According to recent estimates, nearly two million brands actively sell their products on Amazon. With so many businesses on the platform, getting noticed and standing out may feel daunting, if not outright impossible. But the good news is that you can differentiate your brand by mastering search engine optimization (SEO) for Amazon.
While you’ve undoubtedly heard of the general concept of SEO, you might be asking yourself, “What is Amazon SEO, in particular?” As its name suggests, SEO for Amazon is all about optimizing your content to boost product and brand visibility on the most popular digital marketplace in the United States.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. So join us as we take a deep dive into Amazon SEO services, tools, and strategies you can use to gain more traction among your target audience and hit your sales goals.
What Is Amazon SEO?
Amazon SEO refers to the process of optimizing product listings on the e-commerce platform to rank higher in search results for specific keywords and phrases. The goal is to increase the visibility of these products, making it more likely for potential customers to find and purchase them.
Amazon’s search engine, A9, prioritizes listings based on their relevance to the user’s search query and the product’s performance history, including factors like sales volume, customer reviews, and price competitiveness.
Therefore, enhancing your Amazon SEO involves carefully selecting relevant keywords, crafting compelling product titles and descriptions, using high-quality images, and gathering positive customer reviews. Ultimately, the aim is to meet Amazon’s criteria for both relevance and performance, thereby improving your product’s search ranking and overall visibility on the platform.
7 Ways to Get Noticed on Amazon
Much like how it is with traditional SEO, you can’t rely on any single Amazon SEO strategy to improve visibility or get noticed. Instead, you need a comprehensive strategy that helps you move the needle and climb the rankings. Every move you make in the name of SEO will push you a little bit closer to optimal visibility.
With that in mind, some strategies we recommend include the following:
Conduct Keyword Research
Amazon-focused or not, keywords are still the foundation of SEO. You need to know what words and phrases customers use when searching for products similar to the ones you sell. And to determine that, you’ll need to do some extensive keyword research.
Here are a few tips to jumpstart your efforts:
- Type a few relevant phrases into the search box to see which products pop up
- Scan your competitor’s offers and make note of the phrases they use
- Use SEO tools to discover related phrases and terms
On that last note, the Product Opportunity Explorer is a built-in Amazon SEO tool that helps you identify trending search terms. It provides valuable information about search volume, trending phrases, and more.
During your research, you need to group your terms into two particular categories in order to ensure that you thrive on Amazon: short-tail and long-tail keywords. A short-tail keyword is a word or phrase that is broad and short, hence the name. (Think “shoes” or “t-shirts.”)
Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, don’t receive as much search volume, seeing as they are more detailed. However, they do indicate strong purchasing intent, as the user is looking for something very specific. For example, instead of “shoes,” they may search for “size nine men’s basketball shoes.”
Create Compelling Titles
There’s no better place to use primary keywords than in your product titles. And while that may sound obvious, you’d be surprised how many brands fail to optimally use keywords in product titles.
When crafting your titles, put yourself in the shoes of your target audience members and consider the details they’ll want to know. In doing so, you’ll see that your product’s title is a great place to highlight information such as:
- Your brand name
- The type of product
- The product’s color or size
Amazon has a 200-character limit on product titles, but don’t feel as though you need to use every single character allotted. Keep it simple, use a few relevant keywords, and leave it at that. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to use more keywords in other areas of the product page.
Craft Informative Product Descriptions
Here’s your chance to show off how keyword-savvy you are and put all of your research to great use. Your product description should mention the following details:
- Materials
- Colors
- Quantity
- Dimensions
- Sizes
- Warranty information
- Care instructions
Despite the detailed nature of a product description, you must resist the temptation to engage in keyword stuffing. Use relevant phrases, but don’t be redundant. Overusing terms just for the sake of keyword optimization will only end up hurting the customer experience and damaging your rankings in the process.
If you use a keyphrase once, there probably isn’t a good reason to repeat it. Instead, focus on naturally weaving in as many terms as you can while ensuring that the content makes sense.
Your end goal here is to prioritize conveying valuable information to your audience. When you put the needs of the customer first, your keyword optimization strategy will be much more impactful.
Use Bullet Points
Most consumers don’t want to read hundreds of words of product description content. They want to ensure that the item they are buying will meet their needs. And with that in mind, make sure you use plenty of bullet points.
Choose the most important product details that you want to draw attention to and include them in your bulleted list. Explain unique uses for your product, illustrate special features, and highlight key design elements.
You don’t have to use full sentences in your bullet points, either. Of course, it’s acceptable to use some sentences in your product description. But it’s best to be concise, to the point, and sure that you weave in some keywords wherever they make sense.
Just keep in mind that your product pages shouldn’t exclusively consist of bullet points. The key to success lies in striking a balance.
Include Back-End Search Terms
Back-end search terms are keyphrases placed in your product’s catalog data. Customers won’t see these terms, but Amazon’s ranking algorithm will, meaning incorporating them is a simple tactic that can help your product rank for specific searches.
Adding search terms for your product is relatively simple. All you need to do is as follows:
- Log in to your Amazon Seller Central Account
- Click “Manage All Inventory” under the “Inventory” main menu
- Find the listing you want to modify and click “Edit”
- Click “Product Details”
- Select the “Generic Keyword” field and enter your phrases
You can use this section for any keywords that don’t fit naturally on your product detail page. Don’t cram the section with irrelevant or redundant terms, of course, but feel free to pack in synonyms, abbreviations, or alternative product names that aren’t on the primary page.
Also, make sure to only use lowercase letters and separate each word with spaces. Skip prepositions, articles, or other grammatical elements that you would normally include in customer-facing content.
Invest in Amazon SEO Tools
Amazon has a ton of built-in SEO tools designed to help you optimize your content and product pages. Some of the platform’s best SEO tools include:
- Amazon Brand Analytics: Provides insightful data for optimizing brand performance
- Product Opportunity Explorer: As mentioned above, this tool identifies lucrative product niches for enhanced sales opportunities
- Amazon Ads: A powerful advertising platform to promote products
- Manage Your Experiments: Allows you to streamline testing strategies to optimize product visibility
- A+ Content: Elevates your product listings with rich multimedia content for enhanced engagement
On top of all of these, you can explore off-site or third-party tools to improve the visibility and reach of your Amazon content. The key is to use a selection of different tools, with each working to provide a piece of the marketing puzzle.
Use an Amazon SEO Service
If you need more than a simple SEO tool, an Amazon SEO service is a third-party solution designed to help you refine and boost your presence on Amazon. Your service provider will assess your current content, identify weaknesses, accentuate strengths, and make personalized recommendations to support your long-term growth goals.
Leading partners also assist with everything from keyword research to content optimization. While you can certainly tackle the challenge of Amazon SEO alone, having an objective perspective can be invaluable.
When searching for an Amazon SEO services firm, make sure to find a partner who also offers other digital marketing support. A multifaceted team can provide holistic services that boost visibility on and off of Amazon, thereby driving more traffic, increasing total leads, and increasing sales volume.
Build a Winning Amazon SEO Strategy
Mastering SEO for Amazon requires a multifaceted approach that combines back-end processes, technical optimization, and thorough keyword research. By making Amazon SEO a priority, you can stand out on the world’s biggest e-commerce platform, get noticed, and build your brand!
