{"id":642870,"date":"2023-04-29T10:06:16","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T15:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/29\/amazon-quietly-removes-editorial-recommendations-from-search-results-to-replace-them-with-more-ad-units\/"},"modified":"2023-04-29T10:06:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T15:06:16","slug":"amazon-quietly-removes-editorial-recommendations-from-search-results-to-replace-them-with-more-ad-units","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/29\/amazon-quietly-removes-editorial-recommendations-from-search-results-to-replace-them-with-more-ad-units\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon quietly removes editorial recommendations from search results to replace them with more ad units"},"content":{"rendered":"
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April 27, 2023\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a04 min read<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 By Cale Guthrie Weissman<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tIvy Liu\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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This story was originally published<\/a> on sister site, Modern Retail<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon search results are no longer showcasing so-called \u201ceditorial recommendations,\u201d marking the end of an opaque program that many viewed as pay-for-play.<\/p>\n

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For years, Amazon had a program called Onsite Associates \u2014 known internally as OSP \u2014 that worked with publishers to match top-rated products with editorialized blurbs. For example, in a screenshot taken in 2021<\/a>, search results for masks had a section from the blog Gear Review that showcased the publisher\u2019s top picks. According to sellers, despite the high positioning in search results, the placement brought mixed results<\/a> \u2014 likely having to do with the fact that brands offered the spot had to meet top-seller performance metrics like having more than 100 reviews and a rating above four stars.<\/p>\n

But at the beginning of the month, Amazon took out that section of the search results and replaced it with more ad units. \u201cAt Amazon, we\u2019re always experimenting and evaluating the potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments,\u201d wrote Amazon spokesperson Keri Bertolino in an emailed statement to Modern Retail. \u201cWhile we\u2019ve made the decision to discontinue this specific experience that uses article content from publishers, we are actively exploring new opportunities to test where and when we show articles across Amazon to ensure we\u2019re showing customers the most relevant and helpful content for their shopping journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many sellers, this is a welcome change \u2014 as it could bring down the cost of ads and make the search experience less cluttered. But there has been a cottage industry growing for years capitalizing on connecting sellers with publishers participating in the OSP program.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople paid PR firms to get access to it,\u201d said Jon Elder, CEO and founder of Black Label Advisor. If a product was chosen by a publisher, it could get top billing on the results. \u201cIt took up a huge spot on the search results,\u201d Elder said. \u201cIt was very in your face \u2014 a really really high-value spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it seems like Amazon is focusing on other ways to work with publishers rather than having their content synthesized on search results. \u201cBack in August of 2021, there was a major shift in the Amazon OSP content,\u201d said Kris Weissman, general manager of SellerRocket, an agency that does PR for e-commerce clients. Amazon, Weissman said, told publishers that posts needed to be formatted in a very specific type of way in order to get placement on Amazon. Internally, it seemed clear that Amazon was in the process of de-prioritizing the OSP program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, transactions and performance from the content was declining,\u201d Weissman said.<\/p>\n

As such, agencies like his have been working on growing other areas of the business. With OSP being sunset, publishers aren\u2019t being paid commissions for editorial content that is posted on Amazon. But that doesn\u2019t mean all publisher-Amazon relations are dead. \u201c[Publishers] still get affiliate fees from their own native content,\u201d said Weissman. \u201cIt\u2019s just not any content that lived on Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, \u201cwe are already shifting [our focus] to the native publisher content,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Weissman wasn\u2019t the only one noticing the editorial recommendations not leading to conversions. \u201cWhen you look at impressions and opportunity, it just hasn\u2019t been performing,\u201d said Abi Harmon, CEO of Perpetua. \u201cThey\u2019ve been looking to replace it with something that\u2019s going to be a better customer experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon added that it may mean that agencies will have to rethink editorial strategies. The focus will no longer be about getting a spot on a list at the top of the search results, but instead focusing on the editorial placements that are known to drive organic traffic. \u201cI do think it\u2019s going to be a pivot of looking at measurement and attribution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For most onlookers, this move isn\u2019t a huge shock \u2014 in fact, many expected it. \u201cUs as a business had been pivoting to external content over the years,\u201d said Weissman. \u201cThat\u2019s where, one, the value was and, two, what the brands were wanting.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the seller side, too, this could be seen as good news. \u201cMost third-party seller are happy with the change because it\u2019s been replaced by another PPC ad slot, so bids are going to go down,\u201d said Elder. \u201cThat\u2019s opened up a whole other suite of advertising opportunities for sellers \u2014 it kind of levels the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n Cale Guthrie Weissman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 27, 2023\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a04 min read \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 By Cale Guthrie Weissman Ivy Liu This story was originally published on sister site, Modern Retail. Amazon search results are no longer showcasing so-called \u201ceditorial recommendations,\u201d marking the end of an opaque program that many viewed as pay-for-play. For years, Amazon had a program called Onsite Associates \u2014 known<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":642871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,210,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-642870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-amazon","8":"category-quietly","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}