🎙️Interview with Gary Hammerschlag

DESCRIPTION

Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations.

Today, we're joined by our in-house organic strategy expert, Gary Hammerschlag.

He'll walk us through the evolution of content scoring, share how top brands are approaching content audits today, and give us a sneak peek into where the industry is headed regarding organic excellence.

Tune in to find out more!

Quote:

Optimization never ends. There are always improvements in organic rank that can happen. I don't think it's ever set-it-and-forget-it.

Gary Hammerschlag

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, and Gary discuss:

• The Evolution of Content Scoring on Amazon: A history of content audits—starting from highly manual, page-by-page checks, moving through early automations, and now to sophisticated frameworks that combine qualitative and quantitative data.

• From Binary to Nuanced Scoring: The shift from basic checklists (like "Does this listing have six images?") to systems that weigh the true quality and impact of each part of a PDP (product detail page).

• Modern Content Audit Methodologies: Current best practices for scoring content, including the new variables at play (like user-generated content and the role of Amazon's AI assistant, Rufus), and why brands need to update their frameworks as the landscape evolves.

• PDP & Storefront Optimization: The buckets and categories considered during optimization—from images and titles to mobile formatting and SEO—and how brands should prioritize and frequently assess their catalogs.

• Importance of Continuous Improvement: Content optimization isn't a one-off project, but an ongoing process. Gary emphasizes using leading indicators, A/B testing, and regular audits to keep PDPs and storefronts performing at their best.

• Future Trends & Technology: The rapid pace of change on Amazon, the likely rise of tech-driven and AI-assisted content evaluation, and how staying ahead is key to organic success.

• Real-world examples illustrating how deeper content audits can uncover hidden opportunities, even for brands that already look "optimized" on the surface.