AMAZON PPC LECTURE NOTES (Easy English)
1) Why Advertisement is Needed
• Market has thousands of brands, but people remember only a few.
• If customers don’t see your product, they will not buy it.
• Main purpose of marketing/ads = visibility + awareness.
• “What is seen, gets sold.”
2) Types of Advertisement
• Visual (images, videos)
• Text (writing, banners)
• Audio (voice/music)
• Repetition trains customer’s subconscious mind.
• Even if customer doesn’t need it now, later they remember the brand.
3) Ads Are Not Always Only for Sales
• Some campaigns are for Brand Awareness & Brand Building.
• Example: Billboards or Pepsi boards on shops (even if shop doesn’t sell Pepsi).
• A PPC manager should not judge every campaign only by sales/ROAS.
• Different campaigns can have different goals.
4) Amazon PPC Placements (Where Ads Show)
• Top of Search (most visible, most expensive)
• Rest of Search (middle/bottom of search results)
• Product Pages (PDP placements)
• Sponsored ads can appear in many places, not only one place.
5) Why PPC is Important on Amazon
• Around 70% of purchases happen on first page/top results.
• If ads didn’t exist, only organic ranking would decide who sells.
• New product has no sales history → hard to rank organically.
• PPC helps you get sales first → then organic ranking improves.
6) Amazon’s Vision & Algorithm (Why Ranking Works Like This)
Amazon vision: “Customer-centric company where customers find anything online at lowest price.”
So Amazon focuses on:
• Relevance (show right product for the search term)
• Customer experience
• Competitive pricing
Because of this, Amazon pushes products that convert well and satisfy buyers.
7) Keyword & Ranking Impact
• If you get sales on one keyword, Amazon also improves ranking for related keywords.
• You cannot put 100+ keywords in listing, but still you may rank for many related keywords.
• Strong brands sometimes rank even on semi-relevant keywords because of history.
8) Campaign Structure (Basic)
Campaign → Ad Groups → Targeting
• One campaign can have multiple ad groups.
• Ad groups help separate variations (like size/color) and judge performance separately.
• Targeting can be:
- Keywords
- ASIN/product targeting
- Category targeting
- Auto campaigns
- Sponsored Brands / Sponsored Display
9) Main PPC KPIs (Easy Meaning)
A) Impressions
• Means your ad is placed/shown by Amazon.
• Buyer must NOT click or even see it fully for impression to count.
• Product page placements create many more impressions because:
- Same buyer can open many product pages
- Your ad may show multiple times inside one product page
Example: Top of Search 1,700 impressions vs Product Pages 35,000 impressions.
B) CTR (Click Through Rate)
Formula: CTR = Clicks ÷ Impressions
Example: 1 click from 10 impressions = 10% CTR
Important CTR Insight:
• Low CTR doesn’t always mean your images/title are bad.
• If impressions are mostly from product pages very deep (page 10, 20, 35),
then buyer is not actually seeing your ad properly → CTR will be low.
■ First check “Visibility/Placement” before fixing listing.
When low CTR means listing issue:
• If you are highly visible (Top of Search rank 1-2) and still low CTR →
then improve front-end (images, title, price, rating).
C) CPC (Cost Per Click)
• How much you pay for 1 click.
• Depends on placement:
- Top of Search = highest CPC (more visibility + conversions)
- Rest of Search = lower CPC
- Product Pages = usually lower but high impressions
• Amazon does NOT set CPC price directly.
Sellers compete in auction (bidding).
Example: If competitor bid = $0.90, your bid $0.91 wins, you pay around $0.91.
CPC Changes by Time
• Peak hours → higher competition → higher CPC
• Later when budgets finish → CPC can drop
D) ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
Formula: ACOS = Ad Spend ÷ PPC Sales
Example: $3 ad spend to make $10 PPC sales → ACOS = 30%
Key Point:
• ACOS benchmark depends on campaign objective:
- Ranking objective → higher ACOS acceptable
- Profit objective → ACOS should be lower (below break-even)
E) ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Formula: ROAS = PPC Sales ÷ Ad Spend
• ROAS is reverse of ACOS.
• High ROAS = good. Low ACOS = good.
Business view:
• Owners who focus on “Top line revenue” like ROAS.
• Owners who focus on “Bottom line profit” like ACOS.
F) TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales)
Formula: TACOS = Ad Spend ÷ Total Sales (PPC + Organic)
Why TACOS is very useful:
• PPC also helps organic ranking.
• If you stop PPC completely, sales may drop → ranking drops → organic sales drops.
• So judge performance by total sales impact, not only PPC sales.
Best TACOS Range (lecture suggestion)
• Around 5% = very good
• Around 10% = still okay
• Above 10% can be risky because Amazon margins are small.
G) Conversion Rate
Formula: Conversion Rate = Orders ÷ Clicks
Example: 7 orders from 14 clicks → 50% conversion rate
Conversion rate benchmark changes with objective:
• Low CPC discovery campaigns → lower conversion rate is okay.
• High visibility + exact keyword + top of search → conversion rate should be good.
If visibility is high but conversion is low → offer/product is not competitive.
H) CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
Formula: CPA = PPC Spend ÷ Number of Orders
• Very important in sourcing stage to check if product can be profitable.
• Compare:
- Allowed CPA (your profit margin per unit)
- Expected CPC in niche
Example:
If allowed CPA = $1 and CPC = $0.50 → you need 1 order every 2 clicks (50% conversion).
This can be difficult → means margins are tight.
10) Advertising Funnel (Buyer Journey)
Stage 1: Awareness
• Buyer doesn’t know your brand/product.
• Goal = visibility and brand presence.
• Usually done outside Amazon:
- Social media ads
- Google ads
- SEO
- Website
Repetition builds memory.
Stage 2: Discovery
• Buyer starts searching to find products.
• On Amazon, buyers come with buying intent.
• Buyer uses keywords (search terms).
• In discovery, buyer refines search:
- Short keywords = high volume, less specific
- Long-tail keywords = low volume, more relevant
More words → more relevance but less search volume.
Stage 3: Intent (Compare Options)
• Buyer compares your offer vs competitors.
• Here PPC alone is not enough.
• Retail readiness matters more:
- Images
- Title
- Price
- Reviews & ratings
- Social proof
Stage 4: Conversion & Growth
• After conversion, analyze data:
- Which keywords convert?
- Which placements perform best?
• Then scale the winning parts and reduce waste.
11) Important Extra Tips
• Don’t target competitor brand keywords unless your product is compatible.
Better target their ASINs (product targeting) instead.
• Sponsored Products does not show “viewable impressions” like Sponsored Display.
So visibility must be checked manually by searching and opening product pages.
• Two campaigns targeting same keyword & same placement may compete (speaker’s opinion).
QUICK SUMMARY (Very Easy)
• Ads are needed because customers only buy what they can see.
• Amazon PPC helps new products get visibility and sales.
• Sales improve ranking, and ranking improves organic sales.
• Don’t judge PPC only by ACOS/ROAS. First understand campaign goal.
• Product page placements create many impressions, so CTR can look low.
• Always check placements/visibility before fixing listing.
• Key metrics to track: Impressions, CTR, CPC, ACOS, ROAS, TACOS, Conversion Rate, CPA.
• Best marketing is balanced: awareness + discovery + good offer + good reviews.
