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Amazon’s search algorithm uses a bunch of different signals to rank products on its landing pages, including depth of product inventory, product page richness and paid media effectiveness.
It’s not unlike Google, except that all those signals result in a sale – rather than a search click.
The fact that Amazon benefits from sales, not just clicks, turns out to be a huge difference, as Larry Harris, CEO of Alpha Precision Media (APM), discusses in this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks.
“If you get the algorithm selling your product, Amazon in turn starts advertising your product because Amazon likes sales,” Harris says. “If your product starts taking off, mysteriously these search ads start coming out. When you see a search ad with Amazon [on Google or Bing], that’s from Amazon, not from that brand.”
Once Amazon starts actively promoting your product on Google and elsewhere, he says, “That’s the flywheel. That’s when the algorithm takes off and you have the wonderful kumbaya that is the right audience homing in on a great product that has lots of inventory.”
Also in this episode … Harris evaluates the ad industry’s progress on diversity and inclusion initiatives. Are brands changing their behaviors? Are agencies and tech changing their hiring process? APM is one of the few, and may be the only, minority-owned Amazon partner in the marketing services area, and Harris shares an unvarnished take.
