How to improve the ranking of your products on Amazon (Amazon SEO)
Businesses, online stores, and web services compete for the attention of consumers, whose search behavior is constantly changing, with paid advertising in search engines, via social networks or blogs, as well as through search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns aimed at helping achieve better rankings in the rankings. The Google.
In the recent past, Amazon has become the first port of call for many users when they search for a particular product, and in light of this development it is not surprising that a large number of online retailers are selling their own merchandise through this portal. The criteria Amazon's search algorithm uses to display its results.
However, those who take it a bit and immerse themselves in the exciting world of Amazon optimization improve not only the location in product search results, but also sales opportunities at the same time.
What exactly is Amazon SEO?
Everyone has probably heard about SEO these days, and even if Google is rightfully given top priority in this context, the search engine giant is by no means the only place for SEO.
In principle, this marketing system can be used anywhere an algorithm sorts search results according to various factors. About 90 percent in countries in recent years
However, when it comes to the specific search for a product, Amazon, which has grown from a simple online mail ordering business for books to one of the most important e-commerce platforms worldwide, is notably scratching the digital throne of Google, with users skipping the path even more. And more via the standard search engine and instead search for the desired product directly on Amazon.
There, the entered search term is compared with the entire catalog by the internal A9 algorithm in order to present a list of results as accurate as possible to the user, which will in the best case contribute to a subsequent purchase.
Because the A9 algorithm is completely random when placing results like Google's, Amazon's ranking can be actively improved — even if A9 evaluates much less factors, for example, Google's Hummingbird algorithm.
As a result, Amazon SEO requires fewer important steps, but the individual actions are the most important.
Amazon SEO optimization deserves every retailer's attention
If you want to rely on the power of search engines in your web project, you will not achieve much without SEO.
Competition is so fierce in many industries that you can only draw attention to yourself with the right optimization measures or else high-volume competitors will easily outpace you, greatly reducing your chance of conversions.
The situation is very similar if you as a retailer offer products on Amazon: do it without improving rankings, leave a cost-effective and efficient opportunity to help your offer get a better view that goes unused.
That's why Amazon SEO should play an important role in your planning for short- and long-term success. If your products rank more and more in the top positions, users are more likely to take a closer look at what you have to offer — and with it, the chance of ultimately buying your products increases.
What ranking factors does Amazon use?
The A9 algorithm mentioned above takes two main types of factors into consideration when ranking items for sale on an e-commerce platform:
- Relevancy factors
- performance factors
Relevancy factors are the basic information used to describe a product that you are listing on Amazon, and as a retailer, you can directly influence this information, which is why increasing the relevance of your product offering is also the main task of Amazon SEO.
The important elements here are the product title, points and keywords that you store in the Amazon backend, and of course the description of the actual product is also suitable for ranking.
The initial units you need to optimize for these factors are the keywords that are well known by traditional search engine optimization.
Once the Amazon algorithm has filtered all items from the product catalog whose product data matches the user's search query, the performance factors come into play in the second step.
The algorithm evaluates how well selected products are performing so far, with user feedback playing a key role, among other things, A9 takes into account click and conversion rate as well as customer satisfaction.
You can only exert a slight influence on your performance ranking – for example, by only allowing your products to rank for appropriate search terms However, your ranking is primarily a result of your overall success on the sales platform and user satisfaction.
Amazon SEO Optimization: The Most Important Steps on the Road to Higher Ranking
If you already have experience with traditional search engine optimization, you'll learn many familiar items in the following sections about tangible ways to improve Amazon.
Despite all the similarities, there are also points where the two search engines and thus optimization techniques differ from each other, for example, with Amazon SEO, link strength has no effect on ranking, although external links to your products will still help you generate additional sales. In the best case scenario, however, link building for Amazon optimization is not as important as it is for off-page Google SEO.
Another distinguishing feature is the structure of typical user queries or the way users use the respective search engine, while Google can interpret and answer complex questions and search terms, Amazon search is cropped to short, precise search queries and above all product-related search queries, which are always behind Clear intention to buy.
Step 1: Analyze the product and competition
As is well known from other marketing metrics, the first step in Amazon optimization is to subject your product or products and related market to a fundamental analysis.
The more you know about and describe your product, the more chances you have of successful keyword research, for example, a clear picture of the articles and their unique selling points not only makes it easier for you to identify potential keywords but also provides you with valuable input to generate and craft bullet points when the product is updated later.
Design your product descriptions in an innovative and detailed manner – but without deviating too much from the actual product characteristics. Otherwise, incomplete or even incorrect descriptions as a result of a hasty or unrealistic product evaluation quickly lead to dissatisfaction with Amazon users and thus a weaker long-term ranking.
Once you have compiled the important characteristics and strengths of your products as well as a short list of your favorite keywords, you direct your attention to the competition.
Find out which offers rank particularly well for your desired search terms and which service providers are behind the products in question. This way, you can better assess your chances of success, search for keyword synonyms, and gather valuable concept ideas for your product pages.
Analyzing pricing and delivery terms can have a huge impact on your Amazon sales strategy.
Step 2: Keyword Research
Extensive keyword research is just as important for optimizing Amazon SEO as it is for classic search engine optimization, however while Google offers its own tool for quantifying search using the AdWords Keyword Planner tool, Amazon lacks this tool so far.
Search using the AdWords Keyword Planner
Fortunately, you can also use the Google tool to search for keywords related to an e-commerce platform, all you have to do is pay attention to the already mentioned difference in the search behavior of users in order to get significant results in the end.
From your keyword search results with Keyword Planner, you should remove those keywords that play a role for Google but are not relevant to improving Amazon's ranking, this is especially true for transactional and information keywords, as the following example shows:
If you use Keyword Planner to display keywords related to the keyword “printer,” the tool will also present you with the following high-volume search results, among others:
- Printer Test
- “Purchasing a Printer”
- Printer Comparison
- Printer Driver
- Refilling printer cartridges
- “Printer problem”
However, the user using the Amazon search engine will not perform any of the above search queries since they are already on the sales platform, they know that they do not have to expressly state their intent to purchase.
When looking for tips for your printer problems, it makes sense that he does not use Amazon search and therefore, these terms are not relevant to Amazon SEO, even if they have a high search volume in other search engines.
Search with Amazon-Keyword-Tools
Of course, the growing importance of Amazon has not gone unnoticed by search engine optimization (SEO) tool providers.
There are now some services geared specifically towards searching for Amazon search queries. MerchantWords, for example, has compiled a database of more than 170 million international keywords (including German, English, Italian, Spanish and French) that you can use to search for Amazon keywords for a monthly fee.
In addition to the estimated monthly search volume, the corresponding tool also names product categories for the many keyword suggestions in which they are most frequently represented.
Also interesting is the Sonar tool, which you can use for free as part of the online analytics platform Marketplace Analytics, and offers you the search volume for the desired keyword and several alternative suggestions.
For this purpose, a rating scale is used, where a value of 1 indicates a value too low and a value of 5 for a very high search volume, and according to the service provider, the primary database, which is regularly updated, already includes more than 32 million keywords in the English language.
Search via Amazon Autocomplete
Like Google, the Amazon search engine has an auto-complete function so while the user is typing, it automatically makes suggestions to complete the term or terms being searched for, in addition to that, it also provides relevant search terms and displays the most important product categories for each searched keyword. entered.
Not only does random entries help you identify valuable keywords for your SEO strategy, it's also the easiest way to check the validity of some keywords in your temporary list, this way, you can reduce the risk of using a high volume keyword that people use to search for something completely different from your products.
Structure and hierarchy of your keywords on Amazon
A good keyword set is not only distinguished by the fact that it contains all the relevant search terms, during the search process, you should try to make the list as clear and user-friendly as possible, otherwise, it will be difficult for you to exploit the full potential of your search results, especially in the case of Complex Amazon SEO campaigns with multiple keywords and keyword combinations.
Common practice is to group relevant keywords into groups and what is important here is to divide your group into several groups such as “general”, “long-tailed”, “seasonal” or “competitive” in order to simplify the overview.
The last step before preparing product pages is to rank the search terms searched, use the search volume values displayed by the above tools, taking into account information gained through product and competitor analysis, to create the most promising possible ranking, and also include your impressions of autocomplete in Amazon.
Step 3: Optimize the keywords for your Amazon products
Once your search is successfully completed, it's all about putting the knowledge you've collected to practical use: you should put the keywords you've collected in a way that helps your products achieve the best possible position in Amazon search results.
As mentioned earlier, the top builders are the Amazon backend, product description, title, and points.
Product title
The product title is a very important criterion for both ranking and users, for potential buyers, this is the first thing they see of your product – next to the product image.
In many cases, a well-written or poorly written title can decide whether or not an entry in search results is clicked, and in addition to all the formalities and information you'll find in the following list, you should always consider reading flow when drafting.
However, the following features have proven useful for getting a high ranking in Amazon search results:
- Maximum length 200 characters - spaces included
- Keyword(s) must appear in the first 60 to 80 characters
- There are no special characters
- The first word must always begin with a capital letter, unless it is a conjunction, article, or preposition less than five letters long.
- Useful product information (brand, product name, material, color, size, etc.) should already be available in the title
- It should highlight the special features of the product
- There are no item numbers
conclusion
If you want to improve your ranking on Amazon, you will seldom get a title like “Philips GC-3811/70” On the other hand, a product title like “Philips GC 3811/70 Azur Performer Steam Iron, 2400W, Steam Boost 160” "Steam Glide Plus, White / Turquoise" will be more promising, which will provide additional information useful to both the user and the product of the Amazon search algorithm.
Important keywords and synonyms
Synonyms are also an element of Amazon product pages that are equally important to buyers and rankings, however, increasing discoverability in product search while ensuring a good shopping experience is a difficult balancing act.
While the goal on the one hand is to ensure a high keyword density, on the other hand, the information content and readability are important not to be neglected in the formula.
A bullet point should convey to the interested user what makes your product special and what makes it worth buying so it is important to incorporate the most important keywords – including appropriate synonyms – into your bulleted product presentation as much as reasonably possible.
The following points should also be considered when designing:
- Maximum 150 characters per synonyms
- Use keywords that are not used in the title
- No repetition of keywords
- No price or shipping information
- Singular and plural have nothing to do with the A9 algorithm
- Write all numbers as numbers
- There are no special characters
- Capitalization at the beginning of each dot
It makes sense to arrange the information hierarchically and thus start with a general summary of the product, basic functions can be introduced and then more features, and it is better to provide additional information such as information about the scope of delivery at the end of the list.
With the help of synonyms you can prominently highlight the characteristics and advantages of your product – under the product title, if you devote the necessary care to establishing these key points in the context of Amazon SEO optimization, you increase the chance of persuading users who are interested in your offer.
Amazon background (important keywords, synonyms, alternative spellings)
With your reseller account, you have the option to store keywords for your respective product in the Amazon backend.
You currently have 250 characters available for the corresponding General Keywords section which is a space you should use wisely.
Enter the most important keywords and synonyms (excluding keywords used in the title) one by one, separated by spaces in the lines.
“Platinum keywords” do not affect Amazon SEO, these keywords do not improve product findability and are only used for non-promotional actions, so unless you are a platinum merchant, these lines are irrelevant.
When entering a set of keywords in the backend, there is not much to consider thanks to many simplifications, the following aspects do not play any role in the interpretation of the keywords:
- ranking
- Uppercase and lowercase letters
- Signs
- filler words
Since Amazon users can't see your backend activities, you can also safely add regional, slang, or misspelled keywords.
If you have entered all important keywords and synonyms and you still have characters available, you can use alternate spellings that are inappropriate for a serious product page to boost your ranking further.
By using the new keyword types “target audience,” “topic,” “other attributes,” and “intended use,” you can define additional keywords that make it easier for Amazon to rank your products.
Product description (secondary keywords)
Your product description isn't very important to Amazon's ranking and optimization, you shouldn't dispense with keywords entirely, but complex SEO procedures are not necessary.
You have a great deal of freedom in return when crafting your Sales Proposal in text form, which should be a minimum of 1,000 characters and a maximum of 2,000 characters (including spaces).
We rely on passion and a personal approach to enhance a potential customer's desire to buy, and compared to the title and points, the product description provides the advantage that you can go into detail about the unique selling points and other characteristics of your items.
Even if you're essentially free to decide what your item description should look like, Amazon has included some potential information or details in its Quick Start Guide that are best avoided in the product description. These include the following points:
- Seller name
- E-mail address
- Website link
- Information about the company or shop
- Other product details
In order to present your ad text in an attractive way, you can format it with simple HTML tags and structure it with line breaks, menus and wide interfaces.
Step 4: Success Analysis
Even at Amazon, SEO is not a one-time process that ends with implementing your developed keyword strategy. After you have successfully completed optimization actions, you must track exactly how it affects your rankings, customer satisfaction, and satisfaction in a world that affects sales success.
Additionally, it is still important to monitor the competition in order to notice price changes or other changes in strategy (eg in keyword optimization) in a timely manner and, if necessary, to be able to respond.
As opposed to monitoring your website, when monitoring your product pages, you need to dispense with values such as impressions, click-through rate or length of stay, and accurate analysis of sales numbers and customer reviews is more important.
Monitor the competition with the Amazon SEO Tool from SISTRIX
The SISTRIX Toolbox has been one of the most popular SEO tools for years, SISTRIX impresses with its rating databases and the consistent further development of its software, which means that new results and analysis options are integrated into the tool's functionality in a timely manner.
With the Amazon SEO Tool, the internet marketing company has been offering an Amazon optimization and analysis solution for quite some time, with this tool you can not only measure your keyword performance but also check keyword strategies and customer ratings of your competitors.
Of course, you can also view all reviews of your products in the clear dashboard. Moreover, SISTRIX offers concrete optimization tips for title, description and company.
Uberseller tool
Uberseller offers a whole host of special functions that go beyond tracking your Amazon SEO metrics, for example, an inventory manager helps you manage your inventory and automatically notifies you when you need to reorder certain products.
In the Profit dashboard, you can also see which items are bringing you the best sales or at what time (day of the week, time) your products are most frequently ordered.
Undoubtedly, one of the most important components is the sales tracker, which identifies not only your own sales figures, but your competition figures as well.
Other features are monitoring of customer reviews and keywords as well as an alarm function, which notifies you as soon as another retailer reduces the price or copies your product listing.
Improving Amazon Rank: Good standing is half the battle
This sophisticated SEO strategy can only be recommended to any retailer that sells products on Amazon.
Product pages that are full of keywords, which are also well readable and have a high level of information, are effective in terms of the search algorithm and potential buyers, the sooner you start optimizing, the faster the performance factors mentioned, such as click-through rate, will give you an extra boost.
You only get a good rating, buyers and positive reviews if the descriptions and presentation also deliver what they promise in terms of quality, it is not only about the product but also about service factors like availability, delivery time or general support services, so don't make any false promises to improve Rank up a bit and, instead, keep looking for new ways and strategies that you can improve or maintain the quality of your items, Amazon presence, and service in the long run.
You also have the option of doing a SEA on Amazon. As an Amazon retailer, you can choose from the three mobile-enabled ad formats “Sponsored Products”, “Title Search Ads” (both keyword-based), and “Product Display Ads” (product or interest targeting), all of which are pay-per-view ads. Click-based action (pay-per-click).
While the ads of the first two types appear directly on the search results pages, the latter appear directly on the product detail pages, and compared to Google ads, the CPC on Amazon is relatively low, in combination with the generally good conversion opportunity, which the platform provides. For online sales, SEA makes a handy marketing solution for sales on Amazon - provided you have the necessary budget.