When it comes to Amazon PPC bid optimization there are three important questions to ask: 1) What are the triggers for bid change? 2) By how much to change? 3) How often to change?
1. What are the triggers for bid change?
These are "clues" in your data that alert you to the need for a bid change. For example, your ACoS was above target, your keywords did not get any impressions, your keywords received a ton of clicks but no sales etc.
2. By how much to change?
Most people struggle with how much to change a bid by. This decision is almost always a function of your target ACoS. There are many formulae available to calculate the right bid to achieve your target ACoS. The simplest, most common one is Sales / Clicks x Target ACoS. If you are using a spreadsheet, you could build this formula in for quick calculations.
3. How often to change?
Once you have made adjustments based on the calculations in step 2, you ideally want to wait to see if those changes made any difference to your desired outcome.
Remember that each keyword moves at a different pace, so changing bids too soon or too late might be something you want to avoid.
You don't want to change a bid on a slow moving keyword too frequently or right after a bid change if it does not have high search volume. You want to give the data time to accumulate. On the other hand you wouldn't want to wait endlessly on fast moving keywords if there is already enough click and conversion data to recommend a change.
How often does PPC Ninja recommend bid changes?
Rather than measure keyword performance on a fixed time period, PPC Ninja uses a data sufficiency model for calculating the time period for each keyword or target individually.
This is because some keywords are fast movers while some keywords need more time to build some history. We use a sophisticated system to arrive at the "Pick Period" for each keyword separately.
Watch this video to find out more about our bid recommendations.
But doesn't PPC recommend bid changes daily?
Yes, PPC Ninja recommends bid changes daily. This does not mean that you are changing the bids on the same keyword or target every day. Each day the keywords that made it to the "pick" are different. This makes it possible for you to never be behind on making adjustments as soon as they are available. Look at the Date From and Date to fields to confirm the pick period for each keyword.
Did this post spark your curiosity or trigger a question? Comment below or email us at support@ppcninja.com. We'd love to hear from you!
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