Most sellers ask this question backwards. They ask which platform is cheaper. The better question is which platform is closer to the sale you are trying to make — because the cheap click that does not convert is the expensive one.
Is Guide Mein
Here is how the two actually differ for an Indian seller, and the order we recommend after running both.
The core difference: how far the buyer already is
Amazon PPC reaches people who have decided to buy. Someone typing “cotton kurta for women” into Amazon has a payment method saved, a delivery address on file, and an intention to order today. Your ad is competing for the last step.
Google Ads reaches people who are still deciding. “Best cotton kurta brands India” is research. “Cotton kurta online” might be research or purchase. Google reaches a much larger audience at an earlier and less certain stage.
That single difference explains almost everything else — the conversion rates, the costs, and which one you should start with.
Conversion rate
Amazon PPC converts far better than Google Ads sending traffic to a store, and it is not close. The shopper is already inside the buying environment, trust is Amazon’s problem rather than yours, and there is no “is this site legitimate” hesitation to overcome.
On Google, you are asking a stranger to trust your store, create an account, and enter card details. Every one of those steps loses people.
What this means practically: the same ₹10,000 spent on Amazon PPC will usually produce more orders than ₹10,000 on Google Ads pointed at a new D2C store. Not because Google is worse, but because you are buying a different, earlier moment.
Cost per click
Amazon CPCs vary enormously by category. Commodity categories with hundreds of sellers — phone cases, cables, basic apparel — get bid up hard. Specialised categories stay cheap.
Google CPCs in India are usually lower than Amazon’s for product searches, but you are paying for a click that is much less likely to end in an order. Compare cost per order, never cost per click. A ₹12 click that converts at 0.4% costs you ₹3,000 an order. A ₹40 click converting at 8% costs you ₹500.
This is the single most common mistake we see: sellers move budget to whichever platform shows a cheaper CPC in the dashboard, and their cost per order goes up.
Who owns the customer
This is the strategic difference, and it is worth more than the arithmetic.
On Amazon you do not get the customer. No email, no phone number, no ability to remarket. Amazon rents you access to a buyer for one transaction. Sell to the same person ten times and you pay ten times.
On Google, traffic goes to your store. You capture the email, you build a retargeting audience, you own the relationship. Your second sale to that customer costs you nothing.
That is why brands who only ever run Amazon PPC hit a ceiling — every rupee of growth costs the same as the last one, forever.
What each is genuinely good at
Amazon PPC is the right tool for:
- Launching a new ASIN and getting the first reviews that make organic ranking possible
- Defending a listing that ranks well from competitors bidding on it
- Categories where buyers search directly on Amazon and never touch Google
- Anyone who needs cash flow this month rather than a brand in two years
Google Ads is the right tool for:
- A D2C store where the margin justifies acquiring a customer you keep
- Products people research before buying — anything considered, technical, or expensive
- Categories where Amazon competition has made PPC unprofitable
- Capturing brand searches before a reseller does
The order we recommend
For most Indian sellers, in this sequence:
- Amazon PPC first, if you sell on Amazon. Closest to the sale, fastest feedback, and it funds everything else. Get this profitable before adding channels. Our Amazon PPC service starts with an ACoS audit.
- Fix the store before sending Google traffic to it. Google clicks landing on a slow, unconvincing store is money set on fire. Speed, product pages and trust signals come before spend.
- Google Ads on brand and high-intent terms next. Start narrow — your own brand name, your best-selling specific products. These are cheap and convert. Widen only once they work.
- Meta ads last, and only if your product is visual and your creative is genuinely good. Meta is a demand-creation channel; it needs different thinking and a bigger testing budget. More on that in our Meta ads guide.
The exception: if you do not sell on Amazon at all, skip step 1 and spend your energy on steps 2 and 3.
Running both at once
Once both are working, they help each other in ways that are easy to miss:
- Amazon search terms are free Google keyword research. What converts on Amazon usually converts on Google, and you already know it converts.
- Google brand searches rise when Amazon sales rise. People find you on Amazon, then search your brand later. Bid on your own name so you capture that.
- Amazon ads validate products; Google ads build the brand. Use Amazon to find out what sells, then build D2C demand around the winners.
Budget split, roughly: if Amazon is most of your revenue today, 70/30 Amazon-to-Google is a reasonable start, moving towards 50/50 as the D2C side proves it can retain customers. There is no universal ratio — the split should follow the cost per order, reviewed monthly.
What wastes money on both
- Judging by CPC or by ACoS alone. Both are inputs. Profit per order is the output.
- Broad match with no negative keywords on Google. This is the fastest way to spend a month’s budget on searches you never wanted.
- Amazon auto campaigns left running unattended. Useful for discovery, expensive as a permanent strategy.
- Sending Google traffic to a homepage. Send it to the product or category page that matches the search.
- Changing bids daily. Neither platform can learn if you keep resetting it. Weekly is enough for most accounts.
The honest summary
If you sell on Amazon and need orders this quarter, start with Amazon PPC. If you are building a brand you want to own in three years, you will need Google — but fix the store first, and start on the narrow high-intent terms rather than the broad ones.
Most sellers should eventually run both. Very few should start with both.
Not sure which side your business is on? WhatsApp your store or seller link to +91 92113 84333 — we will look at your numbers and tell you straight where the next rupee should go. We run Amazon PPC, Google Ads and Meta ads, so we have no reason to push you towards one.
Related: Meta Ads for Shopify and D2C Brands · SEO, Ads or Both for a Shopify Store
Not Sure Where Your Next Rupee Goes?
WhatsApp your store or seller link to +91 92113 84333. We run Amazon PPC, Google Ads and Meta ads, so we have no reason to push you towards one — we will just tell you what your numbers say.