What is the Amazon IDQ Score?

The Amazon Item Data Quality (or IDQ) Score is a way of measuring the quality and quantity of the information that you give to your customers about your product. It is derived from the detail page of your product.

High IDQ scores are given to Amazon vendors and/or sellers that provide high-quality images, descriptive titles, clear and compelling bullet points or descriptions, correctly assigned product categories, variation families, and relevant hidden keywords.

“A high Amazon IDQ score is actually a requirement for good ‘findability’ of products on Amazon. Strong content and a high IDQ score have a big impact on your results.” — Martine Kevelham, CCO at Incubeta Maze-One.

How does the Amazon IDQ Score work?

The Amazon system automatically gives each product an IDQ score on a scale of 0 to 100.

However, “even though the IDQ score has ‘quality’ in its name, it’s not just about quality. In fact, when it comes to the IDQ score, it’s almost purely based on the quantity of your data. It’s the quantity that influences Amazon’s algorithm,” says Martine.

A product must be ranked with an IDQ of 90 or higher to be included in Amazon’s algorithm. This algorithm, in turn, determines whether a product is included in Amazon’s search function or is eligible for Amazon deals, among other benefits.

When assigning an IDQ Score, Amazon looks at whether a product has the following components:

1. Categorize products within the right Leaf Nodes

To increase your Amazon IDQ score, you want to make sure that your product is classified under the most specific and accurate node that it could possibly belong to.

A “node” (also known as “browse node”) is kind of a classification or label. Examples of nodes are “baby products”, “women’s wear”, “shoes”, “electronics”, etc. Each node or browse node represents a type of item for sale that customers can browse through. Consider the three main types of nodes:

• ROOT NODE – “Shoes”
• BRANCH NODE – “Men’s”, “Children’s”, “Women’s” > “Heels”,
• LEAF NODE (no ‘children’ nodes that follow it) – “Sneakers”, “Boots”, “Open-Toe”

Examples:

• Shoes (Root) > Women’s (Branch) > Heels (Branch) > Open-Toe Heel (Leaf)
• Personal Care (Root) > Hair Care (Branch) > Shampoo (Branch) > Dry Hair (Leaf)

On Amazon, nodes follow a hierarchy, where the ‘root note’ is the most general and the ‘leaf node’ is the most specific. Always make sure your product is categorized within under the most appropriate leaf node.

2. Use A+ Content and/or Premium A+ Content

Your product detail page needs A+ content if you want a high IDQ score.

2.a. A+ Content

Amazon A+ content refers to a product’s product description, where brands can tell their brand story with a combination of text, images, and videos.

Without A+ content, a product listing is limited to plaint text descriptions and standard photo reels. By adding A+ content to the standard product detail page, brands enhance the user experience and therefore drive higher conversion.

A few features that A+ content offers include:

• Header and footer
• Multiple, varied images of a product
• Video
• Bullet points
• 360° product views
• Basic (non-interactive) comparison tables
• “What’s in the box” section

For brands that think A+ content is still not enough, however, there is also Premium A+ Content.

2.b. Premium A+ Content (or A++ Content)

Amazon Premium A+ Content (or Amazon A++ Content) is a more exclusive tool that allows brands to use more complex elements, increasing the total number of modules from five to seven.

A few features that Premium A+ content offers include:

• Header and footer
• Video
• Full-width imagery
• More webpage real-estate
• Clickable Q&A
• Interactive comparison charts
• Image carousel modules
• Click-able hotspot maps
• Mobile-friendly and voice-friendly product pages
• Testimonials

3. Other Components to Achieve a High IDQ Score

Your product detail page must have:

• At least 5 bullet points
• At least 5 high-resolution images
• At least one review of 3 stars or more

The Impact of Amazon’s IDQ Score

If the product on the detail page follows all the points mentioned above, you’re on track towards getting a high IDQ score.

“An IDQ score on its own doesn’t mean anything; brands should see it as a starting point. As an example, a product page has the required 5 bullet points, but if the text with these bullet points do not make any sense, it’s no use. You could have a high IDQ score without having good-quality descriptions. It is precisely this incompleteness that can greatly affect conversion,” shares Martine.

Once an IDQ score is all set and done, brands need to take an extra step. Ask yourselves: Are the keywords correct? Is the product description aligned with the season? Are there any bullet points, and if so, is the text relevant?

If all the signs are green, then the Amazon algorithm will not only be optimally influenced, but your SEO efforts will also prove worthwhile.

Get an IDQ Score Health Check

How do your products score? What are points for improvement? Where can we optimize for driving more sales? Get in touch if you’re interested in an IDQ Health Check for your brand. Together we can spot areas of opportunity and increase your rate of conversion.