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Amazon’s mission is to be the most customer-centric company in the world and they see SEO as a key way of accomplishing this. This guide will teach you how Amazon has built their algorithm, what SEO marketers should know about Amazon search results, how long it takes for an update to roll out on Amazon SE, why being mobile friendly matters for your business and more.
The process of modifying the content of an Amazon site to appear higher in search results is known as Amazon SEO. This, in turn, leads to increased exposure and sales.
Promotional efforts, selecting successful keywords, and optimizing each of your listings’ five aspects are all part of an effective Amazon SEO plan. A well-structured title, engaging graphics, reader-friendly bullet points, a thorough product description, and competitive price are all examples of this.
Here’s everything you need to know about creating profitable Amazon listings:
What is Amazon SEO?
While typical ecommerce SEO works for Google, Bing, and Yahoo, Amazon has its own own search engine called A10. The Amazon SEO approach is entirely focused on the A10 algorithm (although there are many similarities).
So, what is the A10 algorithm and how does it work? In a nutshell, it prioritizes listings that are most likely to result in a sale from the consumer doing the search.
That implies your SEO approach should be customer-centric at its heart, with your listings being clear and appealing to prospective purchasers as a top priority.
The A10 algorithm considers customer feedback in addition to listing content when determining ranking. Of course, your reviews have an influence on your conversion rate and sales velocity, so make them as positive as possible.
Because the number of reviews is an essential aspect, many vendors encourage their consumers to submit reviews after they purchase. To learn more, see Amazon’s product review policy.
Aside from consumer attractiveness, sales velocity and keywords are two of A10’s most important ranking factors:
Amazon’s search algorithm is on the hunt for high-performing items. It’s tough for an item to rank if it isn’t already selling, even with well prepared product descriptions.
While it may seem to be a catch-22, driving a sales increase is one of the quickest strategies to boost your listing’s position.
Consider the following strategies for promoting your listing, increasing sales, and improving SEO:
- ‘Sponsored Product’ is a paid service. Advertising on Amazon
- Advertising on social media for a fee
- Google search advertising for a fee
- Putting a Lightning Deal on the Market
- Participation in social media
- Marketing with influencers
- Backlinks from well-known blogs or websites that are related
- Marketing through email
Keywords are used by Amazon’s search engine to index web pages and decide where they should appear in search results.
The search phrases that your prospective clients use are known as keywords. Once you’ve done your homework and figured out what these phrases are, you should include them throughout your listing so A10 can recognize them.
Every top-ranking product has this search phrase (or keyword) in its title.
The more relevant your keywords are to what qualified consumers are looking for, the more traffic you’ll get. Your listings won’t be viewed if your keywords aren’t relevant to consumers at all.
To find the ideal keywords for your Amazon listings, follow the steps mentioned below.
Choosing the Most Effective Amazon Keywords
The process of determining the most relevant search phrases used by your target clients is known as keyword research.
Although it may seem simple, not all customers use the same phrases when searching for items. You may increase discoverability by including several keywords into your listing by considering a variety of phrases that searchers could use to locate your goods.
Going right to the source is the easiest (and cheapest) method to discover what Amazon customers are looking for. You may get ideas for frequently-searched related keywords by providing a simple description of your item into the Amazon search field, as shown below.
This strategy may be used to expand your keyword research by retyping variants of the ideas into the search field. This reveals more particular terms, often known as “long tail” keywords.
There are a variety of web tools you may utilize to get more precise information to assist you choose the most successful keywords. Our top picks are as follows:
SellerApp is an Amazon intelligence platform that includes a free keyword research tool among its many capabilities.
The SellerApp Keyword Search function is shown.
Unlike other free tools, SellerApp shows the exact search volume of its keyword results, as well as additional metrics such as monthly sales, product count, and ad cost.
It also displays your query’s anticipated keyword difficulty. A keyword difficulty score ranges from 0 to 100, indicating how competitive a search phrase is, how strong your rivals’ positions are, and how tough it would be to rank well for it.
Sonar is a free keyword research tool provided by Sellics, an all-in-one Amazon software. You may check for keywords based on your product, commonly used terms in related listings, and connections to competitor listings using the Sonar tool.
The tool displays a number of bars next to each result to reflect the overall search volume for that phrase.
This video shows how to use the Sonar tool to find keywords for a piano bench.
Sonar also has a reverse ASIN lookup capability, which enables you to find and monitor terms used by your competitors.
To find the most relevant keywords for your product, use these tools and strategies. Make a list of several keywords—both broad, “short tail” phrases and more specific, “long tail” terms—and prioritize the ones with the highest search traffic.
As you work to improve your Amazon listing for optimal discoverability, keep your keyword list handy. In the following part, we’ll show you how.
The 5 Elements of an Amazon Listing to Improve
If you’re new to Amazon selling, it’s best to create your SEO strategy first before generating your listings. Then, with your SEO strategies intact, you may utilize a formula to produce each listing.
It may take some time to go through and improve each listing if you’re an established seller with a library of unoptimized listings on the marketplace. In this situation, developing a process is equally crucial, and it’s a good idea to start with your company’s best-performing goods.
In any case, use these procedures to create high-ranking Amazon product listings that increase sales:
1. The title of the listing
One of the most important ranking elements in your listing is the product title. Using the relevant keywords and adequately describing the goods are crucial to optimizing your listing title.
At the very least, unambiguous, product-identifying information (such as “hiking boots” or “umbrella”) should be included. If you don’t do so, your listing may be removed from Amazon’s search results entirely.
It’s also vital to avoid fines by avoiding advertising terms like “free delivery” or “100% quality assured,” as well as ornamental characters like! * $? #.
Keywords should be used
Choose the most significant terms from the list of effective keywords you generated using the approaches we discussed before. Use two to three keywords in your title that have a large search volume but also help to adequately define the product.
Prioritize the most relevant and important keywords, and try to place them at the start of the title. This guarantees that your listing is indexed for that specific term, which attracts eligible buyers.
Finally, don’t pack too many keywords into your product title. This method has been used in the past to attempt to rank better or appear in more relevant search results. Overstuffed material is not prioritized by modern algorithms (including A10), which affects shopper clarity.
Describe your product in detail
Amazon limits product names to 200 characters (including spaces) and suggests include components like:
- Brand
- Line/Collection
- Key Feature or Material/Ingredient
- Size
- Color
- Quantity/Packaging
Amazon suggests that you style your titles by putting the components in this sequence. While this may be beneficial to certain sellers, it isn’t a failsafe method of creating an SEO-friendly title. Consider if your brand is a selling factor for the product and which aspects are more important to customers.
Furthermore, not every item offered on Amazon has or requires each of the aforementioned factors. However, this approach is an excellent starting point for creating a high-quality product title that Amazon recognizes.
From Amazon’s Seller University video courses, here’s an example of a product title:
We’ll build a Descriptive Title for an example product using this criteria, using the three top Amazon SEO keywords we found throughout our study.
In the live listing, here is how our optimized title looks. It’s detailed, has good keywords, and provides the information in a straightforward manner.
As you can see, there is no distinct brand, line, or collection for this item, and quantity is irrelevant since most jewelry is sold by the piece. As a result, we based our description on our keywords. Other crucial descriptors, such as rope letters, ladies’, silvertone, and Western, were subsequently added to draw attention to features and attract the eye of the customer.
2. Product Photographs
Product photos don’t have a direct influence on SEO, but they do have a direct impact on sales and bounce rates. As a result, your ranks improve since the A10 algorithm takes sales velocity into account.
Aside from SEO, Amazon has rigorous visual criteria for their products. If they are not satisfied, your listing may be removed from search results entirely.
The complete set of Amazon’s Site Standards and Technical Requirements for Product Images can be found here:
- TIFF (.tif/.tiff), JPEG (.jpeg/.jpg), GIF (.gif), or PNG (.png) files are required.
- It is preferable to have image pixel size of at least 1000 pixels in height or breadth.
- The color mode for photos must be sRGB or CMYK.
- The product identification (Amazon ASIN, 13-digit ISBN, EAN, JAN, or UPC) must be followed by a period and the appropriate file extension in file names (Example: B000123456.jpg or 0237425673485.tif).
- Your picture will not be able to be seen online if the filename contains spaces, dashes, or other characters.
- The picture must be a professional snapshot of the object being sold or the cover art. No product drawings or pictures are permitted.
- There must be no extraneous or perplexing things in the photograph.
- The picture must be sharp, well-lit, photographed or scanned, and have realistic color and clean edges.
- Images of books, music, and video/DVDs should be used as the front cover art and should occupy the whole picture frame. Cellophane, jewel boxes, and advertising stickers are not permitted.
- All other items should take up at least 85% of the picture frame.
- The whole thing must be visible in the frame.
- The background must be completely white (RGB 255,255,255).
- There must be no extra text, graphics, or inset pictures in the image.
- Materials that are pornographic or offensive are not permitted.
The easiest method to optimize your product photographs is to make sure they adhere to Amazon’s requirements and appeal to customers.
Here’s what you need to know about taking effective Amazon product photos:
Professional, high-resolution images should be uploaded.
Image rules are enforced by Amazon in order to maintain a uniform look throughout the site. One requirement is that product pictures be professional photographs that correctly depict the item being offered.
To follow this guideline, however, you do not need to engage a professional photographer. You may use your iPhone, digital camera, or other device to take high-quality product photographs. To understand how, read our 6-step guide to at-home product photography.
For the main image, use a white background.
Although it isn’t always practicable, Amazon strongly advises having a white backdrop picture for the primary product image.
Listings that ignore this advice have been known to drop in search rankings and get low-quality warnings.
To effortlessly isolate the product in your photos and replace it with a clean, white backdrop, try utilizing the Square Photo Studio App.
From your iPhone, you can take and edit beautiful product images with the Square Photo Studio App. (Image courtesy of Square)
Take a variety of secondary photos.
For your product listing, Amazon enables you to submit up to six photographs, and the more images you utilize, the better.
Showing objects in use, zooming in on minute details, and presenting a variety of viewpoints helps customers connect with your products, which leads to a purchase.
For product photos that provide extra ‘other’ viewpoints of an item, Amazon follows this second set of guidelines:
- The picture must be of the product being sold or related to it.
- The picture must be sharp, well-lit, photographed or scanned, and have realistic color and clean edges.
- Other items or things may be used to show the product’s usage or scale.
- 85 percent or more of the picture frame should be taken up by the goods and props.
- Images that are cropped or close-up are permitted.
- Backgrounds and settings are permitted.
- Text and illustrative visuals are also permitted.
- Materials that are pornographic or offensive are not permitted.
Use images with a resolution of 1000 × 500 pixels or higher.
For all of your product photographs, Amazon highly recommends a minimum image size of 1000 pixels in height or width. This size allows purchasers to use Amazon’s picture zoom tool to get a closer look.
We developed a product picture that satisfies each of these image specifications. When customers look at our product listing, they’ll see the following:
3. Points to Remember
Your product entry screen on Amazon listing pages includes a bulleted list of product characteristics called Key Product Features. This area allows you to fill up up to ten fields.
Amazon creates a bulleted list of your item’s characteristics, benefits, and information using the content you provide here. This list may be rapidly scanned by customers to learn more about your product. These bullets also have an impact on how your listing gets indexed, so they’re a great location to include relevant keywords.
To explain the following information regarding your goods, use your Amazon SEO keywords:
- Name of the product, its intended usage, or its purpose
- Details on sizing, measurements, or fit
- Advantages and features
- Enhancements (if a new model or release)
- Materials, colors, substances, or components are all examples of this.
- Guarantees, warranties, and other assurances
To create appeal for shoppers, use these bullets to highlight your product’s Advantages and features.
Your product’s characteristics are facts about it (like construction details, intended use, special features, materials, and specs). Example: Solid hardwood construction
The favorable effects that such characteristics have on your consumer are referred to as benefits. For instance, elegant mountain oak is strong enough to support even the heaviest of goods.
Keep in mind that Amazon wants this area to be informative rather than aggressively promotional, so it won’t let you do things like:
- Promotional language, vouchers, or special offers are all examples of promotional language.
- Information on pricing
- Offers of free delivery
Here’s how the important characteristics look as a bulleted list on our Rodeo Bracelet listing, following Amazon’s rules and employing three of our Amazon SEO keywords:
Remember that essential features are only a glimpse of crucial characteristics about your product; there’s still one more place where you can offer customers additional information and really sell it. Keep the majority of your material for the product description.
4. Description of the product
This key element of a quality Amazon listing is where you fully Describe your product in detail, answer any questions your shoppers may have, and try to close the sale.
The Detailed Product Description on Amazon is limited to 2,000 characters, so you’ll have plenty of room to explain and market your product utilizing your Amazon SEO keywords, like we did above.
To write an SEO-friendly Amazon product description, use these guidelines:
- Wherever feasible, use keywords in a natural, conversational manner.
- To highlight or italicize text, split up paragraphs, create a second bulleted list, or put bold headers in this field, use simple HTML codes. If you don’t know HTML, you may use Amazon Product Description Editor to copy and paste the appropriate codes into Amazon.
- To take your description to the next level, use illustrative words and narrative language to paint a picture or convey your product’s story.
- Avoid complicated syntax and keep text blocks brief to make it easier to read.
Here’s what our Amazon listing looks like now that we’ve included our improved product description:
5. Price
Pricing retail products is a delicate balance that requires trial and error as well as meticulous planning to guarantee that they sell. When selling on Amazon, though, your pricing play a role in your search results.
Here are some suggestions for optimizing your Amazon product price for SEO:
When building your listings, always do your homework on your competitors’ pricing. On Amazon’s search result pages, the lowest-priced goods are usually prioritized, so try to outperform or equal rival listings.
Be Aware of the Gap
Keep the pricing difference between you and your rivals as minimal as possible if you can’t make the aforementioned technique work for your margins. This keeps your listings from sinking too far in the SERPs (search engine results page).
Make sure to clearly explain any characteristics that provide your goods an advantage over the competition to justify the price difference and convince buyers.
Consider the cost of shipping.
When considering how to price your items, keep in mind that the A10 algorithm takes into account all aspects of a product’s ultimate pricing, including any shipping expenses you charge the consumer.
It makes no difference whether you give free delivery and raise the product price or charge for both separately—what counts is the ultimate cost.
Offering Prime delivery (through Fulfillment by Amazon or the Seller Fulfilled Prime program) has a significant influence on the rankings of your listings.
Amazon SEO Dos and Don’ts
Being a successful Amazon seller requires you to optimize your listings. Here are a few more SEO ideas to help you improve your rankings and profits:
Keep an eye on your competition: It’s critical to investigate and track your competitors’ SEO strategies. This might help you figure out what works and what doesn’t, as well as what you need to do to go up the rankings.
Maintain your SEO process: Creating and executing an SEO plan is just half the battle—to keep rankings and sales flowing in, you’ll need to constantly working on it. Integrate a regular SEO routine to track the success of your listings, keep tabs on your competition, and make any necessary modifications. Make a note of your results so that you can see what works.
Carefully manage your Amazon inventory: Nothing has a greater influence on your rankings than running out of stock. The “temporarily out of stock” disclaimer causes your listing’s ranking to plummet—and if it occurs often enough, Amazon may sanction your seller account. For helpful ideas, see our Amazon inventory management guide.
Consider using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) for your Amazon inventory: Using FBA for your Amazon inventory may provide significant advantages on the platform. FBA items are substantially more likely to be designated for the “Buy Box” (also known as the “Featured Offer”) when they have the Prime badge. More sales and better rankings result as a result of this.
Choose the incorrect goods to list: As previously said, one of the most important factors in SEO is sales velocity. This emphasizes the need of doing thorough market research before deciding which items to offer on Amazon. Make sure your items can produce significant profit margins when sold at even the most competitive pricing, in addition to having a robust demand.
Fall behind on A10 algorithm updates: The A10 algorithm is modified on a regular basis to analyze and rank listings in increasingly sophisticated ways. Keep up with the latest news by following ecommerce blogs, Amazon seller networks, and SEO magazines.
Make inaccuracies in your product listings: Making inaccuracies in your product listings will surely damage your seller reputation. Customers who get subpar items may post negative reviews and report your seller account, resulting in worse rankings, platform fines, and maybe account suspension.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help: If Amazon SEO is too time-consuming for you to handle on your own—or if your efforts aren’t delivering results—you may hire a freelance SEO consultant on Fiverr or Upwork.
Conclusion
Your Amazon listings are unlikely to gain momentum without SEO methods, but Amazon SEO is a simple procedure that can be accomplished without employing an expert.
You may improve your product’s rating and produce higher sales by building the title, images, bullets, description, and pricing with the A10 algorithm in mind.
Many of Amazon’s quality requirements are compatible with successful SEO techniques. The platform encourages consistent and appealing listings, so starting with the Seller University rules is a good place to start. Then, in each part, fine-tune your product listings with targeted keywords and optimal text.
