International advertising made simple
A complete guide to the Amazon Ads features and tools available that can help you build a global business.
Going global
Are you selling in multiple countries? Advertising can help boost your reach around the world, and it’s easier than you think.
So what’s in this guide?
Self-service ad solutions are easy to use. You can set up campaigns in minutes, even if you’ve never advertised before, and your ads are automatically generated or very easy to customize for your brand.
Perhaps advertising in a country where you don’t speak the language or juggling multiple campaigns across several regions doesn’t sound that easy. We understand that this may seem complicated or too time-consuming at first. To help you with that, Amazon Ads is constantly developing new tools and advertising console features to simplify advertising in multiple countries. In this guide, we are introducing the tools and features currently available that will help make your advertising experience as a global business easier and more successful.
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Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
You’ve set up your Amazon business and are selling your listings in a few countries around the world, which is an important first step. (Well done.) And advertising? You might be a professional or a complete beginner—that doesn’t matter. Whether you’re already using self-service Amazon Ads solutions like Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, or Stores, or are yet to embark on your advertising journey, there are several easy-to-use tools and features in the advertising console that can help you advertise internationally.
Why does it matter?
Advertising can help increase the visibility of your product listings, build your brand awareness, and boost sales, not just in your home country but everywhere you sell your products.
- Expand your reach: Engage customers internationally and help shoppers in multiple countries discover your brand and products.
- Leverage time zones: Ads can display whenever customers browse for relevant products on Amazon, so your ads will be working hard for you—even when you’re not working.
- Never have an off-season: Different countries have different peak shopping seasons; ads can help you give your products an extra boost during local shopping events.
Using self-service ad products to connect with customers internationally
Meet Patrick Albus, CEO of Creative Pet Alliance, who has used a global advertising strategy to help engage new customers, increase product visibility, and drive sales. Following the success of their first Sponsored Products campaigns in the U.K., Creative Pet Alliance expanded their ads to other countries. Read their full story to learn more about their global strategy and get some great advertising tips.
— Patrick Albus, CEO, Creative Pet AllianceAdvertising with sponsored ads in multiple countries in Europe helped me reach and engage new customers.
Where can I advertise?
Self-service Amazon Ads solutions are available for professional sellers and vendors. If you would like to use Sponsored Products, your products must be in one or more eligible categories and also be eligible for the featured offer for you to be able to advertise them. Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Stores, and other brand marketing solutions are available for vendors and sellers registered in the Amazon Brand Registry.
Review the FAQ section for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Stores, and Posts to learn which ad products and brand shopping experiences are available where.
If you’re set up as a professional seller or vendor in any of these countries—you can also advertise there.
Advertising console language switcher
The advertising console speaks your language.
The language switcher functionality lets you view the advertising console in your preferred language.
Helps with: language barriers
It’s a small but important detail: No matter which global advertising account you’re working on, you can change the default language to match your preferences.
You find the language switcher option in the top right corner. When you click on the account icon, you can see a list of all available languages.
All text in the console, including campaign setting controls, will appear in the language you choose, making it easier for you to navigate through the interface as you set up and optimize your campaigns.
Sponsored Products automatic targeting
Create campaigns anywhere.
Automatic targeting for Sponsored Products is a targeting option that lets Amazon Ads automatically match your ads to keywords and products.
Helps with: language barriers
You’re probably already using Sponsored Products, the quick-and-easy cost-per-click ad solution for setting up campaigns in minutes without any prior advertising experience.
When creating a Sponsored Products campaign for promoting individual listings, you simply select automatic targeting and let Amazon Ads do all the work.
To refine this further, you can choose any combination of the automatic targeting match types during campaign creation. As a reminder, these are:
| Match type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Close match | We may show your ad to customers who use shopping terms closely related to your products. | If your product is “non-stick frying pan,” we’ll show an ad when customers use shopping terms like “non-stick pan” and “frying pan.” |
| Loose match | We may show your ad to customers who use shopping terms loosely related to your products. | If your product is “non-stick frying pan,” we’ll show an ad when customers use shopping terms like “ceramic pan.” |
| Substitutes | We may show your ad to shoppers who use the detail pages of products similar to your products. | If your product is “non-stick frying pan,” we’ll show an ad when customers use shopping terms like “cast iron pan” and “stainless skillet.” |
| Complements | We may show your ad to shoppers who view the detail pages of products that complement your product. | If your product is “non-stick frying pan,” we’ll show an ad when customers use shopping terms like “wooden spatula” and “turner.” |
Choose the ones that best support your campaign objectives and create your campaign.
It’s as easy to create automatic targeting Sponsored Products campaigns in a country where you don’t speak the local language.
Go to the advertising console and the new country where you want to advertise, choose your language of preference, and the campaign setup process will look exactly like the ones from the campaigns in your home country.
Select automatic targeting, pick your products and bids, and launch your campaign.
Optimizing your automatic targeting campaigns
You can optimize your automatic campaigns by visiting the “Targeting” tab in the campaign manager, which shows a report that provides insights into how each of the automatic targeting defaults is performing. Adjust the bid for each default based on the suggested bid. Suggested bids and bid range update daily, based on the increase or decrease in competing bids and ads in each auction.
Pro-tip: create manual targeting campaigns with the keywords from your automatic campaigns
The reports from your automatic targeting Sponsored Products campaigns are a great source for keywords in the local language.
We’ve learned that using automatic targeting campaigns is a very good starting point to learn how customers are discovering your products on Amazon in those local languages. You can then use those terms in your manual campaigns and start reaching those customers.
— Ritu Java, Advertiser, PC Ninj
The most useful report for running campaigns in a foreign language is the search term report. In the column “Customer search term,” you see what terms customers actually used to find your product. If this contains a combination of letters and numbers, that means customers came across your ad on another product detail page, rather than in the shopping results page.
Use the filters on the top to sort for the best-performing search terms based on your campaign’s goals, and make a note of those. Also check for search terms that didn’t perform as well in the report.
With this information, you can create a manual targeting Sponsored Products campaign, add the best-performing keywords to your targeting list using all match types to gather more insights into other local search terms customers may use. Make sure to add terms that performed less well as an exact match to your negative targeting.
Manager account
Link all your global advertising accounts in a single dashboard
Manager account is a centralized account management solution that aims to help improve the productivity for everyone who needs to manage multiple self-service ad products and Amazon DSP advertising accounts.
Helps with: resource management and operational aspects
Why use a manager account?
Linking your advertising accounts into a single dashboard lets you:
- Effectively prioritize which campaigns need your attention by sorting and filtering based on your goals
- Quickly obtain a performance overview by exporting all performance metrics of all campaigns into a single CSV file
- Efficiently monitor billing by connecting it to your Accounts Payable team and helping them monitor invoices and notifications.
How do I get a manager account?
Manager accounts are currently available to sellers, vendors, KDP authors, and agencies using the advertising console.
You can link multiple country-specific accounts into a single global manager account. For example, you could link sponsored ads and Amazon DSP accounts in France with those in Germany, Japan, and the U.S.
We recommend you create a single manager account for all related advertising accounts to make the most of the manager account benefits.
To get started, log into the advertising console with the credentials you typically use to manage accounts.
Step 1: Create your account
Click “Manage your accounts” in the account switcher, and click on the “Manager Accounts” tab on the top left, then click “Create manager account.”
Enter an account name, for example with the structure “[Advertiser name] [Region name].” Select “Advertiser” or “Agency” as an account type, depending on your business. Then choose the accounts for which you have administrative access that you want to link from your list, and click “Add.” Once you’re done selecting accounts, select “Create manager account” in the top right corner.
You can also link accounts for which you aren’t an administrator, but you first need to request access to them using the account ID in the “Request access” tab. To find the account ID, an admin of the account you’re requesting access to can sign into their account and navigate to “Access and settings.” The ID displays at the top of the page, directly below the account name. Then you can send an approval request to the admin user via the “Request access” tab. Enter the entity ID for the account you want to add, then click “Link account” and save the manager account.
Then go to the “Manage account access,” where you can see which accounts are currently linked to your manager account, and which have actions pending. Click “Copy link” next to the pending account you want to add, and send the link via email to an administrative user on that account for approval.
The administrator can log into their account via the link to grant the approval request. The link takes them to the advertising console, where they can approve or reject the linkage.
Step 2: Invite additional team members
To invite additional users to the account, select “Manager account access.” Here you can invite new users and grant them access to all linked accounts (across brands, countries, and ad programs) in that manager account, in a single invitation. Within this page, you can also update existing user roles or remove users from the manager account. When you remove a user from the manager account, that person will lose access to all linked accounts. Both administrators and contributors can view performance metrics and run and edit campaigns for all linked accounts. Only administrators can link or unlink accounts, invite users, and manage user access.
You’re ready to use your manager account. For more information on how to get the most of your manager account, visit the support center.
How can I use a manager account?
A manager account gives you a comprehensive view of insights and alerts for all of your linked accounts, mainly around campaign performance and finances, to help you save time and act quickly.
Reporting summary
The reporting summary dashboard gives you easy access to an at-a-glance summary of your total advertising spend and top-level performance insights. The dashboard aggregates spend and performance for all sponsored ads and Amazon DSP accounts that are linked through a manager account.
To access the reporting summary, navigate to “Manager accounts” > “Reporting summary.”
Performance
To get an overview of your campaign performance, visit the account overview dashboard by clicking “Overview” in the left navigation. Use the dashboard to quickly access insights across brands, countries, and ad programs.
You can also export metrics—such as sales, spend and orders—as a CSV file to help you understand the campaign performance for all your linked accounts.
Finance
A manager account also lets you easily view and act on alerts, such as payments due and account suspensions.
Click on “Billing and payment” in the left navigation menu to view a consolidated list of billing actions on the billing and payments page, like payment status, amount due, and unpaid invoices for all accounts. All you need to do is click to the billing and payments page of individual accounts to complete the payment, or take corrective action.
Your Accounts Payable and Finance teams can view and export all unpaid invoice details in a CSV file for all accounts.
Suggested keywords localization
Create global manual keyword targeting campaigns in minutes.
See translations for suggested keywords in the local language of your international Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns during campaign setup.
Helps with: language barriers
Do you want to go straight to setting up manual keyword targeting for your international campaigns, without using cumbersome translation tools or using the automatic targeting reports? No problem.
The automatic translation of your keyword suggestions makes this possible. When using manual targeting with Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands in a country with a primary language other than your language of preference, you will see translations for the suggested keywords in your selected console language.
To access it, you’ll go to the advertising console, launch a new campaign, select “Manual targeting”, and scroll to suggested keywords. There, you’ll see relevant translations below each suggested keyword.
Once you select a suggested keyword with a specific match type, it will appear in the list of selected keywords on the righthand side in the local language of the country where you want to advertise.
Simply choose the recommended keywords that best suit your campaigns and advertising objectives, set your bids, and launch your campaign as usual.
— Ronnie Gesser, President, EZ SOXThe translations under suggested keywords are an incredible addition. It seems like a small thing, but it saves me a ton of time each time I manage campaigns.
Note: This feature may not be available in all countries and languages.
Keywords localization
Understand local keywords even if you’re unfamiliar with the language.
Enter your keywords in your preferred language, and translate them into the local language of your campaign right within the campaign manager.
Helps with: language barriers
After you’ve done your keyword research, found your best-performing keywords in the reports of other campaigns, and compiled a list of the keywords you want to use in your international campaigns, there is no need to worry about translating them into the local language.
To use your keywords in your preferred language in your international campaigns, you can leverage the keyword localization feature embedded in the keyword targeting setup step in the campaign manager.*
For manual keyword targeting with Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, in a country with a primary language other than your language of preference, you can simply enter your keywords in your language and click the “Add keywords” button next to “Translate to [language] and add.”
Advertiser with English selected as preferred language in German advertising account.
The feature automatically translates your keywords to the best-matching keywords in the default language of the Amazon site where your ads will show. As usual, you can select which match types you want to apply. (We recommend starting with all three and then optimizing from there.)
Alternatively, you can upload a file with your keywords and also have them translated automatically by selecting the “Translate and add checkbox” in the upload file tab, prior to file upload.
Advertiser with English selected as preferred language in German advertising account.
The translated keywords are then used to match ads with the shopping terms that customers are using to find products in that Amazon site’s language.
You can also use the translation feature to optimize your keyword strategy of active campaigns. When you add keywords to your campaigns in the campaign manager, you will also have the option to automatically translate them.*
The keyword localization makes it easier for you to launch new or additional campaigns in new countries with the keywords you know and trust to work with your products, but without having to go through the extra step of translating them to the local language.
To access the feature, go to the advertising console, launch a new campaign, select manual targeting, and use the “Enter list” or “Upload file” tabs.
*The feature does not currently support all possible combinations of secondary languages and countries, please check your advertising console to find out which ones are available to you.
Multi-country campaign creation
Seamlessly launch campaigns in multiple countries all at once
You can create Sponsored Products auto-targeted campaigns in multiple countries at once, or copy existing campaigns to additional countries, without spending time setting up and translating campaigns for each country where you want to advertise.*
*Feature not available in all countries.
Helps with: Saving time and effort creating campaigns
The days of manually creating new campaigns in each country individually can be over. When you create campaigns in multiple countries at once, or copy existing campaigns to other countries, Amazon Ads automatically transfers and localizes the campaign settings for you. You don’t need to worry about setting up targeting, converting currencies, or choosing the right products to advertise. You can see all settings after you’ve created the campaigns. Learn more regarding how we localize and translate your campaign details.
Multi-country campaign creation and copy are available for auto-targeted Sponsored Products campaigns in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Key features of multi-marketplace campaign creation:
- Transfers all campaign settings like targeting, placements, ad groups.
- Converts budgets and bids to the currency of the target country.
- Copies only products available in the target country to the new campaign.
Launch in multiple countries at once
If you want to create Sponsored Products campaigns with automatic targeting in several countries, you can create a new campaign in one country and launch it in multiple countries with one click.
Copy campaigns across countries
Help grow your business in multiple countries with just a few clicks by simply copying high-performing or strategically relevant campaigns from one country to another. First, review your existing Sponsored Products campaigns with automatic targeting. You might have products that are relevant right now in another country due to seasonality. Select the campaigns that could help you achieve your business goals and get them in front of an international audience.
Watch this video to learn how to create new campaigns in multiple countries, and copy existing campaigns across countries.
Custom keyword ranking
Know which keywords to prioritize based on performance
Sort your suggested keywords based on estimated engagement or sales volume, and use search term impression share and impression rank to make an informed decision about which keywords to add to your campaigns.
Helps with: Keyword selection
If you need help selecting high-performing keywords for your Sponsored Products ads, use the “Sort by” drop-down option in the keyword targeting section of your manual campaigns. You have the choice to sort your suggested keywords either by estimated clicks or estimated order volume, depending on your campaign goals. Selecting keywords ranked higher in the sort order can improve your chance of getting better performance.
With each suggested keyword you can get suggested bids per keyword match type (broad, phrase, exact).
Additionally, for each suggested keyword you see the two metrics search term “impression share (IS)” and “impression rank (IR),” if your account has generated impressions for search terms matching the suggested keywords.
Search term impression share shows the overall percentage of ad impressions you have received compared to other advertisers over the past 30 days. For example, if you have a Sponsored Products impression share of 20% for a search term, it means that you won 20% of all Sponsored Products ad impressions for that search term. The impression rank can help you understand your level of activity on these keywords compared to other advertisers. For example, if you have a keyword rank of 3 on a specific keyword, it means that you’ve received the third most Sponsored Products ad impressions for that keyword over the last 30 days.
These metrics help you identify potential keywords to target based on your impression share and impression rank of search terms, for example if you want to help improve the impression share or rank for keywords that are highly relevant for your products.
Amazon Ads translations
Translate text and video branded content at a one-stop shop
Amazon Ads translations is an easy way to optimize your content for different languages and grow your brand.
Helps with: Language barriers
Leave video subtitles and headline translations to the Amazon Ads creative teams, so you can focus on what matters most: growing your brand. The Amazon Ads translations is an easy-to-use service that translates branded content, helping you expand your brand to new countries. The service is supported by professional linguists, and is available for both text and video formats.*
With the video translation service, you can help avoid two of the most common campaign rejections for Sponsored Brands video format ads: grammatical errors, and not using the primary language of the Amazon site where the ad will appear.
- Video: Translate video creatives from English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish (Spain) to Dutch, English (U.K.), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Spanish (Spain and Mexico), and Swedish. You’ll receive a video with embedded subtitles for both audio and on-screen text within 10 days.
Using the text translation service, you can translate headlines for your Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Brands video, and Sponsored Display campaigns, or brand copy for your Stores, Posts, or A+ content.
- Text: Submit text content in English, French, German, Italian, Simplified Chinese, or Spanish (Spain)—up to 1,000 characters—in a single request and translate to Arabic, Dutch, English (U.S. and U.K.), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish (Spain and Mexico), Swedish, and Turkish within 10 days.
When submitting your content for translation, remember to ensure that any submitted content intended for use meets the ad policy requirements.
To access Amazon Ads translations, navigate to “Creatives tools” on the left side navigation bar within the advertising console, then select the “Translations” tab, where you can book your service.
*Service is not available in all countries.
Checklist overview
See our multi-country tools and features in one place
Here’s our checklist of tools and features to help you advertise internationally.
Here’s our checklist of tools and features to help you advertise internationally:
- Use the advertising console language switcher to view the advertising console in your preferred language.
- Try Sponsored Products automatic targeting to automatically match your ads to keywords and products.
- Link multiple advertising accounts into a single dashboard with manager account.
- Get automatic translations for your suggested keywords during campaign setup.
- Translate your keywords to the local language of your campaign with the keyword localization feature.
- Use the multi-country campaign creation tool to create or copy Sponsored Products auto-targeted campaigns to multiple countries.
- Prioritize your keywords based on performance with the custom keyword ranking tool.
- Translate your branded text and video content with Amazon Ads translations.
Thank you for reading
International advertising made simple