Precisely Elaborating on A9 and A10 Product Ranking Algorithms of Amazon

The global annualized sales run rate of Amazon is currently $10 Billion which is rapidly upsurging. Around $1.2 Trillion is forecasted as an online B2B eCommerce opportunity size for 2021. These stats are enough to understand why all online business enthusiasts are willing to connect with this e-commerce giant. The B2B marketplace of Amazon is currently holding 1+ million accounts globally. It seems very smooth execution to register as a seller, create a business profile, set up your product, and start selling. However, the actual challenge starts when the sellers find already countless similar products and feel the need for a professional like you who can help in improving the ranking. Here comes the role of Amazon’s A10 Algorithm.

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Keep in mind that Amazon is the biggest online retail store where all listed products are not actually sold. How can someone buy a product which is not even visible on the list? This is the reason why millions of products go unsold on Amazon. In order to increase visibility, techniques like search engine optimization are required. Just like Google bots are assigned to crawl on the search engine for ranking, the Amazon A9 algorithm is meant for Amazon. The only difference is, Google ranks website URLs whereas Amazon ranks its listed products. After getting the overview, let’s go deeper to understand it in detail.  

What is Amazon’s A10 algorithm?

 

A10 is basically an update of Amazon’s previous A9 algorithm. However, Amazon has not yet officially announced it as A10. In simple words to understand this Amazon ranking algorithm, we can consider it as a logical system capable of ranking enlisted products on the basis of their marketing practices. Amazon’s product ranking algorithm makes use of some data to recommend products that are the most relevant to the user’s query. This data comes from a huge number of queries the algorithm has already processed. Product recommendations are highly based on the intent of the buyer. Its algorithms are powerful and intelligent enough to understand the intent of a variety of users. Amazon product ranking algorithm is also complex but its user-base has only one intent. They are using Amazon to purchase some products. So, a seller should optimize his product listings according to the intent of the buyer to get on top of Amazon listings. This is the only way to get ranked on Amazon.

As the number of businesses on Amazon increased, unethical ways of ranking also became popular. It is exactly like “Black Hat” search engine optimization. The main purpose of rolling out the A10 algorithm is removing fake and fraud sellers from this global platform. Misleading data about a product such as fake reviews, gift voucher scams and fake seller accounts are among the biggest issues currently faced by Amazon. This algorithm is all about rectifying them. Another significant change in this algorithm is critically considering customer behavior factors for ranking a product. Products with a high selling graph and getting maximum positive responses will be ranked faster. Also, this algorithm is giving weightage to the relevancy of a product rather than paid sponsoring through PPC campaigning.  Now, before we see the factors that can bring your products in the list of top searched products on Amazon, let’s see the pillars of A10 algorithm. Are you facing problems in getting product rankings? If yes, stay tuned.

 

A10 Algorithm: Core Pillars

In the A10 Algorithm of Amazon, 3 factors are considered while ranking your product in the search list. Core pillars play a major role in helping the algorithm for raking a product in the search list. Here we are elaborating on these three points in detail.

 

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate contributes a big role in ranking decided by this algorithm.  In order to attain a high conversion rate, a product needs to be optimized through various parameters. The Amazon algorithm update considers sales rank as the main contributor in conversion rate. Apart from this, a number of reviews, their quality, answered questions to satisfy the visitors, product image quality, competitive price, completeness of product description listing and bounce rate are also responsible for ranking according to the A9 algorithm.

 

Keywords and relevancy

The relevancy factor involves the smart use of text while filling different fields for describing a product on amazon. The title of a product must be optimized perfectly by including the relevant keywords within 200 characters. Product description featuring bullet points, including brand name and technical specifications. While product listing, make sure that the category and subcategory of your product is highly relevant. Also, associating the most frequently used search terms with the description of your product. This page of Amazon will surely help to optimize listings for search.

 

Customer Satisfaction

After-sale factors also contribute a big role in ranking through the A9 algorithm. Customer satisfaction is calculated on the basis of some feasible factors including both negative and positive feedback with star rating. Total time taken for shipping a product after placing the order, continuous availability of the product in the stock, perfect order percentage and claim against orders due to defect are considered in customer satisfaction parameters by this algorithm. Moreover, the exit rate from amazon after viewing your product page also comes in the category of customer satisfaction. 

 

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Significant Factors of Amazon A10 algorithm update Affecting Product Ranking

 

• Emphasizing organic sale

Paid marketing through Amazon PPC was the key factor influencing ranking in the A9 algorithm that has now shifted to the organic sale. In Amazon marketing, the term “Organic Sales” means when the app user explores a product from the Amazon platform and places an order. Organic sales is driven by various Amazon SEO activities like backend keywords optimization, relevant brand field and image quality etc.

• Reduced significance of PPC
  

PPC aka paid market channel is still relevant on Amazon but its significance has reduced. It may work while introducing a new product but not for the long run. It is necessary to strengthen organic sales results in order to get a stable ranking.

• Sales history will affect the ranking 

Organic results are highly influenced by the sales history of a product. The A10 algorithm ranks products on the basis of the consistency of the sales history of a product. It is similar to A9 but the significance has increased due to the emphasis on organic sales. History involves factors such as your relation duration with Amazon, handling or return and replacement and customer feedback etc. If customers are getting satisfactory solutions and everything is going positively, the ranking will obviously rise.

• View impressions and click rate
  

How often your product was viewed and clicked also decides its ranking. Viewing impressions platforms include the official Amazon website, partner websites and affiliate websites. While appearing in the search results, a high click rate depends on factors like image quality and right product description.

•  Internal sales

In Amazon A10 Algorithm, the internal sale is also emphasized in order to get a higher ranking. When someone places an order by exploring your product from “frequently bought together”, the ranking will get an upsurge.

• External traffic (Off-site sales)

Consider off-site sales as an alternative to PPC. In the A10 algorithm, Amazon is focusing on ad campaigns that differ from traditional Pay Per Click culture. This involves marketing strategies on social media and online multimedia streaming channels. You must be seeing a lot of Amazon product ads on your Facebook wall nowadays. This is due to an emphasis on off-site sales by Amazon for product ranking.

From the above points, it is clearly showing that customer satisfaction, organic results and off-site paid advertising are the key-factors influencing ranking on Amazon. 

 

Factors Influencing Amazon Keywords Ranking Directly

 

The following are the three direct factors that improve Amazon keyword ranking:

 

• Relevancy

Relevancy means how your text formatting is done while updating a product on Amazon. We have already mentioned all factors affecting relevancy such as keyword use and product description from its title to specifications. Also, the selection of right category and subcategory while adding a product for sale on Amazon are responsible for relevancy.  Most of the buyers see product image and product title first. So, what you need to do is to do some research to rank for relevant keywords on Amazon. Include the most important keyword in the title. The name of your product should go before the keyword. According to Amazon, product title should contain:

• Brand name
• Product line
• Quantity
• The most important feature
• Product category/type
• Color
• Though you need not to be told, no keyword stuffing.

 

• Stock availability

Once the product is out of stock, the page will automatically lower down in the race of ranking. No matter how well you are performing in the competitive market, always keep a strategy alongside to fulfil the continuous demand. If failed, the page may also disappear from the search list. 

 

• Price

It is obvious that the customer will always go with the most affordable options. Even for the same product, multiple sellers are available on Amazon. When someone opens a product page, Amazon will give the option to choose between a seller. If there is a big margin or your delivery charges are high, consider it as a direct factor influencing Amazon keyword ranking. Your products should be competitively-priced to get on top of Amazon listings.

 

Deciding the Keyword Research Strategy for Amazon

 

First of all, find the right keywords to improve the sales rank on Amazon. There are different ways you can do keyword research. Find the keywords your competitors are using. For that, you need to find out who you are competing with. It’s easy. Just see the rating and reviews their products are getting.

• Make a list of three best ranking competitors receiving great ratings and reviews for a particular keyword.
• Find the keywords they are using in their product copies, titles, and descriptions.
• You might have a long list of keywords. Not all are relevant. Discard the irrelevant ones.

In order to find the most relevant keywords trending right now, “MerchantWords” is the best tool to consider. It is like a keywords research tool that all SEO executives use. Here is some more information to understand this tool in detail. 

 

MerchantWords Keyword Tool

MerchantWords is the best Amazon keyword research tool available for sellers right now. It is the world’s largest database with a huge collection of 1.6 billion keywords. You can measure the demand for products/services and keywords related information such as search volume and more to find top searched products on Amazon. Use this tool and select keywords with the most search volume. Here are some influencing reasons to prefer MerchantWords:- 

1. Get 6+ years of data analysis report 
2. 400 million products analyzed
3. A vast collection of 1.6 billion keywords
4. More than 100K businesses successfully grown
5. Accessibility to 11 Amazon marketplaces 

 

They are currently providing the services of:- 

 

1. Keyword Advisor 
2. Listing Advisor 

It is a premium tool for optimizing keywords and listing. You need to subscribe to a plan on the basis of a country or a particular region. You need to understand this fact that keyword stuffing will not work while optimizing relevancy. Amazon A9 algorithm is not as complex and intelligent as Google’s algorithm but it can detect malpractices like keyword stuffing. When done at the front end, keyword stuffing does not increase the ranking of your product listings on Amazon. So, avoid keyword stuffing in title and description. However, you can add keywords to the backend without penalty.

Apart from this online tool, you can also install Google Chrome extensions like KW Index Checker. However, all reliable rank checker tools are paid. Only tracker extensions like Amazon KW Index and Rank Tracker are free to use. 

Significant changes in Amazon A10 algorithm update affecting product ranking

 

Factors Influencing Amazon Ranking Indirectly

 

Indirect ranking factors are as important as direct ranking factors. You need to work on sales velocity, relative sales velocity and some other indirect factors. Relative sales velocity is the number of units you are selling as compared to your competitors.

 

Indirect Amazon Keywords Ranking Factors Detailed

 

High Sales Velocity

High sales velocity means higher product rankings. Amazon pushes products that are being sold in big numbers. Higher sales frequency and conversion play an important role in how to improve the sales rank on Amazon.

 

How to increase your Amazon sales velocity?

 

 Add Contextual Information

An Amazon listing with additional contextual information can bring more sales. Let’s understand this with an example. You are selling prom dresses. A girl looking for a prom dress is most likely to look for some accessories as well. Shoes, necklaces and there are many other accessories that are must-haves with prom dresses. A necklace of a specific colour made from a specific material may look awesome with a specific prom dress.

Use High-Quality Images

Your customer can zoom your product image for a closure view if it is a high-quality one. Either the width or height of the image should be equal to or larger than 1,000 pixels. The smallest size of the image can be 500 pixels. You might have noticed some sellers putting 360° rotating images. This is increasing their conversion rate by 27%.

Use Bullet Points

Using bullet points can increase the readability of your product description. Bullet points and subheadings have a significant potential of increasing your conversion rate. Customers always want the information that is the most useful for him. Customers may not be that interested in the introductory part of the product description. They want to know about the features/specifications of your product. Bullet points catch the attention of customers in no time. So, use bullet points to describe the features of your product.

Utilize Amazon Enhanced Brand Content

With Amazon Enhanced Brand Content, you can modify description fields of your products. You can tell the story of your brand. You can work on the text, images and design aspects of your product descriptions.

 

Reap The Benefits Of Product Reviews

Good reviews are beneficial for you to do business on Amazon in numerous ways. Bad reviews are beneficial for customers. 84% of customers trust online reviews. Even Amazon recognizes that reviews are an important factor influencing the decision of customers. Positive reviews build trust. Good ratings and reviews increase your rank as well.

Remember, Amazon logs everything. Fake reviews cannot improve your rank. Offering special discounts and running promotional campaigns can bring more traffic to your product page. This increases your sales and makes product rankings higher on Amazon. If you are selling on Amazon, you need a separate marketing strategy for Amazon. Its marketing campaign is different from SEO, PPC, SMM and other digital marketing campaigns.

From the above information, it is clearly showing that customer satisfaction, organic results and off-site paid advertising are the key-factors influencing ranking on Amazon. Currently, this platform is trying to bring more transparency in online business with the help of Amazon A10 algorithm. Major targets are the elimination of fake reviews and fake profiles that are affecting service quality.