How to Query Sponsored Ads Keywords in Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)

Keyword targeting is one of the cornerstones of advertising on Amazon. It allows advertisers to match their ads to the search queries of customers, providing a direct connection between the customer’s intent and the product being promoted. Sponsored Ads, such as Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products, utilize keyword targeting to reach customers more effectively.

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) offers a powerful platform for advertisers to delve deeper into how keywords and search terms perform, enabling a thorough analysis of traffic and conversions. This article explores how advertisers can query Sponsored Ads keywords and search terms using AMC, giving you a detailed understanding of the insights you can uncover.

Whether you’re aiming to improve campaign performance, refine your keyword targeting, or gain a better understanding of the customer’s search behavior, AMC provides the tools necessary to gather actionable data.

In Sponsored Ads campaigns, keywords represent the terms that advertisers bid on, and these terms should ideally match the search queries customers use on Amazon. The keywords and search terms data available in AMC provide advertisers with the opportunity to analyze which keywords lead to impressions, clicks, and ultimately, conversions.

By querying these keywords and search terms, you can uncover how customers are interacting with your products. This not only allows you to optimize existing campaigns but also discover new keywords that you may not have considered targeting.

In the following sections, we will explore introductory queries to track traffic and conversions by keyword and search term, followed by an advanced query to compare the first and attributed search terms that lead to conversions.

Learn more about optimizing campaigns with How to Increase Sales on Amazon.

Let’s decode Ad-attributed branded searches

It’s important to distinguish between Sponsored Ads keywords and search terms, and ad-attributed branded searches from Amazon DSP campaigns. In AMC, Sponsored Ads keywords and search terms relate to traffic events, impressions and clicks and are used for targeting in Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products campaigns. However, ad-attributed branded searches are conversion events that demonstrate how ads influenced branded search behavior, primarily seen in DSP campaigns.

Discover more about branded search insights in Understanding Ad-Attributed Branded Searches Insights in Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) for DSP Ads.

As of now, AMC does not support branded search attribution for Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, making this data set unique to DSP. Despite this, the insights available from querying Sponsored Ads keywords and search terms provide substantial value for campaign optimization.

To query keywords and search terms in AMC, advertisers must be running Sponsored Brands or Sponsored Products campaigns and use keyword targeting. This ensures that keyword data is available within AMC’s datasets for analysis.

Advertisers must also ensure that their AMC instance has the necessary permissions and data availability. Sponsored Brands traffic events are available for querying starting December 2, 2022. For Sponsored Products, the keyword and search term data are available for approximately 12.5 months before the instance creation date, with some variability based on the backfill period.

Find out how to set up your AMC instance with How to Get Started with Amazon Marketing Cloud for Better Ad Insights.

Data Availability

AMC provides access to keyword and search term data from the point of instance creation or about 12.5 months prior, whichever is sooner. Sponsored Brands traffic events are available only after December 2022. Advertisers should also be aware that some Sponsored Brands campaigns without ad groups may have been missing from AMC data before January 26, 2023. This issue has since been resolved, ensuring accurate campaign signals moving forward.

Introductory Queries: Exploring Traffic and Keywords in AMC

Traffic by keyword and search term

The first step in querying Sponsored Ads keywords is to track traffic events—impressions and clicks—by keyword and search term. These traffic events are stored in AMC’s sponsored_ads_traffic table, which includes both keyword and search term dimensions for every impression event.

By querying this table, advertisers can gain visibility into which keywords are generating impressions and clicks. The query provided below offers an overview of how these keywords and search terms performed across different match types (phrase, broad, exact) in Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products campaigns.

Here’s the sample query:

/* Instructional Query: Traffic by keyword and search term */

SELECT

  targeting AS keyword,

  customer_search_term,

  match_type,

  campaign,

  ad_product_type,

  SUM(impressions) AS impressions,

  SUM(clicks) AS clicks

FROM

  sponsored_ads_traffic

WHERE

  match_type IN('PHRASE', 'BROAD', 'EXACT')

GROUP BY

  1,

  2,

  3,

  4,

  5

Explanation:

• The targeting column represents the keyword that was targeted.

• The customer_search_term column represents the actual term entered by customers in the Amazon search bar.

• Match_type shows how the keyword was matched—phrase, broad, or exact.

• The query aggregates impressions and clicks for each keyword and search term combination.

This query is useful for identifying high-traffic keywords, and understanding how customers’ search behavior aligns with your targeted keywords. With this data, you can refine keyword strategies by focusing on high-performing terms.

Learn more about query creation in Unlocking Path to Conversion Insights with Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC).

2.2 Attributed conversions by keyword and search term

Once you have visibility into traffic by keyword, the next step is to look at conversions. AMC allows you to track which keywords and search terms are attributed to conversion events, such as purchases or detail page views. This data is stored in tables like amazon_attributed_events_by_traffic_time.

The query below provides an overview of total purchases and detail page views by keyword and search term.

/* Instructional Query: Attributed conversions by keyword and search term */

SELECT

  targeting AS keyword,

  customer_search_term,

  match_type,

  campaign,

  ad_product_type,

  SUM(total_detail_page_view) AS total_dpv,

  SUM(total_purchases) AS total_purchases

FROM

  amazon_attributed_events_by_traffic_time

WHERE

  match_type IN('PHRASE', 'BROAD', 'EXACT')

GROUP BY

  1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Explanation:
This query allows advertisers to see which keywords are driving conversions and to identify search terms that are directly contributing to purchases. The results are essential for understanding the effectiveness of your keyword strategy and refining bids accordingly.

Advanced Queries: First vs. Attributed Search Terms in AMC

Understanding the first search term vs. attributed search term

In addition to tracking attributed search terms, AMC enables advertisers to analyze the full customer journey by comparing the first search term used with the final search term that led to a purchase. This insight helps identify which initial search terms are assisting in conversions, even if they don’t directly lead to purchases.

Explore more customer journey insights with Understanding Amazon Marketing Cloud DSP Path to Conversion by Device Insights.

The query below pairs the first search term with the attributed search term, helping advertisers understand customer behavior across their search journey.

/* Instructional Query: Purchases by first vs attributed keyword and search term */

WITH searches AS (

  SELECT

    DISTINCT user_id,

    customer_search_term AS search_term,

    campaign,

    ad_product_type,

    event_dt

  FROM

    TABLE(extend_time_window('sponsored_ads_traffic', 'P30D', 'P0D'))

  WHERE

    match_type IN('PHRASE', 'BROAD', 'EXACT')

    AND user_id IS NOT NULL

),

searches_ranked AS (

  SELECT

    user_id,

    search_term,

    campaign,

    ad_product_type,

    event_dt,

    RANK() OVER(PARTITION BY user_id ORDER BY event_dt ASC) AS time_rank

  FROM

    searches

),

attributed_conversions_user AS (

  SELECT

    a.user_id,

    customer_search_term AS attributed_search_term,

    search_term,

    a.campaign,

    a.ad_product_type,

    SUM(total_purchases) AS total_purchases

  FROM

    amazon_attributed_events_by_conversion_time a

    JOIN searches_ranked s ON s.user_id = a.user_id

    AND s.campaign = a.campaign

    AND s.ad_product_type = a.ad_product_type

  WHERE

    event_dt < conversion_event_dt

    AND total_purchases > 0

    AND time_rank = 1

  GROUP BY

    1, 2, 3, 4, 5

)

SELECT

  search_term AS first_search_term,

  attributed_search_term AS attributed_search_term,

  SUM(total_purchases) AS total_purchases

FROM

  attributed_conversions_user

GROUP BY

  1, 2

Explanation:
This query is crucial for identifying keywords that assist in conversions, even if they aren’t directly attributed to the purchase. It allows advertisers to gain a broader understanding of customer behavior across multiple searches and provides insights into optimizing upper-funnel keywords for better lower-funnel performance.

Extending the lookback window and handling campaign complexities

Advertisers can extend the lookback window to track customer search behavior over a longer period, offering insights into the entire customer journey. This query is useful for campaigns involving multiple product categories, as it helps differentiate which keywords are effective across different product lines.

Best Practices for Using AMC to Optimize Keyword Targeting

To get the most out of your keyword targeting strategy in AMC, consider the following best practices:

1. Evaluate Match Types: Use broad match keywords to capture a wide range of search terms, but also invest in exact match keywords for more targeted traffic. Analyze which match types drive the most traffic and conversions in AMC.

2. Leverage First Search Terms: Identifying the first search terms that lead to conversions can help you expand your keyword lists and reach customers earlier in their journey.

3. Optimize Based on Conversion Data: By tracking conversions associated with specific keywords and search terms, you can refine your bidding strategy and prioritize high-performing keywords.

4. For teams managing hundreds of keywords across multiple campaigns, an Amazon PPC software platform can automate this bid refinement at scale rather than requiring manual AMC query analysis for every keyword decision.
   
   

5. Test New Keyword Combinations: Use the insights from first vs. attributed search terms to experiment with new keyword combinations and discover which terms resonate most with your audience.

6. Monitor Trends Over Time: AMC’s keyword and search term data is dynamic, so regular monitoring will help you stay ahead of market trends and customer behavior shifts.
   
   

Conclusion and Strategic Takeaways

By leveraging AMC queries to track traffic and conversions by keyword and search term, advertisers can unlock valuable insights into how customers interact with their products. The ability to analyze the first and attributed search terms provides a clearer picture of the customer journey, helping you optimize both upper-funnel and lower-funnel strategies.

In conclusion, advertisers who harness the power of AMC to query Sponsored Ads keywords will be better equipped to refine their keyword strategies, optimize bids, and improve overall campaign performance. Whether you are identifying new keywords to target or optimizing existing ones, AMC provides a data-driven approach to achieving success on Amazon. Platforms like Hector Ai integrate directly with AMC to surface these keyword and search term insights automatically, turning raw query data into actionable campaign decisions without requiring manual SQL analysis for every optimization cycle.