If you sell stuff on Amazon, you’ve probably heard of the term “Amazon Best Sellers Rank” (BSR) before, without knowing that it can help you make more sales and get more customers. But, what is BSR Amazon?
In essence, Amazon’s BSR refers to the fact that the more popular a product is, the higher its rank will be. This is because it will sell more units than a less-popular product and therefore will appear in more search results on Amazon’s website and app.
If you want to increase your sales on Amazon, as well as understand what BSR is all about and how it affects your listings, then this article is for you. Keep reading to answer the question, “What is Amazon BSR?”
What Is Amazon BSR?
BSR is a number that Amazon uses to rank products in its database. It takes account of how many units were sold on Amazon and how many times a product was viewed (through clicks or searches) to determine the ranking.
The higher you are on BSR, the greater exposure your item will have and thus be more likely to rank for keywords in search queries.
To give a concrete example of what is Amazon BSR, if a buyer on Amazon searches for “baby formula,” then the products with the highest BSR will appear at the top of search results. Even if some of these sites are outranked on their sales, they may still be shown higher because their rank is higher (and hence more popular).
Two things to keep in mind at this point are as follows:
- The category in which your product is found (it can be listed in multiple) has a big influence on the product’s BSR.
- The lower your BSR Amazon score, the higher you will be displayed on Amazon’s search results (and vice versa). This means that the product ranked #10 is more popular than the product ranked #100.
How Is Amazon BSR Calculated?
The issue when it comes to actual formulas and calculations related to BSR is simple — Amazon closely guards these formulas and keeps them a closed secret.
As such, formulas to calculate BSR that are found on the internet are solely based on theories that have been built up after looking at several examples. However, in reality, nothing is confirmed by Amazon.
Another point to consider is that the BSR of a product might change frequently — sometimes, even on an hourly basis. This means that the number might be higher or lower (in relation to the past) when you go on Amazon’s website after a few hours of having had your first look.
Finally, as mentioned before, categories also play an important role. A product can be listed in multiple categories on Amazon. This means that the product in question will have multiple Best Sellers Ranks associated with it — depending on the category in which you’re looking.
The good news is that the below factors will positively affect your BSR — so keep reading to find out how to get higher rankings on Amazon.
Factors Affecting Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR)
Many things can affect your BSR and thus make it easier to sell on Amazon. These factors include:
- Consistently keeping your product in stock, because this will make it easier for buyers to purchase. This is particularly important when you have multiple units of one item for sale.
- The number of comments and ratings on your product
- Price fluctuations (how often your price changes compared to others)
- Using Amazon fulfillment services, because this will incur fees (in Amazon’s favor) that affect your BSR. It’s always best to let Amazon take care of the fulfillment – if you are interested in getting a better BSR.
- The number of other sellers offering the same product (i.e., competition) on Amazon
Examples of BSR
If you search for any product on Amazon, then it is easy to see that BSR varies greatly. For example, the BSR of a Kindle Fire Color may be as high as 1, but an Apple iPhone 8+ might have a lower BSR.
Those who rank high on Amazon BSR usually enjoy greater visibility to customers and hence the highest conversion rate. This means that they can generate more sales with little effort than those in the bottom part of the rankings.
If you know where your items rank and take action to improve them, then you can start fighting back against all your competitors.
What Is the Difference Between Amazon Best Sellers Rank and Organic Ranking?
While Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR) is crucial for ranking highly on Amazon’s platform, it is not something that is directly affected by SEO.
As such, let’s consider the two following scenarios.
If someone searches for the term “best wallets for men” on Google (or any other search engine), then the search results delivered will show the highest-ranking websites first. If you are not focusing on SEO on your website, then it’s highly unlikely that these search engines will be showing your site at the top of the search engine results.
On the other hand, if you have a low BSR on Amazon (remember that the lower the score, the better), then someone that searches for this same term on Amazon via the app or through their browser, will probably see your product at the top of the Amazon rankings.
This makes it easier for sellers with a low BSR to sell their products due to their greater visibility.
The good news is that if you’re willing to pay for it, you can increase your visibility on Amazon. This can be done by using Amazon Marketing Services, which are designed to help sellers boost sales by increasing product exposure.
Why Should You Care: The Importance of BSR
Here’s what having a better BSR score means for you:
- Increased Product Exposure
- More Buyer Traffic
- Higher Conversion Rate (sales per visitor)
- A Better Positioning in the Marketplace (stats, reviews, etc.)
- Greater Visibility to Potential Customers.
This last one is particularly important because people are likely to notice a product more when it’s higher up than items with lower rankings. That’s why you should always aim for the top. If your product has a BSR of 10 and another seller’s product has a BSR of 15, then there will be on average 5% more visitors who see your item first, which may have a big impact on conversions over time. After all, it doesn’t matter how great your product is if no one can find it.
How to Improve Your Sales & BSR
There is no guarantee that your Amazon BSR will be improved overnight. However, over time, if you consistently take the right steps (such as improving your product listing or maintaining high ratings), then it shouldn’t be too long before buyers start noticing you more frequently and in return, this will help in your Amazon ranking improvement.
Now, if you want to get ahead of your competitors, start increasing your sales once and for all and achieve financial freedom, then you should follow the steps below.
Create High-Quality Product Listings
The first thing to do is to carefully check your product listing and make sure it is as high-quality as possible. This means that it includes all relevant information about the item such as the description, customer images and bullet points.
All of these should be written in a way that clearly states what you are selling, why someone should buy it, and what makes it stand out over any other similar products. This kind of quality content helps you rank higher on Amazon BSR simply because, with the increased sales that you’ll generate, Amazon will give your listing more preference than others that don’t have these features.
Optimize Your Product Listings Using SEO Tactics
That’s right. Even though they don’t directly correlate to one another, search engine optimization (SEO) tactics that help your products rise to the top of SERPs are also suitable for improving Amazon BSR.
For instance, you can make use of SEO knowledge in your TITLE and PRODUCT DESCRIPTION fields. The former is usually displayed on the search engine results page together with the name of your site, and most often it will include a combination of your keywords, as well as important information about your product.
In addition to this, try to use at least some of these keywords in the Product Description as well — but again make sure it reads well and sounds natural — just like any other product listing on Amazon would.
Be Consistent With Your Product Listings and Reviews
Amazon does not condone sellers posting fake reviews or misleading content to boost sales volume.
However, they know that there will always be some who try their best to cheat the system and this is why they set up mechanisms such as the “Verified Purchase” tag to make buyers more confident when purchasing from you. This means that if customers see that only a few of your reviews are verified while dozens of others are unverified (which tends to happen often), then do not expect them to buy.
Also, once you’ve sold your first item through Amazon, it can take a few days before you start seeing further sales come in. It is important to have patience and try not to make any changes to your products or listings for at least a week.
Simply put, if you only get one or two sales during this period before making any changes, then do not be discouraged as every seller has been through it.
Manage Customer Reviews and Ratings
Just like with organic search rankings on Google, reviews will help improve Amazon’s BSR over time. The more product reviews and ratings you have, the better your visibility in Amazon’s SERPs becomes. This means more opportunities for potential buyers to find out about you (and ultimately buying from you).
Taking the feedback you get from customers’ reviews and seeing if you could update your product listing (or even the product itself) can also be key. The aim is to better align with customer expectations, and this is something that would differentiate you from your competitors and ultimately show Amazon that you care about your customers’ experience.
Use Fulfilment by Amazon
Selling products on Amazon is a really easy process. However, it takes time before you start seeing results rolling in due to the high level of competition on this platform. That’s why one way to reduce the amount of work done while increasing sales volume is through using Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) — a service where some or all of your orders are handled and shipped by Amazon themselves.
However, be aware that although this will make things much easier for you, certain conditions must be met first before you can utilize their services.
Have a Proper Pricing Strategy in Mind
Amazon BSR gains momentum when users share their positive experiences with your products on social media. This is why you must have a solid pricing strategy in place so customers get what they’re looking for within their budget without compromising quality.
Remember that pricing of your goods should be determined by their demand and competition, not solely based on the cost price. Sadly, many new sellers do make this mistake which ultimately impacts not only their sales volume but also product rankings as time goes by.
Be Social
Sales volume matters as one of the BSR ranking factors, but do not forget that increasing your social media presence will also help bring more attention to your brand and products in general.
If you don’t already have one, then create a Facebook Page for your business and use it to connect with past customers while building up a community around your niche or product category (this will be very useful for getting ideas on how to improve).
Other than this, sharing information about discounts and promotional offers along with customer reviews can boost engagement on social networks which ultimately generates more traffic to Amazon listing pages — allowing people interested in your products to check out what you’re selling.
Your Most Important Questions Answered
Let’s now take a look at the most frequently asked questions about Amazon BSR.
Where Can I Find the Amazon Best Sellers Rank for a Product?
To find out the BSR for a specific product, you need to head over to its listing, scroll down until you see “Product Information,” then locate and click on “Best Sellers Rank.”
What Is a Good Best Sellers Rank on Amazon?
The quick answer is that it depends on the category. For some, a BSR that ranges from 1-3 million is good. For others, you’ll need to be in the top 500,000 in order to have any hope of success.
Understanding what the numbers are for your specific category and setting a goal to achieve this particular BSR is crucial to be successful on Amazon. It also helps to set a financial goal to achieve on Amazon — for example, some start off with a goal of making 300 USD per day.
This, coupled with a goal of achieving a specific Amazon BSR score, are both worthwhile goals to go after.
Can You Track Changes to Your Amazon Best Sellers Rank?
Yes. You’ll have to use third-party solutions to do this. A few popular websites to track such changes include:
What Is BSR Amazon: Conclusion
As you can see, increasing your BSR is not something that happens overnight. It takes time plus effort to grow product sales and by extension, improve your Amazon Best Sellers Rank.
The good news is that if done correctly, then you will be surprised at the amount of exposure, sales and business that you’ll be able to generate through listing your products on Amazon.
Finally, if you’re interested in a free, high-quality, online workshop that shows you how to start off making $10 per day and systematically increase this to up to $1,000 per day and more, then check out this online workshop while it’s still available.
