How to rank number one on Amazon and do you actually need it?

 

To be the number one on Amazon in a particular product category is a big goal of every Amazon seller. According to the industry forecasts, the number of Amazon Prime members in the United States will exceed 150 million in 2022. Amazon certainly sounds like a place to put your product on! With up to 3 billion visits per month, you need to ensure that your listing gets noticed. Read on to discover what it takes to get on top of this big eCommerce platform! 

WHY IS BEING NUMBER ONE IMPORTANT? 

Competition on Amazon is fierce, and there aren’t many uncrowded niches left.

You want to be seen; you want people to look at your product’s benefits and improve sales. Estimates are that 80% of total Amazon sales happen on the first page of search results. Being in the first position helps your products get noticed, but does it always increase traffic and sales? If you have attracted quality traffic, your sales will go up, and your rank will continue to improve.  

Visibility   > Traffic    >   Sales 

Millions of situations can be entirely different for each business and product. Below is the simplified version of the three situations you could get yourself into, considering improved visibility due to a better rank.

	Visibility	Traffic	Sales
Situation 1	+	-	-
Situation 2	+	+	-
Situation 3	+	+	+

Situation 1–you got the visibility either with good organic or PPC positions, but your traffic didn’t follow as expected, nor did the sales. In that case, you need to reconsider if you are ranked for the best possible keywords. The good thing is that you probably spent little PPC budget because of low traffic, but you are in danger in case the traffic pours in. Low CTR is the primary indicator that you are in Situation 1. 

Situation 2–increased visibility got you lots of traffic, but there are no sales. It’s the worst-case scenario, and you should check why potential customers who got to your product page (therefore decided that your product applies to their searches) aren’t buying. A decline in conversion rate could seriously damage your rank, so a new strategy is urgently needed in this case. 

Situation 3–it’s the best-case scenario where you know that you are heading in the right direction. Having all 3 with solid CTR and conversion rate will help achieve the number one rank on Amazon. 

AMAZON ALGORITHM 

To rank on top of the search, you need to show Amazon that your product matters. Amazon wants to give its customers the best possible experience, and a big part of it is displaying the most relevant products for given search terms. That applies to both sponsored positions and organic ones.  

Amazon will gladly consider you the number one in your category if you:

• Sell high-quality items that your customers love
• Have well-optimized listings
• Keep stable inventory levels 
• Have solid reviews
• Boost all the above with PPC.  

RANKING AND PPC 

Can you exclude PPC and keep a good rank? In theory, yes, but in practice, that would be a genuine miracle. The competition on Amazon is stronger than ever. With billions of searches per month, it would be almost impossible to beat a competitor that above all wants to invest in PPC. PPC can be a solid short-term boost, but it will quickly go to waste if the efforts are not consistent.  

Ranking tips: 

Pick relevant keywords for your products

For listing optimization and PPC, you need to know your keywords. Prepare for a lot of testing along the way. 

Pick relevant competitors to attack with PPC 

Targeting the right competitors within your category helps Amazon recognize your products and understand the position you are aiming for. 

Expand your brand identity 

 Besides short-term improved visibility, the long-term effects of having a brand that is recognized and trusted by customers could skyrocket your Amazon business. 

Keep track of your conversion rate 

Conversion rate is one of the key factors that determine your rank. It all comes down to if people who look at your listing decide to buy from you. 

Work on each customer review  

Reviews are critical, especially for new to brand customers, and Amazon will always go for the product with better reviews. Encourage your customers to leave a review and make sure you correctly and politely answer each of them. 

HOW MUCH TIME IS NEEDED TO RANK NUMBER ONE? 

Getting a good rank on Amazon is not an instant thing or a one-time deal. It could take months or even years to get to the top. It’s possible only by integrating all the efforts and focusing on your strong and weak points individually. Constantly tracking your metrics and monitoring the competitors, combined with well-structured PPC investments, is the key to achieving top rank.  

Once you got rank number one on Amazon, this is where the actual battle begins. Keeping a good rank is at least as complex as achieving it for the first time. You will instantly become the number one target of your competitors. They will look up to you and adjust their prices, listings, and PPC. So, your primary job will become up-scaling the game.  

DO YOU ACTUALLY NEED IT? 

An obvious answer could be: “Yes, no matter what!” But let’s dig a bit more into this. Regardless of whether you just started your Amazon business or are out there for a long time, you want your products to be seen, beat the competitors, get your brand remembered, etc. Getting the number one rank seems like a solid goal. 

Being the best seller in a category is undoubtedly marvelous, but only if your increased visibility leads to increased traffic and sales with solid CTR and CVR. Lots of things can go wrong until you get to that point. Amazon is dynamic, constantly evolving, and full of sellers with a single goal–to be the number one. There’s a lot of room for improving sales, especially combined with a focused PPC strategy, even if you aren’t ranked number one on Amazon. The top rank should never be the goal itself, but rather another way of reaching your profit goals.  

CONCLUSION 

Success on Amazon has become a very broad term. There are a lot of highly successful sellers whose products aren’t the best-ranked ones in the category. Setting your goals straight is the first chapter of a successful Amazon business story. Whether you want to become an industry leader within a few months or you want to build your brand and an army of loyal customers gradually, you will indeed have to learn along the way and rethink your strategies. Amazon space is more crowded than ever and is rapidly changing. The fact is that no matter how prepared you are at this moment, you need to keep your flexibility to achieve your goals.  

If your business goals include ranking number one on Amazon and keeping that position, you need to know your strengths and create a synergy between them. What is even more important is working on your weak points and constantly learning new things. 

Don’t consider being the number one on Amazon as an ultimate goal or something you must achieve within a few months. Focus on delivering the best possible product and service and transforming new to brand customers into loyal brand ambassadors. Know your numbers, explore the latest PPC options, and your success on Amazon is guaranteed.

About the author

Ana Bačanin Kostadinović is an Amazon PPC expert with over four years of advertising experience. She started her career in an eCommerce company where she specialized in Google Ads. Ana now works as a Chief Marketing Officer at Sellers Alley, where she is involved in Amazon PPC, Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform), and TikTok advertising for 7 to 9 figure sellers.