Amazon sells more than 1 million products daily, and if you do the simple maths, it’s more than ten products per second. Fascinating, isn’t it?
But what is more interesting is the accuracy with which Amazon displays the search results, helping their customers find exactly what they are looking for – this is some exceptional Amazon SEO in play. As a D2C seller, if you want to succeed on Amazon, it is important to understand the in’s and out’s of Amazon SEO to rank your product higher, increase traffic to your page, and make more sales.
Understanding Amazon search engine optimization can be daunting for many founders, especially when they have multiple other business-critical things to take care of; we hear you! That’s why we decided to decode the Amazon SEO in an easy-to-understand way in this blog. Read on to learn how Amazon SEO works, what A10 algorithm is and how you can optimize your product listing page to improve your ranking.
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What is Amazon SEO and how does it work?
In simple terms, Amazon search engine optimization (Amazon SEO) is the process of optimizing your product listing page to make it appear on the first page of the search results for relevant keywords on Amazon.
And as more than 80% of Amazon sales happen through their first page of search results, having a holistic strategy to improve your product ranking makes complete sense. But how does Amazon decide on what to show from the hundreds and thousands of products listed under the category? Here comes the role of Amazon’s proprietary search engine algorithm – the A10 algorithm.
As Amazon is all about helping customers purchase the product, its A10 algorithm (previously known as the A9 algorithm) works in the background to suggest product recommendations that the customer is most likely to buy. Hence, items with a higher purchase probability will be ranked first, while those with lower chances of purchase will be ranked below. For example, the search query “iPhone” will show iPhones on the first page, while the search query “smartphone” will show a very different result.
Even though the algorithm involves a highly complex process of identifying the purchase probability for every combination of search query and product, it mainly assesses your products on two main ranking factors,
- Product Relevance based on the keywords you use
- Product Performance determined by CTR (Click Through Rate), CR(Conversion Rate), and sales of your product
So working towards improving these two factors is the sure-shot way to increase your sales on Amazon. In our next section, let’s dig deeper into what you can do to improve your Amazon SEO.
A Step By Step Process To Improve Your Amazon SEO
Now that you have your basics covered. Let’s look at the things you can do to improve your Amazon SEO,
Step 1: Focus on keywords
While curating the result of any Amazon search, the algorithm looks for relevant keywords to understand the context of what you are selling and match it with the search query. It is as simple as this – if you want your products to rank higher, you must add all relevant keywords to your product listing page.
Before we tell you about the places where you can add your keywords, here are a few things you should make a note of,
- Amazon does not differentiate between singular and plural forms. For example, search results for “wallets for men” will show the same result as “wallets for man”
- Similarly, using an uppercase or lowercase will show the same result
- It automatically corrects the minor misspelling and shows the updated results
- Use of hyphenated words, umlauts will not change the search result
You can add the keywords in the following places,
Product Title: Title is one of the first things your customers will see while searching for your product. Include the most important keyword you want to rank for in your product title.
See how the top results for “wallet for men” have the same keyword in their title:
- Product description and bullet points: Apart from using product description and bullet points to describe your product and tell your brand story, you can also include a variety of keywords you want your product to rank for in the text.
See below how the seller has used keywords like “compact wallet,” “man’s wallet,” “crafted wallet,” Men’s classic wallet” in bullet points.
- Using backend keywords: Amazon wants to understand what your product is all about. Hence they provide you ample opportunity for you to insert keywords. One such place is using backend fields for keywords you want to rank for but don’t want your visitors to see. Here is how the backend tabs look,
Few things to keep in mind for backend keywords,
- If you want to do keyword stuffing, you can do it here
- Use the word only once, even if it is relevant for multiple long-tail keywords
- Separate each term with space and don’t use punctuation
- Avoid using competitors names and ASINs
Pro Tip: Use long-tail keywords, typically having three or more words. Even though their search volume is low, they have a high conversion rate with very little competition. Enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry program? You can use their Search Term Reports to identify long-tail keywords
Step 2: Optimise your product listing page for better ranking
Product listing is the way to tell your visitors about your offering. Writing a compelling product listing in line with Amazon guidelines is important. You can read our blog on how to write a top-notch product listing page for more information. Meanwhile, here is the summary on how to optimise your product listing,
Step 3: Work towards improving your product performance
The A10 algorithm uses the below factors to gauge product performance while curating the search results,
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Conversion Rate (CR)
- Actual sales numbers
The higher you score on these metrics for certain keywords, the more are your chances to improve your Amazon ranking.
It might look daunting, but you can easily improve your performance ranking by keeping the below variables under control. Let’s discuss it real quick,
- Price your product competitively: Do your research on competitors’ pricing both on and off Amazon before finalizing your own price, as Amazon also tracks third-party marketplace pricing while curating search results. You can increase your product ranking by pricing your product lower than your competitors.
- Work towards improving your product reviews: Most Amazon customers check customer reviews before making the purchase decision. As good customer reviews build trust and authority on Amazon, you should work on getting as many positive reviews as possible. Here are some strategies to increase customer reviews on Amazon that will help you create a wonderful customer feedback journey.
- Keep your inventory well-stocked: Amazon doesn’t want their customers to come to the website and not be able to purchase. If you are not fulfilling your orders due to the lack of inventory, Amazon will start ranking you lower than your competitors. You can use Amazon Selling Couch to keep a close eye on your inventory. It automatically notifies you when your stock is low.
Pro Tip: Never raise your pricing to slow down the sales in case your stocks are low. Rather close your listing as soon as you are out of stock.
- Leverage Amazon PPC and external traffic to increase your sales: You can run Amazon Ads to increase your sales volume. Likewise, you can also drive traffic from your website and social media pages to your Amazon product page for final sales.
- Use Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) to provide the best customer experience: Amazon prefers sellers using FBA while ranking and also during the buy box allotment, as they can have better control on customer experience. FBA offers fast shipping, easy returns, and faster customer communication – making the buying experience exceptional for your customers. If you want to rank higher, make sure you use FBA rather than shipping your products yourself.
- Work towards earning special badges: Badges like Best Seller, New Release, Discounts and Promotions, and Amazon Choice help you rank higher and generate more sales as customers trust these products over others.
Final Thought
We have covered all there is to know about Amazon SEO. You can definitely improve your product ranking and ultimately increase your sales and profitability by making the above-suggested changes in your Amazon listing and selling process.
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Until next time, keep crushing those business numbers, and good luck with your Amazon SEO strategy!
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