Amazon Strategy
Amazon Editorial Recommendations: How to Get Featured
How Amazon editorial recommendations work, what the badge means for conversion, and the real outreach path to get your product featured in the carousel.
Amazon editorial recommendations are the review carousels that show up on search results pages, usually with a headline like “From our editors” or “Top picks from Forbes.” Each card is a snippet pulled from an external article by a third-party publisher, and it links out to that publisher’s site before routing the shopper back to a product page through an affiliate link. Sellers keep asking Amazon how to get featured, but Amazon isn’t the party you pitch. The publishers are.
This post walks through what the editorial badge actually signals, who controls placement, and the outreach path that puts your ASIN in the carousel. Amazon’s algorithms and program rules aren’t publicly documented in detail; what follows reflects current Seller Central guidance and observation from sellers who’ve landed placements.
What are Amazon editorial recommendations and who controls them?
Editorial recommendations are curated product roundups from independent publishers that Amazon surfaces on search results pages. When you search “best running shoes” on Amazon, you’ll often see a carousel titled something like “From our editors: Runner’s World’s top picks” positioned above or between the organic search results. Each card links to the publisher’s article, and any downstream Amazon purchase earns that publisher an affiliate commission.
Amazon controls which articles surface and where they render on the search page. The publishers control which products they include in the article itself. This split matters because sellers often assume there’s an Amazon-side submission form or account manager who can nudge a product into the carousel. There isn’t.
The article that populates the carousel already exists on the publisher’s site. Amazon’s job is matching that article to relevant search queries and rendering it as a widget. To get into the widget, your product has to be in the underlying article. To get into the article, you pitch the publisher’s writer or commerce editor.
This is one of the more misunderstood features on the platform, and it sits in a different category from the Amazon’s Choice badge, which is algorithmically assigned rather than editorially curated.
How does the editorial recommendation badge affect conversion?
The carousel occupies premium visual real estate. Depending on the query, it can sit above the fold, between sponsored and organic results, or in the middle of the page. Shoppers who see a Forbes or Wirecutter badge next to a product typically trust the endorsement more than a generic sponsored result, which is why the placement matters for Amazon conversion rate benchmarks.
That said, the badge doesn’t directly influence A9 or A10 ranking. Amazon’s algorithms weight signals like keyword relevance, sales velocity, conversion rate, and inventory availability. Editorial placement isn’t a documented ranking factor. But the downstream effect (higher CTR feeding higher conversion) can lift organic position over time. Treat it as a conversion asset first, ranking asset second.
The other conversion angle is trust decay. First-time shoppers on Amazon default to social proof, badges, review count, and star rating. An editorial recommendation from a name they recognize compresses the trust-building phase. That’s especially valuable if you’re launching a new ASIN with limited reviews, where growing your review base on Amazon is still in progress.
One caveat: shoppers who click the editorial card leave Amazon briefly, land on the publisher’s article, then click through an affiliate link back to your product. That extra hop can introduce drop-off. So the badge itself, visible on the search page without a click, is often more valuable than the referral traffic.
Which publishers run Amazon editorial recommendations?
Amazon has partnered with a rotating roster of publishers over the years. The exact list changes, and Amazon doesn’t publish it, but common names sellers report seeing include:
- Forbes (Forbes Vetted and Forbes Health)
- Wirecutter (New York Times)
- Sports Illustrated
- Popular Mechanics
- Runner’s World
- Rolling Stone
- Bob Vila
- Better Homes & Gardens
Coverage skews toward categories where product research is high-consideration: fitness, home improvement, kitchen, tech, health, and outdoor. Impulse categories like fashion or beauty see less editorial density.
The specific carousel that renders depends on the query. A search for “power drill” is more likely to surface Popular Mechanics or Bob Vila than Runner’s World. This is worth mapping before you pitch. Use reverse ASIN analysis to find the top-ranking competitor products in your niche, then note which editorial carousels appear when you search their primary keywords. That tells you which publishers Amazon is currently pulling from for your category.
For a broader framing on how editorial and other search signals fit together, see the Amazon listing optimization guide and the blog hub for related tactics.
How do you pitch publishers to get featured?
Every publisher has a commerce or product review team, distinct from their editorial newsroom. These teams write the roundups Amazon pulls from. Your job is to identify the writer or editor covering your product category, then send a specific, useful pitch.
Here’s the workflow:
- Find the target article. Search Google for “site:forbes.com best [your product category]” or the equivalent for other publishers. You want the exact article that’s ranking and being surfaced in the Amazon carousel.
- Identify the writer. The byline is at the top of the article. Note the writer’s name and, if listed, their editor.
- Find contact info. LinkedIn works. Publisher staff pages work. Some writers list a preferred contact email in their bio.
- Prepare the pitch. Two-paragraph max. What your product is, why it deserves consideration for the next update, what makes it different from what’s currently in the article.
- Offer a sample. Physical samples materially increase your odds. Commerce editors often can’t recommend a product they haven’t tested.
- Follow up once. After two weeks. Don’t nag beyond that.
Roundup articles get updated on a cadence, sometimes quarterly, sometimes yearly. Pitching just before the writer’s typical refresh window is more productive than pitching cold. If the article says “Updated March 2026,” aim your outreach at January or February of the following year.
The single biggest mistake sellers make: pitching Amazon PR, Amazon vendor managers, or generic media lists. None of those routes lead to editorial placement. Only the publisher’s commerce team does.
What does the outreach email actually look like?
Keep it short, keep it specific, and give the writer a reason to care beyond “please feature my product.” Here’s a working template:
Subject: [Product category] pitch for your [Publisher] roundup
Hi [Writer name],
I saw your article on the best [category] for [year] and wanted to send over [Product name] for consideration in your next update. It’s the only product in the space that [specific differentiator, one sentence].
Currently rated [X stars] across [Y] reviews on Amazon. Happy to send a sample if you’d like to test it against the current picks. No expectations, just want to make sure it’s on your radar.
Best, [Your name]
Three things this does right:
- Names the writer and article specifically, so it doesn’t read as spray-and-pray.
- Includes one concrete differentiator, not marketing adjectives.
- Offers a sample without demanding coverage.
What doesn’t work: press-release language, feature dumps, and asking for a phone call. Commerce editors process dozens of pitches a week and reward the ones that respect their time.
For companies with a broader launch strategy, editorial outreach pairs well with brand story content and a strong A+ content module on the destination product page. When the writer’s readers click through, the listing they land on has to close the sale.
How does this compare to Amazon’s Choice and other badges?
Sellers often lump editorial recommendations in with other badge signals like Amazon’s Choice, Best Seller, and Prime. These are different systems with different triggers and different shopper effects.
| Badge | Assigned by | Trigger | Shopper signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editorial recommendation | Amazon curation of third-party publisher content | Publisher includes ASIN in a roundup Amazon surfaces | External endorsement, expert review |
| Amazon’s Choice | Amazon algorithm | Highly rated, competitively priced, ships fast for a specific keyword | Amazon-approved default pick |
| Best Seller | Amazon algorithm | Top sales rank in category or subcategory (see Amazon BSR guide) | Popularity, social proof |
| Prime | Amazon fulfillment | FBA or Seller Fulfilled Prime enrollment | Fast shipping guarantee |
| New Release | Amazon algorithm | High-selling new launch in category | Buzz, recency |
Amazon’s Choice is the closest visual analog to the editorial badge but the underlying signal is completely different. Amazon’s Choice is algorithmic and category-specific. The editorial recommendation is human-curated and publisher-specific. A product can hold both simultaneously, and doing so creates a strong compounding trust effect at the search-result level.
Getting the fundamentals right, product title optimization, well-structured bullet points, and clean backend keywords, is prerequisite to earning either badge. No amount of editorial outreach will save a poorly optimized listing that converts below category average.
Amazon’s own documentation on search and search results covers how organic ranking factors interact with promoted placements, and the Amazon Associates program terms explain the affiliate mechanics that make publisher participation profitable.
Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon Editorial Recommendations
What are Amazon editorial recommendations?
Editorial recommendations are third-party review carousels that appear on Amazon search results pages, usually near the top or middle of the page. Each card links to an external article from a publisher like Forbes, Wirecutter, or Popular Mechanics, and clicks route through Amazon’s affiliate program. Amazon does not write these reviews; independent publishers do, and Amazon curates which ones surface.
Does Amazon pay publishers for editorial recommendations?
Publishers earn affiliate commission on any sales driven by clicks from the carousel through Amazon Associates. Amazon itself doesn’t pay a placement fee to the publisher, but the affiliate revenue is the incentive that keeps qualifying sites participating. Sellers cannot pay Amazon or the publisher directly for a slot without violating FTC disclosure rules.
How do I get my product featured in Amazon editorial recommendations?
You pitch the publishers directly, not Amazon. Identify the outlets already ranking in the carousel for your target keyword, find the writer or commerce editor covering that category, and send a short, specific outreach email with product samples and unique angles. There is no Amazon-side application form for editorial placement.
Do editorial recommendations affect organic ranking?
Not directly in the A9 or A10 algorithm sense. The carousel occupies premium real estate on the search page, so a featured product often sees a click-through rate lift, and higher CTR combined with strong conversion can indirectly improve organic position over time. Treat the badge as a conversion asset, not a ranking hack.
How is the editorial badge different from Amazon’s Choice?
Amazon’s Choice is algorithmically assigned by Amazon based on price, rating, availability, and shipping speed for a specific keyword. Editorial recommendations are curated third-party endorsements from external publishers. Different signals, different placement, different shopper trust triggers.
Conclusion
- Editorial recommendations are curated by Amazon but written by third-party publishers. Pitch the publisher, not Amazon.
- The badge lifts CTR and conversion more than it lifts direct ranking, though the downstream effects on organic position are real.
- Target the writer at the specific publication whose article already ranks in your category. Generic press outreach doesn’t work.
- Physical samples and one-sentence differentiators beat feature dumps and adjectives.
- Amazon’s Choice, Best Seller, and editorial recommendation are separate systems. A well-optimized listing can earn multiple simultaneously.
Getting editorial coverage takes months of relationship building, so most sellers should treat it as a medium-term play alongside the fundamentals that actually control ranking day to day: keyword research, listing optimization, and conversion rate. Keywords.am handles the keyword and ranking side, tracking which terms your listing indexes for, which competitors outrank you, and where the keyword difficulty sits for terms worth chasing. Editorial placement then compounds on top of a listing that already converts.
Start your free Keywords.am trial and get your listings ranking before you pitch the publishers: https://app.keywords.am/signup?plan=2&freq=year