"Where should the budget go, into search or into the catalog?" is the question that comes up right after the first automatic campaign. The short answer: these are tools for different jobs and different types of demand. Here are the differences, the economics and the scenarios for choosing.
How search and catalog differ
Both formats live in the same CPM auction; what differs is the context in which the shopper sees your card.
When to choose search
- The target queries are known and high-volume. You know exactly which keywords people buy on, and search gives you bid control over each of them.
- A product with formed demand. Someone types in "glass electric kettle" and all that is left is to win the impression and convert it.
- The job is positions on specific keywords. Search ads lift the card exactly where people will look for it again; orders improve behavioral signals, and organic rankings on the same keywords grow after them.
When to choose catalog and recommendations
- Products bought on impulse and by sight — clothing, accessories, homeware: shoppers find them with their eyes while scrolling a category.
- A new product with no semantic history — the catalog delivers impressions while the card still does not rank on queries; in parallel you run the new product launch strategy.
- Topping up reach when the target keywords in search are already bought out and raising the bid further no longer pays off.
How to combine them: the working setup
- An automatic campaign at the start collects statistics on queries and zones (how to set it up).
- Search for the squeeze — the target queries with the best conversion in the auto statistics move into a search campaign with manual bids.
- Catalog as cheap reach stays in the automatic campaign with a lowered bid.
- Control ad spend share (DRR) at the product level, not the campaign level: the total spend across all formats against the profit of the SKU (how to calculate it).
FAQ
"What is better on Wildberries, search ads or catalog ads?" It depends on the type of demand: a formed query means search, a visual and impulse choice means catalog and recommendations. Mature campaigns run both formats and tie them together through DRR.
"Where are ads cheaper, in search or in the catalog?" An impression in the catalog is usually cheaper, but conversion is lower too. Formats should be compared by DRR rather than by impression price: the cost per order decides, not the cost per thousand impressions.
"Can I advertise in the catalog only?" There is no fully controllable "catalog only" mode in the dashboard: impressions in the catalog and recommendations run through an automatic campaign with zone settings. Granular control is available in search only.
"How do I work out which queries to buy in search?" From the automatic campaign statistics: queries with impressions, clicks and orders are the candidates for a search campaign. Plus your own card semantics, checked against search volume.
