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Amazon says it personalizes shopping recommendations with signals such as your purchase history, searches, saved Lists, product reviews and conversations with Alexa for Shopping. It describes advertising separately: personal information, cookies and advertising data can be used to select, measure and improve interest-based ads, depending on your country. Amazon does not publish the weighting or exact decision path for any individual recommendation or advertisement.
The controls are also separate. You can edit shopping-personalization details in About You, manage recommendation information and advertising preferences in your account, and use additional choices that vary by marketplace and law.
Which information Amazon names for shopping recommendations?
Amazon’s clearest current list appears in its May 13, 2026 announcement of About You. Amazon says: “Your Amazon shopping experience is personalized through information including your conversations with Alexa for Shopping, product reviews you’ve authored, your purchase history, items you’ve saved to Lists, and your searches.”
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That is a list of disclosed categories, not a complete technical specification. Amazon does not say how much weight each category receives, how long each signal remains influential, or why one item outranks another for a particular customer.
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Purchase history
Orders provide a direct record of products, brands, categories and timing. Amazon identifies purchase history as an input to shopping personalization. The disclosure does not establish that every purchase affects every recommendation, nor does it state a fixed look-back period.
Searches
Search terms indicate what you are investigating, even when you do not buy anything. Amazon names searches as part of the information used to personalize the shopping experience. A search can therefore help explain why related products appear later, but Amazon has not published a rule connecting a particular query to a particular recommendation.
Saved Lists
Items saved to Lists are another stated signal. A List can represent an intended purchase, a gift idea or a long-term interest. Amazon does not disclose whether different List types receive different treatment or how an old saved item is weighted against recent activity.
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Amazon specifically includes reviews you have written. A review can reveal the product category and your experience with it, but the public description does not explain whether sentiment, star rating, review text or only the fact that you reviewed an item is used in a given recommendation.
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- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
Conversations with Alexa for Shopping
Amazon also names conversations with Alexa for Shopping. A spoken request may provide shopping intent that does not appear in a typed search. This statement concerns Alexa for Shopping conversations; it does not prove that every Alexa conversation is used to target every retail ad or recommendation.
How Amazon’s broader personalization description fits
Amazon’s US Privacy Notice uses broader language than the About You announcement. It says personal information may be used to recommend features, products and services, identify preferences and personalize the Amazon experience. That language covers more than a single product carousel: it can include recommendations about features or services as well as merchandise.
Because the notice is intentionally general, it should not be read as a technical map of Amazon’s ranking systems. It confirms the purpose—personalization—but does not identify the exact field, model or threshold that caused a recommendation.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute| Personalization area | Information Amazon names | What the disclosure does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping recommendations | Purchase history, Alexa for Shopping conversations, authored product reviews, saved Lists and searches | The signal weights, retention period or decision path for an individual item |
| General Amazon services | Personal information used to recommend features, products and services, identify preferences and personalize the experience | Which specific data field produced a particular recommendation |
| Recently viewed activity | Amazon’s Privacy Notice identifies recently viewed items as a basis for recommendations | Whether clearing that activity removes every related signal elsewhere |
| Lists | Lists are identified as both an account feature and a personalization input | Different weighting for wish lists, shopping lists or older entries |
How ads differ from product recommendations
Amazon treats recommendation and advertising as related but distinct purposes in its Privacy Notice. Recommendations help select products, features or services for your Amazon experience. Interest-based advertising uses personal information to show ads for offerings Amazon believes may interest you.
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What the US notice says about interest-based ads
Amazon’s US notice says it does not use information that personally identifies a customer to display interest-based ads. This is Amazon’s stated approach, not an independent audit of its systems. The statement does not mean advertising systems lack account-related data; it describes how Amazon says direct personal identifiers are handled when selecting interest-based ads.
What the UK notice adds
Amazon’s UK advertising disclosure discusses cookies and personal information used in ad selection and measurement. It also describes uses related to fraud prevention and improving advertising services. Those purposes can involve measuring whether an ad was effective or preventing manipulation, which is different from deciding which product recommendation appears on a retail page.
Why a recommendation is not automatically an ad
A product shown in a recommendation row is not necessarily a paid advertisement, and an ad signal is not necessarily used to rank ordinary recommendations. Amazon’s public descriptions do not provide a universal rule that connects the two systems. Treat them as overlapping areas with different stated purposes unless Amazon’s local notice says otherwise.
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Alexa’s Terms of Use, last updated May 14, 2026, says: “Amazon records, processes, and retains Alexa Interactions and other information from your account, such as your voice and text inputs, music playlists, shopping lists and shopping history, and information from Third-Party Services (such as when you link your email account or other Third-Party Service to Alexa) in the cloud to provide, personalize, and improve our services.”
Rank #4
- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
This explains Alexa-service personalization broadly. It names voice and text inputs, playlists, shopping lists, shopping history and linked third-party-service information. It does not establish that every one of those data types is used for all Amazon advertising or retail recommendation decisions. A shopping request made through Alexa is the specifically named retail-personalization example.
Where About You fits
Amazon announced About You on May 13, 2026 as a place to view and edit details that shape shopping recommendations. Amazon says customers can share what they want, provide feedback, update specific details or remove information.
Think of About You as a way to correct the profile Amazon uses for shopping personalization, not as a complete data-export or advertising dashboard. The available announcement does not promise that editing one detail instantly changes every recommendation, search result or ad across every Amazon service.
Information you may be able to manage
- Details that describe your interests or shopping preferences.
- Feedback about whether a recommendation is useful.
- Specific personalization details you want to update.
- Information you want removed from the About You profile.
How to change recommendations and advertising choices
Menu names can move, and Amazon says controls depend on the account, service and location. Use the signed-in marketplace and its current privacy notice rather than relying on an old click path.
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- Open your Amazon account. Look for the current About You or shopping-personalization area. Review the details Amazon displays as shaping recommendations.
- Correct or remove details. Use the available edit, feedback or remove options for information that is inaccurate or no longer relevant.
- Review recommendation settings. Amazon’s Privacy Notice points to account controls for recommendations, recently viewed items and Lists. Check those areas separately because they are different sources of activity.
- Open advertising preferences. Use the advertising-choices section identified in your local Privacy Notice. Changing an advertising preference is not the same action as editing shopping recommendations.
- Check browser and app permissions. In the UK, Amazon describes choices involving advertising cookies and personal information. Cookie settings in a browser or app may therefore affect advertising measurement or selection without deleting order history.
- If you are in the European Union, check Your Account. Amazon’s EU Digital Services Act risk assessment says Store customers can opt out of product recommendations through Your Account. The exact label and location may vary by country and app version.
- Review Alexa separately. Alexa activity and linked services have their own terms and device settings. Removing a retail recommendation signal does not necessarily erase Alexa interaction records, and changing Alexa settings does not automatically change every advertising preference.
What Amazon does not disclose
Signal weights
Amazon has not published a percentage showing how much a purchase, search, List, review or Alexa conversation contributes to a particular result. Any claim that one signal always dominates would go beyond the public disclosures.
The exact reason for one item
Amazon does not provide a per-item explanation that identifies the precise input and ranking step behind every recommendation or ad. You can see and edit some personalization details, but that is different from inspecting the model’s complete decision log.
Whether one interaction affects every service
The sources describe shopping personalization, Alexa personalization and interest-based advertising in different sections. They do not establish that one Alexa interaction, search or purchase is copied into every Amazon advertising and recommendation system.
Uniform controls worldwide
US, UK and EU disclosures describe different choices. A control available in one marketplace may be absent, renamed or governed by a different legal rule elsewhere. Check the privacy notice for the country in which your Amazon account is registered.
How to interpret unusual recommendations or ads
- Recently searched but never purchased: a search is a named personalization input, so investigation alone can influence what you see.
- An item from an old List: saved Lists are named inputs, but Amazon does not state how quickly old entries lose influence.
- A product related to an Alexa request: Alexa for Shopping conversations are specifically listed for shopping personalization; other Alexa conversations are not automatically proven to affect retail recommendations.
- The same product appears as an ad: an ad may use advertising information and cookies under the applicable notice. Its appearance does not prove that the ordinary recommendation system selected it, or that it was paid placement.
- Editing About You changes little: About You is one control surface. Purchase history, searches, Lists, recently viewed items, Alexa activity and advertising preferences are separate contexts.
What the Rufus usage figure means—and does not mean
Amazon Ads reported on June 11, 2026 that more than 300 million customers used Rufus in 2025. That is a company-reported usage figure. It indicates broad use of Amazon’s shopping assistant, not personalization accuracy, the number of recommendations influenced by Rufus or the share of ads selected with Rufus data.
Practical privacy checklist
- Review About You for shopping interests you no longer want represented.
- Remove or revise outdated Lists and check recently viewed activity.
- Use Amazon’s advertising-preference controls rather than assuming recommendation controls cover ads.
- Review cookie choices in the UK or other marketplaces where the local notice offers them.
- In the EU, look for the Your Account option to opt out of product recommendations.
- Check Alexa’s interaction and linked-service settings independently.
- Read the privacy notice for your marketplace before assuming a US, UK or EU control works everywhere.
Bottom line
Amazon publicly names purchase history, searches, saved Lists, authored reviews and Alexa for Shopping conversations as shopping-personalization inputs. It separately describes interest-based advertising based on personal information, with cookie, measurement and advertising-service details varying by country. You can edit some shopping-personalization data in About You and manage recommendation, advertising and regional controls through your account, but Amazon does not reveal the signal weights or exact reason behind an individual ad or recommendation.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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