When it comes to Amazon advertising, getting your products in front of the right shoppers is essential, but what happens when those shoppers are searching specifically for your competitors?
It’s a question we regularly encounter when developing Amazon advertising strategies for the brands we work with at Fluid Marketplaces. If someone is already searching for a competing product, there may be an opportunity to introduce them to your brand before they make their final purchasing decision. However, targeting competitors’ terms needs to be approached carefully from both a performance and a compliance perspective.
The short answer is yes, Amazon generally allows advertisers to target competitor brand keywords through Sponsored Ads. However, there are important distinctions between targeting a competitor’s branded search term, using their trademark within advertising content and adding competitor terms to your own product listings.
At Fluid Marketplaces, we don’t see competitor targeting as simply bidding on as many rival brand names as possible. Instead, we consider where competitor targeting fits within the wider advertising strategy, which competitors represent a genuine opportunity and whether the resulting traffic is actually contributing to profitable marketplace growth.
In this guide, we’ll explain what Amazon allows, the risks to consider and how we approach competitor keyword targeting for the brands we work with at Fluid Marketplaces.
Contents
- What are Amazon brand keywords?
- Can you target competitor brand keywords on Amazon?
- Understanding Amazon’s trademark rules
- Why target competitor keywords?
- What are the risks of competitor targeting?
- The Fluid Marketplaces approach to competitor keyword targeting
- How we identify the right competitors to target
- Keyword targeting vs competitor product targeting
- Why your Amazon listing matters
- Measuring whether competitor targeting is working
- Should you target your own brand keywords too?
- Is competitor keyword targeting worth it?
- How Fluid Marketplaces can help
What are Amazon brand keywords?
Amazon brand keywords are search terms that include a specific brand name, product range or branded product. For example, a shopper might search for “Nike running shoes” rather than simply “running shoes”, which can indicate stronger purchase intent because the customer already has a particular brand or product in mind.
From an advertising perspective, these searches can generally be divided into three areas: your own branded keywords, competitor branded keywords and non-branded category or product keywords.
Your branded keywords capture searches from shoppers already looking for your business or products, while non-branded keywords help you reach customers searching more broadly within your category. Competitor keywords sit somewhere in between, allowing you to place your products in front of shoppers who already know what type of product they want but may currently be considering another brand.
At Fluid Marketplaces, we look at these different keyword groups separately because they perform different roles within an Amazon advertising strategy. Combining everything into a single campaign can make it difficult to understand where sales are actually coming from and where your advertising budget is being used most effectively.
Can you target competitor brand keywords on Amazon?
Yes. Amazon generally permits advertisers to bid on competitor brand keywords through its advertising platform, provided campaigns comply with Amazon’s advertising and intellectual property policies.
For example, if you sell premium water bottles, you may be able to target searches containing the name of another water bottle brand. Your Sponsored Products advert could then appear within relevant search results, giving the shopper an opportunity to consider your product as an alternative.
The important distinction is that bidding on a competitor’s brand name as a keyword is not necessarily the same as displaying that trademark within your advertisement or product listing.
This is something we pay close attention to at Fluid Marketplaces. When we’re building competitor campaigns, the objective is to reach relevant shoppers through Amazon’s available targeting options rather than unnecessarily inserting another brand’s name into a client’s customer-facing content.
Understanding Amazon's trademark rules
Although Amazon allows competitor keyword targeting in many circumstances, sellers don’t have unrestricted permission to use another company’s intellectual property. Brand names, logos and other identifying elements may be protected by trademarks, while Amazon also has advertising and listing policies designed to prevent misleading or inappropriate content.
Understanding where keyword targeting ends and customer-facing use of a trademark begins is therefore important.
Using competitor keywords in advertising
With keyword-targeted Sponsored Products campaigns, advertisers can generally bid on relevant competitor brand terms. The keyword serves as a targeting signal within the advertising platform, so it doesn’t necessarily appear in the advert itself.
For the brands we work with at Fluid Marketplaces, we treat competitor terms as a distinct area of campaign targeting. This makes it easier to control budgets and bids while assessing whether shoppers searching for a particular competitor are actually willing to switch to our client’s product.
Using competitor brand names in ad copy
Using a competitor’s brand name within customer-facing advertising content requires much more care. Amazon’s advertising policies restrict how third-party brands, comparisons and trademarks can be used, while misleading shoppers about a product’s identity, manufacturer or relationship with another brand can create obvious compliance problems.
Our approach at Fluid Marketplaces is to make the client’s own proposition do the work. If we’re targeting shoppers who are considering a competitor, the product still needs to win the click and conversion based on its own imagery, price, reviews, features and overall proposition.
Using competitor keywords in product listings
Paid keyword targeting also needs to be separated from Amazon SEO.
Adding a competitor’s trademark to a product title, bullet points or backend search terms purely to capture their traffic can create intellectual property and listing compliance risks. For that reason, we don’t treat competitor advertising keywords as terms that should automatically be incorporated into organic listing optimisation.
Instead, Amazon SEO should focus on relevant search behaviour and accurate product information while remaining compliant with Amazon’s policies.
Why target competitor keywords?
Competitor targeting can be a useful part of an Amazon PPC strategy because it allows brands to reach shoppers who have already demonstrated strong interest in the category.
Someone searching for a specific brand of coffee machine, for example, isn’t simply browsing “kitchen appliances”. They may already be relatively close to making a purchasing decision. If another product offers a better price, a particular feature they value or a stronger overall proposition, there is an opportunity to influence that decision.
For newer or growing brands, competitor targeting can also provide exposure alongside more established names. This doesn’t mean every competitor search will be valuable, but it can provide another route to introduce your products to relevant customers.
At Fluid Marketplaces, the question isn’t simply “Can we target this competitor?” We also ask “Why would their customer choose this product instead?”
If there isn’t a convincing answer to that second question, bidding aggressively on the competitor’s brand terms is unlikely to be the best use of budget.
What are the risks of competitor targeting?
One of the main risks with competitor targeting is cost. Well-known brands can generate substantial search volumes, and those searches may attract significant competition from advertisers. This can result in higher CPCs, or CPMs, particularly in competitive categories.
Conversion rate is another consideration because shoppers searching for a specific brand may already have strong purchase intent towards that particular company. Your advert may attract a consumer’s attention, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll change their mind. This may result in the possibility of paying for plenty of clicks without generating enough incremental sales to justify the spend.
There is also the risk of the competitors that are being targeted fighting back and bidding for your branded keywords, inflating CPCs, and creating a budget battle.
At Fluid Marketplaces, we don’t judge competitor campaigns purely by impressions or clicks. Visibility can be useful, but advertising ultimately needs to contribute to the brand’s commercial objectives. We therefore look at the relationship between spend, sales, conversion, and broader account performance when deciding whether competitor targeting warrants additional budget.
The Fluid Marketplaces approach to competitor keyword targeting
For the brands we work with at Fluid Marketplaces, competitor targeting is typically treated as one component of a broader Amazon advertising strategy rather than a standalone solution.
We want to understand how branded, non-branded and competitor activity work together across the account. A campaign generating sales isn’t automatically successful if those sales are acquired at an unsustainable cost, just as a campaign with a higher ACoS isn’t automatically unsuccessful if it supports a deliberate growth or customer acquisition strategy.
Our approach starts with relevance. Rather than building a huge list of every recognisable competitor in the category, we focus on brands and products whose customers could realistically consider our client’s offer.
From there, competitor targets can be separated into dedicated campaigns or targeting groups, giving us greater control over bids, budgets and optimisation. This structure also makes it easier to identify which competitors are generating genuine opportunities and which are simply spending on advertising.
We then use the resulting performance data to make decisions. Targets that demonstrate potential can receive greater investment, while inefficient terms can be reduced, refined or removed.
This means competitor targeting evolves based on actual customer behaviour rather than assumptions about which brands we think we should compete against.
How we identify the right competitors to target
Not every brand within a category is necessarily a useful advertising target.
When assessing competitors at Fluid Marketplaces, we consider how closely their products align with the products we’re advertising. That includes factors such as price point, functionality, positioning, reviews, product specifications and the type of customer each product is likely to attract.
For example, if we’re working with a premium product, targeting a competitor whose entire proposition is based around being the cheapest option may not produce the strongest results. The reverse can also be true, as customers searching specifically for a high-end product may not be persuaded by a lower-cost alternative simply because an advert appears in front of them.
The strongest competitor opportunities tend to exist where there is meaningful overlap between the two products and a clear reason for the shopper to consider switching.
That reason could be price, functionality, product size, pack quantity, ratings, availability or another genuine point of difference. Whatever it is, we want the product detail page to make that advantage easy for shoppers to understand.
Keyword targeting vs competitor product targeting
Competitor targeting on Amazon isn’t limited to branded keywords.
Sponsored Products also offers product targeting, allowing advertisers to target specific products and categories. This means a brand can potentially target relevant competitor ASINs and appear in placements where customers are already browsing those products.
At Fluid Marketplaces, we consider both approaches rather than assuming branded keyword targeting is always the best route.
Keyword targeting allows us to reach customers based on what they’re actively searching for, while product targeting can reach shoppers as they browse and compare individual products. Used together, these approaches can provide a more rounded competitor strategy.
The balance between them will depend on the category, available placements, competitor landscape and, most importantly, performance data.
Why your Amazon listing matters
Advertising can put your product in front of a competitor’s customer, but it can’t force that customer to choose you.
This is why we look beyond PPC when working with brands at Fluid Marketplaces. If competitor campaigns are generating traffic but struggling to convert, increasing bids isn’t always the answer. The issue may sit elsewhere in the customer journey.
We consider how effectively the product detail page communicates the offer, including the main image, supporting imagery, title, bullet points, A+ Content, pricing, reviews, promotions and overall product proposition.
Think about the situation from the shopper’s perspective. They’ve searched for a brand they already recognise and your product has interrupted that journey. You now need to give them a compelling reason to reconsider their original choice.
If that reason isn’t immediately clear from the listing, competitor advertising can become an expensive way to send traffic to a page that isn’t equipped to convert it.
For us, PPC and listing optimisation therefore need to work together rather than being treated as completely separate activities.
Measuring whether competitor targeting is working
Once competitor campaigns are live, we monitor performance and optimise based on the data they generate.
Metrics such as click-through rate, CPC, conversion rate, ACoS and ROAS can help build a picture of performance, while search term data can reveal the actual searches driving clicks and sales.
However, no single metric tells the entire story.
For example, a competitor campaign may have a higher ACoS than a branded campaign, which isn’t particularly surprising. A shopper searching directly for your own brand is naturally more likely to convert than somebody searching for a competitor.
The question is whether the competitor campaign is acquiring customers at a cost that aligns with the brand’s objectives.
For the Amazon advertising team at Fluid Marketplaces, this wider context matters. We want to understand what role each campaign is playing within the overall account rather than judging every campaign against the same benchmark.
Should you target your own brand keywords too?
Competitor targeting works both ways. If you can target searches for other brands, competitors may also be bidding on searches for yours.
That’s why branded targeting can remain an important part of an Amazon PPC strategy, even when a brand already ranks organically for its own name.
At Fluid Marketplaces, we typically look at branded, generic and competitor activity as different parts of the customer journey. Branded campaigns can help maintain visibility among shoppers who already know the brand, non-branded campaigns can reach customers exploring the wider category, and competitor campaigns can introduce the product to shoppers who are currently considering somebody else.
Keeping these areas clearly structured also provides better visibility over where the advertising budget is going and what type of demand is driving sales.
Is competitor keyword targeting worth it?
Competitor targeting can absolutely be worth testing, but it shouldn’t be assumed that every competitor keyword deserves investment.
The opportunity is strongest when your product represents a credible alternative and your listing gives shoppers a clear reason to switch. If those conditions aren’t present, high CPCs and lower conversion rates can quickly make competitor targeting inefficient.
Our approach at Fluid Marketplaces is therefore to test intelligently, measure the results and allow performance data to determine where budget goes next.
We would rather identify a smaller group of competitor targets that consistently contribute towards the client’s objectives than maintain a huge competitor campaign simply for the sake of visibility.
Amazon PPC is ultimately about making informed decisions with the available data, and competitor targeting should be held to the same standard as every other part of the account.
How Fluid Marketplaces can help
At Fluid Marketplaces, we help brands build and manage Amazon marketing strategies that consider the complete picture rather than looking at individual advertising campaigns in isolation.
Competitor keyword targeting can form part of that strategy, but our work goes beyond simply identifying rival brand names and adding them to a campaign. We consider where competitor targeting sits alongside branded and non-branded advertising, how products are positioned against competing offers, and whether listings give shoppers a strong enough reason to convert.
We then use campaign and search data to continually refine the strategy, identifying where the budget is delivering value and where there are opportunities to improve efficiency or expand reach.
This joined-up approach is particularly important on Amazon because advertising, organic visibility, product content, pricing, reviews and conversion all influence one another. Strong PPC can bring more shoppers to a product, but sustainable marketplace growth depends on what happens once those shoppers arrive.
If you’re unsure whether competitor targeting should be part of your Amazon advertising strategy, or if your existing campaigns are spending without delivering the results you need, Fluid Marketplaces can help you identify opportunities and build an approach aligned with your wider marketplace objectives.
Get in touch with Fluid Marketplaces to discuss your Amazon advertising strategy and discover how we can help your brand compete more effectively.
