Key takeaways:
- Best Sellers Rank (BSR) shows how well a product sells within its category. A lower BSR generally indicates stronger sales performance, but what counts as a “good” rank varies by category.
- BSR is driven mainly by recent sales velocity, smoothed by historical sales. It does not directly affect organic search ranking.
- Relevant keyword research, clear titles and descriptions, compelling sales copy, and high-quality images and videos help products appear in relevant searches and encourage shoppers to buy.
- Amazon Ads can generate high-intent traffic, while Google, Meta, TikTok, influencers, and other external channels can bring additional shoppers to Amazon. Tracking these campaigns with Amazon Attribution helps identify the traffic sources that drive actual sales.
- Optimize listings for conversational shopping through Alexa for Shopping by clearly communicating product attributes, use cases, compatibility, dimensions, materials, and benefits, not just traditional keywords.
Amazon has over 30 product categories with millions of products in each of these categories.
Products in each of these categories come with what is called the Amazon Best Sellers Rank.
The Amazon Best Sellers Rank is a metric that reveals the sales performance of a product relative to other products within a product category or subcategory. As an Amazon seller, the lower your Amazon Best Sellers Rank, the better your product's sales performance.
Amazon BSR indicates how well a product is performing overall. However, it may not always be an indication of how well the product is performing relative to similar items in other product categories. But what does the Amazon Best Sellers Rank mean for your business?
In this guide, we will look at everything you need to know about the Amazon Best Sellers Rank and how you can improve yours.
What is Amazon's Best Sellers Rank (BSR)?
An Amazon Best Sellers Rank is a number given to every product that has had at least one sale. This rank indicates how well a product is performing and is based on Amazon sales.
Amazon updates the Amazon Best Sellers list every hour to reflect both historical and recent sales of all items sold on Amazon. The list shows all the best-selling products on Amazon for different product categories.
As we mentioned earlier, the lower your Amazon Best Sellers Rank, the better the sales performance. For example, a product that is ranked #1 has a better sales performance than a product ranked #50,000.
A product may have more than one Amazon BSR since it is possible for a product to have more than one product category.
How is it calculated?
It is not exactly clear how Amazon calculates the Best Sellers Rank. However, there are a few factors that can influence your BSR.
Amazon considers your most recent sales as well as your sales history. A product ranked #1 (also considering historical sales) has sold more than any other product in that product category. If a product drops by a few units in sales within an hour, it will not automatically drop in the Best Sellers Rank.
Amazon will consider other factors like historical sales and sales velocity. They will also consider factors like price changes and promotions.
Based on extensive seller testing, BSR weighs two main inputs:
- Recent sales velocity: the most dominant factor. A burst of orders in the past few hours can visibly improve BSR within 2 to 4 hours.
- Historical sales performance: a smoothing factor that prevents wild single-hour swings.
One important myth to clear up: BSR does not directly affect organic search ranking. Search placement is driven by keyword relevance and conversion rate, not BSR. The two are related (a well-optimized listing drives more organic traffic, which drives more sales, which improves BSR), but they measure different things.
Why is Amazon Best Sellers Rank important?
A strong Amazon sales rank indicates strong sales velocity, which can increase your product's visibility, credibility, and revenue potential. It can also create a positive feedback loop: greater visibility can generate more clicks, more conversions can generate more sales, and stronger sales velocity can support continued product visibility.
For Amazon sellers
- BSR gives a real-time read on sales performance, helping sellers spot trending products and adjust inventory and marketing accordingly.
- Tracking competitors' BSR reveals the competitive landscape of a category, informing product and pricing decisions. Analyzing competitor BSR and sales performance can help you identify changes in demand, seasonal trends, and competitive gaps.
- A low BSR signals strong demand, which can guide decisions on new launches or expanding an existing line.
For Amazon buyers
- A low BSR signals a popular product, giving buyers more confidence in a purchase decision.
- BSR-based bestseller lists surface trending products buyers might otherwise miss.
- Consistently low BSR can shape perceived product quality and desirability.
What is a good Amazon Best Sellers Rank?
A good Amazon Best Sellers Rank isn't the same for all product categories.
A BSR of #20,000 may be good in the Home and Kitchen category but may be bad in the Pet Supplies category.
However, tools like the Jungle Scout Sales Estimator can help you determine what BSR will be considered good in your product category.
Rather than chasing a specific number, compare a product's BSR against others in the same category and subcategory, and track the trend over time (7-day and 30-day averages) rather than a single snapshot. A BSR of 1,500 might put a product in the top 1% of a small subcategory, or barely register in a category with 70,000+ competing listings.
Where to find Amazon Best Sellers Rank
You can easily find an Amazon Best Sellers Rank on any product page on Amazon. Go to Amazon's website and click on any product category. For example, you can click on Sports and Outdoor and choose the product which you want to check its BSR.
Scroll down to the Product information section of the product page to see the Amazon Best Sellers Rank.
The Amazon Best Sellers Rank of the product above ranks #1 in Sports & Outdoors and is also #1 in Water Bottles. This means that out of thousands of products in these categories, this product emerges tops!
Through third-party tools: Analytics platforms like Jungle Scout and Helium 10 provide BSR tracking alongside sales estimates, competitor analysis, and historical trend dashboards. This is far more useful than manually checking a product page once a day, since BSR can move multiple times within a few hours.
Is there a difference between the Amazon Best Sellers Rank and organic ranking?
If you're a new Amazon seller, you may be thinking - what is the difference between Amazon Best Sellers Rank and organic ranking?
Well, the answer is simple. Your Amazon Best Sellers Rank indicates how well your product performs based on sales. On the other hand, your organic ranking shows how well your product ranks for a given keyword. It is where your product appears on Amazon Search Result Pages.
Amazon simply arranges products on search results based on the keyword search. A product that appears as number one on search results may not necessarily have a good BSR. It could be based on other factors like good reviews and ratings and lower prices.
To improve organic ranking, focus on relevant keywords in your title, bullets, and description. To improve BSR, focus on driving actual sales. The two reinforce each other over time, but they're not interchangeable levers. As an Amazon seller, you want to pay attention to both metrics.
What should you do with an Amazon Best Sellers Rank?
So we know what an Amazon Best Sellers Rank is. What should we do with it?
Well, firstly, an Amazon BSR can help you know the best-selling items on Amazon. If you are just starting a business on the Amazon marketplace, one thing you need to consider when choosing a product is the demand.
A BSR is a great way to find out if a product is in high demand or not.
The lower the BSR, the higher the demand for that product. However, as a newbie, we don't recommend that you go for a product with a BSR of 1 to 10 as they already have the highest sales. This may be difficult to break in.
Secondly, a BSR can help you analyze the competition and set a standard for yourself. By comparing your BSR with that of your competitors, you can easily find out how you can improve.
Thirdly, third-party sales estimator tools (Jungle Scout, Helium 10) use BSR alongside category-specific data to model an approximate sales range for a given rank. Treat these as directional estimates, not precise figures. The same BSR can represent very different unit volumes depending on category size and seasonality.
How can you improve your Amazon Best Sellers Rank?
To improve your Amazon Best Sellers Rank and be among the Amazon top sellers, you need to find ways to constantly increase sales. Here are some effective tips to help you increase sales and ultimately improve your BSR:
Optimize your Amazon listing
If you want your product to rank as one of the top-selling items on Amazon, the first thing you need to do is optimize your Amazon listing.
Keywords
Keywords are an essential part of your Amazon listing optimization. It is important to include all the relevant keywords in your product listing to increase visibility and conversion rate. Carry out keyword research and make a list of the most relevant short and long-tail keywords and add them throughout your product listing. Include them in your product title, images, bullet point section, product description, and the backend of your product listing.
Always check Amazon's keyword guidelines to ensure your keyword strategy is compliant, and remember to put the most relevant keywords at the front of your title and stay within Amazon's 200-character limit.
Product Title
Your product title is the first thing customers will read once they type in a search term. You want to ensure your product title is creative and informative. It should be punchy and still contain your brand name, the name of the product, and other important features like the size and color of the product.
In summary, potential customers should be able to know exactly what your product is with one glance.
Product Image
Your product image should speak a thousand words at first glance. Since customers will not get a chance to physically examine your product, your images should sell your product. Include high-quality images that show your products from different angles. Get creative and include lifestyle images and videos that bring your product to life. You could also include infographics, high-definition images, text overlays, charts, and other features using Amazon A+ content.
Bullet points
Use the bullet point section to highlight the main features and benefits of your product. Ensure they are well-written and spaced out. Don't lump everything into lengthy paragraphs. Instead, use bullet points to write concise and marketable information. Your customers should find all they need to know about your product by going through the bullet point section.
Product Description
Your product description should sell your product most uniquely. You can use this opportunity to highlight the unique selling proposition (USP) of your product. Make your product description interesting and conversational.
Get positive product reviews
Most shoppers make buying decisions based on prior reviews. Amazon prohibits financial incentivization to get reviews from customers, but you can use Amazon's "Request a Review" button and compliant packaging inserts to encourage feedback. The real driver is simply selling a good product that earns reviews naturally. Always ensure you are staying within Amazon's rules.
Price competitively to win the Buy Box
Your prices are an important factor Amazon considers when ranking your products. Ensure your products are priced competitively. If you offer a competitive price that is lower than your competitors, you could win the Buy Box.
When you win the Buy Box, you will get orders when a buyer does not specify what seller they are buying a product from. Ultimately, this increases your Amazon sales drastically.
Use Amazon advertising
With millions of products on Amazon, it may be difficult to get your products up in search results and increase Amazon sales.
Advertising is a great medium to increase your visibility and drive traffic to your product listing or store.
You can invest in Sponsored Product Ads, Sponsored Brand Ads, or Sponsored Display Ads to get your products on top and increase your conversion rate.
For new or underperforming products, advertising can be particularly useful for generating initial visibility and collecting conversion data. Using Amazon PPC optimization strategies to drive sales velocity can help you improve targeting, manage bids and budgets, and focus ad spend on campaigns that generate qualified traffic and conversions.
Become Prime eligible
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service with over 200 million subscribers all over the world. These subscribers are willing to pay more to have products delivered within the same day or in one or two days.
Once you put up your products for Amazon FBA, you are automatically eligible to sell to Amazon Prime Members. This will help you gain higher visibility and ultimately increase sales.
Optimize your listing for Alexa for Shopping
To capture AI Amazon search, optimize your listing around natural-language questions, product attributes, use cases, and complete product information.
Amazon's shopping experience increasingly includes Alexa for Shopping, which combines Amazon's conversational AI capabilities with shopping discovery. Amazon says Alexa for Shopping allows customers to ask shopping questions, receive product insights, compare products, and build personalized shopping experiences.
For you, this means optimizing for more than search queries. Your listing should clearly communicate your product's attributes, including use cases, compatibility, materials, dimensions, and benefits. Alexa for Shopping needs enough structured and contextual information to determine whether your product actually answers the shopper's intent.
Use Brand Tailored Promotions to increase conversions
Brand Tailored Promotions allow eligible Brand Registry sellers to create targeted offers for specific customer audiences. These promotions can range from 10% to 50% off and are designed to support customer acquisition, retention, re-engagement, and cross-selling.
For example, if shoppers are already viewing or adding your product to their carts but not completing the purchase, a targeted promotion can provide the additional incentive needed to convert. More completed purchases mean more sales velocity. Use promotions strategically rather than discounting every product, and prioritize high-intent audiences and products where a promotion can meaningfully improve profitability and sales velocity.
Build an external traffic strategy and maximize the Brand Referral Bonus
External traffic from channels such as Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok, influencer campaigns, email, and your brand website can bring new shoppers directly to your Amazon listings and create additional sales velocity. Using Google Ads to drive external traffic to your Amazon listing can be particularly useful for reaching shoppers who are already searching for products or solutions related to what you sell.
The key is to track this traffic so you can understand which campaigns are actually generating sales. Amazon Attribution allows you to measure the performance of eligible marketing activities that happen outside Amazon and see how they contribute to Amazon sales. Track metrics such as:
- Which campaigns generate the most sales?
- Which audiences convert best?
- Which products attract the most buyers?
- Which creatives drive qualified traffic?
- Which external channels deliver the strongest return?
How the Brand Referral Bonus fits in
Amazon's Brand Referral Bonus program rewards eligible brands when shoppers purchase products after arriving through qualifying external marketing efforts. The bonus averages around 10% of sales, although the actual amount varies by product category and other factors. For example, if you promote an Amazon product through TikTok or Meta and a shopper clicks through an Amazon Attribution-tagged link before purchasing, the resulting sale may qualify for the Brand Referral Bonus.
If you are trying to improve campaign performance, you can take advantage of ePlaybooks' Amazon advertising services to develop, manage, and optimize Amazon advertising campaigns with a focus on traffic quality, conversions, and sustainable sales growth.
Final thoughts
While there are no exact formulas that tell us how Amazon assigns a Best Sellers Rank, the main factor that determines your BSR is sales.
You can use some of the tips above to improve your Amazon Best Sellers Rank.
You can also contact an Amazon Seller expert on ePlaybooks to get more tailor-made selling strategies.
