Online Review Ranking

When we have a look at Amazon as a prime example of comments, what does Amazon look for?

When we looked Amazon Sales Rank we explored the list of factors that Amazon actually does look for in ranking your products. In one example we looked into comments. Comments are actually one of the factors in their search engine ranking and placement upon the first page. Poor comments and related social factors can have a strong affect upon sales. How?

Well, just the number of reviews and their star rating can not be used solely in isolation. It will not show the customer the best product.

The results can skew and not be “true” to what is being said. Just say you have out of 10 reviews, 7 5 star ratings and 3 1 star ratings. That is a total of 35 5 stars and 3 1 stars. On average that is 3.8 stars- which is a fairly average product. How about if the 3 stars are wrong compared to the others?

How about if the 7 5 star reviews have exactly the same text? So Amazon has come up with a weighted formula which makes sure that no one factor can grossly outweigh the others. At the time being we know 9 factors which influence how reviews are made up on Amazon. It is also safe to assume that if you are selling on a platform that uses reviews and stars it will be similar.

Just taking comments and ratings as an example:

Review Quality: Considers the quality of reviews when ranking products in search results. Reviews that are more detailed, descriptive, and helpful to potential buyers are given more weight than reviews that are short or unhelpful. A9 also looks for reviews that mention specific features or benefits of the product, as these can help to identify the most relevant and popular products.
Review Quantity: The quantity of reviews when ranking products in search results. Products with a higher number of reviews are generally seen as more popular and relevant to a user's search query, and are more likely to be displayed higher in the search results. Under this title is also amount sold/ month. Amazon is placing on their reviews how many items are sold per month which adds to the “it must be good because other people are buying it” mentality.
Review Recency: The recency of reviews when ranking products in search results. Recent reviews are given more weight than older reviews, as they can provide more up-to-date information on a product's quality and popularity.
Review Rating: The overall rating of a product when ranking it in search results. Products with higher ratings are generally seen as more popular and of higher quality, and are more likely to be displayed higher in the search results.
Reviewer Reputation: The reputation of the reviewers when ranking products in search results. Reviews written by verified purchasers or users with a high reputation on Amazon are given more weight than reviews written by unknown or unverified users.
Helpful Votes: The number of "helpful" votes on reviews can influence how much weight a review carries. If a review is marked as helpful by many customers, it may have a stronger impact.
Metrics: This is related to how the product used, delivered, defects and discussions with the customer are used. This is through the next factor
Language: There is much research on language used within reviews. Programs are now able to find specific keywords within reviews and highlight them to the algorithm. You can also get software that collates keywords so that customers can pick on a keyword and jump directly to that review. It also helps your business. If you know the words that people are saying about your business, what is wrong and what can be done to help your business then that can only be a positive. Studies have shown that the word “hate” is rarely used. “Love” on the other hand is very highly used, so trying to incorporate something that people can love would be a good idea. But research also shows that reviews can be very helpful. It is like a customer department telling you what they like and what they don’t, what can be improved and even down to how the product was delivered. According to Rashid and Huang (Sentiment Analysis on Consumer Reviews of Amazon Products. A. Rashid & C. Huang (2021)) here are the top 5 words for 4-5 star reviews: great product, great, love it, great service, I have X amount.
Review Consistency: The consistency of reviews when ranking products in search results. Products with consistent ratings and reviews are generally seen as more reliable and trustworthy, and are more likely to be displayed higher in the search results.

So if you want higher sales in Amazon- in just the comments/ reviews, then you need to adhere to the 9 factors.

But did you notice something about those 9 factors?

Reviews are also regarding service reviews. If your service is poor then that will give a bad review which will cause a reduction in ranking. Amazon is quite clever in this because each factor completely influences another.

If you have a range of poor reviews then your product might not be the best.

If you have good reviews and none are verified then maybe those reviews might not be the most genuine

If your have good reviews but 1 star rating then something is wrong

If you had a load of reviews 2 years back then nothing, well it might be due to initial marketing efforts rather than a cool product- people might not be recommending that product

Why do people leave an online review in the first place?