How to use branded traffic to strategically drive incremental sales on Amazon

Is your organic traffic truly growing your brand on Amazon? Or are you driving sales that would have happened organically? If customers are already searching for your brand, branded search might not be the most efficient place to spend dollars. But answering these questions is not always straightforward, and understanding the nuances can help you make smarter, more profitable decisions.

How to balance brand defense and organic cannibalization on Amazon

Two truths can coexist:

• Truth #1: Branded ads can cannibalize organic sales. If your hero ASIN ranks #1 organically and you also run a Top‑of‑Search ad for that same ASIN, you’re paying for a click you likely would have earned for free. That’s sales cannibalization and it hurts profitability.

• Truth #2: On Amazon, rivals can bid on your brand terms. Without a brand‑defense presence, competitors can sit above your organic tile and take away high‑intent traffic. Defensive ads protect share of voice (SOV) and let you control creative and offers in the most valuable real estate.

The right answer is a dual approach with intentionality: defend when necessary, and redirect brand demand toward ASINs where paid exposure creates incremental value. Sponsored Ads let you control which products customers see first from your brand, how baskets are shaped, and how you increase average order value over time.

What products should I advertise on branded search?

Not all products deserve branded ad spend. In most cases, you’ll want to prioritize ASINs that do one or more of the following:

Complement your hero products: You can use branded space to feature refills, accessories, and bundles that sit naturally next to your hero SKUs. Because branded shoppers are already primed, those clicks should go toward expanding baskets and lifting average order value. Then, you can track brand‑halo conversions in console reporting and use AMC to prove the cross‑sell impact.

Protect and grow high‑margin and premium lines: Look at your most profitable and/or premium ASINs and give them prominent placement on branded search. Branded traffic is a smart place to absorb higher CPCs without weakening contribution margin, and it helps you highlight higher price‑point products that drive overall profitability.

Launch new products or support low‑review listings: You can also use branded search to de‑risk launches and support listings that don’t yet have many reviews. The brand halo smooths trial friction: customers who already trust you don’t need as much social proof from other shoppers to convert. That makes branded ads a powerful way to accelerate review velocity with your existing loyal audience.

Work down high inventory and seasonal closeouts: Finally, consider any ASINs where you’re long on stock or approaching end‑of‑season. Branded placements can accelerate sell‑through without forcing those SKUs to win highly competitive generic terms. If you align your bids to seasonal peaks and exit windows, you can clear inventory while avoiding storage fees and protecting rank.

How to avoid the “mirroring” trap

One pitfall to avoid in your branded strategy is ASIN mirroring, when the same product shows up both in the top organic slot and in your top‑of‑search ad. In that scenario, you’re essentially paying for a click you might have earned for free, without meaningfully increasing your shelf space.

It’s tempting to promote your hero ASINs on your top branded terms, but you should treat your branded ads as a way to expand coverage rather than duplicate it. These placements should surface ASINs that aren’t already winning the first row organically: complementary products to your hero, high‑margin or premium lines, new launches, or overstock SKUs. On a practical level, that means routinely pulling branded search term reports, checking which ASINs already rank in the top organic positions for your brand keywords, and then adjusting your ad group lineups so you’re filling gaps rather than echoing what’s already there.

When branded bidding is mandatory (and when it’s optional)

Here’s a simple way to decide whether branded bidding should be mandatory or more situational for your brand.

When branded bidding is mandatory: Branded search is non‑negotiable when your brand queries are materially contested. If competitors are appearing above your organic tile or aggressively targeting your PDPs, you need to reclaim that screen real estate with Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands. In practice, that means monitoring which advertisers show up on your core brand terms and on your product detail pages, then using branded campaigns to push them down and increase your share of voice. You should be tracking impression share and share‑of‑voice movement over time to confirm that your branded investment is actually defending the lane you care about.

When branded bidding is optional or situational: Branded spend can be treated as optional when you already own the first organic positions, competition is light, and your ROI goals are strict. In that scenario, you don’t need to blanket every branded query with ads. Instead, limit branded investment to specific jobs: cross‑selling into complementary products, supporting new launches, and promoting high‑margin or premium ASINs.

What percentage of my spend should go to branded vs. unbranded search?

Most searches on Amazon are unbranded, meaning most shoppers start with generic category terms. If your goal is growth and new-to-brand (NTB) acquisition, you need significant investment in non-branded keywords.

These are recommended starting points:

Rule of thumb: If branded spend is >40%, you’re likely paying for traffic you’d get organically.

It’s critical to understand how this mix impacts your efficiency metrics. Branded terms convert at the highest rate and carry the lowest CPCs, which can make advertising cost of sale (ACOS) look artificially strong. If 50% of your budget is branded, that “great ACOS” may not reflect true growth.

Monitoring ACOS alongside branded spend share allows you to see if efficiency gains are real or just skewed by brand defense. Better yet, you can set KPIs for Total ACOS (TACoS), which measures ad spend against total sales, including both paid and organic. TACoS tells you whether advertising is lifting the entire business, not just paid clicks.

How to make Amazon branded search drive real business outcomes

At a high level, the playbook looks like this: defend your brand when competitors are conquesting, avoid mirroring in branded search, and use branded search spend to push the ASINs that matter most to your P&L, such as complementary products, high‑margin or premium lines, new launches, and seasonal or high‑inventory items, all while keeping overall branded spend in check.

Just as important is how you measure success. You need to:

• Monitor branded share of spend so “improved” ACOS isn’t just a byproduct of shifting more budget into easy, low‑funnel brand terms.

• Use TACoS, not just ACOS, to see whether branded ads are lifting total paid and organic sales, rather than only paid clicks.

• Validate incrementality with new‑to‑brand metrics and brand‑halo analysis so you understand whether branded campaigns are driving true incremental shoppers and basket expansion, going beyond capturing sales you would have earned anyway.

When you have a proper strategy in place, branded traffic can be another lever available for advertisers to drive catalog expansion, higher AOV and profitable growth.