How to rank products of Amazon and what factors are ruling over there?

That's the right question, as if you want to succeed selling products of Amazon, there is a dire need to know all nuts and bolts of Amazon's A9 search ranking algorithm. Unfortunately, too often online entrepreneurs selling products of Amazon on that really crowded marketplace actually have no idea in what way the A9 delivers the most common list of the SERPs. Though, I think that it's really easy to get a complete understanding of the process – let me show you a brief yet far-reaching guide to ranking products of Amazon. So, let's start.

How to Rank Products of Amazon – Guide to the A9 Algorithm

In fact, ranking practically any products seen on sale over there (including those handled by Amazon marketplace itself) is a pretty simple process by nature. Before anything else (even before you actually enter a certain search query), the A9 search ranking algorithm pulls together all relevant results and simply stores them in a really massive catalog of various product listings. Once it is done, those product search results are sorted by different categories and the rest of common search requests that are expected to be most relevant to the live shoppers' preferences.

As a result, I can say that unlike Google who serves just to give the most accurate response to the user's search query, Amazon's A9 search ranking algorithm always wants to show precisely those products of Amazon which are most likely to be purchased by the live shoppers looking for items on sale over there. That's why I think that ranking products of Amazon and probably any other items is a definitely more straightforward process, rather than ranking on the major search engines, such as Google itself.

Amazon’s A9 Ranking Factors

That being said, next I'm going to show you the core ranking factors of Amazon's A9, as well as the main three ways of its functioning. So, here is what makes product ranking on Amazon:

• Conversion Rate – these ranking factors are seen by Amazon as the ones which are statistically relevant on conversion rates, for example Sales Rank, Customer Reviews, Answered Questions, Product Image (size and quality), Pricing, Time Per User Visit (calculated individually for each page), Bounce Rate, as well as Product Listing Completeness (i.e., how well your product listing is optimized by each section).
• Relevancy – ranking factors related to this category are simply telling Amazon's A9 when your product page should be taken into consideration for a certain given product keyword or long-tail search combination. The main factors of relevancy include the following elements (and how well they're optimized, to be more precise): Product Title, List of Product Features (Bullet Points), Main Product Description, Specifications, Product Brand/Manufacturer, the right Product Category and Sub-Category, Backend Section of Seller Search Terms, as well as Source Keyword.
• Customer Satisfaction – Amazon's main goal is to make as much money from a single customer as possible. It means that making buyers happy can make them keep coming back for another purchase with Amazon. That's why the secret to the highest rate of the RPC (Revenue Per Customer) is found precisely in the Customer Satisfaction and Retention. These factors mainly include Negative Seller Feedback (the rate of its frequency, to be more precise), Order Processing Speed, In-Stock Rate, Pre-Fulfillment Cancellation Ratio, Refund Order Percentage, Order Defect Rate (otherwise, ODR), Exit Rate (much like Bounce Rate), as well as Packaging Options.

Bottom Line

At last, let's quickly run through the key takeaways from this brief guide on ranking products of Amazon, and any other items you can see on sale over there. Here they are:

• Amazon's main goal is to reach the maximum rate of RPC (Revenue Per Customer).
• All products listed on Amazon online marketplace are ranked by the A9 algorithm using general means of Conversion Rate, Relevance, as well as Customer Satisfaction & Retention.
• Customer Satisfaction can be automated using FBA option (Fulfillment By Amazon).
• Having a complete and well-optimized product listing rich with the right target search terms – is your key to becoming a successful seller on Amazon.
• Never skimp your time and effort on making your customers happy. That way, consider using specific software tools (such as Feedback Genius online software) to encourage more positive customer reviews and promptly respond to every negative one in a nearly self-driven manner.

• According to Amazon's main guidelines and common seller recommendations, your average Order Defect Rate (ODR) should be always seen under 1% – when compared against the aggregate amount of your orders fulfilled through a given recent period of time. Being actually opposite to the rate of the Perfect Order Percentage (POP), it means that your ODR taken at scale is mainly considered every time a customer buying with you makes a claim with a certain order. Here are some of the most common ways that can usually turn the recent given order into a defect one: negative customer feedback itself, any problems emerging through the shipment period, Amazon guarantee claim, as well as credit card chargeback.
• It may seem a no-brainer, but most of every customer really hates it when a given wanted product actually proves to be unachievable one, or at least in case they can't have it at the moment. That's why being a first-party seller or a third-party vendor (i.e., selling either products of Amazon, or your own ones) means you should always maintain a sufficient level of In-Stock Rate.
• Remember, it's too important to really address each and every customer issue. Should it happen that you've got a negative customer feedback, removing any bad comment (even in case it is done by the buyer himself) is actually not counted towards your Order Defect Rate (ODR).