What Is Amazon Sales Rank? (Everything You Need to Know)
What is Amazon sales rank?
For perspective, take the following example:
- #1 sales rank: Your product sells better than any other product in its category.
- #2 sales rank: Your product is the second-best seller, with only one product selling better.
- #3 sales rank: Your product is the third best-selling product, with two products selling better.
- #50 sales rank: Your product is the 50th best-selling product, with 49 products selling better.
Amazon sales rank is relative and depends on your product category. In competitive categories, for example, a sales rank of 1000 is excellent, but in niche categories a sales rank of 1000 is poor because there are fewer competing products.
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How often does Amazon update sales rankings
Amazon updates its sales rankings hourly. This calculation happens for every item sold on Amazon.com. In most cases, you’ll notice changes to your sales rank within two to three hours, though this timeframe can vary.
What is a good sales rank on Amazon?
A good sales rank on Amazon depends on your product category and its competition.
For example, if your product earns a sales rank of one million, that’s excellent if your product occupies a category with several million listings. However, if your product is in a category with around one million listings, that’s a terrible number.
Generally, you want to have a low sales rank rather than a high sales rank. A low sales rank indicates that you are earning a lot of sales, while a high sales rank shows that you’re making fewer sales than products in the same category.
Overall, aim to get the top sales rank (and become an Amazon Best Seller) in one of your product categories. Depending on your product category and its competition, you may have to settle for a position outside the top spot.
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5+ factors behind Amazon sales rank
While Amazon doesn’t reveal its algorithm for calculating sales rank, sellers have found the following factors to influence their Amazon sales rank. Learning more about these ranking factors can help you create and maintain product listings with higher rankings.
1. Category
Amazon bases your sales rank on your product category.
Your sales rank will depend on the product category you select for your product listing, like “Camera & Photo,” “Books,” and “Home & Garden.” For the best results with your overall selling strategy, select an accurate category for your products.
If your products occupy a competitive category, like “Books,” which features over 13 million listings, expect to have a lower Amazon sales rank because of the competition. If you sell in a less competitive market, you have a better chance of becoming an Amazon Best Seller.
2. Listing optimization
Listing optimization, also called search engine optimization (SEO), also matters to your Amazon sales rank. When you optimize your product listings for Amazon’s algorithm, you make it easier for shoppers to find your products when searching on Amazon.com.
If people can discover your products, they’re more likely to buy them — because if they can’t find your products, they have no way of buying them. You not only need to optimize your product listings to become an Amazon Best Seller but also to keep your business operational.
Start optimizing your products with the following tips:
- Select accurate product categories
- Add product images
- Create benefit-focused product features
- Include warranty information, care instructions, and dimensions in product descriptions
- Set competitive prices
- Incorporate keywords that describe your product into your listing’s title and description
For fast product optimization, you can invest in Amazon listing optimization services.
3. Recency
The recency of your sales also influences your Amazon rank.
If you have an influx of sales, for example, your Amazon sales rank will increase. Maintaining that sales rank, however, requires that you continue to meet (or beat) your sales numbers. That’s why best practices for Amazon sales rank focus on generating consistent sales.
4. Seasonality
Seasonality impacts Amazon sales rank, too, at least for seasonal products.
If your company sells a seasonal product, like swim shorts or snow shovels, your sales rank could receive a boost because of fewer sales. Everyone in your product category is selling less, which means those who make sales get a big boost to their Amazon sales rank.
Once the products become in-season, though, sales rank will become competitive again.
5. History
Your sales history also shapes your sales rank. That’s because Amazon uses your sales history as a report card. It checks your past orders and sales frequency, which can influence fluctuations of your Amazon sales rank.
If you have inconsistent sales, for example, that can lead to an unpredictable sales rank. That’s why you want to focus on driving consistent orders by optimizing your product listings and maybe even advertising them on Amazon.com.
6. Sales
Finally, your day-to-day sales contribute to your sales rank on Amazon. Higher sales will almost always coordinate with a higher sales rank. If you experience regular decreases in sales, like on the weekends or weekdays, your sales rank won’t drop immediately.
In most cases, it takes four to five days of decreased sales for that to happen.
Now that you know how Amazon calculates its sales rank, get ready to learn how to increase yours.
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3 tips for improving Amazon sales rank
When you improve your sales rank, you help your business earn more valuable conversions. Here are three tips to help you improve your sales rank.
1. Focus on daily sales
If you want to improve your sales rank, it’s best to focus on earning daily sales. Daily sales will help you improve your product rankings and stay consistent.
You will see an overall improvement in your sales rank by earning sales each day. Instead of ranking in spot 100 and jumping to 90 from one sale, you can rank closer to 50-60 just by making daily sales. It also gives you room to improve if you earn more sales each day.
Focusing on the day-to-day will result in more long-term growth. You will have a more consistent sales rank for your products. It will help you continue to grow and earn new conversions for your business.
2. Conduct product research
If you want to see the best results with your campaign, focus on researching your products. When you’re researching your products, find places where you can help your products thrive.
First, you can look for niches and categories where demand is strong. If you see that many people are looking for beanies in the winter or bathing suits in the summer, you can sell your products in those niches and categories.
In this case, you don’t need to worry about the competition. There may be many other people that are trying to rank for similar products, but the sheer demand of the product will lead to a good sales rank for your business.
Second, you can look for niches with low competition. In these niches, there is often poor-quality products or bad customer service. If you have a great product, you can dominate that niche because the competitors offer a subpar product and guest experience.
Finally, you can aim to rank for higher-priced products. Since Amazon users are always looking for deals, many sellers opt to sell their products for a lower price and sometimes sacrifice quality because of it.
If you aim to sell your products at higher price points, you can position them as premium options. You can show your audience why your product is better than the rest. It’s a great way to help your business earn sales that are high-quality.
3. Optimize your product listing
Optimizing your product listings will help you improve your ranking and lead to more conversions for your business.
There are numerous aspects of your product listing you’ll want to optimize. First, you’ll want to optimize your product’s title. Ensure that the title puts your most important keyword first and focuses on providing your audience with pertinent information to the product, such as size, color, or material.
Next, you’ll want to optimize your product listing to include important keywords. These keywords help you appear in relevant search results. It drives more leads to your product page.
In addition, you’ll want to optimize your product listing by incorporating images. Images help your audience better understand your product and can lead to increased sales.
How does Amazon sales rank work?
Every product on Amazon’s site has a rank number. This rank number comes from your product’s sales performance within a particular category.
You will only ever compete with products in the same category as you.
If you sell frying pans in the “Kitchen & Dining” category, for example, you will only compete with companies selling in that category. When you sell a product, you improve your sales rank. The more sales you make, the better (or lower) your product ranking will become.
Your product ranking can vary with each category your product falls under. You may have a high ranking in the category for frying pans but have a low ranking in the category for cast iron frying pans. You’ll want to monitor each category to gain a better understanding of how your product performs.
It’s also important to track your product during different seasons. Some products will perform better during certain seasons, so you must take that into account when looking at your sales rank. For instance, shovels and ice scrapers will perform better in the winter than in the summer.
How to find Amazon sales rankings
Now that you know more about your sales rank, the next step is to identify your rankings. You can easily do this by entering the name or catalog number into Amazon’s search bar to pull up your product pages.
Once on the product page, you’ll go into the product details section. In this section, you will see a section titled “Amazon Bestsellers Rank” followed by a number. That number is your product’s current sales rank.
You can check all of your product rankings to see how they are performing. There are many free tools, like Camelcamelcamel, that allow you to track sale history and ranking over time to gain valuable insights into the overall performance of your products.
It’s important that you use tools like Camelcamelcamel to track your products’ performance over time.
One single data point, like a single ranking, doesn’t tell the whole story. It may just be a point where someone has or hasn’t purchased your product recently. You’ll want to look at multiple data points to gain a better understanding of your products’ performance.
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WebFX will help you improve your Amazon sales rank
Earning more conversions will help you improve your Amazon sales rank. When you improve your rank, you help your business earn more conversions and grow. At WebFX, we know how to help you improve your Amazon product ranking to earn more conversions.
We’re a full-service digital marketing company that specializes in optimizing product listings for Amazon. With our team of over 500+ experts, you can count on us to help you improve your Amazon sales rank. We’ll bring our knowledge and expertise to help you create a better campaign for your business.
If you’re looking for a company that knows how to drive results, look no further than WebFX. In the last five years, we’ve driven over $10 billion in revenue and over 24 million leads for our clients. We help our clients create campaigns that grow their businesses.
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