{"id":126022,"date":"2022-06-23T08:33:48","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T08:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=126022"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:07:38","slug":"amazon-ppc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/ecommerce\/amazon-insights\/amazon-ppc\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon PPC: What You Need to Know to be a Top Seller"},"content":{"rendered":"

People use Amazon differently than they use search engines like Google. While you may have aced your pay-per-click<\/a> (PPC) strategy for search engines, what works there won\u2019t give you the same mileage on the top eCommerce site. On Amazon, you\u2019re competing against Amazon itself, and also with almost 10 million sellers, so if you want to drive results, you need a dedicated Amazon PPC strategy.<\/p>\n

So that’s where we come in. We have all the data behind Amazon PPC spend and we know what works and what doesn’t. We will walk you through everything from how to place an ad, to how to optimize your bidding strategy – so get ready for a whirlwind PPC tour because here we go.<\/p>\n

What is Amazon PPC?<\/h2>\n

Amazon PPC is the process of advertising products on Amazon. You create a campaign and bid on relevant keywords. When an advertisement spot opens up, Amazon hosts an instantaneous auction with all the bids relevant to the open advertisement placement. Auction winners are displayed to the Amazon user, but you only pay if the viewer clicks on your ad.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Top five reasons to use Amazon PPC<\/h2>\n

Amazon PPC is a great way to get noticed by potential customers with high purchase intent, and if you do it right, it could lead to exponential growth of your business. If you\u2019re not already using PPC campaigns on Amazon, here are the top reasons you should be:<\/p>\n

1. Boost product sales<\/h3>\n

Amazon PPC is the best way to get your products in front of interested customers for fast results. While you might have spent tons of time optimizing the SEO of your Amazon product pages, you may not get much traction if you aren\u2019t paying to play.<\/p>\n

2. Increase your organic ranking for highly competitive keywords<\/h3>\n

Some keywords are extremely competitive and no matter how great your Amazon SEO strategy is, your listing may not get noticed for your top keywords<\/a>. However, if your PPC campaigns for those competitive keywords show results, this can affect your organic ranking for those keywords. Amazon\u2019s goal is to sell, so if they see that a keyword used in PPC leads to sales, your organic ranking for that keyword will likely also jump.<\/p>\n

3. Create brand awareness for new product launches<\/h3>\n

Past performance has a big influence on Amazon\u2019s organic rankings. But the catch-22 with new products is that you have no past performance so it\u2019s hard to get the exposure that will lead to performance. Amazon PPC can be the key to escaping this conundrum. You can use PPC to get new products noticed so you can generate brand awareness, sales, and customer experience as well as show amazon that these products are worth the exposure.<\/p>\n

4. Beat competitors for top positions and sales<\/h3>\n

Your competitors are surely running their own PPC campaigns. They are probably tracking their performance, optimizing their campaigns, and seeing the results in their ROI. If you\u2019re not running PPC campaigns, you\u2019re losing out by not even entering the competition.<\/p>\n

5. Get visibility with seasonal trends<\/h3>\n

Amazon sales often jump or drop depending on seasonal trends and holidays. When sales are high, say on Cyber Monday or Prime Day, or when people are searching for a holiday or Mother\u2019s Day gift, you want to make sure people see your products. During these times, Amazon users usually have high purchase intent and you want them to see your products when they are in the mood to buy.<\/p>\n

Amazon PPC advertisement types<\/h2>\n

All right, you\u2019re convinced it\u2019s time to get on board with Amazon PPC. Great! There are a few different types of advertisements you can create to get your product in front of potential customers. You can use one or all the different types, depending on what works best for you. Here are the types and the benefits for each one.<\/p>\n

Sponsored products<\/h3>\n

Sponsored products are the simplest of Amazon PPC ads. They are designed for customers looking for a product, like a blender, but haven\u2019t decided on a particular brand or model. A sponsored product ad will show up when someone searches for \u2018blender\u2019 – so your brand is in the mix.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

You can easily set up a sponsored product campaign even if you\u2019ve never done Amazon PPC before. It takes just minutes to set up and can lead to a quick boost in sales. You can start the ads for just a few dollars a day and once you\u2019ve tested the waters and learned what works for your products, they are easy to scale by increasing your budget or bids for your top keywords.<\/p>\n

According to Amazon, products generally experience a 40% increase<\/a> in weekly sales in the first year after launching sponsored product ads.<\/p>\n

Sponsored display ads<\/h3>\n

Display ads are more focused on creating brand awareness<\/a> or on retargeting potential customers. These ads combine text, an image, and a call to action that links to your Amazon product page. These ads show up on the Amazon home page, on Twitch (Amazon\u2019s live streaming service), or on third-party websites and apps that display Amazon PPC ads.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

With display ads, you choose an audience to see your ad. You can choose demographics or previous shopping activities to define your target audience<\/a>. You also have the flexibility to determine multiple settings for your campaigns, including your target return on ad spend<\/a> (ROAS), device types, and other advanced filtering options.<\/p>\n

Unlike sponsored product ads, where your ad relies on the text already defined on your product page, you need to create specific copy for display ads. It\u2019s important to concisely communicate the key benefits of your product. You don\u2019t have much space, so think about how you can encourage your target audience to click: Amazon itself recommends using active verbs in the headline. Also, consider creating a second sentence of copy for larger display ads, depending on where your ads will be shown. Here is an example of a display ad:<\/p>\n

\"Display<\/p>\n

Because display ads can show up on third-party sites outside of Amazon, they are great for retargeting potential customers who may have viewed your product listings but didn\u2019t purchase. You can also use them to target customers who viewed your competitors\u2019 product listings \u2013 this is one of the few tools you have to directly poach competitors\u2019 customers!<\/p>\n

Display ads have huge benefits. Amazon notes that advertisers using display ads generally acquire 82% of their sales<\/a> from new customers.<\/p>\n

Sponsored brands<\/h3>\n

Sponsored brand ads are different from the other two types because they focus on a brand rather than a specific product. These ads are nicknamed \u201cheadline search ads\u201d because they can appear on top of the search results in the Amazon SERP, as a \u201cheadline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Example<\/p>\n

They could also show up below the search results like this:<\/p>\n

\"Brands<\/p>\n

These ads are a great way to target potential customers who may not have decided what they are looking for yet. They may have searched for something very general, like \u201cblender\u201d or \u201ckitchen appliance\u201d and you can advertise your entire portfolio of products that could pique their interest.<\/p>\n

With sponsored brand ads, you create a catchy headline and an image or video to showcase your brand. Using videos with sponsored brand ads can provide huge advantages to Amazon PPC. According to Amazon, advertisers using videos in brand ads experience a 108.1% increase in their CTR<\/a> over advertisers using images in brand ads.<\/p>\n

How does Amazon PPC work?<\/h2>\n

Where do Amazon PPC ads show?<\/h3>\n

We briefly touched on this when we discussed Amazon PPC advertisement types, but let\u2019s dive in deeper. There are several places your ads show up:<\/p>\n

1. Top of the search results<\/h4>\n

Being the first thing people see when they search has huge advantages and leads to the most amounts of clicks. Sponsored brand ads show on top of the search results, so if you want to be here, this is the ad type you want.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is only room for one at the top, making this ad placement very competitive and expensive. If you are shooting for this spot, you need to know whether your bidding strategy will lead to a good ROAS.<\/p>\n

2. In the search results<\/h4>\n

Your ads can also appear within the search results. Usually, the top search result is an ad and Amazon often sprinkles in other ads within the results, making it difficult for searchers to distinguish between ads and organic results.<\/p>\n

These sponsored product ads within the SERPS may give you a better bang for your buck than the top of the search results. On the other hand, depending on your bid, your ad could end up at the bottom of the search results or even on page 2 or 3.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

3. On the side of search results<\/h4>\n

Sometimes there are ads placed on the side of the search results. These could be sponsored brands or sponsored display ads. This placement is also a great way to get noticed and could be less pricey than the top-of-the-page result.<\/p>\n

\"Amazon\u2019s<\/p>\n

4. On the product page<\/h4>\n

There are tons of places for ads on product pages. First off, every product page has carousels under the product description with ads for similar products. Your sponsored product ads can show up on this carousel and your position is based on your bid. If you have a higher bid, you could be the first in the carousel, or at least on the first page.<\/p>\n

There are also display ads on the product page. These ads show up as boxes on the right and left sides of the page. They may get more attention than the ads on the carousel, but since there are fewer spots for these ads, they will most likely be more expensive.<\/p>\n

There are millions of products on Amazon, so it\u2019s not difficult to get your ads on a product page. You just need to find the right targeting to get your ads on the most relevant pages.<\/p>\n

\"Sponsored<\/p>\n

5. On Twitch or other third-party apps and websites<\/h4>\n

Sponsored display ads show up on and off Amazon. These ads could show on any website or app in Amazon\u2019s network that displays Amazon PPC ads.<\/p>\n

\"Third<\/p>\n

What\u2019s required to run a PPC campaign on Amazon?<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s actually pretty easy to start running PPC campaigns on Amazon since there aren\u2019t a lot of requirements. All you need is:<\/p>\n