Amazon's Clickriver adds category targeting

Amazon’s new pay-per-click program, Clickriver, operates almost exactly like Google’s Adwords. The advertiser bids on keywords, and shows up in search results and relevant content sites. For example, if you wanted to advertise wine on Amazon, you’d bid on keywords such as “wine,” “chardonnay” or “Pinot noir,” and your ad would appear on the product pages for relevant books and other products.

But now Amazon has added a powerful new capability to Clickriver which could prove very effective for advertisers with deep products. Now advertisers can bid on an entire category in Amazon’s bookstore. For example, if you wanted your ad to appear on pages classified by Amazon as relating to gardening, you’d create a new ad and target it using the category_gardening keyword.

This will be a powerful tool for advertisers who want to blanket an entire category. No longer must they research every title and author name in a given field. Advertisers will also be able to bid on Amazon’s home page.

I reviewed Clickriver here, the program is still in beta testing.

Ads will be screened for relevance and ads not deemed relevant to a particular category may be rejected. The category keywords below are available now, and Amazon plans to expand and refine the list. The categories of pages where ads would appear are in bold, underneath are the relevant keywords:

Investing and Personal Finance
category_investing_and_personal_finance

Business and Marketing
category_business_and_marketing

Jobs and Careers
category_jobs_and_careers

Christian Interest
category_christian_interest

Food and Wine
category_food_and_wine

Dieting
category_dieting

Health and Fitness
category_health_and_fitness

History
category_history

Home and Interior Design
category_home_and_interior_design

Gardening
category_gardening

Weddings
category_weddings

Travel
category_travel