Your ad reports only show what happened to your own ads. They tell you which search terms you paid for and what they returned. They cannot tell you how big a search term is, how much of it you already win organically, or which competitors shoppers compare you against. Brand Analytics can.
This playbook covers four Brand Analytics reports and the PPC decision each one supports. Each section names the report, the column that matters and the action to take.
Why market data changes PPC decisions
Ad data is a narrow view. A keyword with 20 clicks and two orders looks small. It might be small. Or it might be a large search term where your ad rarely shows and your organic share is tiny. Those two cases need opposite decisions, and ad data alone cannot tell them apart.
Brand Analytics fills in the total: how many shoppers searched, how many clicked anything, how many bought, and how much of each step went to your brand. Once you know the size of the opportunity, bid decisions get easier to justify.
Search Query Performance: find under-won queries
The Search Query Performance report lists the search queries that led shoppers to your products, with a funnel for each: impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases. For each step it shows the total across Amazon and your brand's share.
The decision it supports: where to push harder. Sort by total query volume and look for queries where your impression share is reasonable but your click or purchase share is low. That points to a listing or price problem, not an ad problem. Then look for queries where your purchase share is strong but your impression share is low. Those are the queries where more visibility, through higher bids or a dedicated exact match campaign, has the best chance of paying off.
The Search Query Performance report, explained walks through every column in detail.
Top Search Terms: discover and size keywords
The Top Search Terms report ranks search terms by how often they were searched, and shows the top clicked products for each, with their click and conversion shares.
The decision it supports: which keywords to add, and which competitors to target. Search the report for terms related to your product. Terms with a strong search frequency rank that are missing from your campaigns are candidates for new keywords. Products that appear repeatedly as top clicked items on your core terms are the competitors shoppers compare you with, and they are candidates for product targeting.
Treat this as a starting list, then validate with your own search term data before spending heavily. Amazon PPC keyword research covers how to build and test that list, and competitor targeting covers how to bid on the products you find.
Search Catalog Performance: find weak listings before scaling
The Search Catalog Performance report shows the same funnel as Search Query Performance but by product instead of by query: impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases for each ASIN, from all search traffic.
The decision it supports: which products are ready for more ad spend. A product with a healthy click rate but a weak cart add rate has a listing or price problem. Scaling ads on it buys more clicks that do not convert. Fix the listing first. A product that converts well across all search traffic is a safer place to raise budgets.
Market Basket Analysis: plan cross-sell targeting
Market Basket Analysis shows which products shoppers bought together with yours in the same order.
The decision it supports: where to place product targeting ads. If shoppers often buy your product with a specific complementary item, target that item's detail page with a Sponsored Products or Sponsored Display ad. If they often buy two of your own products together, target each of your own pages with the other. This is defensive as well as additive, because your own detail pages are otherwise open to competitor ads. The product targeting guide covers setup.
Putting it into a monthly routine
Step 1. Pull Search Query Performance for the last month. List the five largest queries where your purchase share is strong and your impression share is weak.
Step 2. Check each against your search term report. If you already bid on it, consider a higher bid or a top of search placement adjustment. If you do not, add it as an exact match keyword.
Step 3. Pull Search Catalog Performance. Flag any product whose cart add rate fell compared to last month, and hold its budget until the cause is clear.
Step 4. Check Top Search Terms for your three core terms and note any new top clicked competitor. Add it to a product targeting campaign.
Step 5. Review Market Basket Analysis each quarter, since it moves slowly, and adjust cross-sell targeting.
Write down each decision and the date you made it. A month later, the next pull tells you whether it worked.
Limits to keep in mind
Brand Analytics reports are aggregated and lag by a few days. Shares can move because a competitor ran a deal, not because of anything you changed. Use the reports to choose where to act, and your own ad data to judge the result. Brand Analytics also does not show hourly behavior, so it cannot help with scheduling. For that you need hourly ad data.
Search terms can also be relevant without being worth bidding on. A large query with a low purchase rate across the whole market may simply be a browsing term. Add those to negative keywords rather than chasing share.
Frequently asked questions
Who can access Amazon Brand Analytics?
Brand Analytics is available to brand owners enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, along with eligible vendors. You find it in Seller Central under the Brands menu. Some reports require the brand to have products with sales in the period you select.
Which Brand Analytics report is most useful for PPC?
For most sellers, the Search Query Performance report. It shows how shoppers move from impressions to purchases for each search term that led to your products, and how your share compares to the total for that query. That makes it the best single source for finding keywords where you are underperforming the market.
How often should I check Brand Analytics for PPC?
Monthly is enough for keyword discovery and share analysis. Weekly views are useful in the run-up to a sales event or a product launch, when search behavior moves faster. Pair each review with the search term report so you compare total market behavior with your own ad data.
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