60+ terms explained
Amazon & Supplement Glossary
Every Amazon PPC, selling, listing and compliance term you’ll meet as a supplement brand, explained in plain English, with no jargon.
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A
A+ Content
Enhanced brand content that replaces the plain product description with formatted modules, images and comparison charts. Available to Brand Registry sellers, it lifts conversion and trust, vital for supplements, where buyers want reassurance.
ACoS
Advertising Cost of Sales: your ad spend divided by the sales those ads generated, as a percentage. Lower is more efficient. It’s the core metric for judging whether a Sponsored campaign is profitable.
Account Health
Amazon’s dashboard scoring your seller account on policy compliance, performance and customer metrics. Poor account health risks suspension, so keeping it green is essential for supplement sellers, where compliance issues are common.
Ad Group
A container inside a campaign that holds a set of products and the keywords or targets they share. Organizing ad groups tightly keeps bidding relevant and ACoS under control.
Amazon DSP
Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform for programmatic display and video ads that reach shoppers on and off Amazon. Usually reserved for larger budgets, it retargets buyers and builds awareness beyond Sponsored ads.
ASIN
Amazon Standard Identification Number: the unique 10-character code Amazon assigns to every product. Each listing has one, and it’s how products are tracked, targeted in ads and referenced in reports.
B
Backend Search Terms
Hidden keyword fields in your listing that shoppers never see but Amazon uses to index your product. Filling them correctly captures searches your visible copy can’t fit.
Best Sellers Rank (BSR)
A number showing how well a product sells within its category, updated hourly. A lower BSR means higher sales. It’s a quick gauge of momentum and competitiveness.
Bid
The maximum you’re willing to pay for a click on a keyword or target in a Sponsored campaign. Bids drive where and how often your ads show, and managing them is central to controlling ACoS.
Brand Registry
Amazon’s program for brand owners with a registered trademark. It unlocks A+ Content, Brand Stores, Sponsored Brands and protection against hijackers. The gateway to most premium listing tools.
Brand Store
A free, multi-page storefront on Amazon where a brand showcases its full range. Requires Brand Registry, and makes an ideal landing page for Sponsored Brands ads.
Budget (Daily)
The average amount you allow a campaign to spend per day. Amazon may spend a little more on high-traffic days and less on slow ones, balancing to your budget over the month.
Bullet Points
The five key feature lines near the top of a listing. On supplements, they carry benefits, ingredients and reassurance, and must stay within claim rules while still persuading.
Buy Box
The featured “Add to Cart” box on a product page. When multiple sellers offer the same product, only one wins the Buy Box at a time, and winning it is critical to sales.
C
Campaign
The top level of Amazon advertising, holding your budget, targeting type and ad groups. Structuring campaigns well (by product, goal or match type) is the foundation of efficient PPC.
Catalog
The full set of your product data on Amazon: listings, variations, categories and attributes. Keeping the catalog clean and correctly structured keeps every SKU live and findable.
Certificate of Analysis (COA)
A lab document verifying a supplement’s ingredients, potency and purity. Amazon and buyers may request it, and it supports compliant claims and ungating applications.
cGMP
Current Good Manufacturing Practices: FDA regulations for how supplements are made, tested and labeled. cGMP-compliant manufacturing is a baseline expectation for reputable supplement brands.
Clicks
The number of times shoppers click your ad. Combined with impressions and conversions, clicks show whether your ad and listing are attracting and converting the right traffic.
Conversion Rate (CVR)
The percentage of shoppers who buy after visiting your listing. A strong CVR means your listing, price and reviews are working; a weak one wastes ad spend on traffic that doesn’t buy.
CPC
Cost Per Click — what you actually pay each time someone clicks your ad. Competitive supplement keywords can carry high CPCs, so efficient targeting and strong conversion matter.
CTR
Click-Through Rate: the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it. A low CTR often points to a weak main image, title or price versus competitors.
D
Dayparting
Adjusting ad bids or budgets by time of day or day of week, concentrating spend when your shoppers actually buy and pulling back when they don’t.
Disease Claim
A statement that a product diagnoses, treats, cures or prevents a disease. These are prohibited for supplements and trigger FDA/FTC action or Amazon takedowns.
DSHEA
The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994: the US law defining how supplements are regulated and labeled, and what claims they may make.
Dynamic Bidding
Amazon bid strategies that raise or lower your bid in real time based on the likelihood of a sale: down only, up and down, or fixed. The choice affects both spend and conversions.
F
FBA
Fulfillment by Amazon: you send inventory to Amazon’s warehouses and they pick, pack, ship and handle returns. FBA products are Prime-eligible and usually convert better.
FBM
Fulfillment by Merchant: you store and ship orders yourself. It offers more control and can suit bulky or slow-moving items, but isn’t automatically Prime-eligible.
FDA
The US Food and Drug Administration, which regulates how supplements are manufactured and labeled. Supplements aren’t FDA-approved, but they must follow FDA rules on claims and safety.
Flat File
Amazon’s inventory spreadsheet for bulk-editing listing data. It’s how catalog changes are made across many SKUs at once, safely and quickly.
FNSKU
Fulfillment Network SKU: the barcode Amazon uses to identify and track a specific seller’s units inside FBA warehouses.
FTC
The US Federal Trade Commission, which enforces truthful advertising. For supplements, the FTC requires that claims be substantiated by adequate scientific evidence.
G
Gated Category
A restricted category (like supplements) that requires Amazon’s approval before you can sell. Getting that approval is called ungating and needs the right invoices, documents and compliant labels.
H
Health Claim
A statement linking a supplement or ingredient to a health benefit. Only lawful structure/function claims are allowed; disease claims are not, and both the FDA and FTC police the line.
I
Impressions
The number of times your ad or listing is shown to shoppers. High impressions with low clicks usually suggest a relevance or creative problem.
Indexing
Whether Amazon has registered your listing for a given keyword, making it eligible to appear in those search results. If you’re not indexed for a term, you can’t rank for it.
IPI (Inventory Performance Index)
Amazon’s score of how efficiently you manage FBA inventory. A low IPI can trigger storage limits, so healthy stock levels and sell-through matter.
K
Keyword Targeting
Choosing the specific search terms your ads bid on. Precise, buyer-intent keyword targeting is how supplement brands rank and win profitable clicks.
L
Listing
A product’s page on Amazon: title, images, bullets, description, A+ content and backend data. A strong listing converts the traffic your ads pay for.
M
Main Image
The primary product photo shown in search and at the top of the listing. It must be on a white background and drives click-through more than any other single element.
Match Types
How closely a shopper’s search must match your keyword: broad (loosely related), phrase (in order), or exact (precise). Match types control reach versus precision in PPC.
N
Negative Keywords
Search terms you block so your ads don’t show for them. Adding negatives cuts wasted spend on irrelevant or non-converting clicks, a key ACoS lever.
P
Placements
Where your ad appears: top of search, rest of search, or product pages. Adjusting bids by placement puts budget where it converts best.
Plan of Action (POA)
The formal appeal document Amazon expects when a listing or account is suspended, stating the root cause, the fix and prevention. A strong POA is what gets a listing reinstated.
Product Description
The longer text section below the bullets. For Brand Registry sellers, it’s often replaced by A+ Content, a place to build the case and, for supplements, keep claims compliant.
Product Targeting
Aiming ads at specific ASINs or categories instead of keywords, for example, appearing on a competitor’s product page. Useful for conquesting and defending your own listings.
R
Reinstatement
The process of recovering a suspended or deactivated listing or account through root-cause analysis and a Plan of Action appeal.
Review & Rating
Customer feedback (written reviews and 1–5 star ratings) shown on a listing. For supplements, reviews are decisive social proof; buyers rarely purchase without them.
ROAS
Return on Ad Spend: sales generated per dollar of ad spend (the inverse of ACoS). A ROAS of 4 means $4 in sales per $1 spent. Higher is better.
S
Search Term Report
An Amazon report showing the actual shopper searches that triggered your ads and how each performed. It’s the primary source for finding wasted spend and new keywords.
Seller Central
The dashboard where third-party sellers manage listings, inventory, advertising, orders and account health on Amazon.
SKU
Stock Keeping Unit: your own internal code for a product variation, used to track inventory. Distinct from the ASIN, which is Amazon’s identifier.
Sponsored Brands
Stock Keeping Unit: your own internal code for a product variation, used to track inventory. Distinct from the ASIN, which is Amazon’s identifier.
Sponsored Display
Ads that retarget shoppers on and off Amazon and appear on product pages, based on audiences and interests. Good for defense, conquesting and staying visible.
Sponsored Products
The most common Amazon ad type, promoting individual listings in search results and on product pages. Usually the workhorse of a supplement PPC account.
Stranded Inventory
FBA stock that can’t be sold because its listing is inactive or suppressed. It ties up capital and hurts your IPI until the listing is fixed.
Structure/Function Claim
A lawful supplement claim describing how an ingredient supports normal body function (e.g. “supports immune health”), used with the FDA disclaimer.
Substantiation
The competent, reliable scientific evidence the FTC requires behind an advertising claim. Without it, even a technically legal claim can be deemed deceptive.
Supplement Facts
The FDA-mandated panel on a supplement label listing serving size, ingredients and amounts. Correct formatting is required for compliance and often for ungating.
Suppressed Listing
A listing Amazon has hidden from search, usually for a missing attribute, image or policy issue. Suppressed listings can’t be found or bought until fixed.
T
TACoS
Total Advertising Cost of Sales: ad spend as a percentage of total sales (both ad and organic), not just ad-driven sales. It shows how ad spend affects the whole business.
Title
The product name line at the top of a listing. It’s the biggest on-page ranking and click factor, and must fit priority keywords while staying readable and compliant.
U
Ungating
Getting Amazon’s approval to sell in a restricted (gated) category such as supplements, by submitting the required invoices, documents and compliant labels.
V
Variation (Parent/Child)
A listing structure grouping related products (flavors, sizes, counts) under one parent, so shoppers switch options on a single page and reviews consolidate.
Vendor Central
The platform for first-party sellers who sell wholesale to Amazon, which then resells to customers. Invite-only, and different from Seller Central’s third-party model.
Vine
Amazon’s program that gives products to trusted reviewers (“Vine Voices”) for honest reviews, a compliant way to earn early reviews at launch.
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Quick answers
Terms people ask about most
What is a good ACoS for supplements?
It depends on your margins and stage: a launch might accept a higher ACoS to gain rank, while an established product aims lower. A “good” ACoS is one that keeps the product profitable at your target margin, not a single fixed number. The audit benchmarks yours against your category.
What's the difference between ACoS and TACoS?
ACoS measures ad spend against sales from ads only. TACoS measures ad spend against total sales, ad and organic. A falling TACoS as sales grow is a healthy sign that ads are building organic momentum, not just buying sales.
Do I need Brand Registry to sell supplements?
You can sell without it, but Brand Registry (which needs a registered trademark) unlocks A+ Content, a Brand Store, Sponsored Brands and better brand protection, so most serious supplement brands enroll.
What's the difference between a structure/function claim and a disease claim?
A structure/function claim says how an ingredient supports normal body function (“supports immune health”) and is allowed with the FDA disclaimer. A disease claim says a product treats or prevents a disease, which isn’t allowed and triggers enforcement. More on Compliance
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