1. Customer Relevance is the New Pay-Per-Click

What’s New: With the new A10 algorithm, it’s all about product relevance — that is, the qualities that consumers are organically drawn to in their searches. In turn, products heavy on pay-per-click ad sales may find they’ve dropped in rank. The customer has endless choices on Amazon, and data shows they don’t necessarily buy the first product they come across. Instead, they’re looking for the right product at the right price that meets their needs. These are the products that rank higher with A10. ‍

Your Strategy: PPC remains a viable way to bring immediate discoverability to your product, but it shouldn’t dominate your long-term sales solution. Remember, PPC is only as effective as the products behind it. To maximize your hard-earned ad dollars in A10, optimize your product for organic search success through enhanced product detail pages and improved offerings.

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2. External Traffic Drives Big Results

What’s New: Forget “If you build it, they will come.” To earn the highest ranking possible with A10, sellers need to proactively drive traffic to product pages from third-party sites. Fun fact: off-site traffic is three times* more effective than PPC when it comes to affecting product ranks and reviews. A10 rewards sellers who venture outside the Amazon ecosystem with increased visibility. 

Your Strategy: Waiting around for consumers to find you on Amazon is often slow-going, with no guarantee of success. Instead, look for your next customer where they’re already engaged — places like social channels, community boards and influencer sites. Leverage these engagements to drive directly to product detail pages, bypassing the competitor noise that clutters search results.

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3. Optimize, optimize, optimize

What’s New: In a crowded marketplace, sellers need to make it easy for consumers to find, click and purchase their product. The A10 update favors products that achieve KPI success, so it’s important to prioritize tactics including SEO, click-through rates and conversion. Consumers can’t buy a product they don’t know exists!

Your Strategy: Optimize everything. Price, fulfillment methods, titles, bullets, hidden search terms, images, content and everything in between — everything should be optimized to make your product stand out. Bonus tip: Amazon A+ Content is thought to increase a product’s overall sales by 3 – 10%* on average, so take the time to develop content that allows consumers to delve deeper into product details. Be sure to balance SEO relevancy with readability, and let the world know why this product is the one to choose.

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4. Authentic Reviews are Amazon Gold

What’s New: Online reviews hold a lot of sway: 84% of consumers trust them as much as they trust recommendations from their own friends.* People associate positive reviews with a trustworthy business that stands by its products, which naturally drives click-throughs and conversions. A10 leverages this behavior by placing more importance on a product’s star rating and number of reviews than ever before. 

Your Strategy: Get product in people’s hands! Aim to drive as many authentic reviews as possible through opportunities like Amazon’s Early Review Program and Amazon Vine. Don’t forget about your built-in customer base. Keep in mind that any review strategy should adhere to Amazon’s terms of service; a violation will only harm you in the long-run.

The Takeaway: In Amazon’s new A10 algorithm, customer satisfaction reigns supreme and will help make or break a product’s rank — and therefore its ability to find potential customers and convert them into happy customers. Focus on delighting your customers with great products and helpful content, and A10 will reward your efforts.

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