Do I need branded defense PPC campaigns on Amazon?
Yes, if competitors bid on your brand terms or you are brand-registered with real branded search volume. A dedicated Sponsored Products exact campaign on your brand keywords is cheap insurance. Add Sponsored Brands headline on your top brand queries to own the fold.
What branded defense buys you
Ownership of your brand SERP. Prevents competitors from stealing intent traffic. Feeds brand analytics data. Improves store traffic when paired with SB.
Set it up in three campaigns
SP exact on brand keywords (defensive), SB headline on top brand queries (real estate), SB Video on brand+category queries (upper-funnel discovery).
Frequently asked questions
Is branded search cheap?
Usually. Branded terms tend to have low CPCs unless a competitor is aggressively bidding.
What if no one is bidding on my brand?
Still run a small SP exact defensive campaign. It costs pennies and locks the placement.
Does branded PPC cannibalize organic?
Some overlap exists. On brand terms, most sellers find the incremental lift worth the ad spend.
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Sponsored Brands vs Sponsored Products: which should I run first?
Sponsored Products first, every time. SP drives direct sales on ready-to-buy queries and gives the fastest read on unit economics. Sponsored Brands adds top-of-funnel brand exposure and store traffic but usually shows a longer payback and needs SP data first to know which keywords deserve the SB budget.
Should I run ASIN targeting on competitor listings?
Yes for defensive and conquest campaigns. Sponsored Products ASIN targeting on your own catalog defends your detail pages. Targeting competitor ASINs works best when your product has a clear differentiator (price, rating, bundle) that shows up in the sponsored slot.
How often should I harvest keywords from Amazon PPC?
Weekly for active accounts, bi-weekly for smaller ones. Pull the search-term report from the last 7 to 14 days, promote high-converting search terms into exact-match campaigns, and add wasteful ones as negatives. Any longer than 2 weeks and you burn budget on losers.
How do bid adjustments by placement work in Amazon PPC?
Amazon lets you multiply bids on Top of Search, Product Pages, and Rest of Search, up to 900% on each. Top of Search converts best on brand and high-intent keywords. Product Pages work for competitor conquest. Rest of Search is often the least profitable and rarely deserves a positive adjustment.
What percent of Amazon revenue should I spend on PPC?
A common range is 8% to 15% of Amazon revenue for private-label brands, tracked as TACoS. Under 8% often means you are under-invested and leaving growth on the table. Over 15% for a mature brand usually means acquisition costs are eating margin faster than repeat revenue can fund them.