Amazon Search Query Performance (SQP): What the Report Shows

Amazon’s Search Query Performance report — SQP — shows how individual search queries move shoppers through your funnel, from impressions to clicks to cart adds to purchases. It is the best native view of how your own catalogue actually converts, and it is free inside Brand Analytics if you have Brand Registry. What it is not is a discovery tool: it cannot tell you which queries you are missing, and it shows you nothing about competitors. Diagnose owned query behaviour here first, then try Helium 10 free when the job outgrows what Amazon shows you.

If you are weighing Search Query Performance for keyword research, the useful question is not whether it gives you search data. It is whether you need owned query-funnel context for your catalog, or broader discovery depth outside your current products.

Start here if / skip this if

• Start here if: you already have products live, you want first-party query-level context, and the next decision is about how your own catalog performs on specific search terms.
• Skip this as your first stop if: you actually need broader marketplace demand checks, catalog-wide visibility diagnosis, or competitor keyword discovery from scratch.
• Move to Search Catalog Performance if: the problem is really impressions-to-purchase drop-off or catalog-side discoverability.
• Move to Top Search Terms or paid tools if: the question is broader demand, new keyword discovery, or competitor overlap.
• Move to Search Query Performance vs Top Search Terms if: you are deciding between owned query diagnosis and broad marketplace-demand validation.

Quick answer

Use Search Query Performance when you need owned query-funnel context for your catalog. If you need catalog-side diagnosis, move to Search Catalog Performance. If you need broader market demand, start with Top Search Terms. If you need broader discovery or competitor depth, move to paid tools after the native reports.

Related: See the full Search Analytics family · Compare broader keyword tools

Search Query Performance is strong for…	Search Query Performance is weak for…
Owned query-funnel analysis	Broad keyword discovery
Understanding how your products perform across search queries	Marketplace-demand benchmarking
Seeing where your catalog wins or weakens on query-led performance	Reverse-ASIN and competitor overlap work
Separating owned query behavior from broader search-market guesses	Full execution-depth optimization workflow

What Search Query Performance actually helps you see

Search Query Performance is most useful when you are trying to understand how your own catalog performs across search queries. That makes it a helpful keyword-research support layer, but only inside a narrower job.

It helps answer questions like:

• which search queries matter most to our catalog?
• where is our query-level performance stronger or weaker?
• are we showing up but underperforming on key queries?
• is this a query-fit problem rather than a broader demand problem?

That is different from broad keyword discovery. It is closer to owned query diagnosis.

Where Search Query Performance fits in the Amazon-native ladder

• start with Amazon Brand Analytics Search Analytics when you need the family overview
• use Search Catalog Performance when the issue is catalog visibility, clicks, carts, or purchases
• use Search Query Performance when the issue is query-level performance context tied to your own catalog
• use Top Search Terms when the issue is broader marketplace demand
• move to broader keyword tools or competitor keyword tools only when the question expands beyond your own first-party lens

When Search Query Performance works well vs when it does not

If your job is…	Is Search Query Performance a good first stop?	Why
Understanding owned query behavior on your catalog	Yes	That is the cleanest native fit for this report
Diagnosing full catalog-side drop-off	Sometimes	Useful, but Search Catalog Performance is usually stronger
Benchmarking broader marketplace demand	No	Top Search Terms is the better first stop
Finding competitor keyword opportunities from scratch	No	You usually need broader keyword and competitor tools

Search Query Performance vs Search Catalog Performance, Top Search Terms, and paid tools

Option	Best for	Main strength	Main limitation
Search Query Performance	Owned query-funnel analysis	Best native report for query-led catalog context	Not a broad discovery engine
Search Catalog Performance	Catalog-side visibility and drop-off	Better when the problem spans impressions to purchases	Less focused on pure query-led diagnosis
Top Search Terms	Marketplace-demand benchmarking	Useful for term popularity and broad demand context	Weak for owned query diagnosis
Paid keyword tools	Broader discovery, competitor, and execution depth	Better for work outside your native catalog lens	Easy to overbuy if your question is still native-report sized

Which sellers should use Search Query Performance first?

Start here first if…

• you want to understand which search queries matter to your products
• you need owned query-funnel context before changing software or strategy
• you are comparing search behavior across your own catalog
• you want first-party evidence before jumping into broader keyword tools

Do not start here first if…

• the main problem is marketplace demand discovery
• the issue is clearly catalog-side visibility or drop-off from impressions to purchases
• you need reverse-ASIN or competitor overlap research
• you already know you need a broader paid keyword workflow

Use the native report first when the job is owned-query diagnosis. Then upgrade only if the next question becomes discovery, overlap, or execution depth.

Related: See the broader search analytics guide · See Helium 10 pricing

Tools that make Search Query Performance usable

The report itself is free, but Amazon’s presentation of it is the reason most sellers give up on it. Three limitations come up repeatedly: it is a snapshot with no historical view, it has no funnel visualisation, and it sits inside Brand Registry with no real exploration tools. If you have ever exported SQP to a spreadsheet and never opened it again, that is why.

Amazon’s native report is the starting point and costs nothing. You need an active Brand Registry account, and you only ever see your own catalogue — there is no competitive context. For a single brand with a handful of ASINs, it is genuinely enough.

SmartScout’s Search Query Performance view reads the same data through a connected Brand Registry account and adds what the native report lacks: years of history pulled in on connection, a visualised funnel across impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases, market share at each stage, and Account, Product and Search Term modes. Two caveats worth knowing before you count on it. The Brand Registry connection is mandatory — without it nothing populates at all — and the number of ASINs you can enrol is gated by plan, from 1 on Basic up to 500 on Enterprise, with extra blocks of 100 sold at $100 a month. Our SmartScout review covers whether the wider platform justifies that, and the pricing breakdown has the tiers.

A broader suite is the right answer when SQP has told you what is wrong but not what to do about it. Diagnosing a weak click-through rate on a query you already rank for is an SQP job; finding the queries you are missing entirely is not.

The honest summary: SQP is a diagnostic report, not a research tool. Reach for it when you have a specific question about how your own listings convert. Reach for something else when the question is what you should be ranking for in the first place.

When you need broader keyword or competitor tools instead

Use Search Catalog Performance when…

You need to diagnose the bigger path from impressions to clicks, carts, and purchases rather than query-led context alone.

Use Top Search Terms when…

You need broader marketplace-demand benchmarking before diving into your own query funnel.

Use paid tools when…

The real job is broader keyword discovery, reverse-ASIN research, competitor overlap mapping, or execution-heavy optimization.

Best next pages for deeper search and keyword work

• Amazon Brand Analytics Search Analytics
• Best Amazon Search Analytics Tools
• Search Catalog Performance for Keyword Research
• Top Search Terms for Keyword Research
• Search Catalog Performance vs Search Query Performance
• Search Query Performance vs Top Search Terms
• Best Amazon Keyword Research Tools
• Best Amazon Competitor Keyword Tools
• Helium 10 Pricing