Amazon A10 Algorithm 2020 – Latest Updates and Recommendations

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With over 2 million sellers scaling their business on Amazon, you should be stepping up your Amazon strategies. Therefore, we’ve put together the most recent information to show you how to rank your products higher for Amazon A10 Algorithm.

Having a website isn’t enough to drive more sales to your business these days. One of the things great marketers do to drive more product sales is putting their products on Amazon.

50% of shoppers turn first to Amazon when searching for products to buy.

With that being said, you need to take a look at the new updates to Amazon’s algorithm regularly.

In this article, we’ll dive into the details of the latest Amazon algorithm update – Amazon A10.


Back to Basics – Amazon A9

Amazon A9 is the system that Amazon uses to decide how the products are shown in search results.

It considers keywords in deciding what products are most relevant to one’s search and then will display it on top of results.

This system is very much similar to how Google algorithm works. The key difference though is that the A9 algorithm focuses and puts weight on sales conversion. This means that the more purchases your product gets in the past, the higher your ranking will be.

While with Google, the system will show the most relevant websites for a given keyword on the first page of search results.  

And just like Google, Amazon’s algorithm continues to evolve. Here are the latest updates you’ll need to know:


Amazon A10 Algorithm – How to Rank Your Products Higher

#1 – Your Sales History

This factor has not been entirely changed since Amazon will continue to look into the totality of your sales and clicks in organic results.

The more you sell, the better your rank will be.

At the end of the day, Amazon still makes a referral fee out of every product sold, so sales history is a huge factor in maintaining high ranking in Amazon’s search results.


#2 – Amazon PPC

One of the driving factors in the A9 algorithm was PPC campaigns.

While driving traffic through Amazon PPC is still highly important, it has significantly changed since there is now more weight given to relevancy and less given to “Sponsored products.”

Your sales from your PPC campaigns may still create the initial spike, but it is no longer a heavy factor in influencing your product’s visibility.


#3 – Seller Authority

How well you handle product returns, how long you’ve been on Amazon, and how good your customer reviews are strong factors influencing the Amazon SEO algorithm.

Having good reviews is not only meant to improve brand credibility, but it correspondingly influences how your products will appear on Amazon.

The more credible and valuable you are, the higher your seller authority will be. So if you want to win the buy box and appear to be a great seller, you need to build a high customer feedback rating.


#4 – Impressions

This principle is pretty simple: More views equal higher rankings.

Impressions are about how many times your product has been viewed in-house, through affiliate sites or partner sites.

To increase your impressions, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re actually putting your products in the right categories.

Putting your product under a highly popular category may be helpful, but once you place a totally irrelevant product under a non-fitting category, it’s not really going to be beneficial for your listing in the long run.

Simply focusing on the best white hat practices such as using the best keywords for your product will actually help you win the algorithm.


So, which keywords are better?

Amazon algorithm favors exact match long-tail phrases.

These are keywords that are longer and have more specific keyword phrases that users are likely to use when searching for a product.

This means that you need to work on your top keyword phrases in exact match form so that it’ll influence Amazon to get your product onto the first page of search results for the specific keywords that you’re targeting.

There are several free Amazon keyword tools that are immensely helpful in keyword research such as Amazon AutoSuggest, Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Planner, Sonar, and Keyword Tool Dominator.


#5 – Click-Through Rates

The reason for using great photography in your Amazon products resides in the fact that the more clicks your product gets, the higher it will rank. Simply put, CTR or click-through rate is the ratio of customers visiting your product to the sum of impressions you get.

Optimize your product titles and photo to entice more people to click on your product. It’s a no-brainer, but it’s actually a good practice that will certainly award you more points!


#6 – Off-Site Sales

Getting off-site sales means promoting your Amazon listing outside Amazon. Off-site sales are 3x more effective than PPC on this update since Amazon encourages sellers to promote your listing on other channels like Facebook Ads and Twitter ads!

Sales generated outside Amazon search results will highly influence your Amazon SEO.  


#7 – Organic Sales

Organic sales on Amazon are defined as products purchased without any marketing or promotion. If your product was directly bought from search results, then it would be considered an organic sale. The more organic sales, obviously, the better.

This only means that you need to optimize your keywords very well so that you’ll show up on the first page of the search results!


#8 – Internal Sales

If you want to boost your ranking on Amazon search results, you need to increase engagement and stickiness with your customers. Internal sales are sales that are initiated from the Amazon website without being tied to a search. Some examples include items that are targeted for upselling such as “frequently bought with” items.


#9 – Conversion Rates

Conversion rate is the ratio of people who ended up buying products to the number of total views. Obviously, the higher the conversion rate, the higher you’ll rank.

These nine factors will affect your keyword ranking in Amazon Algorithm A10. It has significantly shifted to focusing more on consumer behavior more than ever!

If you want to learn more tips on how to optimize your Amazon store, continue reading the guide below!


5 Ways to Optimize Your Product Listing on Amazon Store

1. Benchmark with your competitors

How to Compete with Amazon’s Private Label Brands

The first step in building a solid strategy for your Amazon SEO is just like any other marketing strategy – find, evaluate, and audit your competitors.

Visit the competing product pages that you both have in order to understand what buyers are actually looking at.

Spying on what your competitors are doing will actually give you an insight into what their best practices are and what opportunities you are missing out!


Look into the following things when evaluating your competitors:

1)    Have your competitors updated their product descriptions on seasonal items?

2)    What type of images works for them?

3)    How do they write the product descriptions?

It’s not 100% bad to spy on your competitors, especially if you know you can do better. Follow suit, do it better and audit results!


2. Build a higher customer feedback rating

Your seller rating on Amazon can positively impact your overall placement on the search result.

If your customers are simply not satisfied, they are going to leave you with 1-star and worse, leave you with negative comments. This could mean losing your selling privileges, so it’s important to maintain a strong Amazon seller rating.


Additional read: Amazon Seller Metrics: Your Way to Success in 2020


Here are a few steps on how to build your credibility on Amazon:

  • As much as possible describe your products accurately. Put in the right details such as accurate sizing chart information, item condition, etc.
  • Address your customer’s questions immediately (or else, you’ll miss out on opportunities!)
  • When there are expected delays, make sure to communicate this with your buyers so they will know what to expect.
  •  Invite users to leave positive feedback if they’re happy with your product.
  • Utilize Amazon’s Automated feedback tool properly and responsibly.
  • Check new orders and notifications daily. Check the Seller Central portal every day to stay connected with your customers.
  • If there are issues with the product, work on a solution, and inform the customer ahead.
  • Confirm your shipments properly. It’s also a good idea if you can send pictures of the shipped items, so they’ll know what to expect in the packaging.
  • Keep track of your inventory – not being able to meet your customer’s needs is a big mistake in selling on Amazon.

3. Optimize your product listings

Make sure to consistently update and optimize your product listings. Your title should have the following elements to increase visibility:

  1. Brand
  2. Product line
  3. Material
  4. Product type
  5. Color
  6. Size
  7. Packaging
  8. Quantity

Aside from that, you need to work on your product descriptions. Make sure that they are very easy to read, so make use of headers and bullet points! Include a strong call to action in the copy. Add compelling and direct words such as Buy Now, Order Today, etc.


4. Promote your listing outside Amazon

Off-site Sale is hugely considered as a factor in the A10 algorithm update.

You need to drive people to your Amazon link from targeted traffic from Social Media, Adwords, and even blogs. You can even collaborate with influencers to spread awareness of your Amazon products. 


Closing Thoughts

As an Amazon marketer or seller, you need to keep an eye on the Amazon A10 algorithm updates, so you can adjust your strategy and ultimately bring in more sales. 

Ranking higher on Amazon isn’t really rocket science, but hopefully, these tips will help you get started on creating a solid Amazon SEO strategy!

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