Let’s be honest…
Many of us are feeling conflicted about Amazon right now, especially with its new AI updates. We don’t necessarily love supporting it, yet as authors, we also can’t ignore the reality: Amazon remains one of the most influential discovery platforms for books.
And recently, that reality shifted in a big way.
According to research shared by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Amazon has “quietly but decisively” rewritten the rules of its Amazon A10 algorithm. The changes directly impact how authors should think about visibility, marketing, and long-term sales strategy.
If you’re an indie author, small publisher, or anyone navigating discoverability without a massive ad budget, this matters deeply.
What Is the Amazon A10 Algorithm?
The Amazon A10 algorithm determines how books appear in Amazon search results. While previous versions leaned heavily on paid advertising and short-term sales spikes, A10 now prioritizes something very different:
Buyer intent, organic sales velocity, customer engagement, and, most importantly, external traffic.
In other words, Amazon is paying close attention to how readers find your book and interact with it, not just what happens once they’re already on Amazon.
The Biggest Shift: External Traffic Now Matters More Than Ever
One of the most important updates to the Amazon A10 algorithm is its emphasis on traffic coming from outside Amazon. This was always a factor, now, Amazon is making it a top priority.
The content they’re prioritizing, which is feeding the algorithm, includes:
- Blog posts and ranking in Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
- Social media (TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, BlueSky, Threads)
- Influencer features and book reviews
- Newsletters and Substack posts
- Medium articles and author websites
- Anywhere that can link back to your books or website
When readers arrive at your Amazon book page from these sources and engage, Amazon reads that as a strong signal of relevance and quality.
Organic Book Sales Beat Paid Ad Spikes
Another major change? Consistent organic content now outranks the quick wins of paid advertising, which is a good thing! No need to spend hundreds of dollars on paid ad platforms like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Bookbub.
**Note: You can still run paid ads, but IBPA emphasizes that you must really know your audience and demonstrate conversions for it to be successful. If it falls flat, so does your ranking and authority in the eyes of Amazon.
The Amazon A10 algorithm now favors:
- Long-term, steady sales
- Organic search discovery
- Evergreen content that continues to attract readers over time
What it no longer prioritizes as heavily:
- Short-term PPC spikes
- Sales driven only by paid ads
- Campaigns that disappear the moment the budget runs out
This is especially important for authors who don’t have hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to spend on advertising every month (which is ultimately what you need for most campaigns to be successful).
Why PPC Alone Is No Longer Enough
Pay-per-click ads can still be useful, but under A10, they’re no longer the primary driver of strong rankings.
Why?
- Ads are temporary
- They rely on constant spending
- Low conversion rates actually hurt your visibility
According to IBPA, if readers click an ad and don’t buy, Amazon interprets that as misaligned buyer intent, which is a signal that your book isn’t reaching the right audience.
That means your retail page itself—your description, keywords, imagery, and clarity—matters more than ever.
Amazon A10 also evaluates the health of your author account and listings, including:
- Low return rates
- Positive feedback
- Strong click-through and conversion rates
- Time spent on your page
If readers land on your book page but quickly leave, that sends a negative signal. Engagement matters just as much as traffic. This also just reinforces that you need to know your audience well.
How SEO for Authors Fits Into All of This
This is where SEO for authors stops being optional and starts becoming essential.
Optimizing for Amazon A10 means:
- Writing SEO-friendly book descriptions
- Using relevant keywords naturally in your synopsis
- Structuring blog posts with headers, bullet points, and images
- Creating human-written, evergreen content that answers real reader search query intent
Free and paid keyword research tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Publisher Rocket can help you identify terms that match your genre, themes, and audience. Once you’ve understood the data and how to wield it, then you can apply those insights across:
- Your book listings (through IngramSpark and Bowker)
- Your website
- Blog posts
- Review content
- Author pages
Why Your Author Website Is No Longer Optional
Authors who rely solely on Amazon are at a disadvantage. I know that as a writer, we want to focus on the writing first. But as an indie author who is self-publishing, you also have to be the marketer, too.
So your website plays a critical role in:
- Building domain authority
- Ranking in Google search
- Driving external traffic back to Amazon
- Establishing long-term discoverability
Organic traffic, whether from book reviews, essays, or topic-adjacent blog posts, creates visibility even before you have strong sales numbers.
Point being: Discoverability comes first. Sales follow.
What Amazon A10 Is Really Asking Authors to Do
At its core, the Amazon A10 algorithm is rewarding authors who:
- Create valuable, evergreen content
- Understand their audience
- Drive traffic organically
- Maintain strong reader engagement
- Build visibility beyond Amazon’s walls
This is about becoming findable and creating long-lasting momentum online.
And if we want more sales, unfortunately, we have to play the game, even if we don’t necessarily like the game or the game master running it.
SEO Is the Most Cost-Effective Tool Authors Have: Use It
Writing will always be the heart of what we do, but if you’ve chosen the indie path, marketing is part of the job.
The good news? SEO for authors is one of the most sustainable, cost-effective strategies available. It builds over time, compounds in value, and continues working long after a post is published.
So for all those panicking about having yet ANOTHER thing to manage while also being an author, this is actually a really, really good thing long-term.
And for authors willing to invest in their platforms, their websites, and their long-term visibility, that shift might actually be your biggest opportunity yet.
