SEO
Amazon Product Review Best Practices

Reviews are a fundamental part of buying on Amazon. They have also been one of the areas that have changed the most over the last decade.
As Amazon continues to mature as a marketplace, it has become very sensitive to review manipulation. Using outdated tactics can trigger Amazon to remove most, if not all, of your listings.
Even worse, if you are identified as someone manipulating reviews on Amazon, you could be permanently banned from the platform.
Amazon is stringent about reviews because, in the not-too-distant past, reviews were the primary way to manipulate the Amazon search algorithm to have your product show up at the top of search.
While reviews are still important for marketing your products on Amazon, the best practices around reviews have changed significantly in the last few years.
Many of even the legitimate ways used by sellers to gather reviews have disappeared or can now potentially get your listing flagged.
In this article, we will discuss some of the most critical information when creating a product reviews strategy on Amazon in todayβs climate.
Over the last several years, Amazon determined that many practices around soliciting reviews were diminishing the reputation of reviews on its platform.
As a result, significant changes around actively monitoring review manipulation are put in place. It includes changing the regulations around how Amazon can reach out to customers to get reviews and what kind of incentives can be offered.
Amazon has tried to balance giving sellers legitimate ways to get their products reviewed while limiting the amount of fraud around reviews.
Having customers trust Amazon reviews is a top priority to protect how reviews are regarded on the platform.
Fundamentals Of Amazon Product Reviews
The importance of reviews derives from the credibility they provide to your product. They help the customer determine if your product is a good fit and can be trusted to be sufficient in quality.
Reviews, in turn, help your listing conversion and even your ad conversion.
Often, the question most sellers struggle with is this: How many reviews do I need for my product to succeed on Amazon?
The answer to that will largely depend on how commoditized or competitive your product category is.
The more competitive your category, the more reviews your product will need to compete against similar products.
For example, if you launch a mobile phone case, you will compete with other items with 10,000 or more reviews. This shows that to have your reviews provide real credibility to your product, you will need a larger number of reviews.
On the other hand, if your product is very niche, you may only need 5 to 15 reviews to be retail-ready. Amazon recommends at least 15 reviews for a listing before you start scaling advertising.
However, for niche products, Amazon has successfully ramped up advertising with strong performance well before that total number of reviews.
Finally, brand awareness will also impact the role of reviews for your product. For example, an official Lego product will sell well despite no reviews.
This is because there is a much-existing affinity for the brand. That same product will sell better, and ads will convert at a higher return on investment (ROI) once it has established reviews.
However, the product doesnβt need reviews to make the customers feel confident in their purchase.
Reviews should be an important part of your listing optimization strategy. This does not only apply to converting traffic that comes to your listing but also to increasing the amount of traffic that comes from the search engine result page (SERP).
Keep in mind that your product rating score will show up in the SERP as well as in your ads. Additionally, customers can filter their results by average reviews.
While it is common for brands to be concerned with any negative review, know that an occasional negative review can help show buyers that your reviews are authentic. No product has a 100% adoption rate.
You should be proactively working to reduce the number of negative reviews on your products. Do this by ensuring your product detail page is as clear as possible.
You should also be reviewing Voice of the Customer in Seller Central on a weekly basis to identify any potential negative customer experiences before Amazon might suppress your listings.
Voice of the CustomerΒ is an important tool to be able to anticipate issues with quality control or even the content of your listing.
You should look at all negative customer experiences (NCX) to see what you can do proactively to avoid future returns and negative reviews.
Voice of the Customer can be found in Seller Central under the Performance tab.

Use Voice of the Customer as part of your Amazon review strategy to help you limit negative reviews on your products. This can also help you avoid Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) restrictions and reduce your overall return rates.
Feedback Vs. Reviews & Ratings
One common point of confusion for new sellers is the difference between feedback and reviews.
βSeller Feedbackβ refers to the customerβs experience with the seller, not the product itself.
Seller Feedback
Sellers are rated on different factors, such as shipment times, packaging, product accuracy, and significant customer service experiences.
Seller feedback is found on the Seller Central dashboard, the seller store page, and the product detail page by clicking the offers link.

Product Reviews
Product reviews specifically rate whether the product meets the customerβs expectations.
Product reviews are located at the bottom of the detail page, while the total of both reviews and product ratings are displayed at the top of the listing, below the brand name.
It is important to note that it is against Amazonβs terms of service to have family, friends, or employees review your product or a competitorβs product.
Reviews that violate community standards can be flagged for removal. Amazon will only remove reviews that violate the specific conditions outlined in the community guidelines.

Recently, Amazon started allowing customers to provide ratings without giving a review.
It has the same star rating as reviews (one to five) and counts toward your overall customer review totals, but it has no accompanying text. This is why some products might have thousands of stars but only a handful of written reviews.
Programs To Help You Get Legitimate Reviews
Amazon has implemented some tools to help sellers get reviews, especially newcomers to the platform that need those coveted first reviews.
Amazon Vine
Amazon Vine is a program exclusive to those brands enrolled in the Brand Registry Program.
Here is what Amazon says about the Vine program:
βAmazon Vine invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make informed purchase decisions. Amazon invites customers to become Vine Voices based on their reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers.
Amazon provides Vine members with free products that have been submitted to the program by participating vendors. Vine reviews are the independent opinions of the Vine Voices. The vendor cannot influence, modify, or edit the reviews. Amazon does not modify or edit Vine reviews, as long as they comply with ourΒ posting guidelines. A Vine review is identified with the green stripe Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program.β
Amazon handpicks Vine reviewers due to their expertise and history in reviewing a certain product category, so expect highly detailed and honest reviews.
In this Amazon-coordinated program, you send customers your product, and they give you a review in return.
Before enrolling in the Vine program, you must be confident your product will surprise and delight your customers.
Amazon usually waits until a newly launched product has at least five positive reviews before enrolling in the Amazon Vine Program. This allows the platform to ensure no breakage, quality, or content issues must be addressed.
Amazon Vine reviewers are notoriously detailed and honest.
Negative reviews from a Vine user can be especially detrimental because of the length and detail. However, a glowing review can go a long way in helping to build trust and increase conversion for your products.
The cost for utilizing this program is $200 per parent ASIN. There are also specific requirements for the program, including:
- Be brand registered in Amazon Brand Registry.
- Have fewer than 30 reviews on the product detail page.
- Have a buyable Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) offer in βNewβ condition.
- Not be an adult product.
- Have already launched at the time of enrolment.
- Have available inventory.
- Have an image and a description.
Introduction To βRequest A Reviewβ Button & Ratings
In 2020, Amazon released a new tool for sellers: A button for each order a customer places within the last 5 to 30 days.
Sellers can now simply click the Request a Review button, and an email is auto-generated and sent to the customer.
As a seller, you click on the button then the buyer will receive an email soliciting a star rating for both the product and the seller.
The email is not customizable, and it is sent to customers by Amazon itself, which helps to avoid the complications of making sure that your wording complies with the terms of service, while still being able to request reviews on all your orders.

Using the Request a Review button can be done with the following steps.
To send your customer a request for a seller and product rating, go to Seller Central > Orders > Manage Orders.
If you are primarily FBA, make sure it says βView Seller Fulfilled Orders.β If it says View FBA orders, click that link.
This allows you to toggle between the fulfillment methods.
Then, find the order you want to request a review for and click on where the order number is displayed.

Then click the Request a Review button.

Several tools on the market now allow to automate this process. It is always important to ensure that the third-party software you use follows Amazonβs terms of service.
Reviews are still vital on Amazon to help you increase conversion rates and lower advertising costs. However, they are no longer the quick-and-easy hack to get the top of the organic results they once were.

As more sellers use this tool, Amazon sees an increase in the number of product ratings without accompanying text.
Soliciting Reviews
Here is what Amazon says about soliciting reviews:
βSolicitations:
If you ask others to post content about your products, keep it neutral. For example, donβt try to influence them into leaving a positive rating or review.
Donβt offer, request, or accept compensation for creating, editing, or posting content. Compensations include free and discounted products, refunds, and reimbursements.
Donβt try to manipulate theΒ Amazon Verified PurchaseΒ badge by offering reviewers special pricing or reimbursements.
Have a financial or close personal connection to a brand, seller, author, or artist?
- Itβs OK to post content other than reviews and questions and answers, but you need to clearly disclose your connection. However, brands or businesses canβt participate in the community in ways that divert Amazon customers to non-Amazon websites, applications, services, or channels. This includes ads, special offers, and βcalls to actionβ used to conduct marketing or sales transactions. If you post content about your own products or services through a brand, seller, author, or artist account, additional labeling isnβt necessary.
- Authors and publishers can continue to give readers free or discounted copies of their books if they donβt require a review in exchange or try to influence the review.β
It is important to actively reach out to customers to get reviews, but also know that it is better to wait for the reviews to accrue over time rather than trying to cheat the system and have your other reviews removed or, worse, potentially have an account suspension.
This also helps to ensure that customers can feel confident in the authenticity of reviews on Amazon.
While many review services on the market promise to cheat the system to get more reviews, remember that Amazon is aggressively pursuing these companies by closing loopholes and even by using litigation to stop these tactics.
If Amazon catches you using black hat tricks for reviews, it can be very difficult to be reinstated, and you could lose access to the platform as a whole.
Conclusion
For our clients, we find that we can gather enough reviews to obtain customer confidence with the available programs. This includes utilizing Voice of the Customer to avoid negative reviews and strategically organizing variation listings on Amazon to have healthy conversion rates.
As the marketplace grows, Amazon is closing the quick and easy ways to rank; sellers need to learn to develop more strategic launches with products that customers genuinely love.
This has also allowed Amazon to rebuild some of the trust customers have in the reviews on the platform.
Because Amazon is a dynamic and ever-changing ecosystem, itβs essential to regularly check for updates and changes to the terms of service and marketplace guidelines.
Everything in this article is based on the specific state of Amazon Policies at the time it was written.
However, policies can change quickly, so double-check the policies to ensure that what is being recommended here is still the current policy.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Black Salmon/Shutterstock
SEO
4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

In a significant leap in large language model (LLM) development, Mistral AI announced the release of its newest model, Mixtral-8x7B.
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:5546272da9065eddeb6fcd7ffddeef5b75be79a7&dn=mixtral-8x7b-32kseqlen&tr=udp%3A%2F%https://t.co/uV4WVdtpwZ%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%https://t.co/g0m9cEUz0T%3A80%2Fannounce
RELEASE a6bbd9affe0c2725c1b7410d66833e24
β Mistral AI (@MistralAI) December 8, 2023
What Is Mixtral-8x7B?
Mixtral-8x7B from Mistral AI is a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model designed to enhance how machines understand and generate text.
Imagine it as a team of specialized experts, each skilled in a different area, working together to handle various types of information and tasks.
A report published in June reportedly shed light on the intricacies of OpenAIβs GPT-4, highlighting that it employs a similar approach to MoE, utilizing 16 experts, each with around 111 billion parameters, and routes two experts per forward pass to optimize costs.
This approach allows the model to manage diverse and complex data efficiently, making it helpful in creating content, engaging in conversations, or translating languages.
Mixtral-8x7B Performance Metrics
Mistral AIβs new model, Mixtral-8x7B, represents a significant step forward from its previous model, Mistral-7B-v0.1.
Itβs designed to understand better and create text, a key feature for anyone looking to use AI for writing or communication tasks.
New open weights LLM from @MistralAI
params.json:
β hidden_dim / dim = 14336/4096 => 3.5X MLP expand
β n_heads / n_kv_heads = 32/8 => 4X multiquery
β “moe” => mixture of experts 8X top 2 πLikely related code: https://t.co/yrqRtYhxKR
Oddly absent: an over-rehearsed⦠https://t.co/8PvqdHz1bR pic.twitter.com/xMDRj3WAVh
β Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) December 8, 2023
This latest addition to the Mistral family promises to revolutionize the AI landscape with its enhanced performance metrics, as shared by OpenCompass.
What makes Mixtral-8x7B stand out is not just its improvement over Mistral AIβs previous version, but the way it measures up to models like Llama2-70B and Qwen-72B.
Itβs like having an assistant who can understand complex ideas and express them clearly.
One of the key strengths of the Mixtral-8x7B is its ability to handle specialized tasks.
For example, it performed exceptionally well in specific tests designed to evaluate AI models, indicating that itβs good at general text understanding and generation and excels in more niche areas.
This makes it a valuable tool for marketing professionals and SEO experts who need AI that can adapt to different content and technical requirements.
The Mixtral-8x7Bβs ability to deal with complex math and coding problems also suggests it can be a helpful ally for those working in more technical aspects of SEO, where understanding and solving algorithmic challenges are crucial.
This new model could become a versatile and intelligent partner for a wide range of digital content and strategy needs.
How To Try Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Demos
You can experiment with Mistral AIβs new model, Mixtral-8x7B, to see how it responds to queries and how it performs compared to other open-source models and OpenAIβs GPT-4.
Please note that, like all generative AI content, platforms running this new model may produce inaccurate information or otherwise unintended results.
User feedback for new models like this one will help companies like Mistral AI improve future versions and models.
1. Perplexity Labs Playground
In Perplexity Labs, you can try Mixtral-8x7B along with Meta AIβs Llama 2, Mistral-7b, and Perplexityβs new online LLMs.
In this example, I ask about the model itself and notice that new instructions are added after the initial response to extend the generated content about my query.


While the answer looks correct, it begins to repeat itself.


The model did provide an over 600-word answer to the question, βWhat is SEO?β
Again, additional instructions appear as βheadersβ to seemingly ensure a comprehensive answer.


2. Poe
Poe hosts bots for popular LLMs, including OpenAIβs GPT-4 and DALLΒ·E 3, Meta AIβs Llama 2 and Code Llama, Googleβs PaLM 2, Anthropicβs Claude-instant and Claude 2, and StableDiffusionXL.
These bots cover a wide spectrum of capabilities, including text, image, and code generation.
The Mixtral-8x7B-Chat bot is operated by Fireworks AI.


Itβs worth noting that the Fireworks page specifies it is an βunofficial implementationβ that was fine-tuned for chat.
When asked what the best backlinks for SEO are, it provided a valid answer.


Compare this to the response offered by Google Bard.


3. Vercel
Vercel offers a demo of Mixtral-8x7B that allows users to compare responses from popular Anthropic, Cohere, Meta AI, and OpenAI models.


It offers an interesting perspective on how each model interprets and responds to user questions.


Like many LLMs, it does occasionally hallucinate.


4. Replicate
The mixtral-8x7b-32 demo on Replicate is based on this source code. It is also noted in the README that βInference is quite inefficient.β


In the example above, Mixtral-8x7B describes itself as a game.
Conclusion
Mistral AIβs latest release sets a new benchmark in the AI field, offering enhanced performance and versatility. But like many LLMs, it can provide inaccurate and unexpected answers.
As AI continues to evolve, models like the Mixtral-8x7B could become integral in shaping advanced AI tools for marketing and business.
Featured image: T. Schneider/Shutterstock
SEO
OpenAI Investigates ‘Lazy’ GPT-4 Complaints On Google Reviews, X

OpenAI, the company that launched ChatGPT a little over a year ago, has recently taken to social media to address concerns regarding the βlazyβ performance of GPT-4 on social media and Google Reviews.

This move comes after growing user feedback online, which even includes a one-star review on the companyβs Google Reviews.
OpenAI Gives Insight Into Training Chat Models, Performance Evaluations, And A/B Testing
OpenAI, through its @ChatGPTapp Twitter account, detailed the complexities involved in training chat models.


The organization highlighted that the process is not a βclean industrial processβ and that variations in training runs can lead to noticeable differences in the AIβs personality, creative style, and political bias.
Thorough AI model testing includes offline evaluation metrics and online A/B tests. The final decision to release a new model is based on a data-driven approach to improve the βrealβ user experience.
OpenAIβs Google Review Score Affected By GPT-4 Performance, Billing Issues
This explanation comes after weeks of user feedback about GPT-4 becoming worse on social media networks like X.
Idk if anyone else has noticed this, but GPT-4 Turbo performance is significantly worse than GPT-4 standard.
I know it’s in preview right now but it’s significantly worse.
β Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) November 8, 2023
There has been discussion if GPT-4 has become “lazy” recently. My anecdotal testing suggests it may be true.
I repeated a sequence of old analyses I did with Code Interpreter. GPT-4 still knows what to do, but keeps telling me to do the work. One step is now many & some are odd. pic.twitter.com/OhGAMtd3Zq
β Ethan Mollick (@emollick) November 28, 2023
Complaints also appeared in OpenAIβs community forums.


The experience led one user to leave a one-star rating for OpenAI via Google Reviews. Other complaints regarded accounts, billing, and the artificial nature of AI.


A recent user on Product Hunt gave OpenAI a rating that also appears to be related to GPT-4 worsening.


GPT-4 isnβt the only issue that local reviewers complain about. On Yelp, OpenAI has a one-star rating for ChatGPT 3.5 performance.
OpenAI is now only 3.8 stars on Google Maps and a dismal 1 star on Yelp!
GPT-4βs degradation has really hurt their rating. Hope the business survives.https://t.co/RF8uJH1WQ5 pic.twitter.com/OghAZLCiVu
β Nate Chan (@nathanwchan) December 9, 2023
The complaint:


In related OpenAI news, the review with the most likes aligns with recent rumors about a volatile workplace, alleging that OpenAI is a βCutthroat environment. Not friendly. Toxic workers.β


The reviews voted the most helpful on Glassdoor about OpenAI suggested that employee frustration and product development issues stem from the companyβs shift in focus on profits.


This incident provides a unique outlook on how customer and employee experiences can impact any business through local reviews and business ratings platforms.


Google SGE Highlights Positive Google Reviews
In addition to occasional complaints, Google reviewers acknowledged the revolutionary impact of OpenAIβs technology on various fields.
The most positive review mentions about the company appear in Google SGE (Search Generative Experience).


Conclusion
OpenAIβs recent insights into training chat models and response to public feedback about GPT-4 performance illustrate AI technologyβs dynamic and evolving nature and its impact on those who depend on the AI platform.
Especially the people who just received an invitation to join ChatGPT Plus after being waitlisted while OpenAI paused new subscriptions and upgrades. Or those developing GPTs for the upcoming GPT Store launch.
As AI advances, professionals in these fields must remain agile, informed, and responsive to technological developments and the publicβs reception of these advancements.
Featured image: Tada Images/Shutterstock
SEO
ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

ChatGPT Plus subscriptions and upgrades remain paused after a surge in demand for new features created outages.
Some users who signed up for the waitlist have received invites to join ChatGPT Plus.

This has resulted in a few shares of the link that is accessible for everyone. For now.
Found a hack to skip chatGPT plus wait list.
Follow the steps
β login to ChatGPT
β now if you click on upgrade
β Signup for waitlist(may not be necessary)
β now change the URL to https://t.co/4izOdNzarG
β Wallah you are in for payment #ChatGPT4 #hack #GPT4 #GPTPlus pic.twitter.com/J1GizlrOAxβ Ashish Mohite is building Notionpack Capture (@_ashishmohite) December 8, 2023
RELATED: GPT Store Set To Launch In 2024 After βUnexpectedβ Delays
In addition to the invites, signs that more people are getting access to GPTs include an introductory screen popping up on free ChatGPT accounts.


Unfortunately, they still arenβt accessible without a Plus subscription.


You can sign up for the waitlist by clicking on the option to upgrade in the left sidebar of ChatGPT on a desktop browser.


OpenAI also suggests ChatGPT Enterprise for those who need more capabilities, as outlined in the pricing plans below.


Why Are ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Paused?
According to a post on X by OpenAIβs CEO Sam Altman, the recent surge in usage following the DevDay developers conference has led to capacity challenges, resulting in the decision to pause ChatGPT Plus signups.
we are pausing new ChatGPT Plus sign-ups for a bit π
the surge in usage post devday has exceeded our capacity and we want to make sure everyone has a great experience.
you can still sign-up to be notified within the app when subs reopen.
β Sam Altman (@sama) November 15, 2023
The decision to pause new ChatGPT signups follows a week where OpenAI services β including ChatGPT and the API β experienced a series of outages related to high-demand and DDoS attacks.
Demand for ChatGPT Plus resulted in eBay listings supposedly offering one or more months of the premium subscription.
chatgpt plus accounts selling ebay for a premium π«‘πΊπΈ https://t.co/VdN8tuexKM pic.twitter.com/W522NGHsRV
β surya (@sdand) November 15, 2023
When Will ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Resume?
So far, we donβt have any official word on when ChatGPT Plus subscriptions will resume. We know the GPT Store is set to open early next year after recent boardroom drama led to βunexpected delays.β
Therefore, we hope that OpenAI will onboard waitlisted users in time to try out all of the GPTs created by OpenAI and community builders.
What Are GPTs?
GPTs allow users to create one or more personalized ChatGPT experiences based on a specific set of instructions, knowledge files, and actions.
Search marketers with ChatGPT Plus can try GPTs for helpful content assessment and learning SEO.
Two SEO GPTs I’ve created for assessment + learning ππ
1. Content Helpfulness and Quality SEO Analyzer: Assess a page content helpfulness, relevance, and quality for your targeted query based on Google’s guidelines vs your competitors and get tips: https://t.co/LsoP2UhF4N pic.twitter.com/O77MHiqwOq
β Aleyda Solis ποΈ (@aleyda) November 12, 2023
2. The https://t.co/IFmKxxVDpW SEO Teacher: A friendly SEO expert teacher who will help you to learn SEO using reliable https://t.co/sCZ03C7fzq resources: https://t.co/UrMPUYwblH
I hope they’re helpful ππ€©
PS: Love how GPT opens up to SO much opportunity π€― pic.twitter.com/yqKozcZTDc
β Aleyda Solis ποΈ (@aleyda) November 12, 2023
There are also GPTs for analyzing Google Search Console data.
oh wow. I think this GPT works.
Export data from GSC comparing keyword rankings before and after an update and upload it to ChatGPT and it will spit out this scatter plot for you.
It’s an easy way to see if most of your keyword declined or improved.
This site was impacted by⦠pic.twitter.com/wFGSnonqoZ
β Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 9, 2023
And GPTs that will let you chat with analytics data from 20 platforms, including Google Ads, GA4, and Facebook.
Google search has indexed hundreds of public GPTs. According to an alleged list of GPT statistics in a GitHub repository, DALL-E, the top GPT from OpenAI, has received 5,620,981 visits since its launch last month. Included in the top 20 GPTs is Canva, with 291,349 views.
Β
Weighing The Benefits Of The Pause
Ideally, this means that developers working on building GPTs and using the API should encounter fewer issues (like being unable to save GPT drafts).
But it could also mean a temporary decrease in new users of GPTs since they are only available to Plus subscribers β including the ones I tested for learning about ranking factors and gaining insights on E-E-A-T from Googleβs Search Quality Rater Guidelines.


Featured image: Robert Way/Shutterstock
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