How to Optimize Your Amazon Listings for the A10 Algorithm

Amazon's product search algorithm determines which listings appear when a shopper types a query. For years, the industry referred to this system as A9. Starting in late 2024, sellers and SEO specialists began observing significant shifts in how rankings are determined — changes substantial enough that the community now refers to the updated system as "A10."

It is worth noting that Amazon has never officially announced an "A10 algorithm" by name. What we describe here is based on observable ranking behavior changes reported across the seller community as of September 2025. The core difference, in our experience, is that A10 places significantly more weight on organic seller signals — things like external traffic, seller authority, and organic sales — while reducing the outsized influence that aggressive PPC spending alone used to have on organic rankings.

Based on our testing and analysis of ranking patterns across dozens of product categories, these are the factors that carry the most weight in the current algorithm, roughly in order of impact.

Sales velocity — the number of units sold within a given time period — has always mattered on Amazon. What has changed, in our observation, is that the algorithm now appears to differentiate between organic sales and PPC-driven sales more than it used to. Organic purchases seem to carry more ranking weight per unit.

This does not mean PPC is irrelevant. Sponsored products still drive the initial sales that trigger the organic ranking flywheel. But sellers who relied exclusively on heavy ad spend to maintain page-one positions are reporting that their organic rank drops faster when they pause campaigns — unless they have built genuine organic demand alongside their advertising.

Keyword relevance remains a foundational ranking factor, but the way Amazon interprets relevance has become more sophisticated. In our testing, we have seen listings rank for semantically related terms they never explicitly included in their copy — a clear sign that Amazon's natural language processing has improved significantly.

That said, explicit keyword placement still matters. The algorithm assigns different weight to keywords based on where they appear in your listing. Here is the priority order we have observed, as of September 2025:

One of the more notable shifts we have observed is that seller-level signals now appear to influence product-level rankings. This means two identical products can rank differently based on the health and history of the seller accounts behind them.

The factors that appear to contribute to seller authority, based on community analysis as of September 2025, include:

This is arguably the most significant change in the current algorithm. In our analysis, listings that receive meaningful traffic from sources outside Amazon — Google, social media, email campaigns, influencer links — appear to receive a ranking boost that is disproportionate to the raw sales volume that traffic generates.

The logic from Amazon's perspective is straightforward: if a seller is bringing new customers to the Amazon ecosystem, Amazon benefits. Rewarding that behavior with better organic rank creates an incentive for sellers to invest in off-platform marketing.

Your click-through rate from search results is the percentage of shoppers who see your listing on the search page and actually click on it. A high CTR signals to Amazon that your listing is relevant and appealing for that search term — and in our experience, it directly influences whether you maintain or lose your ranking position.

The elements that drive CTR are the ones visible on the search results page before a shopper clicks:

As the algorithm evolves, tactics that once moved the needle can become ineffective or even counterproductive. Here are the approaches we recommend avoiding, based on what we have observed as of September 2025:

The evolution of Amazon's search algorithm rewards sellers who build genuine, sustainable businesses. The signals that matter most — organic sales velocity, external traffic, seller authority, and strong click-through rates — all point in the same direction: create real demand for your products, both on and off Amazon.

PPC remains an essential tool, especially for launches and maintaining visibility. But treating it as your only ranking lever is increasingly risky. The sellers who thrive under the current algorithm are the ones who combine smart advertising with strong listings, diversified traffic sources, and a healthy seller account.

The good news? If you are doing the right things — building a real brand, writing compelling listings, and driving traffic from multiple channels — the algorithm is working in your favor, not against you.