A recent study of 746,500 products and 16,930 keywords has provided us some data points and insights into what impacts your Amazon search ranking. Much of this data mirrors our own findings and we thought we would point out some of the top correlations found in this study.
#1 Ranking Factor: Sales Rank (13% Correlation)
This is no surprise, Amazon wants to sell as many products as possible and it’s reasonable to assume that the product that sells the most will sell again. The good part of sales rank being a major SEO factor on Amazon is that it makes it hard for new competition to come in and take away your top spot. This also means when launching a new product you need to do some additional advertising and help drive sales until your rank gets up there. In our next post we will take a look at ways to help drive up the sales rank on a new product.
#2 Ranking Factor: Sold by Amazon.com (8% Correlation)
Amazon shoppers tend to prefer products that are sold and shipped from Amazon, and Amazon’s search ranking may take this into account. While selling direct on Amazon is still viable, this study shows products sold directly by Amazon do see a little boost in their ranking. Another way to look at this data is that consumers prefer products sold directly from Amazon, which raises the sales rank and conversions, which relates back to factor number 1.
#3 Ranking Factor: Prime Shipping (5% Correlation)
Similar to ranking factor 2, being sold direct from Amazon, the correlation between Prime shipping and search ranking may be deceiving. It is unclear if Amazon gives an actual boost in ranking if the item is eligible for Prime, or if the boost in sales and conversion percentage because consumers prefer Prime is giving the rise in ranking due to sales rank. Either way, Prime shipping shows a direct correlation to search ranking.
#4 Ranking Factor: Discount Amount (4% Correlation)
While it would be easy to say the discount amount is similar to being sold by Amazon and Prime shipping, our tests have shown otherwise. Yes, consumers do like a discount, and that may help your sales rank. However, in our tests we have seen a large discount amount to boost search ranking before any additional sales have started to roll in. We have also found that the deeper the discount, the bigger the boost.
#5 – 10 Ranking Factors: Keyword Exact and Broad Match Count (15% Total Correlation)
- Ranking Factor: Product Title (4% Correlation)
- Ranking Factor: Total Broad Match Keyword Count (3% Correlation)
- Ranking Factor: Description Broad Match Keyword Count (3% Correlation)
- Ranking Factor: Title Exact Match Keyword Count (2% Correlation)
- Ranking Factor: Features Broad Match Keyword Count (2% Correlation)
- Ranking Factor: Total Exact Match Keyword Count (1% Correlation)
While making this list we first looked at these small factors individually, and while each was important, as a group they are actually the number 1 ranking factor. This study shows that taking the time to research keywords and create an excellent product listing makes a large difference in your search ranking.
