Every single product on the Amazon marketplace is awarded a Best Seller Rank (BSR). Where do your product products rank?
Spot product trends, seasonality, and opportunities to break into new categories by analyzing the Amazon Best Seller Ranking.
Here’s how.
What is the Amazon Best Seller Rank?
Amazon Best Seller Rank, or BSR, is the rating that Amazon assigns to products based on their sales performance in comparison to other products in the same category, with #1 being the best rating. That means the same product can have different rankings across multiple categories.
BSR focuses solely on sales data in a particular category and doesn’t account for any other metrics like reviews or page views. Essentially, higher sales equals a lower (and better) BSR and it’s updated every hour based on both recent and historical sales data.
How is BSR calculated?
Unfortunately, like most of the Amazon metrics, the exact factors that affect the BSR algorithm isn’t publicly disclosed but it is calculated based on a combination of recent sales data and historical sales trends.
Here’s a closer look at how it works:
- Sales volume is the most significant factor: the more units of a product sold, the lower (and better) the BSR. Recent sales have a higher impact on BSR than historical sales.
- Sales performance of similar products within the same category: this means that even if your product is selling well, its BSR may be higher (and worse) if other similar products are selling even better.
- The algorithm updates BSR hourly: your BSR can fluctuate constantly throughout the day.
BSR isn’t the only Amazon metric that matters, but it’s a valuable key performance indicator for sellers. Your BSR gives you a snapshot of how well your products are selling on Amazon.
If every product on Amazon is assigned a BSR, how do I get a Best Seller Badge?

The Amazon Best Seller badge is awarded to the top 100 best sellers in a specific category or sub-category on Amazon. Because the BSR updates every hour, that means you have 24 opportunities every day to get a Best Seller badge.
Running deals and maintaining competitive pricing can help improve your ranking. Pairing a discount with marketing outside of Amazon could lead to the increase in sales you need to break into the top 100.
Remember, trying to earn a Best Seller badge in a large category is much harder than earning one in a niche sub-category where there are fewer competitors. So, be a big fish in a small pond and go after the Best Seller badge for niche categories first.
When users find your product in the ‘top level’ category, your listing still carries the badge you earned in the sub-category.
That doesn’t mean you should list in an irrelevant category just to earn the Best Seller badge though – it’ll jeopardize your organic rankings and results in the long run.
For more on going after Amazon badges, check out our blog post on the top 10 Amazon badges every seller should know about.
Where Can You Find Your Amazon Best Seller Rank?
Finding your Amazon Best Seller Rank (BSR) is a straightforward process. Here’s how you can do it:
- Navigate to your product detail page on Amazon.
- Scroll down to the “Product Information” section.
- Locate the BSR under the “Best Sellers Rank” subsection.
- Remember, products may have multiple BSRs if they are listed under more than one category.
Here’s an example:
This Fitbit product is listed under ‘Electronics’ and ‘Smartwatches’. See how much the BSR varies between the two categories?

What Does a Strong Best Seller Ranking Mean?
Every product is assigned a BSR on Amazon but a strong BSR is a low BSR. The closer to #1 a product is, the higher the sales volume of that product. But what does it mean? Let’s break it down:
- Products with low BSRs often appear in Amazon’s “Best Sellers” lists, which can attract more customers and drive more sales.
- A strong BSR in a competitive category means your product is outperforming a large number of competitors. This also means that it’s harder to rank well in larger categories because there’s more competition and potentially unrelated products in that category.
Remember our Fitbit example? This product is #1 in Activity Trackers yet #164 in Sports & Outdoors – a considerably larger category that can contain anything from push bikes to tennis rackets.
- What constitutes a strong BSR can vary depending on your business goals and the specific category your product is in. If your category is filled with household name brands, you’re unlikely to outrank them if you’re a smaller brand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve your sales targets and other KPI goals.
- Maintaining a strong BSR requires continuous optimization and marketing efforts. This includes optimizing your product listings, pricing competitively, managing inventory effectively, and providing excellent customer service.
In short, a strong BSR means your product is selling well compared to other products in the same category. It’s a positive sign in terms of market demand and how your product is performing.
Using Amazon BSR for Product Research
If checking the Amazon BSR isn’t part of your product research, it definitely should be!
BSR helps sellers identify opportunities by spotting high-demand products and emerging market trends. Here’s how you can use BSR for product research:
- Analyze BSR to identify high-demand products
Products with a low BSR (closer to 1) are selling fast, indicating high demand for that product or type of product.
- Use BSR to gauge the sales performance of products within specific categories
After identifying a category that looks like a strong opportunity, comparing the BSRs of different products in that category can give you a sense of how well each product is selling relative to others.
- Compare BSRs of similar products
If several similar products all have great BSRs (close to #1), it could indicate a competitive market with high demand. Conversely, if there are only a few similar products but the all have bad BSRs, you’re probably looking at a low demand product.
- Use tools like Jungle Scout to estimate monthly sales based on BSR
This can give you a more concrete idea of how many units of a product are selling per month, helping you forecast potential sales for your own products.
- Track changes in BSR over time to understand sales trends and seasonality
For example, a product’s BSR might consistently improve during certain times of the year, indicating seasonal demand.
- Don’t use BSR in isolation
Assessing other factors like customer reviews and ratings is crucial to a comprehensive product assessment. While BSR gives you insight into sales performance, other metrics provide valuable information about factors like product quality and customer satisfaction.
Amazon BSR vs. Organic Ranking: What’s the Difference?
BSR is based on sales performance within a category. Organic ranking in the Amazon search results is based on keyword relevance, listing optimization, and other metrics like customer reviews.
A strong BSR doesn’t guarantee high organic search visibility, and vice versa. A product could be a top seller in its category (low BSR) but not appear on the first page of search results if it’s not optimized for relevant keywords.
Overall, they’re both important for overall sales success but serve different strategic purposes. BSR is a useful metric for understanding sales performance and competition within a category, while organic ranking is crucial for driving visibility and traffic from search results.
Want to read more in our Amazon Scaling Series? Check these out:
- Accessing the Amazon Vine program
- Mastering Amazon seasonal products
- Going global – how to leverage Amazon’s Global Selling Program
- How to Sell Your Amazon Business for the Most Profit
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