How to Target Competitor ASINs and Keywords on Amazon (Without Burning Cash)

To target competitors on Amazon, run Sponsored Products product targeting on competitor ASINs and keyword targeting on competitor brand names, in separate campaigns with their own budgets. Pick competitors your product beats on price, rating, or a key feature, start with modest bids, and keep only the targets that convert near your target ACoS.

Competitor targeting (often called conquesting) is legal and common on Amazon. It is also one of the easiest places to waste money, because a shopper on a competitor's page has already shown interest in that competitor.

Two ways to target competitors

ASIN targeting is usually the better starting point. You choose exactly which products to appear against, so you can pick ones where your offer is stronger. Brand keyword searches tend to convert lower because the shopper typed someone else's name.

Step 1: Pick the right competitors

Build a shortlist of 10 to 30 competitor ASINs from page one of your main keywords and your own search term report. Then score each one:

• Price: is yours lower for similar value, or clearly better value at a similar price?
• Rating and reviews: is your rating equal or higher? Do their recent reviews mention problems your product solves?
• Features: do you offer a bigger size, more pieces, a better warranty, or a feature they lack?
• Main image: will your ad image look at least as good next to theirs?

Keep competitors where you win on at least two factors. Skip those that beat you on all four, unless your data says otherwise.

Step 2: Structure the campaigns

1. Create a Sponsored Products product targeting campaign called something like 'SP | Competitor ASINs | Product name'.
2. Split ad groups by competitor type: direct competitors at a similar price, premium competitors priced higher, and budget competitors priced lower.
3. Create a separate keyword campaign for competitor brand terms in exact or phrase match.
4. Add competitor brand names as negatives in your generic discovery campaigns so traffic flows to the dedicated campaigns.
5. Give each campaign its own budget so conquesting can't drain your core campaigns.

Clear naming makes these easy to find later. See Amazon campaign naming conventions.

Step 3: Set bids and targets

Competitor traffic typically converts below your generic keywords, so start bids lower than your best exact match bids, often 60% to 80% of them. You can loosen your target ACoS slightly if you value the new-customer reach, but set the limit before you launch so you don't rationalize poor results later. Check your margin with the break-even ACoS calculator.

Worked example

You sell a $45 electric milk frother with a 4.5-star rating. Your break-even ACoS is 38% and your target for conquesting is 32%. You target 15 competitor ASINs and 5 competitor brand keywords. After 30 days:

This pattern is common: shoppers on more expensive products respond to a cheaper alternative; shoppers on cheaper products rarely trade up.

Step 4: Review and prune every two weeks

• ASINs with spend above your target cost per order and zero orders: pause the target.
• ASINs converting well under target: raise bids 10% to 20% and consider Sponsored Display on the same ASINs.
• Competitors that change price or get a big rating bump: re-score them. Conquesting results shift when the competitor changes.

Expect competitors to target you back

If you target a competitor's pages, there's a fair chance they're already targeting yours or will start. Make sure your own product pages and brand searches are covered, especially if you have multiple products. Read how to defend your brand on Amazon Ads and branded vs non-branded keywords.

Using Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brands for conquesting

Once Sponsored Products shows which competitor ASINs convert for you, you can extend to other ad types. Sponsored Display product targeting can place your ad on the same competitor pages in different placements, and Sponsored Brands product targeting can show your logo and multiple products. Test these only on ASINs that already convert in Sponsored Products, because they are harder to read and often cost more per click. Measure them in their own campaigns so you can compare results fairly. Remember that Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display report with a 14-day attribution window, so their ACoS isn't directly comparable to Sponsored Products' 7-day numbers.

Finding competitor ASINs from your own data

Your auto campaign's substitutes group is a free competitor research tool. It places your ad on pages Amazon considers similar to yours, and the search term report lists those ASINs with clicks and orders. Sort them by orders, and the top of the list is your first competitor targeting campaign, already pre-tested. This beats guessing from page one, because it reflects which competitor shoppers actually switch away from. Follow the steps in how to harvest keywords from auto campaigns, applied to ASINs instead of keywords.

How to judge whether conquesting is worth it

Look beyond ACoS. A sale won from a competitor's page is often a new customer who might buy again or leave a review. If you sell consumables or have a product line, the long-term value of that customer can justify a slightly higher ACoS on conquesting than on generic keywords. Decide on that allowance up front, write it down, and check it monthly. If conquesting campaigns never get near the allowance, cut them back and put the budget into keywords that convert.

Rules to stay out of trouble

• Don't use competitor brand names in your ad copy, Sponsored Brands headlines, or listing. Targeting their name as a keyword is allowed; using their trademark in your creative is a different matter.
• Don't make comparative claims in creative that you can't support.
• Keep conquesting in its own campaigns so its ACoS doesn't hide inside your core numbers.

AdSpark's rules engine can pause competitor targets that pass a spend threshold without orders, so a bad target doesn't run for weeks before anyone notices.

FAQ