Most Amazon sellers obsess over ACoS. They check it daily. They make decisions based on it hourly. And they completely ignore the one report that actually tells them why their campaigns perform the way they do.
The Amazon Search Query Performance report sits inside Brand Analytics. It's free. It's powerful. And almost nobody uses it correctly.
At OBG, this report is the engine of our re-optimization phase. It's not a nice-to-have. It's the diagnostic tool that tells us whether to fix your listing or scale your ads. That distinction changes everything.
What Amazon Search Query Performance Actually Tells You
Here's what most sellers see when they open SQP: a wall of numbers. Search volume. Click share. Purchase share. Conversion rates.
Here's what we see: a precise map of where you're winning, where you're losing, and exactly why.
The killer metric is conversion rate versus market average. Amazon shows you how your listing converts on a specific keyword compared to every other listing that gets clicked for that same term.
This is data Amazon has never shared before. And most brands don't realize what it means.
If you're converting above market average on a keyword, your listing resonates with that search intent. The creative is working. The price is right. The reviews support the purchase. You should advertise harder on that term.
If you're converting below market average, something is broken. Maybe your main image doesn't match the search intent. Maybe your price is out of range. Maybe your review profile is weak compared to competitors. Advertising harder on that keyword is lighting money on fire.
This is the difference between optimization and guessing.
Why Most PPC Strategies Ignore This Data
Traditional Amazon PPC management works like this: launch campaigns, wait for data, cut keywords that don't convert, scale keywords that do.
Sounds logical. It's also incomplete.
When you cut a keyword because it "doesn't convert," you're assuming the problem is the keyword. But what if the problem is your listing? What if customers searching that term want your product, but your main image doesn't communicate it? What if your A+ content doesn't address the specific concern that keyword implies?
Without amazon search query performance data, you have no way to know. You're making decisions in the dark.
We've seen brands cut their highest-potential keywords because the ACoS was too high. Then we pull the SQP report and discover their click share was strong — customers were interested — but their conversion rate was 40% below market average. The keyword wasn't the problem. The listing was.
Fix the listing, same keyword becomes profitable. Kill the keyword, you just handed that revenue to a competitor.
How OBG's PPC Lifecycle Framework Uses SQP
Our PPC Lifecycle Framework has five distinct phases: Launch, Trimming, Re-optimization, Growth/Scaling, and Maturity. Search Query Performance data is the deciding factor in phase three.
During Launch, we're spending aggressively — often 2x breakeven ACoS — to gather data. We're building keyword relevance and establishing market position. SQP data is too thin to be actionable.
During Trimming, we cut obvious losers and tighten targeting. Still not enough volume for reliable SQP analysis on most terms.
Re-optimization is where SQP becomes essential. By this point, we have 60-90 days of data. We can see exactly which keywords convert above or below market average. This is where the real optimization happens.
For every keyword with significant volume, we ask two questions:
- Is our conversion rate above or below market average?
- What's our click share relative to purchase share?
If CVR is above market and click share trails purchase share, we advertise harder. We're leaving money on the table.
If CVR is below market, we pause advertising on that term and fix the listing first. More traffic to a broken conversion path just accelerates waste.
If click share exceeds purchase share significantly, something is attracting clicks but repelling purchases. Usually a main image mismatch or price positioning issue.
This framework took Streetwise Security from scattered optimization to systematic growth. Lori Cortright, their CFO, reported 50%+ sales and profit increases year over year. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens by making decisions based on market-comparative data, not just internal metrics.
The Click Share vs Purchase Share Gap
Here's a pattern we see constantly: a keyword has 5% click share but only 2% purchase share.
Translation: you're winning the click but losing the sale. Customers find your listing interesting enough to click, then something kills the conversion.
This is a listing problem, not a traffic problem. Pumping more ad spend into this keyword makes the gap worse, not better.
Common causes:
- Main image promises something the detail page doesn't deliver
- Price is higher than competitors who rank for the same term
- Review rating or count is below threshold for that category
- Bullet points don't address the specific use case implied by the search
The fix isn't always obvious from looking at your listing in isolation. You need to see what else appears for that keyword. What are the winning listings doing differently? What expectation does the search term create?
This is where our Avatar Alignment Framework connects. We mine reviews to understand customer expectations, build a detailed customer avatar, then create listing variants that speak directly to those expectations. A/B testing through Jungle Ace tells us which version converts best.
Then we go back to SQP and verify: did our CVR move above market average? If yes, we scale. If no, we iterate.
Using SQP to Find Expansion Opportunities
Search Query Performance isn't just diagnostic. It's generative.
The report shows you keywords where you're getting organic impressions and clicks but no advertising presence. These are terms Amazon's algorithm already thinks you're relevant for.
If your CVR on these organic terms is above market average, you've found free money. Create campaigns targeting these keywords specifically. You're not building relevance from scratch — it already exists.
We've launched entire campaign structures from SQP expansion keywords alone. Terms nobody would have found through traditional keyword research because they're long-tail, niche, or category-adjacent.
Your organic performance is a roadmap. SQP makes that roadmap readable.
The Weekly SQP Review Protocol
At OBG, we don't check SQP data daily. Daily data is lying to you. Sample sizes are too small. Variance is too high.
We run weekly reviews with rolling 4-week windows. This gives statistical significance without burying recent trends in old data.
Every week, we're looking for:
- Keywords that moved from below market to above market CVR (validate the listing change worked)
- Keywords that moved from above market to below market CVR (competitor action or listing suppression)
- New keywords appearing with significant volume (expansion opportunities)
- Click share/purchase share gaps widening (conversion issues developing)
This isn't glamorous work. It's systematic. It's what separates sustained 8-12% TACoS from constant firefighting.
What SQP Can't Tell You
Search Query Performance has blind spots. The data only covers branded analytics — you need Brand Registry. It doesn't show competitor-specific benchmarks, just market averages. And it has a reporting delay that makes it useless for real-time decisions.
That's fine. We pair SQP with Datarova for digital shelf analytics, Sellerise for review monitoring and ranking trends, and Scale Insights for bid-level PPC management. Each tool has a job. SQP's job is answering the "fix or scale" question.
No single data source tells the whole story. But SQP tells you something nothing else can: how your listing performs against the market on every keyword that matters.
The Re-Optimization Decision Tree
When our Growth Team OS™ takes over an account, here's exactly how we use amazon search query performance in the re-optimization phase:
- Pull SQP for all keywords with 100+ impressions in the last 30 days
- Segment by CVR vs market average (above, at, below)
- For above-market keywords: check current ad spend allocation — are we maxing out?
- For below-market keywords: diagnose listing issues using click/purchase gap analysis
- Prioritize fixes by revenue potential (search volume × price × target CVR)
- Execute listing changes, then re-measure SQP in 2-3 weeks
This is not complicated. It's rigorous. The brands that grow don't have secret tactics. They have systematic execution.
Work With OBG
If you want to see how this would work for your brand, book a free strategy session. We'll audit your account, identify the fastest wins, and map out exactly how we'll execute. And if we don't increase your profitability in the first 30 days, you don't pay. Zero risk.