Campaign targeting competitor keywords

Amazon Sponsored Products
1

Sometimes, I notice that branded products appear in search results under competitors’ main keywords.

For example, my product is an HP mouse, but it ranks for the keyword Dell mouse.

My questions are:

  1. Can we intentionally target competitor brand keywords (such as “Dell mouse”) in our campaigns for our own product?

  2. Will this strategy help improve our ranking or campaign performance?

  3. And most importantly, is it safe and compliant with platform policies to use competitor brand names in our keyword targeting?

2

You can technically target competitor brand keywords like “Dell mouse” in your advertising campaigns on Amazon (e.g., in Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands), and it’s a common strategy for competitive positioning. However, while this tactic may bring impressions or even clicks, conversion rates are usually lower because customers searching for a specific brand may not be interested in alternatives. As for compliance, Amazon permits bidding on competitor brand keywords in ads as long as you don’t use those brand names in your listing title, bullets, or images—doing so could lead to policy violations or IP complaints. So yes, it’s allowed in campaigns, but should be used carefully and strategically.

3

Ads targeting brands are totally fine. So yes. It may or may not help organic ranking.