Advertising & PPC

ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sale) is ad spend divided by ad revenue, expressed as a percentage. A "good" target depends on your margin — a healthy target is usually set below your gross margin so ads remain profitable, rather than chasing one universal number.

Sponsored Products promote individual listings in search results and product pages. Sponsored Brands show a custom headline and multiple products, usually at the top of search. Sponsored Display retargets shoppers on and off Amazon based on browsing behavior.

Automatic campaigns are useful early on to discover which search terms actually convert, since Amazon matches your ad to relevant searches for you. Manual campaigns let you bid precisely on proven keywords — most mature accounts run both together.

It varies by category and growth stage — a new listing building initial sales velocity often needs a higher ad spend ratio than an established bestseller that already ranks organically. Tracking total ACOS against overall profitability is more useful than a fixed percentage rule.

Negative keywords stop your ad from showing on searches that aren't relevant to your product, preventing wasted spend on clicks that were never going to convert. Regularly reviewing the search term report to add negatives is one of the highest-leverage PPC habits.

Rising ACOS is often a sign of increased competition bidding up the same keywords, seasonal demand shifts, or listing conversion rate declining (due to reviews, stock issues, or price changes) — the ad itself isn't always the problem.

TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sale) measures ad spend against total revenue, including organic sales, not just ad-driven sales. A falling TACOS over time while ACOS stays flat is a good sign — it means organic sales are growing alongside ads.

No — advertising drives traffic, but if the listing itself has weak images, unclear value proposition, or a pricing problem, more traffic just means more wasted ad spend. Fixing the listing usually needs to happen before scaling ad spend.

It shows ads to shoppers who viewed your product (or similar products) but didn't purchase, both on Amazon and sometimes on external sites through Amazon's ad network — useful for recovering shoppers who were close to buying.

Yes, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display both require an enrolled, Brand Registered account, unlike Sponsored Products which is available to any professional seller account.