Amazon Search Query Performance is a Brand Analytics report that shows which search queries are leading customers to your products and then tells you how those searches perform across impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases. And while the report certainly isn’t new, it’s often one of the most underused advantages in Amazon’s toolkit.
Most Amazon sellers monitor sales, ACoS, TACoS and keyword rankings. The problem is, those numbers don’t always tell you where performance is actually breaking down. You might know sales have dropped, but you don’t know whether it’s because fewer shoppers are finding your products, fewer people are clicking your listings or whether your conversion rate has simply fallen.
What Is Amazon Search Query Performance?
Amazon’s SQP report is a free tool available exclusively to those enrolled in Brand Registry and can be found within Brand Analytics. It shows how customers are finding your brand or ASIN through Amazon search, but more importantly, what happens after they search. Rather than simply showing you whether a keyword generated sales, it follows the customer’s journey through the search funnel, from impressions and clicks through to cart adds and purchases.
It’s an especially valuable tool for brand owners because it uses Amazon’s own first-party data rather than estimates from third-party software. That gives you a much clearer picture of how shoppers are actually interacting with your products and where the biggest opportunities for improvement exist.
What Data Does the SQP Report Show?
Inside the Amazon Search Query Performance dashboard, you’ll see several metrics that help you understand how shoppers move from an initial search through to making a purchase. On their own, each metric tells you something useful. Together, they help pinpoint where customers are dropping out of the buying journey.
Search Query is the keyword or phrase a customer searched for on Amazon.
Query Volume shows how many times shoppers searched for that query during the reporting period.
Impressions show how often your brand or ASIN appeared in the search results for that query.
Clicks show how many shoppers actually selected your listing after seeing it in the search results.
Cart Adds measures how many shoppers added your product to their basket after clicking on and viewing your listing.
Purchases are the final sales generated from that search query.
The report also includes Click Share and Purchase Share. These show the proportion of total clicks and purchases your brand receives for a particular search query compared with other brands that are competing for the same keyword. They can be useful for understanding how competitive you are, even on keywords where search demand is already high.
How to Use SQP to Improve Amazon SEO
The SQP report helps you identify where SEO improvements are likely to have the biggest impact.
A good place to start is by looking for high-volume search queries where your current impression share is low. If demand is high, but your listings rarely appear, there’s an opportunity to review these and make sure those keywords are being targeted naturally.
SQP can also highlight keywords where your products are appearing in search results, but shoppers are choosing competing products instead. That can help you identify opportunities to improve your title, images, A+ Content or other parts of the listing.
Rather than relying solely on third-party keyword tools, the Amazon SQP report uses Amazon’s own search data to help prioritise your efforts for improving SEO, listing optimisation and Amazon rankings.
How to Use Amazon Search Query Performance to Improve PPC
The SQP report isn’t designed to replace your PPC reports, but it can prove to be a useful addition alongside them.
One of the biggest advantages is the ability to identify search terms where paid advertising is generating visibility, but where organic performance remains weak. That can highlight keywords where further SEO work is needed instead of simply increasing ad spend.
SQP can also help identify the opposite. If a keyword already converts well organically, it may be worth increasing PPC investment to capture more traffic.
It’s also useful for spotting search terms with strong click share but poor purchase share. If shoppers are clicking but not buying, the problem may be the listing rather than the advert itself.
Comparing SQP with your Sponsored Products search term reports gives a more complete picture. It becomes much easier to see whether poor PPC performance is caused by weak targeting or because the listing isn’t converting once shoppers arrive.
Search Query Performance vs PPC Search Term Report
Many sellers assume that these are the same thing. They’re not. SQP report and the PPC Search Term Report answer different questions entirely.
SQP is a broad report that shows how your brand or ASIN performs throughout each stage of the search funnel and helps you understand search demand, where you’re gaining visibility and where customers are losing interest before buying.
The PPC Search Term report, on the other hand, basically just shows how paid ads have performed against search terms.
SQP reporting is useful for understanding overall search demand and any funnel leakage, while PPC reports help sellers to optimise bids, adjust budgets and tweak keywords more easily. When used together, you’ll get a much clearer picture of overall sales performance and where improvements can easily be made.
| Feature | SQP | Ads Search Term Report | Search Catalogue Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Full search funnel | PPC performance | ASIN search performance |
| Focus | Queries by brand or ASIN | Search terms from paid ads | Catalogue ASINs in search |
| Search demand | Yes – query volume | Paid impressions only | No |
| Impression share | Yes | Separate report | No |
| Click share | Yes | No | No |
| Purchase share | Yes | No | No |
| Best for | SEO, PPC and funnel gaps | PPC optimisation | Listing performance |
| Bid insights | Indirect | Yes | Indirect |
| Answers | Which queries win or lose shoppers? | Which search terms drive sales? | Where does each ASIN lose shoppers? |
Common Mistakes Sellers Make with SQP
One of the most common mistakes sellers make with SQP is focusing almost entirely on purchase share. While sales are obviously important, looking at purchases alone won’t tell you why performance is changing. The real value of Search Query Performance is understanding where shoppers are dropping out of the funnel, whether that’s at impressions, clicks, cart adds or purchases.
Ignoring search queries with high impressions but low click-through rates is another common mistake made when using the SQP. If your products are already appearing frequently, improving your rankings further may not make much difference, so spending some time reviewing your main image, title, pricing or review profile is likely to have a better outcome.
Some sellers also treat SQP like a PPC report. It isn’t. Don’t pick one or the other; use them both and avoid making listing changes when you’ve got limited data.
And lastly, stop assuming that every problem is keyword-related. Poor pricing, weak reviews, slow delivery or more competitive offers can all affect click-through rates and conversion. Likewise, chasing high-volume keywords that aren’t genuinely relevant to your products rarely ends well. More visibility only helps if you’re attracting the right customers in the first place.
Simple SQP Workflow for Sellers
In order to get the most from Amazon’s SQP report, it’s best practice to follow the same workflow for each listing.
- Pull the top search queries for your ASIN or brand. Focus on the search terms generating the most shopper activity rather than trying to analyse everything at once.
- Sort the data by search volume. Start with the highest-volume queries, as even small improvements can have a much bigger impact on traffic and sales.
- Identify where the biggest drop-off happens. Is the problem low impression share, weak click share or poor purchase share? That tells you where shoppers are leaving the funnel.
- Match the issue to an action. Low impression share usually points to an SEO problem. Strong impressions but weak clicks often mean the listing isn’t competitive. If shoppers click but don’t buy, review the product page and offer before changing your PPC campaigns.
- Review the data again after your changes. Give Amazon enough time to collect meaningful data before deciding whether your changes have improved performance.
Example: If a product has strong impressions but weak clicks for a stainless steel water bottle, the first things to review are the main image, title, price, Prime offer, reviews and whether the product matches what shoppers expect to see in the search results.
Final Takeaway
The Amazon Search Query Performance report provides great insights into listing performance, but it’s most valuable when treated like a diagnostic tool, rather than just another report. Used correctly, it will help you understand where potential buyers are being lost and where your biggest opportunities exist by connecting SEO, listing optimisation, advertising and conversion into one overall view of your search performance.
