Expanding into international Amazon marketplaces means more than just translating your listings. Each region has its own search habits, languages, and keyword trends.

Markets like Japan, Europe, the Middle East, and Mexico have lower search volumes and lower CPCs than the U.S., but shoppers there often rely on shorter, more generic terms. Understanding how people search in each country can help sellers attract the right audience and spend less on ads.

Europe

Many European markets share similar language roots, but each one behaves differently. For instance, the Netherlands supports both English and Dutch, so you can target keywords in both languages.

Sellers often start with automatic campaigns to find high-converting terms, then move those into exact-match manual campaigns to sharpen targeting. Adding manual product targeting for categories or competitor ASINs can also help reach new buyers. One European brand selling mosquito nets cut its ACOS from 68% to 38% by focusing on local search terms like sineklik (Turkish for “fly screen”).

Japan

Japanese search behavior is shaped by its multiple writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana, Romaji, and Kanji. This makes spacing and character choices especially important.

Here, successful sellers combine automatic and manual targeting to cover more ground. Broad and phrase matches help discover new traffic, while exact matches improve precision. Since Japanese shoppers often browse product pages carefully, manual targeting by category or competitor product can be a smart move.

Middle East

In the Middle East, language preference varies. English dominates in the UAE, while Arabic leads in Saudi Arabia.

To reach more shoppers, it’s best to run campaigns in both languages.

Automatic targeting helps discover new keywords, while combining broad and exact matches in manual campaigns refines accuracy. Product targeting by category or ASIN also works well for finding fresh traffic sources.

Mexico

Because some shoppers in Mexico use English search terms, there’s overlap with the U.S. marketplace.

Sellers can use Sponsored Products to explore new keywords, track their Impression Share to improve placement, and move strong keywords into Sponsored Brands video ads to protect brand traffic. Manual category targeting helps reach shoppers browsing similar products.

The takeaway

Winning in non-English markets means adapting your keyword strategy to local behavior, not just translating words. Use automatic targeting to learn how customers search, then fine-tune with manual campaigns that reflect local language and culture. Sellers who localize their approach can reach more shoppers, lower costs, and grow faster across global marketplaces.