Match types and search terms

0:00 So, we're not going to be talking about, oh, you know, uh this is what worked in 2017. No, we're going to talk about what's working today. uh in some cases it's stuff that did work in 2017. But we're also going to talk about not just the evergreen stuff, but the stuff that's working today in today's uh world and dispel any of those myths out there so that you can avoid some of those critical mistakes uh that may be costing you money in both wasted ad spend and lost sales.

0:46 Let's go ahead and get into it. Ru, I'm going to put you on the spot first. What do you see is working today that maybe is different than people are expecting? I might uh take that as a what is not working today um that different go the past okay um so uh you know like the the clarity around match types that's uh always been like uh something we've grown up with almost uh phrase broad exact uh the lines are blurring between those match types and it's becoming um a little bit of um uh fuzzy uh overlap between these three match types even So, exact match is still the king when it comes to uh trying to rank for certain keywords etc.

1:32 Uh but you know if you look at your search term reports you will see that exact match doesn't always behave as exact match um anymore. Yes, there's some uh types of categories that have more of that uh and some less but uh the lines are blurring. So, what I'm seeing and and trying to decipher where Amazon is going with this, uh, is that I think that those match types will at some point disappear and that they will be, uh, more of a here's a keyword and Amazon will figure out how it's going to be advertised and how it's going to match.

1:56 Now, that may not happen this year, may happen next year or the following year, but definitely we are heading in that direction. And so what kind of um you know future proofing we can we can all do uh in terms of like getting to that point where we have a little bit more control over our ads versus right now it it seems like traffic gets diverted between the different match types and um it's hard to kind of place [snorts] a finger on this is the reason or this is the way your traffic is being channeled through a particular match type.

2:20 So just observing some changes that are happening and how uh brands need to kind of start adapting to that change uh so that they can be in a better place. >> There's a great answer there and I do think there is Amazon's heading that direction that I think Google has already gone down of they just want control and like just just let us advertise for you and we'll figure it out. But that's I don't think going to work anytime soon.

2:44 Um so Elizabeth, what are your thoughts on what is working today? probably similar to what Ru had said I would say. So there was old school strategy when cost per clicks were lower >> um was definitely to you know kind of start in broad allow the algorithm to feel it out and then segment down from there um given the new uh new like third party tools emerging as well as Amazon's own you know giving us access to more data product opportunity explorer is fascinating brand analytics etc etc Um and as well as like you know some tools who have done some really good work.

3:33 I mean Helium 10, Jungle Scout have always been around. Data Dive's a really good you know strong one. It's becoming easier and easier for those with less experience in you know advertising to pick better beginning targets. Um, and so I would say even as I would agree, it's driving me crazy, the algorithm sort of shifts away from the control, I still find that the more specific you can get, the more intentional you can get with your targeting, the better your performance will be.

4:19 And I always find that like this has been good practice since the dawn of the beginning versus now. Couple things have changed. one cost per clicks are a lot higher than they used to be. So your cost of testing is extremely elevated where I mean you used to be able to get two cent clicks. I would kill for two cent clicks. It's not going to happen. Um and then also just the wealth of um data available now makes it one a lot easier again if you can understand the data and how to read it to focus on the things that matter to your brand and then also becomes more imperative as costs rise.

4:45 >> There's a there's a lot of data we got to focus on. All right, next up. Mina, what is your thoughts on the state of what is working today? I still see this um people are like obsessing with their PPC and and it tells me that they don't understand how what PPC does, right? And and fundamentally PPC does one thing and one thing only and it just shows your product to people. That's it. It cannot get a click.

5:09 It cannot get a sale. It cannot you know people are talking about high CPCs and of course CPCs are rising. Um but it's like that doesn't affect us at all because at the end of the day it's the the playing field is the playing field. Um, and the and the way that people need to start looking at it is you have PPC and then you have your clickthrough rate and then you have your conversion rate like kind of in a chain.

5:34 And you can push PPC up, but then it's it's it's you can't push it anymore. And then you have to push clickthrough rate up and and and then you can't push it anymore cuz conversion rate. Then you have to put push conversion rate up. And then you you know, you kind of have to keep pushing them what like all together or else you're never going to get up there. And and a lot of people are are like, you know, okay, I have I'm looking at all these keywords.

5:55 Uh my campaign structure, this and that. I'm like, cool. Let's redo your campaign structure. Let's test this keyword. Let's do that keyword. What's going to happen? You're just going to keep showing up to people. Now, uh understanding that Amazon is just a thousand tiny funnels. The funnel is someone types in a search term, they see you, right? And and then a certain percentage click and a certain percentage buy. And that's now for one keyword your funnel.

6:19 Um once you start understanding that then you're like okay I I cannot just do PPC if you if you're if you look at your weekly as a as a as a business owner if you look at your