How many keywords do you really need?
Selecting the right keywords for a sponsored product ads campaign is very important but what about the number of keywords?
In the last 2 weeks we checked 50,000 active campaigns that were running in several different websites and here are some insights.
More keywords = Lower CPC
The first conclusion, which is quite obvious, is that campaigns that target more keywords pay a lower cost per click.
How much lower? As much as 66% lower!
Campaigns that target less than 10 keywords pay the most. By adding a few keywords, the CPC can decrease by almost 20%. By adding a few more (30-40 keywords) the CPC can decrease by 40%. By adding hundreds of keywords the CPC can go down by 66%.
More keywords = Better ACOS/ROAS
Campaigns that target a lot of keywords also usually get better performance in terms of ACOS and ROAS.
By adding hundreds of keywords the ROAS can be X2 higher! By adding more than 30 keywords it can increase by 30%.
The reason once again is quite obvious – When you target only the generic popular keywords (like the category name) the competition is high and the conversion rate can be low. These keywords are important for awareness. A long list of long tail keywords enables to target shoppers that are more focused and therefor gets better conversions and ACOS.
How can your sellers and advertisers find more keywords?
So now we know that a big list of keywords generates better results to your advertisers but how can you help them build this list?
The easiest way is to offer them an automatic keyword option.
The automatic keyword option enables to target all the popular keywords but also the long tail search terms that are relevant to the products that the advertisers are trying to promote.
An Automatic keyword campaign would usually target hundreds of keywords, although not all of them will generate any impressions or clicks as they might have low search volumes.
The big advertisers usually have lists of keywords that they use in different advertising platforms (Google, Amazon. Facebook etc.) so they can upload their list to the campaign when they create it.
Automatic keyword campaigns are the most popular among marketplace sellers because they enable them to easily get the best list and performance.
From the 50,000 campaigns that we analyzed 80% were using the automatic KW option and these campaigns targeted much more keywords than the manual keyword campaigns as seen in the chart below. They also generated 70% higher CTR and 20% higher ROAS for the advertisers.
The bottom line is: Advise your advertisers to add many keywords and use the automatic keyword option.
About Mabaya
Mabaya offers a white-label self-service retail media platform for online retailers and marketplaces that enables sellers and brands to bid in order to ensure their products are listed in premium locations in the online store.
The platform is integrated in more than 50 ecommerce sites around the globe (such as Bol.com, Jumia, Manomano, Kaufland, Hepsiburada, Falabella etc.), serving more than 70,000 advertisers and sellers.
