Amazon Implements New Mechanism with Sales Plunge!

As Prime Day comes to an end, the anticipation for events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday intensifies.

However, after experiencing a sharp decline in traffic and sales post-major promotions, Amazon sellers are preparing for the second-half-year big sales with some anxiety. On one hand, emerging platforms like Temu have snatched a considerable share of the traffic, and on the other hand, the in-house competition for traffic has heated up, leaving sellers scrambling for the "secret recipe" to win this battle.

In today's data-driven and finely-tuned operations landscape, gaining insights into keyword rankings and traffic trends has become critical for Amazon sellers to increase product exposure and listing conversion rates. Many sellers have turned their focus to improving keyword rankings but have faced numerous setbacks.

Amazon Suspected of Changing Keyword Matching Mechanism

Recently, some sellers reported on forums that certain major keywords for their operated ASINs have inexplicably disappeared from natural search results since July 24th.

According to these sellers, some of the keywords that used to rank well in the top positions on the first seven pages have suddenly vanished.

After consulting with other peers and realizing that they were not alone, one seller speculated that this situation might be due to Amazon secretly altering the keyword matching mechanism.

Following the post, many other sellers also shared similar experiences:

"I've encountered the same issue. Two variants, A and B, with A having better sales. Suddenly, all natural positions for A disappeared, and now it solely relies on advertising for sales. It's frustrating."

"All of a sudden, they're gone. I can't find several crucial keywords, about ten or so, which were primary sources of orders. From staying on the front page for so long until now, no matter how I optimize, they won't budge, and my sales have halved."

"Recently, many of my natural rankings have dropped significantly. They used to be on the front page, but now they are on the third page, and my sales have declined."

Currently, several sellers have experienced a significant drop in sales due to the disappearance of natural keyword rankings.

As we have learned, the main reasons for keyword ranking declines or disappearance are as follows:

1. Amazon's A9 algorithm undergoes adjustments, leading to changes in the keyword matching mechanism.

2. While keyword rankings reciprocally affect listing performance, poor listing performance can also impact keyword rankings.

3. Reviews can influence keyword rankings, especially negative reviews and unfavorable buyer feedback.

4. Improved keyword rankings for competing products might cause corresponding keywords of other sellers to drop in rankings.

5. Amazon's system issues may lead to the sudden disappearance of keywords as an unforeseen event.

Based on the feedback from these sellers, it seems that most of them believe the disappearance of natural keyword rankings is due to Amazon once again adjusting their algorithm, leading to changes in the keyword matching mechanism, resulting in the sudden vanishing of previously well-performing keywords.

However, as of now, Amazon has not responded to these claims, and the aforementioned speculation and analysis can only serve as references. If sellers possess more accurate information or potential solutions, they are encouraged to share them in the comments section.

Furthermore, another Amazon adjustment seems to further emphasize the importance of keywords for in-house traffic.

Bolded Front-End Search Terms on Amazon

AMZ123 has learned that some sellers recently observed a new attempt by Amazon to bold front-end search terms in product titles. When searching for specific keywords, these terms in the product titles are displayed in bold, catching the buyer's eye at first glance.

According to our investigation, this bolding of search terms can be found in products on various Amazon sites, including the US, Europe, and UK sites. However, not all categories exhibit the same behavior, as some keywords on web pages are not bolded.

Based on this, many industry insiders who noticed this change analyzed that, for Amazon, this feature might effectively enhance the consumer shopping experience. For Amazon sellers, it implies that clear keyword placement in titles will become increasingly important.

It is worth noting that we discovered the bolding of search terms is not a novel feature on Amazon; it bears similarities to a function previously seen on Alibaba's international site, which traces back to Taobao. For sellers on Alibaba's international platform, product titles act as the primary matching element for buyer searches.

Throughout this year, many sellers have observed Amazon's front-end search result pages displaying page views and sales data, and even introducing a "More Like This" search box, fueling speculations about Amazon's "Taobao-fication." The recent appearance of this new adjustment seems to further confirm these speculations.

However, as of now, this new feature of bolding search terms is still in the testing phase and only appears in certain categories. Whether it will be widely implemented in the future remains uncertain. Nonetheless, it is evident that Amazon has been actively testing and adjusting keyword matching mechanisms and search display pages recently, which suggests that more changes may be on the horizon. Sellers are advised to keep a close eye on related updates to avoid information discrepancies.