Amazon enhances optimization for Sponsored Display campaigns

Amazon has implemented significant machine learning algorithm improvements to its Sponsored Display advertising platform, affecting how advertisers can optimize campaigns for conversions across multiple regions.

Five days ago, on April 4, 2025, Amazon announced a substantial update to its Sponsored Display advertising solution, enhancing its machine learning algorithm to identify improved conversion opportunities. According to the official announcement, this update is designed to "help drive incremental sales for Reach and Page Visit campaigns, moving these campaigns to align with the optimization objective of Sponsored Display Conversion campaigns."

The change represents a strategic shift in how Amazon approaches optimization across its display advertising ecosystem. Advertisers currently running active Reach and Page Visit campaigns are likely to observe enhanced performance metrics as a result of this algorithmic improvement. These metrics will now be optimized specifically for conversion objectives rather than their previous optimization targets.

Sponsored Display has historically functioned as a self-serve display advertising solution accessible to businesses of various sizes and budgets. The platform assists advertisers in reaching relevant audiences and engaging with contextual placements throughout customer shopping journeys, both on Amazon's owned and operated properties and across its third-party display network.

Prior to this update, advertisers could select bidding strategies aligned with specific campaign objectives: optimizing for Reach, Page Visits, or Conversions. Each strategy addressed different stages of the customer journey and marketing funnel. The optimization for Reach focused on maximizing audience exposure, Page Visits concentrated on driving traffic to product detail pages, while Conversion optimization targeted completed purchases.

Under the new system, Amazon is enhancing the performance of existing Reach and Page Visit campaigns to align them with the optimization objective previously reserved for Conversion campaigns. According to the announcement, this shift focuses specifically on "improving total sales and campaign efficiency," with metrics like Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and Advertising Cost of Sale (ACOS) being prioritized.

The technical implementation involves substantial adjustments to the machine learning algorithms that power Amazon's advertising platform. These algorithms now evaluate potential ad placements differently, assigning greater weight to factors that correlate with conversion probability rather than simply maximizing impressions or clicks.

Amazon's internal data likely indicated that many advertisers using Reach and Page Visit campaigns ultimately sought conversion outcomes, despite selecting different optimization strategies. This algorithmic change appears to address that misalignment between advertiser expectations and campaign settings.

Industry analysts note that this move represents part of a broader trend across digital advertising platforms, which increasingly prioritize bottom-funnel metrics and direct attribution of advertising spend to sales results. This approach follows the general industry movement away from proxy metrics like impressions and clicks toward more tangible business outcomes.

The update addresses growing advertiser demand for greater efficiency in digital advertising spend, particularly as economic pressures have forced many marketing departments to demonstrate clearer returns on investment. By aligning all campaign types with conversion objectives, Amazon provides more consistent performance expectations across its advertising products.

For advertisers, this change eliminates some complexity in campaign creation and management. Rather than needing to select different optimization strategies for different campaign objectives, the platform now applies conversion-focused optimization across campaign types. This simplification may benefit less experienced advertisers who previously might have selected suboptimal optimization strategies.

The change applies to advertisers across multiple geographic regions. According to the announcement, the feature is available in North America (United States, Canada, Mexico), South America (Brazil), Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Turkey), Middle East (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, Kuwait), Africa (South Africa), and Asia Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, China, Singapore).

This comprehensive global rollout indicates the significance Amazon places on this update. By implementing the change simultaneously across markets, Amazon ensures consistency in advertiser experience regardless of geographic location.

From a technical implementation perspective, the update applies automatically to existing campaigns without requiring advertiser intervention. Access to these enhanced campaigns remains available through both the Advertising Console and Amazon Ads API, providing flexibility for advertisers managing campaigns through different interfaces.

The announcement specifically states that "advertisers who currently have active Reach and Page visit campaigns are likely to observe enhanced performance metrics, optimized for Conversion." This phrasing indicates that the transition happens automatically without needing campaign restructuring or settings adjustments from advertisers.

For the marketing community, this update carries several significant implications. First, it signals Amazon's continued investment in machine learning capabilities within its advertising platform. The algorithmic enhancements represent substantial engineering resources dedicated to improving advertising performance.

Second, the alignment of all campaign types toward conversion objectives indicates Amazon's understanding that most advertisers ultimately seek sales outcomes from their advertising investments. This streamlined approach may appeal to performance marketers who prioritize measurable business results over intermediate metrics.

Third, by enhancing existing campaigns automatically, Amazon demonstrates a commitment to improving advertiser outcomes without requiring additional work from marketing teams. This approach contrasts with some platform updates that require campaign rebuilding or extensive settings adjustments.

For agency professionals managing Amazon advertising campaigns, this change may necessitate adjustments to performance benchmarks and reporting frameworks. Historical performance data for Reach and Page Visit campaigns may not provide accurate baselines for future performance expectations, as the optimization objectives have fundamentally changed.

The update also raises questions about campaign diversification strategies. Previously, some sophisticated advertisers maintained separate campaigns with different optimization objectives to address various stages of the purchase funnel. With all campaigns now optimizing toward conversions, advertisers may need to reconsider their campaign structures and targeting approaches.

Smaller businesses with limited advertising expertise may benefit most from this change. By applying conversion-focused optimization across campaign types, Amazon simplifies the decision-making process for advertisers who might otherwise struggle to select appropriate optimization strategies for different campaign objectives.

The technical documentation indicates that the optimization change affects the machine learning models that determine ad placement and bidding. These models now evaluate potential impressions based on their likelihood to result in conversions, rather than optimizing purely for reach or traffic generation.

Amazon has implemented this update at a time when many advertisers are finalizing Q2 strategies and beginning to plan for the second half of the year. The timing allows for performance evaluation before peak shopping seasons later in the year, giving advertisers opportunity to adjust strategies based on observed results.

For marketing professionals specializing in e-commerce, this update reinforces the importance of understanding platform-specific optimization strategies and the underlying technologies that power digital advertising systems. As machine learning plays an increasingly significant role in advertising performance, marketers must develop greater technical literacy regarding algorithmic optimization.

The enhanced focus on conversion metrics aligns with broader industry trends toward performance marketing measurement and attribution. As third-party cookie deprecation and platform privacy changes continue to impact campaign measurement, Amazon's first-party conversion data becomes increasingly valuable to advertisers seeking reliable performance indicators.

From a competitive standpoint, this update strengthens Amazon's position against other retail media networks and e-commerce advertising platforms. By improving conversion performance across campaign types, Amazon potentially increases advertiser satisfaction and return on investment, potentially attracting additional advertising budgets.

For marketing teams operating across multiple platforms, this change may influence budget allocation decisions. If Amazon's conversion-optimized display campaigns demonstrate superior performance compared to similar campaigns on other platforms, rational budget allocation would favor increased investment in Amazon's advertising solutions.

The global scale of this rollout illustrates Amazon's capabilities in deploying complex machine learning enhancements across its advertising infrastructure worldwide. Few advertising platforms can implement algorithmic changes of this magnitude simultaneously across so many markets.

Timeline

• April 4, 2025: Amazon announces machine learning algorithm enhancement for Sponsored Display, aligning Reach and Page Visit campaigns with Conversion optimization objectives
• Prior to April 2025: Advertisers could select between three distinct optimization strategies (Reach, Page Visits, Conversions) for Sponsored Display campaigns
• Present: Enhanced algorithms automatically apply to existing campaigns across 30+ countries, with performance improvements expected in conversion-related metrics