Amazon Algorithm Evolution: A9 vs A10 for Product-Ranking Success

Small businesses on Amazon sell an average of 7,800 products per minute every day — or 4.1 billion products per year — according to Amazon. These numbers represent a massive opportunity for online brands if they can capture customer attention.

For most consumers, their Amazon journey starts with a search.

Brands that appear in the top search results are significantly more likely to drive user interaction. Just 0.63% of searchers clicked on links from the second page, according to a study of Google search results by search engine optimization (SEO) publication Backlinko.

It’s worth fighting for a spot on the first page and putting in the work to stay on top. In practice, this starts with an understanding of Amazon’s algorithm, how Amazon A9 compares to Amazon A10, and what companies can do to rise in search rank. 

What Is the Amazon Algorithm — and How Does it Work?

The Amazon search algorithm, currently on version A10, is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tool that ranks products based on specific factors. The algorithm uses a combination of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to determine which products are shown on the first page of search results and which are relegated to second (or third, or fourth) pages.

For example, the Amazon algorithm can use NLP to determine what users are searching for and which stores best align with the intention of their search.

Consider four customers looking for a new office desk, each with a slightly different approach: one searches for “office desk,” one for “work desk,” one for “computer desk,” and the last for “work table.” 

Using AI-driven NLP, the algorithm can determine that all four customers are searching for the same general category and display the top-ranked results based on these criteria. 

What Is the Amazon A9 Algorithm?

Up until 2021, Amazon used the A9 version of its algorithm, which was similar in function to Google’s but with one important…