Introduction: Importance of Amazon SEO. What to expect in 2023
The e-commerce world is growing exponentially, but Amazon is still the largest online retailer. With millions of products available to buyers, the competition for top positions is really fierce. You need a strong Amazon SEO strategy to stay ahead of the competition and become a bestseller.
Amazon SEO provides visibility of the goods on the platform. To increase the ranking of your products in the search results, you need to optimize your listings for relevant keywords and customer reviews. Experience shows that goods that appear on the first page of search results receive the most relevant clicks and top sales.
With the evolution of Amazon, we expect changes in the search algorithm and advertising platform. For example, more priority to AI-driven ads, targeted personalization, and bidding strategies. If you are aware of these changes and adapt your strategy accordingly, you can beat the competition and drive sales growth.
To be on top of Amazon searches, relevant keywords must be included in all product listings. The product title, as an important ranking factor, should include keywords and key features. In this article, we’ll cover the key elements of the Amazon search algorithm, keyword research and analysis, optimizing your product listings, and leveraging the Amazon advertising platform.
Understanding Amazon Search Algorithm
Amazon search algorithm is based on keyword relevancy, customer reviews, and ratings. It’s similar but not identical to Google search optimization. Unlike Google, Amazon queries are purely commercial and not navigational or informational. Relevant keywords in the title and description of a product improve its visibility in search results. Customer reviews also affect goods’ ratings.
The factors Amazon considers for rankings:
- Relevant keywords in product listings
- Positive customer reviews
- Products sales history
- Optimal prices
Amazon’s search algorithm factors in the following criteria:
1. Amazon search box allows customers to search for goods they want to buy. Amazon matches a customer’s query with the keywords in the product title or description and returns relevant results.
2. Search filters that display search results in a specific order:
- Department
- Best Sellers
- New arrivals or new releases
- Featured items
- Customer reviews
- High or low price
- Digital content and devices
- Programs and features
3. Factors that determine search results on the shopping results pages:
- Product titles
- Product descriptions
- Optimized images
- Product features
- Competitive pricing
4. Sponsored Products for promotion of individual product listings are available to merchants with a Professional account enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry. Amazon automatically generates and matches ads to shopping queries and then displays them on shopping results pages and product detail pages.
5. Amazon sales rank is based on seller performance metrics:
- Account health
- Reviews
- Product price
- Other factors
Keyword Research and Analysis
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To optimize your listings for relevant queries, you need to research and analyze keywords. You need to both identify the most relevant high-traffic keywords for your products and analyze competitors and search trends. Without the right keywords, products will not be relevant or visible to users.
The name of a product is critically important to its promotion in Amazon search results. As to keywords, this is actually the most important part of your list. When shoppers search for products, they won’t click on every result and learn the ins and outs of every product detail page.
They are constantly looking for shortcuts and that’s okay. Brand name, product type, key features, size, color, quantity. These are what consumers look for. Make their search easy.
Amazon keywords are vital to your product titles. So, put the most important keywords at the very beginning of a product title. This is also essential because product titles look different on various devices depending on the screen size.
The product details page is a fine place to use the keywords you couldn’t fit in the product title. The product conversion rate has a direct impact on the order of Amazon search results. If you don’t use keywords on the product detail page, your bounce rate will skyrocket and you’ll end up on the bottom pages of search results.
So called “hidden keywords” or “search terms” are the reference to the keywords permitted to enter at the backend of an Amazon seller account. This is a good opportunity to provide Amazon with more information about the product that is not available to users. Don’t duplicate keywords from the product title and listing at the backend so that you don’t waste valuable characters. Also, don’t use commas, semicolons, or other punctuation to separate backend keywords.
If you want to succeed on Amazon, you need to do keyword research. Start with making a comprehensive list of keywords for each product to maximize the number of searches your product listings bring up. Surely you have target goods that complement your product, which shoppers may also look for or buy together.
Target complements to your product in placements such as bullet points, product description, hidden keywords. Make your product visible to potential buyers who are not directly searching for it, but whose search behavior indicates they may be interested. You can research your competitors’ product detail pages and find out what customers tend to buy together with their main product.
Type a query into the Amazon search bar and get keyword suggestions. The platform will offer products other consumers often search for. After carefully studying the proposed queries, you can form a list of initial keywords to serve as a basis.
Use long-tail and short-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords are broad search terms with a higher search volume. For example, “jeans”. Long-tail keywords are specific search phrases. For example, “skinny jeans for dancing”.
Both types of keywords are a part of SEO strategy. Customers typing in long-tail keywords are looking for certain goods. Short-tail keywords attract visibility to your brand. Long-tail keywords cover more specific products.
Amazon keyword research makes your products visible to more relevant, high-value prospects. This helps turn good visibility into boosted clicks and high conversions. The more conversions, the higher search rankings.
Optimizing Your Product Listings
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After identifying relevant keywords, you need to optimize your product listings to include them in strategic areas. Insert keywords into your product title, description, and internal search terms. Also high-quality product images and reviews improve your product’s visibility and conversion rate.
Focus on seven parts of a product listing:
- Keywords
- Product images
- Product titles
- Product pricing
- Product descriptions
- Key features (bullet points)
- Backend search keywords
Product title optimization
There are a few things to help a customer click on a product title:
- The title matches the name on the physical packaging of your product.
- The title length is approximately from 60 to 80 characters long.
- The capital letter of a word, except for prepositions, conjunctions, articles.
- The title begins with the product’s brand name.
- The title contains information to identify the product.
Product description optimization
The more detailed information there is about the features and benefits of a product in high-quality descriptions, the faster customers will find, appreciate and buy exactly your products.
There are a few criteria for high-quality product descriptions:
- Brand name
- Product type
- Important features such as size, color, etc.
- Material type, such as cotton, leather, etc.
- Relevant details such as packaging, quantity, etc.
While the brand name is typically included in the title, description, and bullet points, it must be contained in the brand field as well. People often filter by brand, so if there’s no brand name in your listing — even if there’s a brand name in the description — customers may never find your listing.
A+ Content, formerly known as Enhanced Brand Content, helps brands describe product features in new ways. The seller can now include a unique brand story, enhanced images, and text placement. These innovations result in higher conversion rates, increased traffic, more and better sales.
Product key features optimization
Key features or bullet points also affect the relevance of a detail page in customer search. In addition to keywords in bullet points, there should be clearly written information to help customers make a buying decision. It’s better to start a bullet point with a feature description and then describe its benefits.
There are a few tips to create clear and concise bullet points:
- No more than five markers per product
- No more than 1,000 characters for all five bullets for better readability
- Up to five key features, such as size, age or gender match, country of origin, etc.
- Consistent order of bullet points for all products
- All bullet points with a capital letter
- Important information from the title and description
- Sentence fragments without ending punctuation
- No promotional and pricing information
- Following all product detail page rules and policies
Product images optimization
High-quality images help visually evaluate and compare key features. Multiple images present a product from different angles. Eye-catching product images excite the imagination and convince customers to buy.
There are a few factors to create good photos:
- Six images and one video is ideal for the detail page
- Clear, informative and attractive images
- White background
- No less than 85% of the image space for a product
- 500×500 or 1000×1000 pixels quality
Product Search Terms optimization
Search Terms are backend keywords to create lead magnet content for a product page. Amazon indexes all keywords relevant to the product. Invisible to buyers, keywords in the backend of product listings increase product discovery.
There are a few tips for Search Terms optimization:
- Only generic words
- Synonyms, abbreviations, and alternative names for a product
- Up to 250 bytes length limit without spaces and punctuation
- Logical order of search phrases
- Spelling variations without common misspellings
Leveraging Amazon Advertising Platform
Amazon Sponsored Ads are important in sales strategies. Brands pay huge amounts of money to promote their products. Click cost is higher during seasonal sales, and so are conversion rates.
Amazon Advertising Platform drives targeted traffic to the products by means of:
- Sponsored Product Ads
- Sponsored Brand Ads
- Sponsored Display Ads
Sponsored Product Ads are PPC ads to boost traffic to the product listings. To use this opportunity, meet these requirements:
- Professional seller account
- One or more eligible product categories
- Only new products and no used or refurbished products
Sponsored Brand Ads are CPC ads that have higher prominence than Amazon Sponsored Products. You need to be a brand-registered seller to access Amazon Sponsored Brands along with these requirements:
- Ship to all US addresses
- Only new products and no used or refurbished products
- One or more eligible categories
Sponsored Display Ads are based on customer behavior and help successfully target a larger proportion of the Amazon customer base. Amazon Sponsored Display ads differ from both Sponsored Brands Ads and Sponsored Products Ads because they aren’t shown to the customers based on their keyword searches.
Sponsored Display Ads target the customers on these conditions:
- Purchase of products in the same or related category to yours
- Search for product listings similar to yours
- Previous review of your product
- Previous purchase of your product
- Search for product categories your product belongs to
Conclusion
Amazon SEO is a vital component of a successful e-commerce strategy. An understanding of the Amazon search algorithm, keyword research, product listings optimization, leveraging Amazon advertising platform will improve your product’s visibility and boost sales. Trend tracking, algorithm updates and ongoing optimization are essential to stay on top of the results. Now you know how the Amazon algorithm works and how to optimize product listings to get more market insights.
