Glossary
Amazon advertising glossary
35 terms Amazon sellers use every day, each defined in one sentence — with a rupee example where it helps. Examples use illustrative numbers.
Last updated 6 November 2026
Advertising metrics
- ACOS
- ACOS (advertising cost of sales) is ad spend divided by the sales those ads produced, as a percentage.
- Example: ₹2,000 spend and ₹10,000 ad sales = 20% ACOS.
- TACOS
- TACOS (total advertising cost of sales) is ad spend divided by all sales, from ads and organic.
- Example: ₹2,000 spend and ₹40,000 total sales = 5% TACOS.
- ROAS
- ROAS (return on ad spend) is ad sales divided by ad spend — the inverse of ACOS.
- Example: ₹10,000 ad sales on ₹2,000 spend = ROAS 5.
- Break-even ACOS
- Break-even ACOS is the ACOS at which an ad sale makes zero profit: profit per unit before ads divided by the selling price.
- Example: ₹241.86 profit on a ₹899 product = 26.9%.
- Target ACOS
- Target ACOS is the ACOS you aim for, set a few points below break-even to leave room for returns and discounts.
- Example: Break-even 27% → target 22%.
- CPC
- CPC (cost per click) is what you pay each time a shopper clicks your ad.
- Example: ₹1,200 for 150 clicks = ₹8 CPC.
- CTR
- CTR (click-through rate) is clicks divided by impressions.
- Example: 150 clicks from 30,000 impressions = 0.5% CTR.
- Conversion rate
- Conversion rate is orders divided by clicks (for ads) or by sessions (for the listing).
- Example: 12 orders from 150 clicks = 8%.
- CPA
- CPA (cost per acquisition) is ad spend divided by orders from ads.
- Example: ₹1,200 spend for 12 orders = ₹100 CPA.
Campaigns and targeting
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Products are cost-per-click ads for individual products, shown in search results and on product pages.
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Brands are ads with your brand logo, a headline and several products, or a video, shown above or within search results.
- Sponsored Display
- Sponsored Display ads reach shoppers on and off the marketplace based on products they viewed or audiences they belong to.
- Auto campaign
- An auto campaign lets the ad platform choose which searches and products to show your ad against, based on your listing.
- Manual campaign
- A manual campaign targets only the keywords or products you choose.
- Match type
- Match type sets how closely a search must match your keyword: broad, phrase or exact.
- Negative keyword
- A negative keyword stops your ad showing for searches that contain it; negative exact blocks one exact search, negative phrase blocks any search containing the phrase.
- Product targeting
- Product targeting shows your ad on specific product pages or categories instead of against keywords.
- Search term
- A search term is the exact text a shopper typed before seeing and clicking your ad; it can differ from your keyword.
- Search-term harvesting
- Search-term harvesting moves search terms that convert into exact-match targeting and negates them where they came from, so each search is bought once.
- Example: “steel bottle 1 litre” with 4 orders at 15% ACOS → added as exact.
- Placement
- Placement is where an ad appears — top of search, rest of search or product pages — and each can carry its own bid adjustment.
- Day-parting
- Day-parting changes bids by hour and weekday, lowering them when shoppers rarely buy and raising them when they do.
- Example: −40% from 01:00–06:00, +20% from 19:00–22:00.
- Budget pacing
- Budget pacing spreads a monthly ad budget across days and campaigns and warns when spend runs ahead of or behind plan.
Catalogue and stock
- Days of cover
- Days of cover is sellable stock divided by average units sold per day — how long stock lasts at the current rate.
- Example: 190 units ÷ 21 a day = 9 days.
- Restock-by date
- The restock-by date is the last day to send stock so it arrives before you run out, allowing for inbound time.
- Buy Box
- The Buy Box is the Add to Cart offer shown on a product page; when several sellers offer the same product, only one wins it at a time.
- Suppressed listing
- A suppressed listing is hidden from search because it breaks a listing rule, such as a missing main image or an over-long title.
- Listing score
- A listing score rates how complete and search-ready a listing is — title, bullets, description, keywords and images — out of 100.
- Backend keywords
- Backend keywords are hidden search terms added to a listing that help it be found but aren't shown to shoppers.
- HSN code
- An HSN code classifies a product for GST in India and decides its GST rate, often 5%, 12% or 18%.
SellerZero concepts
- Change set
- A change set is a group of proposed changes — bids, budgets, keywords or listing edits — shown old → new for approval before anything is sent.
- Approval-first automation
- Approval-first automation lets software prepare any change but leaves a person to decide which kinds of change it may apply alone.
- Campaign owner
- The campaign owner is the one controller — you, a rule or a schedule — allowed to change a campaign, so two automations never fight over it.
- Guardrails
- Guardrails are limits automation can't cross, such as a maximum bid change of ±20% a day or a maximum bid of ₹25.
- Undo
- Undo reverses an applied change by creating a new change with the old and new values swapped, so history is never rewritten.
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