Originally published March 17th, 2022
Last updated May 22nd, 2025
If you shop on Amazon.com consistently, you’ll notice that ads are becoming more ever-present on the site.
Ads can take up the top row of results results for a search query (with a "Brand Ad" above that), there are ads on individual product pages, there’s video ads...
There’s a lot of ads.
This rise in visibility is largely due to how dominant the amazon ppc advertising platform has become for targeting potential customers.
If you sell on Amazon, as a new seller or a seasoned one, you’ll also notice that the cost per click is going up constantly for keywords as well.
The increasing cpc means that sellers need better bidding strategies and tighter control over their ad spend to remain profitable.
It may lead you to think “Is Amazon PPC even worth it?”
Maybe you will just let organic rankings be responsible for your sales and call it a day.
But relying solely on organic search can limit your growth, especially with how Amazon favors sponsored products in key search results pages.
But I’m here to tell you that Amazon PPC is not only worth it these days, it’s a fundamental pillar to success on the platform.
To optimize your Amazon business performance, integrating a strong ppc strategy with your overall marketing strategy is crucial.
In this post, we’re going to go over 3 crucial reasons why PPC is so important to your success on Amazon.
Reason #1: Amazon Ads show up in places Organic Listings never will
When your products only show up on organic listing spots, then you’re essentially limiting the amount of customers that will see your products.
High visibility through sponsored brands, sponsored display ads, and brand ads helps boost brand awareness among a broader target audience.
If you're not getting impressions, you're not getting traffic. If you're not getting traffic, you're not getting sales.
While you might think it's fine to sacrifice some sales to save money, keep in mind that more traffic and more purchases from any traffic source (ads included) will help with your organic rankings as a bonus (more on that in Reason #3).
Spending a bit to show up everywhere you possibly can on Amazon will do wonders for your catalog’s overall sales.
And sales are what we want, right?
Even if your pricing isn't the lowest, strategic amazon ppc campaigns can still increase sales by placing your products in premium spots.
Look at this search for "barefoot shoes" on Amazon:
Incredibly, within this screenshot of an Amazon search result there are zero organic listings immediately visible.
To see the first organic results, you'll have to scroll down the page:
Scrolling down, you finally manage to see some organic listings, but you only get 4 results until you're served a video ad that takes up an entire row.
And what's that? Another ad to the left of all of this.
It's never ending ads!
Let's open up a listing and see what we find:
If you thought a product listing was safe, you were wrong.
In this listing there are 4 areas above the fold for advertisements of different shoes.
In case you were wondering, there are more ads if you scroll down.
These product detail pages are increasingly designed to favor amazon ppc ads, making it harder for organic ranking alone to dominate.
Reason #2: Amazon PPC is the most effective tool for launching new products
There’s a lot of confusion around the topic of a product launch on Amazon.
Content around a product launch seem to be full to the brim with tactics.
It can get pretty extensive:
- Giveaways
- Email blasts (What if you're a new seller? Who are you "blasting?")
- Gray-hat and black-hat tactics (bot campaigns with steep discounts, anyone?)
- Influencer marketing
- Spam Facebook groups
- and more
With so much to do just to launch a product it can seem difficult and daunting.
Not to mention a lot of tactics you read about seem like a generally bad idea.
But I’m going to reveal the magician’s trick right now: Most product launches on Amazon use PPC as the only promotional tactic.
Many successful sellers rely on amazon ppc advertising alone to make their new product stand out in competitive product categories.
That’s right, for the vast majority of product launches you only need a great listing, a great product, and a budget set aside for PPC.
If your listing is solid, then people will still purchase even with no reviews (shocking, but true).
You can do a more aggressive spend at first to really milk the “Honeymoon Period” of when your product hits the warehouse, and then adjust campaigns as rankings improve and reviews start coming in.
This is a cost-effective way to generate traction quickly and improve your click-through rate, conversions, and long-term growth.
I’m not saying other promotions aren't effective, but the 2 fundamental pillars to your product’s initial (and sustained) success are PPC (on Amazon) and SEO.
Smart keyword research and amazon advertising go hand in hand to build visibility and a high conversion rate.
Get those right, and you’ll have many successful product launches under your belt.
Reason #3: Amazon PPC Performance is linked to Organic Performance
Amazon PPC is a straightforward system:
- You bid on a keyword against other sellers (this determines the price)
- Your listing shows up on designated ad spots for the chosen keyword
- When someone clicks on your ad, you are charged
There’s more nuance to this, of course, but that’s a general breakdown.
If your listing and offer is great, someone will click your sponsored ad spot and you’ll make a sale.
More than making a sale, however, are complementary benefits to running ads.
What kinds of benefits exactly? No one is entirely sure because Amazon’s A9 algorithm is shrouded in mystery, and precisely how it works is unknown.
Any experienced seller will tell you is that a sale generated from an advertisement will help boost your rankings organically.
That’s why amazon seller communities focus heavily on tracking metrics like acos, roas, and return on investment to measure success.
At the very least, a sale made from an ad will help with sales velocity.
Some think that the keywords people typed in the search bar and eventually bought your product could help with organic rankings for that specific term.
So if you’re launching a product or looking to maintain rankings for your listings, you should be utilizing Amazon PPC to help with keyword rankings.
With the right automation and targeting of specific keywords, your ad campaigns can evolve your brand to the next level.
Conclusion
So what can we take away from all of this?
Put simply, Amazon will continue to emphasize ads now and into the future, and will reward sellers who use them effectively.
While this might seem "unfair" to some, if you work advertising spend within your budget and your margins, it provides a very helpful way to start the sales engine of your new listings, and can be an advantage if you use them correctly.
Pairing facebook ads with google ads can amplify reach even more and create a full-funnel advertising strategy beyond Amazon.
If you utilize funding to restock your inventory, you can even have part of the funding be dedicated to advertising.
Allocating that budget to amazon ppc worth it campaigns is a smart way to drive traffic and build momentum in competitive niches.
So is Amazon PPC worth it? More than worth it, it's required for success on the platform.
