Success on Amazon essentially comes down to sales. The more you sell, the higher your product will rank in search results. Your product listing is competing with countless similar products for page one search results. Search engine optimization success on Amazon is designed around results produced by the retail giant’s custom search agent—A9.
Though A9 runs on a complicated series of algorithms, there are several general tips and best practices you can use that will help improve your Amazon product SEO. In turn, this will maximize your discoverability and help to increase ranking and, ultimately, sales.
Fill in the Blanks
When it comes to creating listings, Amazon makes your job relatively easy. For starters, their interface is very simple to use. As a seller, all you need to do is populate all the fields with relevant, helpful, and optimized content about your product. Using all the fields to the best of your ability is key here. Questions and answers, bullets, title, product description, and everything else that is available as an option should be completed. Even more importantly, each item should be chock full of content about your product and company. That is, optimized content, with keywords, search terms, and phrases that consumers are likely to look for when searching for a product exactly like yours. Doing keyword research and understanding the competition is essential here.
Keep in mind the fact that sales results are a constantly moving target on Amazon. This means there’s always a possibility there for you to get your slice of the pie. Still, obtaining the rank you want—and then holding onto it—is a challenge. You need to make sure each product is described adequately and is properly optimized for best results on Amazon’s buying platform.
Use Keywords
SEO on any platform means using the right keywords, search terms, and longer phrases that users may type into a search bar. On Amazon, it’s important to consider alternate terms, synonyms, and even allow for possible spelling errors on the consumer side if you want to get all the folks who are looking for your type of product to find it. Ensuring that your entire listing has as many relevant keywords and phrases as possible will help your listing show up earlier in search results, even if other words are used by the consumer, or if those terms are slightly misspelled. This can go a long way toward pushing you to the top of the rankings. Getting found really is the first step.
Invest in Good Photos
Once your products are found by consumers, getting them to click is the next task. Fortunately, with excellent and compelling photography, you are well on your way to getting buyers interested in your listing. Ideally, you should hire a professional photographer to ensure that you have high-quality photos of your product from every angle. Don’t forget to include real-life usage pictures that you can stage to demonstrate how the product works. It can’t be overestimated how important pictures are to making a sale. Consumers want to be able to look at the product from every angle, including up close, so they can mimic the experience of shopping for it in real life, which would include touching and seeing the item live and in person. Quality photos directly translate to higher rankings and positive conversion rates (turning lookers into buyers).
Optimize the Title
Selecting specific keywords to use in your product title will definitely help increase the rankings, but the A9 algorithm is continuously improving and changing. Stuffing unnecessary, repeated words into an absurdly long product title in an effort to swing the search results in your direction not only isn’t guaranteed to work, it can be off-putting to customers, who can’t discern the simple name of your product. Instead, focus on the right keywords. If your product has a brand name, include that up front. Then, use the most relevant keywords first that help describe your product and differentiate it from competitors. Once again, do not keyword stuff. This is one area where you keyword research will go a long way and set you apart from the competition.
Don’t Skimp on Bullets
The bullet section of your Amazon listing is where you can differentiate your products from those of your competitors. These bullet descriptions should not be long, and don’t even need to be complete sentences, but should include keywords and optimized phrasing that consumers may use when searching for your product. Distinguish your product with particulars in this list, and list related products that it may complement. For example, if you’re selling an electronic component, you’d want to list what products your component is compatible with. Consider mentioning details such as made in the USA, organic, real leather, details of a money-back guarantee or warranty, and so forth.
Check out the Competition
Understand who your competitors are and what is working (and not working) for them. Take a look at how other sellers list similar products to get an idea of what you do and don’t want to include in your product listing. Look at top-selling products in your category and try to understand what makes them different and attractive to the average consumer. Work to make your listing better, refined, and clearer, with more targeted terminology that will result in higher search rankings.
Answer Questions
The Q&A section of your Amazon listing is a place where consumers can ask questions and those who have purchased the product can chime in with their response. As the seller, you, too can provide answers to those questions. This is not only a good angle from a customer service perspective, as it shows you are available and transparent about your product, but it can contribute positively to your sales ranking. While how this happens isn’t revealed, it’s likely that because this is a more fleshed out and informative way of communicating what customers are looking for, it results in a positive uptick in rankings. Being responsive is beneficial where A9 is considered, so don’t forget to interact with consumers in the Q&A section.
Encourage Reviews
Garnering product reviews can really be beneficial to your product’s Amazon rankings. Encourage buyers to leave feedback by sending links to make it easy for them, and address any negative comments through customer service and problem resolution to keep your reviews as positive as possible. It’s not only the type of reviews that mean something—obviously the more positive the reviews, the better, but the number of reviews that contribute to better search results ranking. If you only have a few reviews, versus a competitor’s product that has several hundred, a consumer is more likely to buy the well-reviewed product. With good customer service, oftentimes even those who have left negative reviews can be persuaded to change their review to one that’s more positive, reflecting positively on your company and brand.
Call to Action
Online sales are still sales in the basic sense. At the end of your product description, be sure to remind customers to buy. Encourage shoppers to buy now or place their order today so they can begin receiving the benefits associated with your product. Don’t lie about limited quantities or use other misleading sales tactics, but do be positive and engaging. Online, you have to work a bit harder to sell your item since you can’t rely on the rapport you might develop in an in-person interaction. However, it’s well worth your effort to build the same positive energy and appreciation for your product via the information you provide on Amazon.
By adhering to these strategies, you will be well on your way to increasing your Amazon sales ranking and doing all you can to increase potential sales. It’s essential to harness these and other SEO and algorithm strategies to remain competitive in the complex and ever-changing world of online retail. For help with your tactical Google SEO and Amazon SEO needs, reach out to the experts at Galileo.