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Lately I’ve been seeing a ton of posts here about “weight” – listing weight, keyword weight, ad weight, store weight. Everyone seems obsessed with it, optimizing for it, terrified of losing it. And honestly? After 6 years selling on Amazon (home category, currently doing around $8M annual across a few accounts), I’m starting to think we’re all overcomplicating this.

So I sat down over the weekend and pulled together notes from all the tests I’ve run over the years. Figured I’d share what I’ve actually found, vs. what’s just forum chatter.

First, the listing “weight” thing.

We’ve all been there. Two products that look almost identical – similar reviews, similar pricing – and one’s sitting pretty on page 1 while the other’s stuck on page 3. Easy to blame it on “weight,” right?

Last year I tested this with two silicone spatulas. Both priced at $14.99, both around 50 reviews, both 4.6 stars. One had been live for 3 months and was on page 3 for its main keyword. The other was new and barely hitting page 8 after a month.

I figured the older one just had more “weight.” But when I actually dug into the numbers, the story was simpler. The older one had a historical conversion rate of like 14% for that keyword. The new one? Under 9%. That’s it. No magic weight score – it just wasn’t converting as well. I tweaked the new one’s main image and A+ content, got its conversion up to around 13%, and within 10 days it was on page 2.

Anyway, my point is – I think we call it “weight” because it’s easier than saying “aggregate historical performance data.” But there’s no separate score. Just your actual numbers adding up.

Keyword-level stuff.

This one’s less controversial. Most of us agree that keywords have their own performance history. You see it all the time – same listing, ranks #5 for one term, #50 for another.

From what I’ve seen, the main drivers are:

  • Units sold for that specific term

  • Conversion rate for that term

  • Click-through rate? Maybe. Depends on category.

I’ve got a buddy in outdoor gear who literally never checks CTR. Just cranks up impressions and lets it run. He’s been top 10 in his category for two years. His secret? His stuff converts at like 18% in a category where 10% is average. So yeah, CTR? Probably not worth losing sleep over if your conversion’s solid.

Store “weight” – this one actually surprised me.

I used to buy into the idea that older accounts with tons of feedback get an algorithmic boost. So I tested it.

Took the same product, listed it on two accounts:

  • Account A: 5 years old, 12k+ feedback

  • Account B: newer, maybe 200 feedback

Same listing, same price, same ads, same budget. Ran it for 3 months.

Result? Account A sold 127 units, Account B sold 112. Not the massive gap I expected.

When I looked closer, I noticed shoppers on Account A were clicking through to the feedback page way more often. Like, noticeably more. So it wasn’t the algorithm favoring Account A – it was just buyers trusting them more, which bumped conversion, which bumped ranking.

Bottom line: keep your ODR healthy, and your account age probably isn’t holding you back. Focus on building trust with buyers, not chasing some mythical store score.

Okay, the controversial one – ad campaign “weight.”

I know plenty of people here swear you should never shut down an old campaign. Lose all that built-up weight, right?

I used to think that too. Had a manager once who was adamant about it. “You’ll lose the weight,” he’d say.

Last year I had a kitchen product ad group that had been running for like 6 months. ACOS crept up to 45%, and nothing I did would bring it down. Out of frustration, I killed it and launched a new one with the exact same keywords, bids, targeting.

First day? ACOS dropped to like 28%. After about a week it settled in the low 30s – way better than the old group ever did in its final months.

I’ve run this test maybe a dozen times since, across different products. Sometimes the new one does better, sometimes it’s a wash. But I’ve never once seen sales tank from shutting down an old campaign.

My theory? Old campaigns accumulate data that can work against you. If Amazon’s algorithm has learned that your campaign converts poorly for certain terms, it’ll send you lower-quality traffic. Fresh group, clean slate.

So yeah – if you’ve been optimizing for weeks with no improvement? Just kill it and start over. Worst case, you end up where you started.

Relevancy – score or gate?

This one’s subtle but actually matters for how you write listings.

Question is: when someone searches a keyword, does Amazon score your relevance from 0-100, or is it just a yes/no – you’re either in the pool or you’re not?

If it’s a score, stuffing keywords everywhere should help. If it’s a gate, you just need to qualify.

Tested this with two identical yoga mat listings. Same bullets, same backend, same promo. Only difference: one had “yoga mat” in the title 5 times, the other had it twice.

After 30 days, their rankings for “yoga mat” were maybe 3 positions apart. Basically identical.

So yeah, I’m leaning toward the “gate” model. Put your core keywords in naturally – title, bullets, backend. That’s enough to get you in the pool. After that, ranking comes down to sales and conversion. Stuffing just makes your copy harder to read and can actually hurt conversion.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at after all these years.

Honestly? There’s no magic “weight” shortcut. Every ranking improvement I’ve ever seen came from just… doing the basics better. Better conversion, better sales velocity, better reviews. The sellers who win aren’t the ones who cracked some secret code. They’re just the ones who build better listings and actually understand their customers.

So stop stressing about losing weight when you close an ad group. Stop obsessing over your feedback count giving you a boost. And for the love of god, stop stuffing keywords.

Focus on the stuff you can actually measure and improve. That’s where the results come from.

Curious what you all have seen. Anyone else shut down a long-running campaign and see sales jump? Or kept one running forever because you were afraid to lose weight?

For those in apparel especially – does CTR seem to matter more in your world? I’ve heard it does but haven’t tested it myself.

Drop your experiences below. Always trying to learn from what’s worked (or crashed and burned) for others.