Introduction

A recent report indicates that Amazon is home to over 9.5 million sellers. And with about 600,000 new third-party sellers kickstarting their venture each year, it can be concluded that the Amazon marketplace has become fiercely competitive.

While these are impressive numbers for Amazon C-level executives, third-party sellers on the platform are finding it incredibly tough to rank at the top of Amazon SERPs for relevant keywords.

While crafting this blog post, we hopped onto Amazon to gain insights into the number of product listings targeting the keyword “leather bag.”

Here’s the result:

That’s a shockingly high number. This means – if you are a new Amazon seller trying to rank at the top for the keyword “leather bag,” you’ll find it incredibly hard to do so organically.

But – don’t lose hope.

Amazon is already well-aware of the ever-increasing number of third-party sellers on their marketplace. To level up the playing ground, Amazon allows sellers to tap into the power of advertising, allowing them to not only get more eyes on their products but also boost their conversion rates and scale their business in a systematic manner.

But before you start advertising on Amazon, it’s important to gain insights into the different types of Amazon sponsored ads. And that’s what we’ll be covering in this blog post.

Without further ado, let’s dive straight into it.

The Different Types of Amazon Sponsored Ads

Following are the three main types of Amazon sponsored ads:

• Sponsored Product Ads
• Sponsored Brand Ads
• Sponsored Display Ads

Let’s touch down on each of these ad types one at a time.

Amazon Sponsored Product Ads

Over 66% of Amazon third-party sellers use Amazon Sponsored Product ads. These are pay-per-click, product, or keyword-targeted ads that look extremely similar to organic search results – but with a slight difference. These ads comprise the word “Sponsored” – which will help you differentiate Sponsored product ad listings from organic ones.

Where Do These Ads Appear?

Amazon sponsored product ads are displayed at the top or within search results and on product pages across both mobile and desktop. These ads appear across:

• Product Pages
• Search Results
• Top of Search
• Rest of Search – As you can see, the middle one is a sponsored product ad.

How Do Amazon Sponsored Product Ads Look?

While setting up sponsored product ads, you can choose between:

• Standard Creative: You can simply use one of your product images as creative– which will be displayed in front of your audience.
• Custom Creative: You can build a custom creative that will appear next to your ad to catch your audience’s attention and make them click-through.

Where Do These Ads Lead To?

Upon clicking through a sponsored product ad, you’ll be redirected to the product page.

Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads

Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads are ads that will display your brand as well as your product portfolio. About 34% of third-party sellers tap into this ad type. These ads are designed for increasing a brand’s online visibility and reach. Amazon sponsored brand ads comprise:

• Brand Logo
• Custom Headline
• Your Product Selection

Where Do These Ads Appear?

Amazon sponsored brand ads appear either at the top or within the search results. Here’s what an Amazon Sponsored Brand Ad looks like:

How Do Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads Look?

While setting up sponsored brand ads, you can choose between:

• Standard Creative – These are sponsored brand ads without any kind of custom image or video creative.
• Custom Image – These are sponsored ads with an eye-catching custom image.
• Video Creative – You can incorporate a video into your sponsored brand ads.

NOTE: For each of these creative types, you can add brand taglines.

Where Do These Ads Lead To?

Upon clicking through a sponsored brand ad, you’ll be redirected to the brand store or a custom landing page – if the brand store doesn’t exist.

Amazon Sponsored Display Ads

About 25% of third-party sellers run Sponsored Display Ads campaigns. Amazon sponsored display ads help store owners reach out to their audience based on relevant interests and shopping activities. This ad type is Amazon’s self-serve display advertising solution allowing brands to target as well as retarget shoppers both on and off the Amazon marketplace with advanced product as well as category targeting.

Where Do These Ads Appear?

These ads appear across:

• Product Pages: Depending on your activity and interests, these ads will be put in front of you across product pages:
• Throughout the World Wide Web: Amazon sponsored display ads will also appear across publisher websites like this:

How Do Amazon Sponsored Display Ads Look?

While setting Amazon sponsored display ads, you may choose:

• Standard Creative – Logo, Tagline, Product Image
• Custom Image

Where Do These Ads Lead To?

Upon clicking through a sponsored display ad, you’ll be redirected to the product page.

Conclusion

Thousands of third-party sellers run Amazon advertising campaigns to expand their reach, attract traffic and boost their conversion rate. However, not every single one of these sellers is subject to impressive results.

If you want to unlock the full force of Amazon PPC, you need to first be familiar with the whats and hows of Amazon advertising. Learning about the different Amazon sponsored ad types is the first step. We’d love nothing more than to guide you through the process.

Reach out to us today!