What is Amazon SEO?

Amazon search engine optimization (Amazon SEO) is the optimization process of ranking your Amazon product listing for Amazon searches for related keywords. If you optimize your product listing, you will make it easier for Amazon to find your listing and show it to shoppers who are looking for your product type.

Amazon SEO Involves:

• Amazon keyword optimization
• Amazon product title optimization
• Product image optimization
• Backend keywords
• Pricing strategy
• The Amazon A9 algorithm

Let’s start with how Amazon ranks your products using the Amazon A9 algorithm.

What is the Amazon A9 algorithm, and how does it work?

First, Amazon will look at the customer’s search query. If the product listing does not have the customer search term, then the product probably won’t appear in the search results. This is why keyword optimization is huge for Amazon SEO.

Next, the Amazon A9 algorithm attempts to figure out the purchase likelihood based on the past performance of your product. It looks at the following metrics at the keyword level:

1. Search result click-through-rate (CTR)
2. Conversion rate
3. Overall sales

This may mean that your product gets more clicks and conversions for one search query than another query. For example, if a shopper is looking for a specific color or size – and your product matches their search – your product may get more visibility as they are more likely to purchase.

How to find the right keywords for your Amazon product listings

How to optimize your Amazon product listings

There is no guarantee that your product will show up on the Amazon search results page without paying for an ad placement through Amazon Advertising. However, you can still highlight your listing through the use of Amazon’s brand registry.

Amazon brand registry is a program that allows manufacturers or private label brands to have higher authority over their product’s listing content. Amazon brand registry allows you to:

• Make changes to the product detail page and have those changes displayed automatically. Allowing you to correct any errors or spelling mistakes in your product’s listing. 
• List products without UPCs or EANs: instead of a standard product ID, brand registry allows sellers to specify alternative key attributes to list their branded products.
• Additional content options: Being brand registered allows you more listing options, such as enhanced brand content, also known as A+ content, a listing video, and a brand store, all of which will help you rank your product higher in search results.

What makes a great Amazon product listing?

As seen below, a great detail page presents all the information for the product that a customer would need or want to know in their buying decision. Your job is to be as accurate as possible in your product listing so your customer knows exactly what they’re buying.

How to optimize Amazon product titles

Amazon product listing titles must meet the following character lengths:

• General characters: 80-250
• Right rail ads: 30-33
• Mobile: 55-63

What to include in Amazon product titles:

• Capitalize the first letter of each word
• Spell out measure words such as Ounce, Inch, and Pound
• Focus on product benefits
• All numbers should be numerals
• Your brand name
• Part numbers and model numbers as necessary
• Amazon keywords

You should not include the following:

• Price and quantity
• All caps
• Seller information
• Promotional messages such as “sale” or “best seller”
• Symbols ($,?, &, *, etc)
• If sizing is not relevant, do not list it in the title
  
• If the product does not come in multiple colors, don’t include it in the title

How to optimize titles with keywords

It may be easy to stuff your title with keywords, but we seriously advise against it. Keyword stuffing is when you include as many keywords in your title just for the sake of including keywords, which won’t help your Amazon ranking.

Titles with clear and detailed information will lead to a higher sales velocity and more clicks, which will lead to a higher ranking. Below is an example of an optimized title. It is clear and to the point, and allows customers to know exactly what they are purchasing.

How to optimize Amazon product features & descriptions

Product features are the second most important part of your product listing to optimize for search rankings. These are the bullet points that are right below the title. Put yourself in the mind of the shopper, because shoppers rely heavily on bullet points to assess whether they will buy your product. The more descriptive your bullet points are, the more you will sell on Amazon and rank higher.

Here are the best practices for key product features:

• Highlight the top five features you want your customers to know
• Begin each bullet point with a capital letter
• Do not write complete sentences or end in punctuation
• Use semicolons to separate phrases
• Spell out measurements, such as inch or feet
• Be as specific as possible
• No promotional, company or shipping information

Best practices for product descriptions:

Every product listing should have a well-thought-out product description. Especially if you’re selling products in a category that Amazon regulates – otherwise, your listing could get taken down for using prohibited terms.

You may want to use HTML to write out your product description. HTML will allow you to split up paragraphs, bold certain phrases, or create lists or bullets.

How A+ content and EBC content can influence your product’s rank on Amazon

How to optimize Amazon product images

Your main Amazon image is the image that is shown in search results. This is the first image customers see for your product.

Amazon is strict about image guidelines. You should choose images that provide information and are clear and easy to understand, and the image must accurately represent the product.

Here are the best practices to follow for your Amazon product images:

• Should be on an all-white background
• Square image (1:1 ratio)
• Image size should be at least 1,000 pixels wide by 1,000 pixels tall so shoppers can zoom in
• Video and 3D images can increase sales
• Image must accurately represent the product
• The product must fill 85% or more of the image
• Accepted formats are JPEG, TIFF, or GIF
• You can upload one main product image and up to eight alternate image views. This depends on your category. It can take up to 24 hours after adding an image for it to appear live on the marketplace.

How to optimize backend keywords to rank on Amazon

If you want to increase the discoverability of your product, we recommend including backend keywords (250 characters max). These are invisible on the main listing, which is why they are called backend keywords. 

Here are some best practices for Amazon backend keywords:

• Don’t repeat keywords in a phrase – it doesn’t make an impact on your ranking 
• Use either singular or plural versions of your keywords 
• Capitalization doesn’t matter
• Amazon will match small typos to the correct spelling, so don’t add misspelled versions of the keywords.
• Add related search terms
• Create queries that your target audience is likely to search

Tips for creating the best Amazon product listings

Here are some more tips for creating the best Amazon product listing.

1. Avoid double-dipping keywords

A common question we get is: should I use the same keywords in my content and the backend?

If you have a keyword in the title, your product won’t rank better by also having it in the product description and backend. You could run the risk of looking like spam, and from the backend perspective, you are wasting character count.

2. Answer seller questions