Understanding how the Amazon A9 algorithm works is key to success for Amazon Sellers and FBA businesses and an essential component of Amazon SEO Strategy. Amazon’s proprietary A9 search engine determines how products are ranked and discovered in Amazon’s search results. It allows Amazon to best match user searches to their desired products. It is one aspect, amongst many, that Amazon sellers master to thrive on the eCommerce marketplace.
In this guide, we’ll dive deep into what the Amazon A9 algorithm is, how it works, and provide actionable strategies to optimize your listings for higher rankings and better sales.
Article Contents
What is the Amazon A9 Algorithm?
Amazon’s A9 algorithm is a sophisticated mathematical formula that is designed to match customer search queries with the most relevant product listings. It determines the ranking position of a particular product listing in response to a given search query.
How Does the A9 Algorithm Work?
The A9 algorithm includes several factors to compute a search rank for a given product. While the exact weighting of these factors (the secret sauce) is unknown, there is a general understanding as to what the ranking factors are and which ones are more and which ones less important. The A9 ranking factors can be broken into two categories:
Relevance Factors: How closely a product listing matches a customer’s search query.
Performance Factors: Metrics such as click-through-rate for a given keyword, sales velocity, conversion rates, user reviews and so on.
Relevance Factors
A9 determines relevance by analyzing keywords within product titles, bullet points and backend search terms (Search terms optimizer Amazon). Proper placement of relevant keywords ensures that your products appear for the right search queries. Consider this step one: if your listing copy does not include a relevant keyword, the A9 algorithm has no way of matching it with a keyword. That is why optimizing Amazon product listings by including relevant keywords is so important.
Performance Factors
Performance factors are more tricky as Sellers cannot directly control them. They include:
Click-Through-Rate (CTR): The share of shoppers who click through to a listing page from the search results page.
Sales Velocity: The frequency of purchases for a product.
Conversion Rates: The percentage of visitors who purchase after clicking on a product.
Customer Reviews: Higher ratings and positive feedback improve rankings.
Fulfillment Method: Products fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) often rank higher due to better delivery times and reliability.
A9 Ranking Factors Explained
Fully understanding the A9 ranking factors is key to engineering your Amazon success, rather than hoping for the best. What makes the Amazon A9 algorithm unique is its emphasis on conversion or “purchases” that the customer has made. For example, if all things are equal on the search term “Garlic Press,” product A gets 40 conversions on this search term, while product B gets 30 conversions, product A should rank relatively higher than product B (More on this topic: Amazon search terms report).
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
CTR is sort of a filter metric: If shoppers do not click on your product when they see it popping up in Amazon search results it is a clear sign that your product is not a good fit for the search query. As a result it will likely move down in rankings for the keyword. On the other hand, if your listing captures many clicks, then this will help your product move up. CTR can be improved by optimizing listing titles and by making sure that your pricing is competitive.
Sales Velocity
The sales momentum of your ASIN, based on a moving average of a date range. This date range is highly speculative, but it is estimated to be around 30 days. That is why there are a lot of questions about ranking and sales momentum from the Amazon seller community. Also why it is hugely important to stay in stock.
Sales Rank
Sales Rank or Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR) is a number rank assigned to every single product in the Amazon product catalog once it’s had a sale. BSR is generally used to gauge how well a product is selling on Amazonin its category. BSR only applies to the category and sub-category of the product, not Amazon as a whole.
For example, you may very good sales and rank #5 sellers in your category. Yet, that’s no indication of how well you’re doing on Amazon in its entirety. Thankfully, your rank on Amazon itself doesn’t matter, but your BSR in your subcategory or category definitely does. A customer will always trust a high-ranking product more than a lower-ranking one.
Amazon is unclear on the actual calculations behind BSR. Based on research, most experts agree it involves 3 key factors. Product sales (both recent & historic), product price changes or promotions, and naturally, any competing products. While more weight is definitely put on recent sales, historical sales are taken into account. This means your BSR will not fluctuate too drastically as long as you have a good sales history.
Reviews
There is a noticeable rank or algorithm boost due to the number of customer reviews you have on your ASIN. Although, there is a diminishing return as more reviews you collect. There is a bigger rank difference between a product with 0 vs. 100 reviews than 1000 vs. 2000 reviews. There are soon automation tools out there, such as FeedbackFive, that can automate the process of after-sales service on Amazon that can potentially up your review count.
Fulfillment Method
Amazon will give preference to products that are Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) over alternatives. This is centered around customer satisfaction, as FBA products are eligible for 1-2 days prime shipping. If you want to succeed in the Amazon game with a competition using FBA, enrolling in FBA is a must.
Positive Feedback Loop “Flywheel Effect”
A lot of sellers are looking for that one tactic to be successful on Amazon. This pandemic of finding that one “magic pill” is exacerbated by Amazon gurus, influencers, and service providers looking to give the audience what they want.
Unfortunately, the truth is there is not one tactic that allows you to be successful on Amazon for the long term. What needs to happen is that multiple positive effects need to work together. This in turn creates a positive feedback loop. This positive feedback loop allows the Amazon A9 Algorithm to get a full picture of whether your ASIN is really giving the customer what they want. Amazon has a term for this, and it is called the “Flywheel Effect”.
If the above steps on the flywheel do not work together in tandem, the positive feedback loop will stop. For example, if you concentrate on a tactic that gets you more clicks, but your conversion rate is bad relative to the competition, the A9 algorithm will not give you a net positive rank relative to your competition even though you have driven more clicks to your listing.
Amazon A9 vs. Google’s Algorithm
While both algorithms aim to deliver relevant results, their priorities differ. Google emphasizes content quality and backlinks and as a metric CTR (click-through-rate) trumps all other performance metrics. In contrast to that, Amazon’s algorithm goes one step further and also considers sales.
The reason therefore is simple: Google’s revenue model is based purely on ad clicks. Google ads generate sales when shoppers click. As a result Google is less concerned with the actions users take once that click has occurred (also Google does not have access to this data).
Amazon on the other hand generates revenue when shoppers buy products (for organic search results). It is thus imperative for Amazon to optimize search results not just for CTRs, but ultimately product sales and revenue. Thus products with lower CTRs may outrank listings that attract many clicks but do not convert as well.
Unlike Google, which emphasizes information retrieval, A9 focuses on maximizing sales and revenue. This dual focus on relevance and performance is what sets it apart. Sellers transitioning from traditional SEO to Amazon SEO must thus shift their focus to product performance (more about our Amazon SEO Services and find a detail overview of popularAmazon SEO Tools).
How to Optimize Product Listings for the Amazon A9 Algorithm
The first step and probably the most important step is to have your product listing optimized (Amazon Listing Optimization Services). Time spent on optimizing product listings is time well spent. It will give you the most leverage on your listings. Having your product listing converting at 15% versus 20% is a huge difference. It will lower your cost per sale and hence increase your sales and profit materially. Here is how you can get started with optimizing your listings for the A9 algorithm:
1. Keyword Research
Start with comprehensive keyword research to identify high-volume, relevant terms for your product. Make sure to select keywords your listing can realistically rank for in a top position. Picking long-tail keywords is often a better strategy than selecting uber-competitive short keywords.
2. Optimize Product Titles
Titles should be within the 200 character limit, do not repeat words. Make sure to use one main keyword phrase at the beginning of the title. Then add information about the variation (size, color, model) right after. A good title format should look like the below.
{main keyword 1} – {variation} – {words in search term the describes product 1} – {words in search term the describes product 2….} – if it is an accessory to a main product add: “for {main product} – by {Brand}
3. Bullet Points
5 bullet points that can further expand on the benefits of the product. Try to speak to the audience. Add keywords into the bullet point if it makes sense. Make sure it makes grammatical sense when incorporating the keywords.
4. Product Descriptions
The product description affects the A9 relatively less than the bullet points and titles. Feel free to describe and let the reader envision how using the product can relieve their pain point. Clarify potential questions about your product, such as is there a product warranty? What does the package include? Is anything the customer might need sold separately?
5. Backend Keywords
Once you have optimized the front-end of your product listing- title, description, images, A+ Content – it’s time to optimize the backend.
The backend search terms are on the backend of the listing and are not customer-facing. It is one of the data points picked up by the A9 algorithm that is used to match customer searches. You will fill in the backend search term field within 249 bytes limit restrictions, excluding spaces or punctuation such as a comma.
6. Leverage A+ Content
While A+ Content does not directly impact the A9 algorithm, it can help improve conversion rates. Include comparison charts and use this space to answer common customer questions and highlight unique product features.
7. Optimize Images
Make sure your main image is of high quality, very clear, and crisp with white background. Make sure your product takes up as much white in the background as possible, as you can make an impression on the thumbnail of the search results. Other photos you should have are product call out, instructional photos, and lifestyle photos.
Leverage Amazon Ads to Optimize Amazon SEO
The Amazon in-platform paid advertising has a direct effect on the organic ranking of the product (Amazon Ads Management Services). This paid-to-organic traffic relationship is very different from other platforms. For example, on Google ads, if the customer searches and clicks on your Google ads, there is no direct effect on the organic ranking of that keyword (Google Ads for Amazon Listings).
On Amazon, the story is different. The factors that help influence Amazon’s organic ranking also influence Amazon’s paid search ranking. Meaning the goal of Amazon’s organic ranking algorithm is to serve products that are high on relevance and in buyability. Read our blog post on the relationship between Amazon SEO and PPC to learn more about this.
Another way to use Amazon PPC is to improve the optimization of your product listing by looking at the converting search terms’ metrics. The true litmus test on keyword relevancy is sales. With Amazon PPC, you can attribute keywords to their sale, giving a true read on the keywords’ relevancy (Amazon SEO Tools).
So regularly look into your Amazon PPC campaigns’ reports, make sure that your listing has those keywords that have been attributed to a sale. Continue to iterate this process to make sure your listing is as optimal as possible with the strongest keywords (How to drive external traffic to Amazon).
A10 Algorithm
Amazon updated its A9 algorithm in 2020, leading to some interesting changes that altered seller’s ranking strategies.
The A10 algorithm is very similar to the past algorithm. The only real difference is that it places less weight on PPC or sponsored links, and more on product relevance. Amazon has always had a Consumer First mentality, so product relevancy is now the top priority. This does NOT mean that PPC is no longer useful! It is still integral to a successful Amazon FBA business… However, it does mean that listing optimization is now more important than ever (Amazon PPC Services).
How SellerMetrics can help your listing optimize further for A9
As mentioned above, to get a stronger read on the relevancy of your keywords, you should regularly look into your Amazon PPC metrics. Ensuring you are 1) driving traffic from relevant keywords and 2) having these relevant keywords in your product listing will be very conducive to the Amazon A9 algorithm.
Our Amazon PPC Software, SellerMetrics, has an analytics feature that will allow you to see Search Terms and Keyword with their related metrics performance with just a few clicks of a button. You will no longer need to be running and downloading multiple reports and between multiple accounts on the Amazon advertising interface.
Use this feature to analyze your search term and keyword data by date range, then filter out your metrics (ACoS %, Orders, Sales etc) further by using the filtering dropdown.
The sort your filter Search Term/Keywords data by its orders/sales to find the top performers.
Our product’s beauty is our unified accounts feature, which consolidates all your Amazon accounts data into one screen. This unique feature, not offered by any of our competitors, will save time and optimize your analysis workflows. This is an amazing feature to have if you manage multiple accounts, such as Amazon PPC agencies.
Conclusions: The Importance of Understanding the A9 Algorithm
Mastering Amazon’s A9 algorithm is essential for boosting visibility, increasing sales, and staying ahead in the competitive marketplace. By focusing on relevance, performance, and strategic optimizations, you can ensure your products reach more customers and drive higher conversions.
If you have questions or insights to share, please feel free to post them via the comments section. Please also consider joining our Facebook Group where we discuss any questions you may have about running an Amazon business.
We are SellerMetrics, our Amazon PPC tool helps Amazon sellers, brands, KDP Authors and agencies navigate Amazon Advertising PPC via bid automation, manual bid changes, and analytics.
