficial approach is to use tables to sort keywords by highest to lowest performers, providing a clear picture of which terms are driving sales and should be optimized in your listings and PPC campaigns.

Assessing Campaign Effectiveness

Assessing your campaigns involves closely looking at metrics such as ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale), total sales, and ad spend for each:

  • ACoS: Determine the efficiency of your campaign by dividing ad spend by total sales, shown as a percentage.

  • Total Sales: The sum of revenue from sales attributed to your ads.

  • Ad Spend: The total amount spent on your campaign.

Your campaign's CTR (click-through rate) and its overall visibility are also critical. High visibility with low CTR may indicate a need to refine your ad copy or the relevancy of your keywords.

Understanding Key Metrics

To truly comprehend the reporting data, familiarize yourself with key metrics such as CPC (Cost Per Click), impressions, and campaign spending:

  • CPC: Keep track of the average cost paid for each click on your ads.

  • Impressions: Review the number of times your ads appeared to consumers, as this affects brand awareness.

  • Campaign Spend: Monitor your overall expenditure to ensure you're not exceeding budgets.

Analyzing Amazon Brand Analytics can supplement your report analysis for an enhanced understanding of customer behavior and search trends.

Make sure you're comparing these metrics across different ad groups and campaigns to pinpoint where adjustments can lead to better performance.

Optimizing Campaigns with Report Insights

Utilizing insights from the Amazon Search Term Report can directly influence the success of your campaigns. You will enhance your product visibility and PPC performance by carefully analyzing and applying data.

Selecting Profitable Keywords

The heart of campaign optimization is finding and implementing profitable keywords. Your Amazon Search Term Report lists all the terms shoppers have used that led to views and sales of your products.

Look for keywords with high conversion rates and add those to your campaign. This selective process helps focus your budget on terms already proven to drive sales.

Adjusting Match Types

Each keyword can be set with a specific keyword match type—broad, phrase, or exact. For keywords that drive sales but are also costing too much due to broad matches, consider switching to phrase or exact match to refine your targeting. This helps you control your ad spend while maintaining visibility for high-intent searches.

Here are the different keyword matches:

  • Broad match: Widest reach but less targeted.

  • Phrase match: More precise, includes the exact phrase.

  • Exact match: Highly targeted, triggers ads only for the exact keyword.

Implementing Negative Keywords

Adding irrelevant search terms to your negative keyword list ensures your ads don't appear for those searches. This step is crucial in refining your campaigns and reducing wasted ad spend. 

If certain terms are frequently searched but rarely lead to conversions, add them as negative keywords within your campaign settings. This action helps to streamline your ad delivery to the most relevant audience.

Regularly updating this list based on the report's insights allows for continual improvement of campaign efficiency. Separate your negative keyword implementations by matched types—broad, phrase, or exact—to align with your keyword and product targeting strategy.

Read our guide to learn more about using negative keywords to improve your PPC campaigns.

Advancing Your Advertising Strategy

In the competitive marketplace of Amazon, fine-tuning your advertising strategy is crucial. Understanding and applying Amazon Search Terms Report data can significantly enhance your visibility and sales.

Utilizing Advanced Features

Amazon's Search Terms Report harbors a wealth of advanced features to propel your strategy. 

First, ensure you know how to download and analyze the report. You can download this report via the Amazon Advertising Manager or Seller Central under the reports section.

Once you have the data, pay close attention to high-converting keywords and implement them into your campaigns.

Also, utilize negative keywords to filter out irrelevant traffic, and consider updating backend search terms to align with high-impact search phrases fully.

Leveraging Amazon Sponsored Ads

To make the most of Amazon Sponsored Ads, start by optimizing your existing PPC campaigns with the insights gathered. Incorporate high-performing search terms from your report into your manual campaigns to attract more targeted traffic.

Regularly analyze the performance metrics provided by the report and adjust bids and budgets to maximize efficiency and ROI.

Competitive Analysis

A thorough competitive analysis using the Search Terms Report can uncover gaps and opportunities in your market. Scrutinize the terms leading customers to your competitors' products and consider whether you can also rank for these terms or find untapped variants.

Observe consumer trends and behavior patterns to predict upcoming demands and stay one step ahead in the marketplace.

Conclusion on Using Amazon Search Term Report to Boost Visibility

The Amazon Search Terms Report is essential for mastering the marketplace. It offers powerful insights to sharpen your ads and refine listing strategies. Use it to tweak PPC campaigns, curate manual campaigns with high-impact keywords, and understand customer preferences.

This knowledge isn't just powerful—it's actionable. Apply the report's findings to optimize front-end listings and backend terms, aligning with consumer trends and optimizing for Amazon's A9 algorithm. The result? Enhanced visibility, increased sales, and growth.

To further maximize your results, consider our tailored Amazon PPC plans. Boost your marketplace presence with our expert PPC strategies today.

Frequently Asked Questions on Amazon Search Term Report

Can the Amazon Search Term Report Help Identify Negative Keywords?

Yes, the Amazon Search Term Report can help identify negative keywords by revealing search terms that generate clicks but do not lead to sales, thereby indicating that they're irrelevant to your product offering.

Is the Amazon Search Term Report Useful for Both Organic and Paid Visibility?

The Amazon Search Term Report is incredibly useful for both organic and paid visibility as it provides insights into the keywords and search terms that drive traffic to your listings, allowing you to optimize for both types of searches.

How Do I Find Search Terms on Amazon Listing?

To find search terms on an Amazon listing, use keyword research tools, look for common customer queries in product Q&A sections and reviews, or analyze your own PPC campaigns and Search Term Report for relevant keywords.

How Many Search Terms Allowed on Amazon?

Amazon allows up to 250 characters of search terms for each product, and these should be relevant, high-value keywords that do not repeat words or include competitor brand names.