Throwback: The Best Strategy for Boosting Amazon Sales with Google Ads!

In this Throwback episode, Josh interviews Tyler Greg, founder of Ampd, about the game-changing strategy of driving Google Ads traffic directly to Amazon listings. Tyler explains how leveraging Google Ads—rather than sending traffic to standalone e-commerce sites—enables sellers to capitalize on Amazon’s superior conversion rates and boost keyword rankings. They discuss Amazon’s own traffic arbitrage, the benefits of Amazon-compliant (white hat) tactics, and how sellers can maximize ROI, reduce fees, and build defensible brands by combining external traffic with Amazon’s brand-building tools. Actionable tips for scaling to 8 figures and beyond are shared throughout.

Chapters:

Amazon’s Google Ads Arbitrage Explained (00:00:00)
How Amazon buys Google Ads cheaply, drives traffic to search result pages, and resells clicks at a higher price.

Introduction to Tyler and Ampd (00:00:40)
Josh introduces Tyler Greg and Ampd’s expertise in Google Ads to Amazon traffic.

Ampd’s Origin Story (00:01:12)
Tyler shares how Ampd started as a data science platform for Google Ads to DTC stores in 2015.

Transition to Automated Bidding (00:02:04)
Google’s shift to automated bidding forced Ampd to rethink their approach and product offering.

Early Focus on Shopify and BigCommerce (00:03:08)
Ampd built tools for Shopify/BigCommerce, but struggled with low conversion rates on DTC stores.

Switching Traffic to Amazon (00:04:23)
Ampd decided to send Google Ads traffic to Amazon for higher conversion rates and better results.

Amazon Affiliate Program Insights (00:05:18)
Using Amazon’s affiliate program, Ampd discovered 30% of Google Ads clicks resulted in Amazon purchases.

Conversion Rate Analysis (00:05:50)
Discussion on how often external traffic buys advertised vs. other products, and the impact on conversion rates.

Why Amazon Incentivizes External Traffic (00:07:18)
Explains Amazon’s motivation for encouraging sellers to drive external traffic due to high overall conversion.

Amazon’s Massive Google Ads Spend (00:08:18)
Tyler discusses Amazon’s huge annual spend on Google Ads and the two main ad types: Shopping and Search.

Difference Between Shopping and Search Ads (00:08:34)
Breakdown of how Amazon uses Shopping ads for direct listings and Search ads for broader traffic.

How Brands Can Compete with Amazon Ads (00:10:06)
Case studies on replacing Amazon’s ads with your own to get cheaper, more direct traffic to listings.

Building a Competitive Moat with External Traffic (00:10:39)
Josh explains how external Google Ads traffic can help brands dominate and protect their Amazon position.

Actionable Takeaways for Sellers (00:11:19)
Summary of strategies: boosting keyword rankings, using white hat tactics, and testing Google Ads to Amazon.

Three Key Focus Areas for Google Ads to Amazon (00:12:19)
Emphasizes keyword selection, ad copy, and optimizing landing/store pages for best results.

Shopify vs. Amazon for Google Ads Traffic (00:13:35)
Tyler compares benefits of sending Google Ads to Amazon vs. Shopify, including conversion rates and branding.

Brand Referral Bonus and Seller Fees (00:14:32)
Explains Amazon’s 10% brand referral bonus, making fees competitive with Shopify for Google Ads traffic.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts (00:15:09)
Wrap-up and final remarks on the value of sending Google Ads traffic to Amazon.

Links and Mentions:

Tools and Websites 
Ampd 
Shopify 
BigCommerce 
Amazon Affiliate Program
Amazon Attribution

Transcript:

Tyler 00:00:00  But what Amazon does with search ads is they buy it on Google often, you know, 30, 40, $0.50 per click. The average CPC on Google is about $0.60. They buy it first, call it $0.60, and they send it to a search result page. They do search, find, buy and you're not allowed to do it. Amazon. Yeah, of course they sent it to a search result page where they then have that page covered in sponsored ads. Yeah, that all cost $1.30 per click. Yeah. And so Amazon buys it for 60. They resell that traffic for $1.30. And they take that difference there. Arbitrage again. It's fascinating. Yeah it's it's genius. Genius.

Josh 00:00:40  I never thought of it that way. But now I'm like my mind is now open. And I'm like, okay, that that makes ten times more sense now. Today I'm excited to introduce you all to Tyler. Greg Tyler and his team at Ampd are big data analysts who have spent seven plus years building Google ad tech and now bring that technology and knowledge to th