Amazon Advertising Strategy: Types of Amazon Ads and How to Use Them
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Amazon Advertising Strategy
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Quick answer
A good Amazon advertising strategy starts with Sponsored Products on your best listings, uses automatic campaigns to discover search terms and manual campaigns to scale the ones that convert, then adds Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display. Judge results on TACoS and profit, not just ACoS, and keep improving listings so ads convert better.
Key takeaways
- Sponsored Products are the foundation for most sellers.
- Auto campaigns find keywords; manual campaigns scale them.
- Add negative keywords every week.
- Sponsored Brands and Display build the brand and retarget shoppers.
- Measure TACoS and profit, not ACoS alone.
Types of Amazon ads
| Ad type | Where it shows | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsored Products | Search results and product pages | Driving sales of individual products |
| Sponsored Brands | Top of search, with your logo and several products or video | Brand awareness and store traffic |
| Sponsored Display | On and off Amazon, retargeting and product targeting | Re-engaging shoppers and defending listings |
| Amazon DSP | Programmatic display and video across Amazon and the web | Larger brands with bigger budgets |
Sponsored Brands and some Display options require Amazon Brand Registry.
ACoS vs TACoS
- ACoS (advertising cost of sale): ad spend divided by ad sales. It tells you how efficient your ads are.
- TACoS (total advertising cost of sale): ad spend divided by total sales, ads plus organic. It tells you whether ads are growing the whole business.
A rising ACoS with a falling TACoS can be fine: ads may be lifting organic sales. Always compare against your margin after Amazon fees.
A step-by-step Amazon ads strategy
- 1Optimize the listing first. Ads can't fix a weak listing, see our listing guide.
- 2Start with automatic Sponsored Products to discover which searches convert.
- 3Harvest winners into manual exact and phrase campaigns with their own bids.
- 4Add negatives for irrelevant or unprofitable search terms every week.
- 5Protect your brand with campaigns on your own brand terms and product pages.
- 6Add Sponsored Brands to send shoppers to your Brand Store or a product collection.
- 7Use Sponsored Display to retarget product viewers.
- 8Review TACoS and profit monthly and move budget to what's working.
Common Amazon PPC mistakes
- Running only automatic campaigns and never harvesting keywords
- Ignoring the search term report
- Judging everything on ACoS without looking at margin and organic sales
- Advertising products with weak listings or few reviews
- Changing bids daily before campaigns have enough data
Prefer expert help? Our Amazon PPC management team runs campaigns for profit.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main types of Amazon ads?
Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP. Most sellers start with Sponsored Products.
What is a good ACoS on Amazon?
It depends on your margin. A good ACoS is one that leaves profit after Amazon fees and product costs. Many sellers also track TACoS to see the effect of ads on total sales.
How do I set up Amazon Sponsored Products?
In Seller Central, go to Advertising, create a Sponsored Products campaign, choose automatic or manual targeting, select products, set a daily budget and bids, then launch and review the search term report regularly.
Do Amazon ads help organic ranking?
They can, indirectly. Ads bring sales and reviews, and sales history is one of the signals Amazon uses for organic ranking.
Sources
Platform rules change often, so we check sources at every update. Last reviewed October 24, 2026.
Written by
Zia Ur Rehman
Founder & Lead SEO Strategist, DigiEthic
Zia Ur Rehman is the founder of DigiEthic, with 14 years of experience in digital marketing. He works hands-on across technical SEO, AI search optimization (AEO/GEO), Local SEO, Google Ads and Meta Ads for service businesses and e-commerce brands.
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