Amazon PPC Glossary
A plain-English reference for the advertising terms you will encounter when running Amazon PPC campaigns. Organized alphabetically for quick lookup.
Bookmark this page — open it whenever you see a term you don’t recognize.
Amazon advertising has its own vocabulary. Understanding these terms will help you read campaign reports, set realistic targets, and communicate clearly with anyone managing your ads.
5 Most Important Metrics at a Glance
| Metric | Full Name | Formula | What It Tells You |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACOS | Advertising Cost of Sales | Ad Spend ÷ Ad Revenue × 100 | % of ad revenue spent on ads; lower is more efficient |
| ROAS | Return on Ad Spend | Ad Revenue ÷ Ad Spend | Revenue earned per $1 spent; inverse of ACOS as a ratio |
| CPC | Cost Per Click | Total Ad Spend ÷ Total Clicks | Average price paid each time a shopper clicks your ad |
| CTR | Click-Through Rate | Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100 | % of ad views that result in a click; signals ad relevance |
| CVR | Conversion Rate | Orders ÷ Clicks × 100 | % of clicks that convert to a sale; reflects listing quality |
A
- ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
- The percentage of ad-attributed revenue you spent on advertising. Calculated as ad spend / ad revenue × 100. A lower ACOS means you are spending less to generate each dollar of ad revenue.
- Ad Group
- A set of keywords or product targets within a campaign that share the same bid and creative. Grouping related terms into tight ad groups gives you more control over bids and relevance.
- ASIN Targeting
- A targeting strategy where your ad appears on a specific competitor product detail page. Also called product targeting.
- Attributed Sales
- Sales that Amazon credits to a specific ad click, typically within a 7-day or 14-day attribution window depending on the report.
- Automatic Campaign
- A Sponsored Products campaign where Amazon decides which search terms and product pages trigger your ads. Useful for keyword discovery but offers less bid control than manual campaigns.
B
- Bid
- The maximum amount you are willing to pay for a single click on your ad. Amazon uses a second-price auction, so you often pay slightly less than your bid.
- Broad Match
- A keyword match type that triggers your ad for searches containing your keyword in any order, including synonyms and related terms. Provides the widest reach but lowest precision.
- Budget (Daily)
- The maximum amount you are willing to spend on a campaign per day. Once the budget is exhausted, your ads stop showing until the next day.
C
- Campaign
- The top-level container for your ads. Each campaign has its own budget, targeting type (automatic or manual), and one or more ad groups.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- The percentage of impressions that result in a click. Calculated as clicks / impressions × 100. A higher CTR usually indicates that your ad creative and targeting are relevant.
- Conversion Rate (CVR)
- The percentage of ad clicks that result in a purchase. Calculated as orders / clicks × 100. Improving your listing quality directly improves conversion rate.
- Cost Per Click (CPC)
- The actual amount you pay each time a shopper clicks your ad. Your average CPC is total ad spend divided by total clicks.
D
- Dynamic Bidding
- An Amazon bidding strategy that automatically raises or lowers your bid in real time based on the likelihood of conversion. Options include “down only,” “up and down,” and “fixed bids.”
E
- Exact Match
- A keyword match type that only triggers your ad when the shopper's search query matches your keyword precisely (with minor variations like plurals). Offers the highest precision and typically the best conversion rate.
I
- Impressions
- The number of times your ad was displayed to shoppers. Impressions alone do not cost anything in CPC campaigns; you only pay when someone clicks.
K
- Keyword Harvesting
- The process of identifying high-performing search terms from an automatic campaign and moving them into a manual campaign with dedicated bids.
M
- Manual Campaign
- A Sponsored Products campaign where you choose the specific keywords or product targets. Gives you full control over what triggers your ads and how much you bid.
N
- Negative Keyword
- A keyword you explicitly exclude so your ad does not appear for irrelevant searches. Adding negatives reduces wasted spend and improves ACOS.
- New-to-Brand (NTB)
- A metric available in Sponsored Brands reports that shows the percentage of orders from customers who have not purchased from your brand in the past 12 months.
P
- Phrase Match
- A keyword match type that triggers your ad when the shopper's search contains your keyword phrase in order, with additional words allowed before or after. A middle ground between broad and exact match.
- Placement
- The location on Amazon where your ad appears. Common placements include top of search results, rest of search, and product detail pages. You can add bid adjustments by placement.
R
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- The revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. Calculated as ad revenue / ad spend. ROAS is the inverse of ACOS expressed as a ratio rather than a percentage.
S
- Search Term Report
- An Amazon report that shows the actual customer search queries that triggered your ads. Essential for keyword harvesting and adding negative keywords.
- Sponsored Brands
- An ad format that displays your brand logo, a custom headline, and up to three products. Typically appears at the top of search results and is available to brand-registered sellers.
- Sponsored Brands Video
- A Sponsored Brands variant that auto-plays a short video in search results. Effective for demonstrating product use and standing out visually.
- Sponsored Display
- An ad type that targets shoppers based on interests, product views, or purchases. Ads can appear on Amazon product pages, the home page, and third-party sites.
- Sponsored Products
- The most common Amazon ad type. These keyword- or product-targeted ads appear in search results and on product detail pages and look similar to organic listings.
T
- TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales)
- Ad spend as a percentage of your total revenue (not just ad-attributed revenue). Calculated as ad spend / total revenue × 100. TACoS gives a broader view of how advertising affects your overall business.
- Top of Search (TOS)
- The first row of search results on Amazon. Ads placed here tend to receive the highest click-through and conversion rates but also face the most competition.