In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley interviews Leo Sgovio, CEO of Convomat, an influencer and affiliate marketing software for Amazon sellers. Leo shares insights from his research on Amazon’s A9 algorithm, emphasizing semantic relevance in product listings and competitor-based keyword strategies. Josh highlights actionable takeaways, including competitor targeting campaigns, keyword optimization in product images, and leveraging Amazon’s search query performance data. Leo also discusses his productivity tool, Be Focused, recommends Rich Dad Poor Dad and Think and Grow Rich, and encourages listeners to follow industry leaders for continued learning.

Timestamps:

Introduction to the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast (00:00:00)
Host Josh Hadley introduces the podcast, guest Leo Sgovio, and the episode’s topics: the A9 algorithm and influencer campaigns.

Sponsor Message: Ecomm Breakthrough Consulting (00:00:44)
Josh Hadley discusses his consulting services, helping seven-figure brands grow to eight figures, and offers a free strategy audit session.

Introducing Leo Leo Sgovio (00:02:00)
Josh provides a detailed introduction to Leo Sgovio, highlighting his extensive experience in e-commerce, SEO, and influencer marketing.

Researching Amazon’s A9 Algorithm (00:04:17)
Leo discusses his research into Amazon’s A9 patents, focusing on the “cold start” problem for new product launches.

The Importance of Semantic Relevance (00:07:26)
Leo explains why creating a semantically relevant listing, similar to top competitors, is crucial for ranking on Amazon.

Actionable Takeaways Summary (00:09:27)
Josh summarizes the episode’s key takeaways, including competitor targeting, adding keywords to images, and using search query performance data.

Favorite and Most Influential Books (00:12:51)
Leo shares his most influential books, citing “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Think and Grow Rich” as life-changing reads.

Favorite Productivity Tool (00:13:19)
Leo recommends the “Be Focused” app, a timer-based tool that helps him complete daily tasks without getting distracted.

Admired E-commerce Leaders (00:14:45)
Leo suggests listeners follow host Josh Hadley and also mentions Ezra Firestone as a humble and relevant industry leader.

How to Connect with Leo Sgovio (00:16:12)
Leo shares the best ways to connect with him, recommending LinkedIn, Facebook, and his personal website for contact.

Links and Mentions:

Tools and Websites 
“Unified Patent Scheme”: “00:05:28”
“Jungle Scout”: “00:12:04”
“Convomat Connect”: “00:12:24”
“Be Focused”: “00:13:29”

Books 
“Rich Dad Poor Dad“: “00:13:03”
“Think and Grow Rich“: “00:13:11”

Notable Mentions 
“Ezra Firestone“: “00:15:01”

Additional Notes 
“ChatGPT Prompts“: “00:16:47”

Transcripts:

Josh Hadley 00:00:00  Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Past guests include Kevin King, Michael E Gerber, the author of the E! Myth, and Steven Pope. Today, I’m speaking with Leo Sgovio, CEO and founder of Convomat, an influencer and affiliate marketing software for Amazon sellers. And we’re going to be talking a lot about the A9 algorithm, finding hidden keywords on Amazon and how to increase your ranking and sales with influencer campaigns. This episode is brought to you by Ecom Breakthrough Consulting, where I help seven figure companies grow to eight figures and beyond. Listen, Leo, I started my business back in 2015 and grew it to an eight figure brand in seven years, but there were a lot of mistakes I made along the way that made the path of getting to eight figures take a lot longer than it really needed to. There were times where I doubted my abilities as a leader, whether I could actually manage a team of people and become a CEO.

Josh Hadley 00:01:00  I doubted whether our brand could actually survive and thrive on the Amazon platform. And I also had concerns whether we would have the cash flow to be able to continue to grow the business. And so to all of our listeners, I wish I would have had a guide along the way. And if you’re in that same boat and you want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level, then go to Ecom Breakthrough Comm, that’s ecom with two M’s to learn more. And as a special bonus to my podcast. Podcast listeners. This month I’m giving away one over $10,000, a comprehensive business strategy audit session at no cost. All you need to do is email me at Josh at Ecom breakthrough. Com and in your subject line say strategy audit and then plead your case as to why I should choose you and your brand to work with for this month. And if you don’t win this month, don’t worry, you’ll be entered to win for future months to come. But today I am super excited to introduce you all to Leo Scorpio.

Josh Hadley 00:02:00  Leo is an entrepreneur with a strong passion for digital marketing and technology. With over 15 years of experience in the e-commerce space. Leo has started his career as an SEO and pay per click advertising specialist. Throughout his career, Leo worked with technology solutions from companies such as Google and Adobe and developed automated marketing software for e-commerce sellers, leveraging chat bots to launch and scale private label brands on Amazon. After exiting one of his brands, he founded Convomat Connect, an influencer and affiliate marketing platform for Amazon sellers, and he continues to launch new products on Amazon. So with that warm introduction, welcome to the show, Leo.

Leo Sgovio 00:02:45  Hey, Josh, thank you for having me. I appreciate it, Leo.

Josh Hadley 00:02:48  I am super excited to have you on. We met originally at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and that was back in 2022. And I’ve been following you since we’ve we’ve stayed in contact. And man, every time I hear you, whether it be on a podcast or on a stage like you just have a brilliant mind and you know, I always come away with a lot of value.

Josh Hadley 00:03:11  So I personally am really excited to hear some of the new things you’re going to be talking about on the podcast today, and I’m sure our listeners are going to appreciate that as well.

Leo Sgovio 00:03:22  Well, that’s flattering. And, you know, I have to say you were the winner last year of the the contest, the best hack contest. So I also learned something from you, which is, which was very impressive. And, so I’m really excited to be here as your guest, but also, you know, like, learn from you as well. So thanks for having me again.

Josh Hadley 00:03:42  Awesome. Well, Leah, we’ve got a lot to dive into today. And so what I want to do, obviously, as you know, many of our listeners are seven figure sellers and they are trying to grow to that eight figures and beyond. And so we want to share with them all the actionable strategies that they can implement that is going to help them grow their brand. And what I think before we hit record here today, we talked about some of the things you have been doing recently, and you had talked about some of the research that you had been doing on the A9 algorithm that I think not many people have been talking about.

Josh Hadley 00:04:17  You know, some of the things that you discovered during your research. So why don’t you share with us the research that you did, uncovering Amazon’s A9 algorithm that kind of helps rank products, and the takeaways for Amazon sellers to increase their sales.

Leo Sgovio 00:04:34  Yeah. Josh, you know, if there are listeners here that know me and, who eventually got to know me over the past few years, you know, they know that one thing about me is that I love to, really understand what’s behind certain things. I told Kevin, actually, Kevin King a story once when I was on his podcast that when I was a kid, my parents gave me a gift, for my birthday was a radio. I know one of those old school FM radios and the day after they found me in my bedroom with a with a radio taken apart. I was basically like trying to understand what was inside the radio instead of enjoying the radio. And so obviously they got upset, but that was like my nature since since when I was a kid, I always needed to understand how things functioned.

Leo Sgovio 00:05:28  And so one thing that really caught my attention curiosity lately is so I’m following a course, an SEO course, again from someone that is very, very interesting in the space and kind of like rediscover the the Google SEO algorithm. And that brought me to go back and read some of the Amazon A9 patents. there is a website which I can quickly pull up here. It’s called a unified patent scheme, where you can go and research all patents that have been registered. And so you can go and see filter by A9. You can filter by keyword. So what I did I looked at the keyword patterns that include keywords such as ranking. And I came across a patent from Amazon A9 that talks a lot about the cold start, which is basically the problem that Amazon has when you launch a new product and they don’t know anything about you because you obviously don’t have historical data, you don’t have traffic, you don’t have reviews. so they need to understand where to place you in the index. And in that patent I discovered a few concepts and then a few very interesting notions that are, you know, very, very, I guess, important, for you, when you launch a product to know and understand so that you can better optimize a listing based on what Amazon is looking for, was what the search engine and the A9 algorithm is looking for versus what, you know, some keyword tools or some gurus out there might be teaching you.

Leo Sgovio 00:07:15  and so one of the things I always say to people like, you need to learn the business first. You need to learn. You know, why certain things work certain ways before you delegate or you listen to somebody else. Because otherwise there is a disconnect there. Right. And the results are not as you you expect. So, anyway, just long story short, what the algorithm says is that when you launch a new product on Amazon, being semantically relevant to a certain in a certain context is is very, very important. And so in one of my presentations, I’m giving, at a conference next week is is exactly like understanding how to ensure that your listing is semantically relevant to the main topic or subject of your product instead of going broad and for as many keywords as possible, because what it does, it actually dilutes your relevancy. for that, for that, you know, of your listing for a specific keyword or group of keywords. And so instead of helping you, the hurts your, your rankings.

Leo Sgovio 00:08:29  and so if you read through the lines, what the algorithm says is that, you know, what Amazon does is they look at the top ranking products for, you know, similar to yours, and they see what keywords they rank for. and then they expect you to potentially have a very similar listing. So it sounds silly, but if you clone in quotes, obviously, you know, with your own words changing, changing and listing with your own words, and existing listing that is already ranking very well for as many keywords as possible that are relevant and similar to yours. you you are actually helping the search engine to understand much, much faster what your product is about and from an SEO perspective. So excluding all the other metrics such as reviews and clicks and auto carts and, conversions, then you should be in a much better position from an SEO perspective.

Josh Hadley 00:09:27  Leo, this has been an amazing conversation now. I’d love to leave the audience with three actionable takeaways from each episode. Here are the three takeaways that I noted.

Josh Hadley 00:09:38  Leo, let me know if you think I’m missing something. Number one, we talked about the A9 algorithm and this kind of cold start, and you talked about being able to, you know, create semantically relevant, product listings to the top sellers in your product category. And so the first action item here is that you should create product targeting campaigns on those specific competitors. And my hack on that is that you should create single competitor campaigns and then keep pouring the juice on the fire in terms of what is working well, where are you winning against certain competitors? Where are you not doing as well? And you can pull those back if there in single competitor ad campaigns. So that’s action item number one. Turn that on from day one. Action item number two is Leo just dropped some huge knowledge that nobody else is talking about in terms of including your keywords into your images, instead of it being overly optimized for the customer’s experience. You know, he shared a great example. Instead of saying, you know, keep your face looking younger and more healthy.

Josh Hadley 00:10:52  Instead, add in an additional keyword phrase. Our vitamin C serum helps keep your face looking beautiful and healthy, right? If you do that, Amazon’s crawling all of that text. And I believe that that is going to help you rank even better than some of your competitors, especially if they are not including those keywords in their images as well. And my third action item, there’s probably a million action items, I think, from this podcast episode. But my third one would be, you know, using search query performance, but not just letting all of that large amount of data stare at you in the face, utilizing that jungle ass tool that you talked about in the Google Sheets that they have available to actually get relevant information from it. I think that Amazon continues to push out so much data, and us as sellers were trying to figure out like, whoa, okay, how do I interpret everything and draw conclusions from all of this data? And so finding and identifying those tools that can help you clearly see correlations or identify those opportunities from the data is super valuable.

Josh Hadley 00:12:04  So that would be my third action item is to do that. My fourth one would be, you know, signing up for Convomat Connect as well, because that influencer campaign stuff is so important and we just scratched the surface there. Leo, is there anything you think I’m missing in terms of an action item for our listeners?

Leo Sgovio 00:12:24  no, I think you you covered pretty much everything, Josh, I would say. maybe it’s a good idea to listen to the podcast, you know, a couple of times just because we really covered a lot. And, is there are certain things that you might, overlook or maybe over here as you probably driving or not paying attention. But if you do take a lot of notes, you know, here there are some knowledge bumps that you can probably use in your business right away.

Josh Hadley 00:12:51  Totally agree. Good advice. Leo, I ask each guest the following three questions. So number one, what is your favorite book or most influential book that you’ve read and why?

Leo Sgovio 00:13:03  probably doing rhetoric here, but I think, rich dad, poor dad and then thinking grow Rich have definitely changed my life for sure.

Josh Hadley 00:13:11  Yeah, completely echo that sentiment. Thinking grow rich, that mindset stuff so, so important.

Leo Sgovio 00:13:18  That was definitely a must for sure.

Josh Hadley 00:13:19  Agreed. Question number two here. What is your favorite productivity tool? Or maybe it’s a new software tool that you think is a game changer.

Leo Sgovio 00:13:29  It’s actually one of these, extensions that I installed on my an app installed on my Mac. And my iPhone is called Be Focused. It’s it’s like a timer that. So what do you do at the beginning of your day? Let’s say you give it 10 or 5 tasks that you want to accomplish or get done in the day. And then for each task you assign a much time you think that should take you. And then when you start it, basically you have this timer, that is always in front of you. So what I do, I have the two screen in front of me, and then on the side I have my iPhone which is displaying the timer. And so I know that, it’s taking me, you know, I have ten minutes left.

Leo Sgovio 00:14:11  And so it just avoids distractions. because sometimes what I do, I open new tabs and they get an email, and then I get a message on WhatsApp, so that really helps me to stay focused. And by the end of the day, I just got my five tasks done.

Josh Hadley 00:14:24  I love that that is so important. One of my favorite books is the one thing and they talks a lot about like multitasking is is a myth. Nobody can multitask especially effectively. Like, your brain is only thinking about one thing at a time. and so I, I agree with what you just talked about that be focused and like, do one thing, focus on it, remove all the other distractions completely echo what you’re saying there. All right. My last question here for you, Leo, is who is somebody that you admire or respect the most in the e-commerce space that other people should be following and why?

Leo Sgovio 00:15:01  Josh, it’s hard to come up with one name. I think, you know, people should just follow you and listen to your podcast, because this is probably where they’re going to get most of most of their knowledge.

Leo Sgovio 00:15:13  yeah. Like I it’s it’s hard to just mention one in the e-commerce space. You know, it’s such a vast, and broad space, right? If you look at the Amazon ecosystem or Shopify, there’s a bunch of like, amazing people there, like people like Ezra Firestone’s I like it. It’s always relevant, with what it does and follows trends, but also very humble. and, you know, I get to learn a lot from him. But, you know, to those listening, I will say, just make sure that you subscribe to this podcast because, Josh, you’re inviting some of the smartest people in the industry, and I like it that you’re going outside. Also the the Amazon space. because there are a lot of bright, bright minds out there that are doing just just as good. just not in the Amazon community.

Josh Hadley 00:16:00  Yeah. Well, Leah, you’re, you’re check for sharing those words is in the mail already.

Leo Sgovio 00:16:08  I think.

Josh Hadley 00:16:09  But, Leo, this has been amazing.

Josh Hadley 00:16:12  If people want to go learn more about Convomat, they want to go connect with you. They want to follow your journey. Leo where should people go?

Leo Sgovio 00:16:20  I normally suggest to just reach out to me via LinkedIn. it’s one of the social media platforms that I’m spending most of my time on. Lately, Facebook is also another one. And yeah, my my new website is almost readily on google.com, so that’s probably also one of the best ways to reach out to me.

Josh Hadley 00:16:38  All right. Spell your last name for everybody.

Leo Sgovio 00:16:41  S as in Sam G as in George O. V as in Victor I as India. Oh, as oscar.com.

Josh Hadley 00:16:47  All right. Leo. Scorpio. Go check it out. He’s also got he mentioned the tools that he’s going to share with us, the ChatGPT prompts that he discussed earlier in this podcast, man. I mean, that would be another action item. So many gold nuggets, just like Leo said. You need to go back, put this on rewind. If you listen to it at two x speed, you probably need to go back and listen to it at one x speed because so much knowledge has been shared today.

Josh Hadley 00:17:16  So Leo, thanks for the wealth of wisdom you shared with us today.

Leo Sgovio 00:17:20  Josh, I appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure being here today. Thank you.