In a marketplace containing millions of products, it can be helpful to have a ranking system that shows which products are in higher demand. It makes the shopping experience better for the customers and helps brands understand where consumers are spending their money. On Amazon, that product ranking system is called the “Best Sellers Rank.”

As a seller, it’s your job to use a combination of product selection, keywords, and advertising to increase your listing visibility and gain more sales, that way you increase your Best Sellers Rank.

The more consistent sales you have relative to other products in your category, the higher your Best Sellers Rank, and often, but not always, the earlier you’ll show up in some search results.

In today’s article, we’re going to give you a breakdown of what the Best Sellers Rank is, the many uses for it, and tips for influencing the Best Sellers Rank on your listings.

The Best Sellers Rank Overview

Location

You can find the Best Sellers Rank on each product page. It sits above reviews and below the product description.

There are also browser extensions you can download that will show you the BSR on the search results pages.

If the listing is new, the Best Sellers Rank may not appear until the listing collects some sales history.

As a seller, you can see your rank on the Manage Inventory page in Seller Central.

Calculation

When selling on Amazon, you can have multiple Best Sellers Ranks. Amazon has main categories like Home & Kitchen and Beauty & Personal Care, but then there are also subcategories like Cleaning Supplies and Fragrance.

From what the Amazon seller community has been able to gather, the Best Sellers Rank is calculated based on lifetime sales of the ASIN compared to other ASINs in the same category, with recent sales having a higher influence. As usual, Amazon keeps the exact formula secret.

You want to strive for a lower Best Sellers Rank. For example, if your rank is #100, that means there are 99 products in your category that have a higher sales velocity than your listing.

If a listing has variations, they’ll share a Best Sellers Rank based on the combined sales between all variations.

It’s also important to keep in mind that your BSR will be different across Amazon’s international websites. This means that your BSR on Amazon.com will be different from your BSR on Amazon.co.uk.

Updates

The rank is updated every hour—so it can fluctuate widely. When it’s steady, that indicates that other listings in the category are experiencing similar movements in sales.
You might wonder, “Since the rank fluctuates widely, does that affect how you appear in the search results?”

The answer is no.

Your search results rank (also called organic rank) is based on how your listing performs for the search term.

Remember, Amazon is focused on search engine optimization. They want to keep the search results relevant. If a customer searches a term, then purchases a product, it indicates that the product/listing matches the keyword, so they’ll put that product higher on the search results page.

In the image above, you’ll notice that the top three listings have varying BSR rankings under the Sports & Outdoor category.

When studying other listings’ Best Sellers Rank, you’ll want to factor in seasonality too. A product may have a low BSR simply based on the time of year. That’s why it can be very helpful to use a tool that analyzes the BSR across time.

The Uses of Best Sellers Rank

Hot-Selling Products – As an Amazon FBA business/seller, you want to find out if your product will sell well on the platform. With Best Sellers Rank, you’re able to see which products in your category are selling the best. Are the best-selling products simple, straightforward solutions, or more elaborate? Is the brand running promotions off Amazon? (Is that why they’re selling well?) These questions can help you decide on whether to enter a certain category or not.

Sales Estimates – Companies like Jungle Scout or Helium 10 use the Best Sellers Rank to provide estimates of sales within a given period. Keep in mind, the Best Sellers Rank is constantly fluctuating so you don’t want to make a product selection decision simply based on the Best Sellers Rank on a single day. You’ll want to watch the Best Sellers Rank across a wider period to see if it remains stable, drops, or increases. You never know if the brand was running an aggressive promotion or advertising that makes their current Best Sellers Rank temporary.

A Product’s Inventory History – When you use a tool or software that tracks Best Sellers Rank history, you can also get a glimpse of the listing’s in-stock history. If you see dramatic rises in ranks, followed by periods of sharp decreases, those are likely when the product went out of stock. If you can manage your inventory better than your competitors, you may be able to enter the marketplace and rise up the ranks faster.

Amazon Categorization – By having a ranking system, Amazon is able to organize the catalog for shoppers and publicize them as “Best Sellers” across numerous categories.

Tips for Improving Your BSR

Listing Research – Study the listings in your category with a low Best Sellers Rank. Study the product contents and the way it’s marketed. Check out the reviews to see what customers most enjoy about the product. If the product is selling well in its category, it’s likely solving the customers’ problems. Remember, you want to use these insights as guides and not base your decisions entirely on BSR.

Focus on Organic Rank – Organic rank is crucial to making sure you sustain sales. If you show up on the first page of a search, you’ll likely get more sales regularly which will influence your Best Sellers Rank.

Stay in Stock – The fastest way to dramatically increase your BSR is to go out of stock. Use Amazon’s inventory tools (or other 3rd-party software) to plan ahead and make sure you regularly have inventory in stock.

Strategically Select Your Category – Part of Amazon listing optimization includes proper categorization. If you list your product in irrelevant categories, then your BSR will suffer. Remember, BSR is category-dependent, so the more accurately you can categorize your listing, the better.

Get More Reviews – As Amazon continues to grow, customers need more shortcuts to determine which products are worthwhile. One shortcut customers use is reviews. Reviews give your listing credibility, which increases prospects’ willingness to purchase from you.

Wrapping Up

There are many metrics to consider when it comes to selling on Amazon but the Best Sellers Rank is one that’s traditionally helped new sellers analyze competing listings and determine what products to sell.

Now that you know how BSR works and what you can do to improve yours, go ahead and give the tips we laid out in this article a try.

Happy Selling,

The Page.One Team

The Last Word:

The principle “form follows function” is important to remember when deciding on how to go about improving your Best Sellers Rank. Keep the fundamentals in place by focusing on organic rank, proper categorization, and increasing sales.