Amazon Ads Reporting: Understand the Reports, Analyze Campaigns, Make Better Decisions
Last updated: April 20, 2026
Reading time: approx. 15 minutes
You run Amazon Ads, you see numbers in the Advertising Console — but do you really know what they mean? Most sellers look at ACoS, feel happy or frustrated, and then tweak their bids. What's missing: a systematic look at the reports that leads to well-founded decisions instead of gut feeling.
This guide shows you which reports Amazon makes available, which metrics matter in which context, and how to build a weekly analysis routine that measurably improves your campaigns. It complements our article on the 7 metrics sellers often misinterpret — that one is about the what, this one is about the how.
Table of contents
Which reports are in the Amazon Advertising Console?
The Amazon Advertising Console offers more reports than most sellers use. Here's the full overview — with a clear recommendation on which ones you actually need.
| Report | What it shows | When to use | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Term Report | The actual search terms that triggered impressions/clicks | Weekly | Must-have |
| Campaign Report | Overall performance per campaign (spend, sales, ACoS) | Weekly | Must-have |
| Targeting Report | Performance per keyword or ASIN target | Weekly | Must-have |
| Placement Report | Performance by ad position (Top of Search, Product Pages, Rest) | Monthly | Recommended |
| Advertised Product Report | Performance per advertised ASIN | Monthly | Recommended |
| Purchased Product Report | Which products were actually bought (incl. cross-sells) | Monthly | Recommended |
| Budget Report | Budget utilization and overruns per campaign | Weekly | Must-have |
The underrated report: Purchased Product
The Purchased Product Report shows you which products customers actually bought after clicking your ad — and that doesn't have to be the advertised product. If customers regularly click on ad A but buy product B, that's a strong signal for cross-selling potential.
The 8 most important metrics and what they really tell you
In our metrics guide we explain the most common misinterpretations. Here we focus on how to read the metrics in a reporting context and which combinations deliver the truly relevant insights.
Impressions
VisibilityHow often your ad was displayed.
Not very meaningful on its own. High impressions with a low CTR mean: your targeting fits, but your title, image or price isn't convincing. Falling impressions at the same bid point to rising competition or declining relevance.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
RelevanceThe share of impressions that lead to a click.
Benchmark: 0.3–0.5% for Sponsored Products is average. Above 0.7% is good, above 1% is excellent. But: a high CTR with low revenue means your listing doesn't convert after the click — in that case the problem is on the product page, not in the campaign.
CPC (Cost per Click)
CostWhat you actually pay per click.
Context is everything: a CPC of $1.50 is cheap if your product costs $50 and converts at 20%. The same CPC is too expensive for a $12 product with an 8% conversion rate. Never judge CPC in isolation — always together with conversion rate and product price.
Conversion Rate
EfficiencyThe share of clicks that lead to a purchase.
Benchmark: 10–15% for Sponsored Products on brand keywords, 5–10% for generic keywords. A conversion rate below 5% on generic keywords signals either a listing problem or wrong targeting. Check the listing first before you adjust the campaign.
ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
ProfitabilityAd costs as a percentage of ad-driven revenue.
The most-used, but often misinterpreted metric. Your target ACoS depends on your margin. At a 30% margin, an ACoS of 25% is profitable, while one of 35% is not. But be careful: ACoS alone doesn't show whether advertising strengthens your overall business — for that you need TACoS.
TACoS (Total ACoS)
Big pictureAd costs as a percentage of total revenue (organic + paid).
The strategically more important metric. A falling TACoS with a stable ACoS means: your advertising is driving organic growth. A rising TACoS with flat revenue means: you're becoming more dependent on advertising. TACoS is not a report value in the Advertising Console — you have to calculate it yourself (ad spend ÷ total revenue).
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
ReturnRevenue per advertising dollar spent (the inverse of ACoS).
ROAS = 1 ÷ ACoS. A ROAS of 4 means: for every dollar you invest, $4 in revenue comes back. Amazon shows ROAS increasingly prominently in the console. The advantage over ACoS: higher is better — which is more intuitive to read than the inverse ACoS logic.
Attributed Sales
RevenueThe revenue Amazon attributes to your advertising.
Watch out: mind the attribution window! Sponsored Products: 7 days. Sponsored Brands: 14 days. This means a click on Monday that leads to a purchase on Saturday is counted as an ad sale. That's why fresh reports often look worse than they are — always check data that is at least 7 days old.
Search Term Report: The key report for keyword decisions
The Search Term Report shows you the actual search terms customers entered before they saw or clicked your ad. It's the single most important tool for three core optimizations:
Keyword harvesting
Move profitable search terms from auto and broad campaigns into exact campaigns
Negative keywords
Exclude irrelevant or unprofitable search terms as negative keywords
Cannibalization
Spot whether a search term is cannibalizing across multiple campaigns
How to read the Search Term Report systematically
Step 1: Sort by spend (descending)
The search terms you spend the most on deserve your attention first. Review the top 20 search terms by spend:
- High spend + high sales: Top performers. Check whether they run in an exact campaign with their own bid.
- High spend + no sales: Budget burners. Add as a negative keyword immediately or cut the bid drastically.
- Low spend + high sales: Hidden gems. Raise the bid, move into an exact campaign, allocate more budget.
- Low spend + no sales: Too little data. Only evaluate from 10+ clicks onward.
Step 2: Look for irrelevant terms
Filter for search terms with clicks but no conversions. Check manually whether the term fits your product. Common candidates for negative keywords: competitor brand names (if you're not deliberately bidding on them), "free", "used", "manual" or product names that don't match your assortment.
Step 3: Check for overlaps
Look for search terms that show up in multiple campaigns or ad groups. That's a sign of keyword cannibalization. The fix: assign the search term to one campaign and set it as a negative exact in the others.
Placement Report: Where do your ads perform?
Amazon shows Sponsored Products in three positions: Top of Search (the first row of search results), Product Pages (the detail pages of other products) and Rest of Search (all other positions). The Placement Report shows you how your campaigns differ across these positions.
Typical placement patterns and what they mean
| Pattern | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Top of Search: low ACoS, high CVR | Your product convinces on direct searches | Raise the placement bid for TOS (up to +100%) |
| Product Pages: high ACoS, low CVR | The purchase impulse is missing on product pages | Lower the bid or set the placement modifier to 0% |
| Rest of Search: many impressions, barely any clicks | Visible, but not prominent enough | Raise the bid slightly to reach TOS |
| All placements: similar performance | A strong listing that converts everywhere | Raise the budget to scale all placements |
Why Top of Search almost always performs better
The first row of search results typically has a 2–3x higher CTR and a 30–50% higher conversion rate than other placements. The reason: customers who are actively searching are more ready to buy than customers browsing on a product page. Invest your budget where purchase intent is highest.
Choosing the right time periods and setting benchmarks
One of the most common reporting mistakes: comparing the wrong time periods. Amazon's data has quirks you need to know before you make decisions.
The 14-day rule of attribution
Amazon assigns sales to the click, not to the time of purchase. The attribution window is 7 days for Sponsored Products and 14 days for Sponsored Brands. In practice that means:
- The last 7 days are always incomplete — sales are still being booked in retroactively
- Always compare time periods that are at least 7 days in the past — e.g. week 14 vs. week 12, not week 15 (current) vs. week 14
- Monday–Sunday instead of custom periods — this avoids weekday distortions
Which benchmarks are realistic?
| Metric | Weak | Average | Good |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTR (SP) | < 0.3% | 0.3–0.5% | > 0.7% |
| CVR (SP, generic) | < 5% | 5–10% | > 12% |
| CVR (SP, brand) | < 10% | 10–15% | > 20% |
| ACoS | > break-even | 50–80% of margin | < 50% of margin |
| TACoS | > 15% | 8–15% | < 8% |
Note: benchmarks vary widely by category and competitive intensity. Use your own historical data as the primary reference, not generic averages.
The best benchmark is yourself
Don't compare your current performance against industry averages, but against your own previous period. An ACoS of 25% is catastrophic for a seller with a 15% margin, and excellent for one with a 50% margin. Your break-even ACoS is the only relevant threshold.
From data to decisions: The weekly analysis routine
The biggest problem in reporting isn't a lack of data — it's a lack of system. Here's a routine you can run in 20–30 minutes per week that immediately leads to better decisions.
Dashboard check (3 minutes)
Open the Advertising Console and check at the campaign level:
- Are there campaigns that regularly exhaust their daily budget? → raise the budget or lower the bids
- Are there campaigns without impressions? → bids too low or targeting too narrow
- Is the overall ACoS within range? → just check, don't act right away
Identify budget burners (5 minutes)
Sort the Targeting Report by spend (descending). Check the top 10:
- Keywords with spend > $20 and 0 sales → halve the bid or pause
- Keywords with ACoS > 2x target ACoS → lower the bid by 20–30%
- Keywords with ACoS < 50% of target → raise the bid by 10–20% to capture more volume
Analyze the Search Term Report (10 minutes)
The core of your weekly optimization:
- New profitable search terms → move into an exact campaign, set as a negative in auto/broad
- Irrelevant search terms → add as negative keywords
- Search terms in multiple campaigns → assign to one campaign, negate in the others
Calculate TACoS (2 minutes)
Track TACoS once a week — this only works manually:
- Ad spend (from the Advertising Console) ÷ total revenue (from Seller Central Business Reports)
- Enter it into a simple spreadsheet and watch the trend over 4–8 weeks
- Falling TACoS = a good sign. Rising TACoS = a warning sign, check your organic ranking
The monthly deep dive (in addition)
Once a month, in addition to the weekly routine, you should check:
- Placement Report: Has performance by placement changed? Do the placement modifiers need adjusting?
- Purchased Product Report: Are customers buying products other than the advertised ones? Cross-selling potential?
- Campaign structure: Are there campaigns that should be consolidated or split?
- Trend comparison: How are CPC, CTR and CVR developing month over month? Is competition rising?
7 common mistakes in Amazon Ads reporting
Evaluating today's data
Because of the attribution delay, the last 7 days are always incomplete. Decisions based on this data lead to false conclusions — usually bids get cut even though the campaign is profitable.
Judging ACoS without margin
An ACoS of 30% isn't a problem — unless your margin is 25%. Without break-even ACoS as a reference, any ACoS assessment is meaningless.
Pausing individual keywords after 3 clicks
Statistical significance needs data. A keyword with 3 clicks and 0 sales can look bad by chance. Wait at least 15–20 clicks (more in low-CVR categories) before you give up on a keyword.
Optimizing only at the campaign level
The campaign ACoS is an average of good and bad keywords. A campaign ACoS of 25% can mean: 5 top keywords at 10% ACoS and 15 budget burners at 50% ACoS. Always optimize at the keyword level.
Comparing weekdays with weekends
Monday and Saturday have completely different search patterns and conversion rates. Always compare week with week (Mon–Sun), not single days. Especially misleading: comparing Friday data with Monday data.
Ignoring the Search Term Report
Many sellers only look at campaign and keyword data, but never at the actual search terms. The Search Term Report is the only place where you see what you're really paying for — and that's where the biggest optimization levers are.
Not tracking TACoS
ACoS only shows the efficiency of your advertising. TACoS shows whether advertising strengthens your overall business or whether you're becoming dependent on paid visibility. Without TACoS tracking, you make strategic mistakes.
Frequently asked questions
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