A founder asked me a fair question on a call this week.
By Liranhirschkorn · June 13, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
A founder asked me a fair question on a call this week.
"If we already rank #1 for our biggest keyword, doesn't advertising on it just cannibalize our organic sales?"
At the top of search, there's truth to it. If you already own the #1 organic spot, bidding to sit right next to yourself can cannibalize a sale you'd win for free. So you may not need to be there.
But top of search is one placement. There are a lot of others, and your organic listing reaches none of them.
Competitor product pages.
The "Related to items you've viewed" carousel.
Business-buyer placements.
The "Similar items you might like" row underneath.
These are all places Amazon shows ads, and a #1 organic ranking puts you in exactly none of them.
So you keep the keyword and lower the bid. A lower bid pulls your ad out of the top-of-search fight, where you'd cannibalize yourself, and keeps it in every placement your organic ranking can't reach.
Your #1 ranking is a keyword to keep advertising, at a much lower bid.