What is "Ranking" on Amazon?

When talking about Amazon and how to succeed on their platform, there are certain concepts that are important to understand, one of these is "ranking." Not sure what it means? Read on, and you'll understand exactly what it is in just a few minutes!

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When a potential customer goes to Amazon hoping to find a product, for example, a kitchen scale, they often start by searching in the search bar. In the image below, I searched for "kitchen scale" to show what the search results look like.

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The circled products are the ones that appeared at the top of the search. The products highlighted in green are sponsored products (ads) and not relevant to the concept of "ranking."

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Just like on Google, Amazon tries to find the products that best match the search and the customer. Best in this case doesn't mean the best product, but rather the one that converts well, many other customers have bought this product, and it has good ratings, etc.

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But, not only the best products appear. No. Hundreds, thousands of products appear, page after page. That's why it's important to "rank."

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What Does "Ranking" Mean?

It simply means appearing higher in the search results (and we're excluding ads here). A product can rank for specific keywords, such as "kitchen scale" or "big kitchen scale." But often, we talk about ranking more generally. What we mean then is that the product appears high on many different searches.

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"This product ranks well" = This product generally appears high in the search results.

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If the product ranks high for, say, "kitchen scale," the chances are good that you also rank higher for related keywords like "silver kitchen scale." Ranking doesn't mean appearing at the very top, but appearing relatively high or higher than before. It is subjective and determined by the context.

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"This product has started to rank on Amazon" = This product appears higher in the search results than before.

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For those familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), "ranking" is the same thing. Or rather, it is what you achieve with successful Amazon SEO.

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Why Do You Want to Appear Higher in Search Results?

Short answer: Because then you sell more. MUCH MORE.

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In the same search from the image above, I gathered data on how much the different products sell each month. The three products that rank highest (i.e., the three products that appear at the top when searching) sell for an average of $300,000 each month (figures from October 2020).

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The three products that were at the bottom of the first page. Not at the bottom overall, but still on the first page, sell for about $8,300 each month. The highest-ranked products sell almost 10 times more than the three last on the first page. Sometimes (most often) this difference is greater, sometimes (but rarely) it is smaller.

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How Do You Rank High?

This question requires a long answer. But to summarize, there are a few things that affect it:

• SEO optimized product page
• Conversion and sales
• Other factors (reviews, category, shipping options, etc.)

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As mentioned, this question requires a long answer. But by creating a product page that converts well, with a title and product description that contains the keywords you want the product to rank for, and by making customers happy with a good product and fast shipping, you have come a long way. If you and your company want help to succeed in ranking, feel free to contact us at SellWave.

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If you found this post helpful, please share the article with colleagues or friends who also need to know what "ranking" means. Thanks!