Amazon SEO: Everything Sellers Need to Know

Imagine getting your dream customers every month without putting extra effort into your Amazon product SEO. Sounds exciting, right? 

Yeah, it will be more than exciting if you read this blog until the end because I’m going to share all of my strategies that will help you rank higher on Amazon. 

In today’s era, Amazon needs no introduction. Amazon’s market capitalization was over $1.7 trillion as of 2021, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world.

So, let’s start by understanding some basic concepts first.

Read Also: How to Find the Right Keywords for Your Business?

What is Amazon SEO?

In simple terms, Amazon SEO is a way of yelling “Hey Amazon, I’m here too. Please check out my products and bring me some buyers, dude!” And then Amazon says “Alright, let me see if you’re worthy of buyers, specifically, your target buyers.”

In digital marketing terms, you have a great product that you think will attract many customers and you want it to be shown at the top of the Amazon products search results when someone searches for related keywords. To do that, you need to optimize your product so that Amazon’s algorithm will understand what your product is about, and can show it to your potential customers when they search for relevant Amazon keywords.

For example, when I searched for gaming laptops on Amazon, these are the results that came up on the first page. 

These results are showing up on page one because the sellers optimized their product listing with the right keywords and used the right Amazon SEO strategy. That’s what Amazon SEO is all about.

But don’t worry if your products don’t show up on page one. In this guide, we’ll go over all the important steps you can take to rank your product on Amazon’s first page.

Now that you know what Amazon SEO is and why it’s important for Amazon sellers, let’s talk about why it’s always in the spotlight.

Why Is Amazon SEO Strategy Important For Amazon Sellers?

One thing to keep in mind is that Amazon’s main focus is on buyers and getting them to purchase products. 

To make sure your products show up in search results when buyers are looking for related keywords, you need to optimize your product listing to match Amazon’s A9 ranking algorithm. 

A9 ranks products based on how likely customers are to purchase them. It’s always looking for relevant, informative, and trustworthy content to show to customers. That’s why having a solid SEO strategy is important for sellers on Amazon. 

Even if your products are top-notch, if your listing isn’t optimized for the Amazon search algorithm, it won’t show up on the search engine result pages (SERPs). At the end of the day, Amazon is all about selling and buying.

If your products are not being found it doesn’t matter how compelling your offer is, it doesn’t matter how good your images are, and it doesn’t matter if you’re using FBA.

Pat Petriello

No matter how great your product is, if your listing isn’t optimized for a higher conversion rate, then it won’t make it to Amazon’s search engine result pages (SERPs). 

The bottom line is that Amazon is all about sales and purchases. 

Therefore, if your listing doesn’t match Amazon’s A9 algorithm, which takes into account relevancy, conversion rate, and customer satisfaction, your products will have very low chances of appearing on your buyers’ search result pages. 

To understand these three factors that the Amazon algorithm uses to rank your products, we’ll go over them in more detail.

Understanding Amazon A9 Algorithm

As far as the Amazon A9 algorithm is considered, it takes three vital ranking factors into account, which include:

Relevancy

Amazon’s ranking system focuses on relevancy to rank your products on its search result pages. 

In other words, if you want your products to rank higher on Amazon, they should be completely relevant to your buyers. 

To make your product more relevant to your buyers, you need to optimize your product listing according to Amazon’s A9 ranking algorithm. 

As an example, when you search on Amazon you can see how it shows results that are relevant to what buyers are searching for.

You can see clearly when I typed “eyewear” in the Amazon search box, the results I got were all relevant to what I was looking for as a buyer. So, how do you optimize your listing? 

It’s even simpler – use more relevant search terms that a potential buyer would search for. In digital marketing terms, we simply call them “keywords”, and we’ll discuss them in more detail later in this guide.

Conversion Rate 

The second factor that Amazon A9 uses to rank products is conversion rate. To understand this factor, the conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website that complete a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors. 

For your Amazon products, it means selling your products. Keep in mind that Amazon is all about one thing – business. And its main business is to sell products to buyers. 

So, to sell your products to your buyers, your listing should be optimized in a way that has a higher chance of selling. In other words, it must have a higher conversion rate. 

So, how do you ensure that your products have a higher conversion rate? It’s simple. 

First of all, your product price should be competitive in the market, make sure that your product images have good quality and are fully optimized, and your products must have good ratings from recent buyers. 

Let’s take an example of the BENGOO gaming headset: It has a highly optimized image with pointed-out features in bullet points. 

As you can see, the seller has optimized the listing in such a way that it exactly shows what you could expect from a headset. The seller has highlighted every feature of the product with bullet points and also has a competitive price.

Humans are social creatures by nature. We are often interested in knowing what others have to say before we make buying decisions.

Positive customer reviews can play a major role in increasing sales of a product. With that said, now that we have a clear understanding of conversion rate, let’s move on to discussing other ranking factors.

Customer Satisfaction

Amazon pays close attention to customer satisfaction. To measure this, it takes into account the Order Defect Rate (ODR) and seller feedback. 

If your products have good reviews and customer feedback, it not only keeps customers happy but also increases the chances of them returning for more, which in turn improves your chances of ranking higher on Amazon.

I hope you have a clear understanding of Amazon’s A9 algorithm and the factors it uses to rank products on SERPs. 

Next, we’ll discuss what keywords are, why they’re important, and how to find the right keywords to optimize your listing.

Why Do Amazon Keyword Optimization Matter For SEO?

Amazon is the largest online e-commerce store in the world. People are constantly searching for the products they want. According to Wikipedia, Amazon attracts at least 130 million visitors monthly. 

Not only that, but a source says that Amazon sells more than 12 million products, making it a very crowded marketplace. 

So, how do you know what people are looking for? What phrases are they using when they search for a specific product, which we call keywords? And where can you find these keywords?

Don’t get overwhelmed by these questions. It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. In this guide, we will discuss what Amazon keywords are and their importance in optimizing your product listing, as well as where you can find trending keywords. 

A keyword is essentially a term that is trending based on what customers are searching for. Amazon’s algorithm uses keywords to determine the relevance of products to customer queries. 

Therefore, it’s important to use the right keywords, such as “trendy sports shoes”, “fashionable summer t-shirts”, “winter clothes for men”, etc.

In the images below, the products are nicely optimized for the “fashionable summer t-shirt” keyword.

Remember, it’s important to choose the right keywords for Amazon SEO. For example, if you’re selling clothes for winter and you describe them as “warm clothes,” you’ll miss out on appearing in search results and miss your target audience. Here’s an example:

In the image above, I searched for “winter clothes” and I got the exact results I was looking for – just normal dresses that I would wear in the winter. Now, let’s try with another keyword – “winter apparel”:

See the difference? Here, I get woolen dresses, not dresses to wear in the winter.

See that? This is how Amazon rewards you when you’re optimized with the right keywords. Not only that, but it also gives you the Amazon’s Choice badge when it believes your listing is the best match for a specific keyword. Here’s an example if you’re unsure of what the Amazon’s Choice badge means:

Amazon gave the badge to the product because Amazon thinks it is the best match to a specific keyword.

So, now you understand why choosing the right keywords is important for Amazon SEO. But how do you find trending keywords for your target audience on Amazon?

How To Find The Right Keywords For Amazon SEO Optimization?

See the difference? What I get here are woolen dresses, not dresses to wear in winter.

See that? This is how Amazon rewards you when you are optimized with the right keywords. Not only this but it also gives you Amazon’s Choice badge when it believes your listing is the best match for a specific keyword.

Here is an example if you don’t know what does Amazon’s Choice mean:

Amazon gave the badge to the product because Amazon thinks it is the best match to a specific keyword.

So, now you have got why choosing the right keywords matter for Amazon SEO. But how to find trending keywords for your targeted audience on Amazon?

How To Find The Right Keywords For Amazon SEO Optimization?

Well, to find relevant keywords for your targeted buyers on Amazon, you can use plenty of Amazon Keyword Research Tools. These keyword research tools are mostly paid but highly useful. But we will talk about them later. First, I am going to give you a little surprise.

So grab yourself a cup of coffee and read the next section carefully as I am going to give you a Free Keyword Research Strategy which is successfully adaptable.

So hold yourself for the ride! Here is my free Amazon keyword research strategy.

Yes, that is true. If you are an Amazon Seller, you already have the free and incredible keyword research tool – Amazon itself!

How?

Go to Amazon and type a product name in the search bar. Let’s type ‘Black shoe man’. Now you can notice that when you typed the phrase you got suggestions like ‘black shoe man formal’, ‘Black shoes man sports’, ‘Black shoe man stylish’, ‘Black shoe man casual’, etc.

Just like this!

Those are the keywords you can add to your product description to attract your potential buyers!

How simple is that!

But, however, if you want to dig deeper for your keyword research in a more insightful way, you can always use paid Amazon SEO tools like Merchant Words or Helium 10. 

How To Work On Amazon Product SEO?

Until now, you have learned about the basics of Amazon SEO, from its ranking algorithm to keyword research. So, I believe it is time to create a brilliantly optimized and top-notch product listing for you.

So pack your things and get ready for this exciting journey!!

Create a Title That Attracts and Converts

You won’t believe this, but as per my own research 4 out of 5 buyers buy products just by scanning the title. Not only this, even I do the same. And I am sure you explore the products which have a detailed title.

Buyers always want more in less effort, so try to give them that. You can note in the image above, the seller has written every detail of the product in the title.

To make your title fit as per Amazon SEO include these points:

Make your titles descriptive

1. Integrate Keywords
2. Focus On User Intent
3. Avoid Fluff

How to Optimize Amazon Product Titles

You might not be aware of this, but Amazon has a title guideline that every seller must follow. Otherwise, Amazon’s algorithm won’t list your product on its search engine result pages (SERPs).

Here are some Dos and Don’ts that can help you create a great title:

Dos for a Great Title

• Capitalize the first letter in each word but don’t capitalize all the letters in a word. The exceptions to this are words like “and”, “for”, “the”, “an”, and “in”. These words should be in all lowercase.
• Use numbers, not words (i.e. 5 instead of five).
• If the product is a pack, state how many items are in the pack.
• Spell out measurement words such as “inch” rather than abbreviating them
• Include size and color if it is relevant and/or the product comes in multiple sizes or color options

Here is an example that includes all of these factors:

Don’ts for a Great Title

• Special characters (“!”, “?” etc). This includes “&”. You should spell this out in lowercase letters (i.e. “and”).
• Price
• Quantity (unless it’s relevant, like a pack of socks)
• Information about you
• Promotional phrases (“sale”, “offer”, “free shipping”, etc)
• Subjective commentary (i.e., “best seller“)

After optimizing the title your next step will be optimizing your image.

How To Optimize Amazon Product Images

As the saying goes – a picture is worth 1,000 words.

That’s very true, even in ECommerce marketing. An image can tell your buyers more than your written description. 

In fact, when it comes to the ECommerce business, images are one of the most critical elements. Every buyer interacts with visual media more than anything. 

The images we use in our product listing give an impression of how our products are. The image on the thumbnail tells our buyers the quality of our products.

Well, if you are thinking that creating or optimizing images for your Amazon SEO is a difficult task, let me tell you that, in actuality, it is much easier than it sounds.

Why Images Matter In the Ranking?

If you want to beat your competitors you need your product images highly optimized with amazon SEO. 

If you have images that describe the features of your product, highlight products’ quality, attract buyers, more buyers will attract and click on them. Hence, chances of getting ranked on Amazon grows automatically.

This is because Amazon’s algorithm takes CTR (Click-through rate) and conversion rates into account to rank products on its search engine result page. Products with high-quality images have more chances to get clicked by the buyers.

This is how and why image optimization matters in Amazon SEO.

Now if you are wondering how you can optimize your images to be noticed by Amazon’s algorithm, here is a brief guide that will clear all your confusion.

Make Your Main Image Shiny

Amazon specifically notices your main image. Your main image is the first impression to your potential buyers. It is the first agent that your customers will talk to about your product, visually.

Keep in mind that your main image should be interactive, shiny, and clear. It must be telling your buyers about its quality, color, and size. Not only this, but it is also important to make your main image highly optimized with Amazon SEO.

Only Show the Product

In your main image, you only need to show your products. It cannot contain any text, props, borders, or any size measurement.

It simply should be an image of the product you are selling. That’s it.

Look here:

Keep Your Image Background Pure White

I’ve noticed that Amazon prefers a solid white background on the main images.

This is because Amazon wants to show its customer how the product will actually look. It should be realistic and simply white. You can easily edit your photos to this color with any photo-editing tool which is available online for free.

Close Up Images

Your image must cover more than 85% of the frame. So shoot it with a close-up angle.

Crop your images very precisely as it is also going to be your thumbnail that buyers will see on the search result page. Even a small defect with cropping can make your product sound unworthy of attention.

Here are examples of good crops and bad crops:

Good Crop:

Bad Crop:

This doesn’t sound a big deal but can decrease your click-through rate (CTR) for your ads as well and will eventually affect your web traffic as well.

So, pay close attention when optimizing your images for Amazon SEO. Here is a perfect example of the main-image-should-be:

Also, Amazon has some specific rules for images that you should be aware of. Here, we have penned down some points that will help you to become a favorite of the Amazon ranking system.

• Image size: The perfect size for an Amazon picture is 1000 x 1600 pixels. It means your image must be at least 1000 pixels long and 1600 pixels wide. However, you can’t make your images more than 10,000 pixels on the longest side.
• Image frame: Your image must cover more than 85% of the frame.
• Background color: Keep the background pure white as Amazon may reject colorful backgrounds.
• File format: Your image should be in JPEG format.
• Color mode: You can use either RGB or CMYK to color your image.

How To Optimize Amazon Product Features & Descriptions

We know, until now you have been waiting to tell your buyers about your products, what your product’s unique features are and how they stand out from other similar products.

Amazon gives you 2000 characters to tell your product story and its unique features. And so, you should use more out of 2000 characters to better describe your product features. 

Here are some points that will help you make your description attentive and readable for your potential buyers:

• Highlight your features with short sentences so that buyers can easily read them.

• Highlight only key information.

• Avoid any kind of unnecessary information as you don’t want to exhaust your buyers.

How does a perfect product description look like:

Tips to Delight Customers on Amazon

Now when you have done everything from Keyword research to posting your products and highlighting their features on your Amazon seller account, we’ve almost covered everything on Amazon SEO. 

But, Amazon is a vast marketplace, and buyers coming here have many options to choose from. So, how do you make your product special? How will you ensure a long-term relationship with your customers? How do you make your brand memorable?

Any ideas? Well, I have some for YOU.

Ways to Delight Your Amazon Customers

If your brand is new in the ECommerce business, you need to give more attention to make it delightful and memorable to your customers. But to do that, you need to go beyond your competitor’s usual way of delighting customers and ensure a long-term relationship with them.

So how can you do that? Here we go…

Create a Cool Packaging

Packaging can have hidden powers to transform your brand among your potential customers. And not only this, but it can also be a key element in your marketing formula. It also helps promote your brand and give customers a memorable experience.

How?

Picture yourself in a store buying shampoo. You go through the aisle looking for different brands of shampoos and one of them eventually grabs your attention and you pick the bottle of shampoo you liked. But what has really happened here is you didn’t buy the actual product, but the bottle. 

Admit it, we all have been there!

Now imagine that even if you have been selling the world’s best shampoo it wouldn’t have been noticed if it wasn’t for proper and interactive packaging. 

So this is what cool and creative packaging can do. It interacts with your customers and forms a friendly relationship with them and helps your brand grow faster.

Here are some products with creative packaging:

Tonymoly Mask Bowl and Charm Villa Tea Bag.

Provide an unexpected “gift” with your product

Remember the days when you used to receive some unexpected toys with your cereal box? You had no idea what you were going to get, but it was quite a thrilling experience. The surprise would make your breakfast more exciting! 

This is the thrill of the unexpected.

You can give your customer similar joy with your Amazon products.

However, Amazon doesn’t allow you to sell products with a ‘free gift inside’ label. But, however, you can always surprise them by putting a free gift inside. I’m sure this strategy can make your brand memorable to your customers.

So, what to put inside?

There are many examples you can include such as stickers, keychains, or coffee mugs, etc.

You can also consider something that adds functionality to your product.  For instance, if you sell sanitizers, you could include a mask with the purchase. 

These are small but delightful gestures that your customers will appreciate. This can help to make your brand memorable and strengthen the seller-buyer relationship and will help to grow your business in long-term views.

Give a Discount on Their Next Purchase

You may have recently bought something with your favorite brand and have received a good discount with the purchase,  then you can easily guess how it feels to receive a discount for purchasing with the same brand.

Well, not only you but everyone loves a good discount, and consumers are always looking for a great discount on their purchases.

Offering deals is a great way to show your customer that you remember them and care about them. Also, this way, you will be ensuring that your customer will continue shopping with you in the future.

For your repeating customers, you can add “Thanks for your purchase! Enjoy 15% off your next purchase on Amazon using this cod” offer label. 

Don’t you think this is a great strategy to use with everyday products that you can provide your customers, like soap or paper products? So if your customers run out of detergent they are less likely to go elsewhere. I think it would be a great way for you to grow your conversion rate in the future.

One thing people hate most is – waiting. So you must keep in your mind that you avail fast and promising delivery to your customers. You can use FBA to fulfill your Amazon orders. Then you won’t have to worry about it, Amazon will deliver your products as soon as it can.

Listen to Your Customers

The most important part of the job is that you can not ignore your customers. Listen to them and pay attention to what they are saying or complaining about.

There are many tools available in the market to know how your customers feel about your product, what they talk about, and what improvements they are expecting from your products.

One of those tools I prefer for my clients is – Voice-of-the-Customer (VoC). These tools include relationship and transactional surveys, advisory boards, user experience research, and more. You can easily integrate it and learn about your customer experience and fix your issues even before they take place.

Bonus Zone

While wrapping up this amazing SEO guide I’ve learned about a few more stuff that I think would offer you more info on the topic and help you to achieve the Amazon’s Choice badge. Here is what I collected on my way.

Amazon Books SEO

Books are the ocean of knowledge and you are going to dive into it! I have accumulated some essential Amazon SEO books for you to make your journey curiously extensive. Buckle up!

1. Amazon SEO: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Rank Your Private Label on Top of the Amazon Search

What the book talks about:

The book will take you to the advanced level of Amazon SEO. In the book, you will discover the secret of how successful sellers are optimizing their products to put them in front of hundreds and thousands of buyers every day.

2. Amazon SEO Ranking Hacks: Optimize Your Listing to Rank Private Label Products Higher and to Increase Sales on Amazon

About the book:

This Amazon SEO book is loaded with many surprising ways to rank higher on Amazon. The book mainly talks about how Amazon’s search engine works and offers you in-depth knowledge of it.

3. Amazon SEO – How to Optimize Your Listings And Rank Higher: The Role of Listings And Rank Higher Aesthetics in Amazon ECommerce

In this Amazon SEO book you will learn:

• Performance Factors Of Amazon Algorithm
• How You Can Enhance Your Reviews
• How To Keep Up Your Q & A Section
• How You Can Pick Your Product Price Strategically

Amazon SEO Tools

I’ve already suggested 2 keyword research tools, Merchant Words and Helium 10, to help you in Amazon SEO. Here I’ve again chosen 3 BEST tools to make your keyword-researching journey more advanced. 

DataHawk

DataHawk is one of the best known Amazon SEO tools which provides various keyword tools and the leading Amazon Keyword Tracker to help you to be on the top of the search result page. 

Keyword Tool

This Amazon SEO tool uses autocomplete or search suggestion features and generates many relevant keywords that you can use to optimize your product listing. The tool is absolutely free but, however, you can also opt for a paid version if you want more features out of it.

SellerLabs

Seller Labs, one of the famous Amazon SEO tools, will help you in your keyword-research phase by generating a large number of relevant keywords to get your product worthy of buyers’ attention. The tool is not free but it offers a 30-day free trial. You can Sign Up for it here.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve read this comprehensive guide, as a seller now you are all loaded with knowledge from researching keywords for your targeted buyers to how to delighting them in a creative way.

Enjoy your journey as an Amazon seller and grow your business with this fully-loaded Amazon SEO guide. And yes, don’t forget to put your doubts in the comment box below. I am here to help you with anything you need for your eCommerce business and keep your online business booming with creative and result-oriented strategies! 

Thank You. Cheers to the new beginnings! 

FAQs

1. Why is Amazon SEO important?

Amazon SEO is important to get your product listing ranked on Amazon. Without it Amazon won’t know your products exist in the marketplace, and thus, you will get lower sales.

2. How do you rank higher on Amazon?

You can easily rank higher on Amazon with a good SEO strategy and by following its guidelines for sellers. Read this guide to learn how you can rank your products on Amazon.

3. What is the Amazon keyword?

Amazon keyword is a phrase that buyers type in the search bar to look for their desired and relevant products. They sound like ‘fashionable eyewear’, ‘trendy jeans’, ‘beautiful mobile cases’, etc.

4. How do I find Amazon keywords?

You can use many tools available on the internet to find keywords for Amazon SEO. However, if you are looking for a free keyword tool, read this guide.

5. What are the target audience keywords for Amazon?

Targeted audience keywords are those phrases you specifically use to get your targeted buyers on Amazon. You can simply know more about them by going through this guide.