# Amazon Search Query Performance Reports Explained

Canonical page: https://www.kuudo.com/guides/amazon-ads-sqp-ppc-keyword-signals/

Amazon Search Query Performance reports impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases per query and ASIN. How it differs from the two search terms reports.

Author: Thomas Spicer
Updated: Oct 19, 2026

## Summary

- Amazon Ads has a search term report for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands: search terms that resulted in at least one ad click. It needs no Brand Analytics role, though sellers must be in Brand Registry to run Sponsored Brands at all.
- Brand Analytics has a separate GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_TERMS_REPORT: the top clicked ASINs for each search term and department across a marketplace. It requires the Brand Analytics Selling Partner API role, Brand Registry, and the brand representative role.
- A third report, GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_QUERY_PERFORMANCE_REPORT (Search Query Performance, or SQP), gives impressions, clicks, cart adds, and purchases per query for the ASINs you request, with no ad spend or ad-attributed sales.
- The Ads search term report can list an ASIN string as a customer search term. Sponsored Products shows these for automatic campaigns and product-attribute-targeted ad groups; it's not a word a customer typed.
- A bid decision that only reads the paid report is guessing at search-funnel performance. One that only reads SQP never sees which queries are already converting on ads.

Amazon Search Query Performance (SQP) is a Brand Analytics report that counts impressions, clicks, cart adds, and purchases from the search results page for each search query and requested ASIN, plus that ASIN's share of each stage. It carries no ad spend or ad-attributed sales, so a bid decision still needs the Amazon Ads search term report.

Two other reports share the "search terms" name. The Amazon Ads search term report lists the terms your ads got clicks on. The Brand Analytics `GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_TERMS_REPORT` lists the top clicked ASINs for each search term across a marketplace. A PPC lead put the problem directly: *"our PPC keyword decisions and our Search Query Performance data live in two different reports, how does an agent actually combine them into one bid call?"*

[Your AI client](/features/ai-clients/) reads the paid report through the [Amazon Ads MCP](/features/amazon-ads-mcp/) and both Brand Analytics reports through the [Selling Partner MCP](/features/amazon-selling-partner-mcp/). [Amazon Agent Atlas](/features/agent-atlas/) supplies each report's exact identifier and access rules. For the query on that dashboard, strong SQP clicks and purchases said shoppers wanted the product. They couldn't say whether the ad earned those purchases, so the agent kept the two kinds of evidence apart.

## Atlas names which "search terms" report the agent requests

"Pull the search terms report" has two possible answers on two unrelated systems. Atlas holds Amazon's documentation for both, so the agent names the exact report before any call goes out.

| Report | Read through | What a row is | Who can request it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sponsored Products search term report | Amazon Ads MCP | A search term with at least one ad click, with spend and ad-attributed sales | Sellers, vendors, authors and book vendors running Sponsored Products |
| Sponsored Brands search term report | Amazon Ads MCP | The same, for Sponsored Brands | Advertisers running Sponsored Brands; sellers must be registered brand owners in Brand Registry |
| `GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_TERMS_REPORT` | Selling Partner MCP | A search term and department, with its top clicked ASINs and their click and conversion share | Sellers and vendors with the Brand Analytics role, Brand Registry, and the brand representative role |
| `GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_QUERY_PERFORMANCE_REPORT` | Selling Partner MCP | A search query for one of your requested ASINs, from impressions to purchases | Sellers with the Brand Analytics role who are registered in Brand Registry |

The Brand Analytics Search Terms report covers the whole marketplace, not only your products, in DAY, WEEK, MONTH, or QUARTER periods. Amazon's schema doesn't split its clicks into sponsored and organic, so treat it as a demand and competition view rather than an organic-only one.

> **The AI is shared. The moat is yours.**
> - **"Pull the search terms report" is an ambiguous instruction.** One answer returns your ad clicks. The other returns marketplace-wide click leaders behind a Brand Registry wall. Getting it backwards means analyzing the wrong report without realizing it, which is why the agent requests the literal `reportType` Atlas grounds.

## The Selling Partner MCP reads SQP as a search funnel, not as ad data

SQP answers a third question: how one of your ASINs performs against everyone else on a given query. The Selling Partner MCP requests it for a list of ASINs, one marketplace per request, in WEEK, MONTH, or QUARTER periods, and a request can't span two periods. Amazon lists it as request-only, not schedulable, through the Selling Partner API.

For each query, the report returns:

- **Demand:** `searchQueryVolume` and `searchQueryScore`, the query's rank among that ASIN's queries.
- **Funnel counts:** total and ASIN impressions, clicks, cart adds, and purchases that originate from the search results page.
- **Shares:** `asinImpressionShare`, `asinClickShare`, `asinCartAddShare`, and `asinPurchaseShare`, each the ASIN's fraction of the query's total at that stage.
- **Prices and delivery speed:** median click, cart-add, and purchase prices, and query-wide counts by same-day, one-day, and two-day delivery message.

The median prices are product prices, not ad costs. Nothing in the schema holds ad spend or ad-attributed sales, and nothing splits sponsored from organic activity. A strong SQP stage shows the query is working for the ASIN; it can't show whether an ad is doing that work.

> **The AI is shared. The moat is yours.**
> - **A converting Ads query and a strong SQP query can be the same query.** Raising the bid without checking both reports hides whether the paid activity adds coverage. SQP supplies the funnel context and the Ads report supplies spend and attributed sales, so the agent reads both through their separate MCPs before proposing a bid.

## The Amazon Ads MCP separates ASIN-shaped search terms from typed queries

The Ads search term report's "customer search term" column can contain alphanumeric entries like `b00ipgvvz4`. Amazon says these correspond to ASINs and the product detail page your ad displayed on, not a phrase a customer searched. Sponsored Products shows them for automatic-targeted campaigns and product-attribute-targeted ad groups, and Amazon's Sponsored Brands page describes the same pattern.

Amazon's Sponsored Products page also says a term can be inferred as a best match in a non-search context, such as an off-Amazon placement. Counting either kind as keyword demand inflates the number of queries anyone typed. The published [Sponsored Products Search Terms Skill](/features/skills/amazon-ads/sponsored-products-search-terms/) (a Reference Skill) partitions ASIN-shaped terms into a product-targeting stream instead of treating them as keyword negatives. It covers Sponsored Products only.

## Sponsored Brands semantic matching: the Amazon Ads MCP reads the keyword behind each term

Sponsored Brands keyword targeting uses semantic matching, a meaning-based approach rather than word-to-word matching. Amazon's example: a customer searching "running shoes" can trigger campaigns that target "jogging shoes" or "shoes for running." The Sponsored Brands search term report can therefore show queries the advertiser never targeted as written.

The search term reports carry the keyword and its match type (broad, phrase, or exact) beside each term. The agent reads that pairing through the Amazon Ads MCP before drawing a conclusion. A term that reached your ad through a semantically close keyword calls for a different follow-up than one that matched the keyword as written.

## Bid changes run through the Amazon Ads MCP and may require your approval

The published [SQP ASIN N-gram Skill](/features/skills/amazon-seller/sqp-asin-ngram/) (a Reference Skill) ranks SQP gaps per ASIN and query and tags each action as organic, operational, or advertising. Its own scope note says it is not for paid-search bid rules. No published Kuudo Skill blends SQP with the paid report, so the cross-reference is one the agent runs on request, or a [Skill](/features/skills/) your team writes with its own thresholds.

Once the agent recommends a bid change or a negative keyword, the write goes through the Amazon Ads MCP. Depending on your workspace policy, it may require your approval before Amazon sees it.

## What happens next: cross-reference both reports on a schedule {#what-happens-next}

The agent cross-references the same query or ASIN across the Ads search term report and the Brand Analytics reports where access exists. It sets ASIN-shaped terms aside and returns a recommendation that names which side of the funnel is thin.

The Amazon Ads API keeps Sponsored Products search term data for 65 days and Sponsored Brands for 60. [Amazon Agent Flow](/features/amazon-agent-flow/) lands your Selling Partner and Amazon Ads data in a private lake you own and can run report pulls on a schedule, so a weekly cross-reference reads history the API has already aged out.

*Next: where this blended signal actually changes a bid, in [Amazon PPC Bidding Rules That Prevent Bid Thrash](/guides/rules-agent-bidding-rulebook/).*


## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Amazon Ads search term report the same as Search Query Performance?

No. The Ads search term report (Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands) shows search terms that resulted in at least one ad click, with spend and ad-attributed sales, for sellers, vendors, authors and book vendors running those campaigns. Search Query Performance (GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_QUERY_PERFORMANCE_REPORT) is a Brand Analytics search-funnel report with no spend or ad-attributed sales; it requires Brand Registry and the Brand Analytics Selling Partner API role.

### Why are there two different reports both called a 'search terms' report?

Amazon Ads has a search term report for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, built from your ad clicks. Brand Analytics separately has GET_BRAND_ANALYTICS_SEARCH_TERMS_REPORT, the top clicked ASINs for each search term and department across a marketplace. Same name pattern, two unrelated systems with different access requirements and different data.

### Do I need Brand Registry to see my paid search term data?

Not for Sponsored Products. Sponsored Brands requires sellers to be registered brand owners in Brand Registry before they can run the campaigns that produce its search term report. Neither Ads report needs the Brand Analytics Selling Partner API role, which the two Brand Analytics reports (Search Terms and Search Query Performance) require along with Brand Registry.

### Why does my search term report show something that looks like an ASIN instead of a real search phrase?

Amazon shows these for Sponsored Products automatic-targeted campaigns and product-attribute-targeted ad groups, and describes the same pattern for Sponsored Brands. Alphanumeric entries like "b00ipgvvz4" correspond to ASINs and the related product detail page your ad displayed on, not a word a customer typed.

### What is Amazon Search Query Performance?

A Brand Analytics report of impressions, clicks, cart adds, and purchases from the search results page for each search query and requested ASIN, with the ASIN's share of each stage. It comes in WEEK, MONTH, or QUARTER periods and has no ad spend or ad-attributed sales fields. It requires the Brand Analytics Selling Partner API role and Brand Registry.

### Can Search Query Performance find negative keywords for Amazon PPC?

It finds the candidates, not the decision. A query where the ASIN earns impressions but a weak purchase share is a candidate, and SQP carries no ad spend or ad-attributed sales, so the agent checks that query in the Ads search term report before recommending a negative. A query that already converts on ads shouldn't be negated on SQP evidence alone.

### Can an agent combine paid and search-funnel keyword data into one bid decision?

Yes, by reading both report families separately and cross-referencing the same query or ASIN across them: the Ads search term report through the Amazon Ads MCP, and the two Brand Analytics reports through the Selling Partner MCP where Brand Registry access exists. A resulting bid change goes through the Amazon Ads MCP and may require your approval.


## Sources

- [Search term report for Sponsored Products](https://advertising.amazon.com/help/G3HEFZYWZF84NPS9)

- [Search term report for Sponsored Brands](https://advertising.amazon.com/help/GLPHMX59DC5WSSQW)

- [Sponsored Brands eligibility requirements](https://advertising.amazon.com/help/G5DAD7ZM3N639QF4)

- [Analytics report type values (Selling Partner API)](https://developer-docs.amazon.com/sp-api/docs/report-type-values-analytics)

- [Search Query Performance report schema](https://github.com/amzn/selling-partner-api-models/blob/main/schemas/reports/sellingPartnerSearchQueryPerformanceReport.json)

- [Search term reports (Amazon Ads API)](https://advertising.amazon.com/API/docs/en-us/guides/reporting/v3/report-types/search-term)

- [Sponsored Brands keyword targeting](https://advertising.amazon.com/API/docs/en-us/guides/sponsored-brands/targeting/keyword-targeting)