Amazon Sponsored Display Ads: How-to Guide and Optimization Strategies

As part of Amazon’s advertising system, Sponsored Display ads not only provide a richer range of placements, but also allow sellers to attract more potential customers through different matching methods (such as audience and product placement). This type of advertisement can not only be displayed on the Amazon site, but can also reach potential buyers outside the site. It is especially suitable for products that already have a certain traffic base, helping them to further increase their market share.

Operating procedures and features

When setting up display promotion, sellers first need to click the Continue button under display promotion to enter the ad settings page, select the product, select the delivery type, and set the single-click bidding to complete the entire setup process. Different from traditional keyword bidding competition, display promotion breaks through this limitation and looks for more precise traffic both inside and outside the site. Its advertising positions include but are not limited to the top of the product details page, below the five-point description and shopping cart, and on the left side of the search page.

Audience placement

Audience placement is a retargeting advertisement, which is placed both inside and outside Amazon. It mainly targets buyers who have viewed promoted products or similar product detail pages in the past 30 days but have not placed an order. When these potential customers leave Amazon to browse other websites, Amazon will place ads directly on the corresponding web pages to achieve secondary marketing.

Product placement

Product placement focuses on Amazon site advertising, which can be targeted to specific ASINs or categories. This type of advertisement usually appears on the product details page and is similar to the product placement operation of manual advertisements. In addition, Sponsored Display ads may also appear on competitors’ product detail pages, providing sellers with an opportunity to directly reach the audience of competing products.

How to optimize ad performance

• Keyword Settings: Ensuring the use of precise and relevant search keywords is the key to improving store rankings. Although Amazon does not limit the number of keywords, there are usually only about ten effective keywords for each product. Sellers can optimize keyword selection by integrating and utilizing hot words and broad category hot words in the drop-down menu.
• Image quality: High-quality product images are also crucial. The recommended ratio is 1:1.3, the background is preferably white, and the product occupies at least 85% of the space. Uploading more than five pictures of 1,000 pixels or more can help display product details in an all-round way.
• Seller Performance: Maintaining good performance indicators (such as order defect rate, cancellation rate, shipping delay rate, etc.) can help improve your store’s reputation.
• User Experience: Actively encourage user reviews and convert them into actual sales, which not only helps increase conversion rates but also provides positive incentives for subsequent buyers.

Tackling the problem of ads not being displayed

If you find that ads on the Amazon site are not displayed properly, possible reasons include the ad running time being too short, the bid being too low, improper keyword settings, or the product itself being too niche, etc. Solutions include extending the advertising cycle, increasing bids, optimizing keywords, and improving listing content.

Sponsored Display ads are gradually becoming one of the indispensable marketing tools for Amazon sellers due to their wide coverage and flexibility. However, as more sellers join this space, advertising costs are expected to rise. Therefore, for sellers who have not yet registered a trademark or completed brand registration, strengthening their own brand building has become a top priority.