Amazon SEO: Improve Ranking of Your Products on Amazon

Consumers used to search Google when they wanted to buy an item. There are now other, far more efficient ways of getting the desired products. In addition to the dominant search engine with the colorful letters, Amazon has developed into its very own search engine focused on potential customers. You can use it to get a result much faster when searching for a product than with the “mother of all search engines”. Online shop operators can also use Amazon instead of Google to win over buyers. In this article, we will explain to you what Amazon SEO can do and give you tips on how to use it.

If you want to sell a product on Amazon, you first and foremost need a good ranking in the online retailer’s search result lists. So it’s about the question of how you present your product in such a way that it is classified as relevant by Amazon and therefore placed prominently. Amazon SEO can help you to advertise your product in such a way that you end up at the very top of the ranking. This means that Amazon can be described as a kind of Google search in the products area. Some hire agencies to improve the position of their products, but if you know what’s important, you can take it into your own hands.

SEO on Amazon

It has been proven that the majority of customers on Amazon now buy products that the platform presents to them on the first two pages of the search result. All the products that follow it are becoming increasingly uninteresting and achieve significantly lower sales rates. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the motivation of customers to look at more than two pages has decreased significantly. On the other hand, Amazon has developed into a company that customers place a lot of trust in. In the opinion of customers, products that Amazon presents in the top positions must be those that are worth buying. In the meantime, Amazon SEO has become a completely separate discipline with which you as the operator of an online shop definitely should deal.

Differences between Amazon SEO and Google SEO

There are some differences to the classic form of search engine optimization , but if you are familiar with conventional SEO, you have an advantage in marketing. The differences between the two forms are as follows:

Amazon

• is a pure shopping search engine
• uses a ranking algorithm
• assigns greater importance to the conversion rate
• works with limits for on-page optimization (number of words, selection of texts)
• Amazon takes customer reviews into account when ranking
• Amazon offers few toolsfor optimization

Despite all the differences, Google and Amazon are of course closely related in terms of search technology and “fertilize” each other. Both offer both organically generated and paid listings. External links are a common strategy. In relation to the ranking, these have little effect on Amazon, but are able to have a positive effect on the Google ranking of your product.

How does Amazon on-page SEO work?

In order to positively influence the ranking, you can use the so-called Amazon MPO (marketplace optimization), as onpage SEO is also known. By optimizing certain areas, you can ensure a significantly higher ranking. These areas that can be optimized include:

• Title of the product
• brand
• Categorization
• Search terms
• Product attributes
• Product images
• Product description
• Basic factors of the retailer (e.g. shipping method, affordable, retailer reviews).

By optimizing these areas, you can achieve what Amazon is primarily interested in, namely the satisfaction of its customers and, above all, increasing sales. The aim of every optimization measure must therefore be to assert oneself in Amazon’s ranking algorithm.

Also with Amazon SEO OffPage to success

But you can not only influence the Amazon ranking of your products on Amazon itself. There are also some factors with which you can sell your products better outside of Amazon with a good ranking. These factors are somewhat reminiscent of Google OffPage SEO, in which the ranking is improved by setting backlinks. Affiliate links from blogs or websites can also play an important role in Amazon SEO . The following OffPage factors can also influence your Amazon ranking:

• Customer reviews
• Reviews from verified buyers
• “Bestseller” award
• How many times has the product been sold in the last few days / weeks?

Amazon’s search and ranking algorithm

On Amazon there are now more than 30,000 categories in which the products are sorted. On the one hand, Amazon uses a special ranking algorithm and thus its own search algorithm so that customers can get to the goods they are looking for as quickly as possible. This is of course constantly updated and changed. Actually, these two algorithms belong together, but for a better understanding you can also look at them separately.

WHAT THE RANKING ALGORITHM TAKES INTO ACCOUNT

In order to be able to show the customer only the most relevant product pages, the so-called Amazon ranking algorithm A9 was developed, which ensures that the most interesting products are at the top. Of course, Amazon does not reveal how this algorithm works in detail. But it can be seen that, for example, the keyword fields or the general keywords are edited again and again. Here, for example, Amazon has the option of juggling the number of characters in order to make them more visible.

Another value taken into account by the Amazon ranking algorithm is the conversion rate, which represents the ratio between the number of website visitors and the number of transactions, whereby the conversion does not have to be a purchase. The higher this conversion rate, the higher the ranking algorithm rates the product page.

For the ranking, it also plays a role whether you are part of Amazon Prime as a retailer, for example through the use of FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon). If you have stored your products in an Amazon warehouse, have them shipped from there and make the customers on your site aware of it, you will get a higher ranking. The reason for this is that Prime customers rarely compare prices and almost never move outside the Prime segment and rate your classification as a Prime retailer as an argument in favor of a purchase.

WHY AMAZON’S SEARCH ALGORITHM IS SO EFFICIENT

Amazon’s search algorithm is purely focused on buyers. Whoever uses Amazon search wants to buy something. Amazon then aligned its search algorithm. The difference to Google search becomes apparent when you enter the search term “Armani” on both Google and Amazon, for example. As a result, Google shows a mix of boutiques, the Armani website, online retailers and also advertisements. On the other hand, Amazon only opens product lists that can be bought from Armani. There are no other results here.

These results are mainly sorted according to the likelihood of a purchase. The ranking algorithm is responsible for this, which uses the criteria already mentioned to determine which products are most likely to be bought. These then appear at the top of the results pages. So that your products offered on Amazon are also better placed, you can optimize the corresponding product pages with the help of on-page SEO, for example. You can find out exactly how to do this in the following section.

Amazon SEO: How do you get the best possible optimization?

As a first step, it is important to define your preferred target group . You can answer the following questions:

• Which people buy my product (age, gender, origin, level of education)?
• How does the customer proceed with the search (type of search words, single term, word combination)?
• Are known or popular products available? If yes, where?
• Are there other items that customers buy in connection with my product (e.g. accessories)?
• Does my product have certain unique selling points (special features)?

If you know exactly who your target group is or should be, what makes it tick and how it exactly works when searching for a product, you will find the right keywords with which the relevant customers search for a product much more effectively. The right keywords are the be-all and end-all for Amazon optimization and your greater success.

Once you’ve found the most important keywords, it’s a matter of placing them in the right places. There are different ways. You can include them in the product title, in the area of ​​the related keywords, within the bullet points or in the item description.

PRODUCT TITLE

The product title has the greatest relevance for incorporating the most important keywords. It is not important here whether the catchphrase is right in the first place. The main thing is that it occurs there! By the way, the length of the title also plays a major role on Amazon. Some experts are of the opinion that the product title can never have more than 200 characters, others give a number of 80 to 100 characters as the optimal length for the product title. However, caution is advised here. Amazon does not want an “over-optimized” title and has threatened to downgrade its ranking. That means your products then are not visible as quickly as others. So it can be a challenge to create a product title with the most important keywords that customers can read and understand easily.

BULLET POINTS

The second most important position for your keywords on Amazon are the five bullet points that appear below the price. They form a summary of what the product is all about. To put the most important keywords in a meaningful way at this point can be the final and decisive argument for the potential buyer to click on the “Add to shopping cart” button placed in the immediate vicinity. If you can find a good solution here and incorporate as fully worded bullet points or even short sentences as possible, this will usually help you achieve a better ranking on Amazon.

In the areas of related keywords with space for 5 x 1000 characters and in the article description for a maximum of 2000 characters, you should also include important keywords . Due to the larger number of characters, you can work well with so-called long-tail keyword combinations in these two areas. These are very special search terms that are not searched very often, but can attract customers to your pages who are looking for very specific products. The priority of the keywords in the mentioned areas is not high for the search algorithm of Amazon, like that of the keywords in the title and in the bullet points, but they can contribute to an improved ranking.

In summary, the following factors contribute to a good ranking:

• Important keywords in product names / product titles
• Keywords in the bullet points
• Keywords in the product description
• Relevant keywords in Amazon Seller Central
• Bestseller lists
• Seller ratings
• Seller reaction
• Few returns and complaints
• Customer satisfaction

Are there disadvantages with Amazon SEO?

First, a known disadvantage with Amazon is that the company does not allow tracking codes. As a result, the retailer cannot understand how many customers have bought a product as a result of AdWords advertising . Second, experience also shows that the domain for your landing pages is generally viewed with less confidence by Google than the corresponding domain by Amazon. In this way, you can suffer a disadvantage in terms of click prices and the quality score on Google.

What must also be avoided in order to avoid disadvantages in the Amazon ranking is always sufficient inventory at Amazon, if you work as a retailer with FBA. Some providers try to counteract falling stocks by increasing prices in order to avoid selling out until the next delivery of goods. However, both an increased price and an empty warehouse have a negative effect on the keyword ranking. If the situation of an “Out Of Stock” actually arises, Amazon removes the product completely from the search results, which leads to a loss in sales.

Conclusion on Amazon SEO

If you run an online shop and want to sell your products on Amazon, then you cannot ignore the topic of Amazon SEO. Because only with an optimized product page do you have a real chance of ending up at the top of the search results in the Amazon ranking and generating more sales in this way. You already know a lot of things from Google, because ultimately a search on Amazon is nothing more than a search on Google – only much more specific, i.e. aimed at potential buyers.

Amazon SEO helps you to optimize your product pages with regard to the keywords so that they can be found much better by customers. By using and correctly placing the most important keywords, you ensure that Amazon’s ranking algorithm rates you up and pushes you to the top of the search results pages. If you have made it to one of the top places through optimization, you will notice an increase in the number of visitors and also in the sales figures. Only the above products are of interest to customers, if they are increasingly buying them.

But you cannot rest on this success. Too often Amazon changes the algorithm, so that too many new products pop up every day. Here it is important for you to always keep an eye on your product pages and to look for new ways to improve them with the help of Amazon SEO. Always remember that it is not the traffic alone that determines how far ahead you land in the ranking on Amazon, but above all the conversion rate and the sales figures. Keep an eye on your target group, ask yourself how and with which keywords they are looking for something and incorporate them into your Amazon shop.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Amazon SEO

What is Amazon SEO?

This is about how you can present your product in such a way that it is classified as relevant by Amazon and therefore placed prominently. Amazon SEO can therefore help you to advertise your product in such a way that you land at the top of the ranking there.

How does Amazon’s algorithm work?

So that customers can get to the goods they are looking for as quickly as possible, Amazon uses a special ranking algorithm and thus its own search algorithm. This is of course constantly updated and changed. The following factors have a positive effect on the algorithm: keywords, conversion rate and the use of Amazon FBA.

Which factors lead to a good ranking?

– Important keywords in product names / product titles
– Keywords in bullet points
– Keywords in product description
– Relevant keywords in Amazon Seller Central
– Best seller lists
– Seller ratings
– Seller reaction
– Few returns and complaints
– Customer satisfaction