Amazon SEO: 4 Essential Strategies To Rank Your Products

Amazon SEO: 4 Essential Strategies To Rank Your Products

If you’re looking into Amazon SEO, then chances are, you’ve already done the hard part of succeeding at e-commerce—that is, you’ve developed a great product. So congratulations! Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or part of an amazing start-up, if you’ve gotten this far, you’ve put in your share of blood, sweat, and tears. There’s no doubt you have what it takes to go the long haul.

So kudos to you—you’re on the right track! What you need now is a powerful Amazon SEO strategy. This will cement your success on Amazon and in the e-commerce world at large. Here’s why.

Why Amazon SEO?

If you’re a product developer or entrepreneur, then Amazon is the place to be. There’s simply no ignoring it. In the United States alone, over 150 million unique visitors turn to Amazon each month to peruse and purchase items. That’s a whole lot of eyeballs!

Perhaps the most impressive stat regarding Amazon is that it trumps Google when it comes to online shopping. That’s right—it bested the search giant for product searches in a three-year study. More people turn to Amazon to search for items on their shopping list than any other platform. Amazon has become synonymous with online shopping, so if you’re in the e-commerce space, you just can’t live without it. Period.

So yes, in a way, you’re kind of stuck with Amazon SEO. And that’s just life in the 21^st century for product developers. Don’t fight it—embrace it!

After all, Amazon sellers are in the game because it works. Amazon will help you sell your product and make money!

Once you accept the fact that you do indeed need an Amazon SEO strategy, you may be thinking: Where do I start? This is the 15 million dollar question, and we’re here to answer it!

Let’s get started.

In this quick-start guide to all things Amazon SEO, you’ll learn:

• How to conduct Amazon keyword research
• How to use Amazon keyword research tools
• The secrets to successful Amazon content optimization
• How to get your best ranking on Amazon
• And more!

Amazon Keyword Research

So the answer to the 15 million dollar question is…drum roll please: You start with keyword research, of course. No SEO campaign is complete without a robust keyword research strategy. Amazon SEO is no exception.

There are many, many solutions out there to help you with your Amazon keyword research strategy. Some are paid solutions and some are free for the taking, and the good news is that you aren’t limited to just one.

Essentially, you can pick and choose from the keyword tools and techniques available to create your own custom approach to SEO success on Amazon. There is no right or wrong strategy. You just have to find the right combo of approaches that works best for you.

We’re just here to throw some ideas (albeit darn good ones) at you and see what sticks.

Use Amazon Autocomplete for Free Keyword Research

There are plenty of paid Amazon keyword tools available for you to use, and they are not without merit. Contrary to popular belief, though, you don’t have to pay to play (so to speak) on Amazon.

Many free Amazon keyword tools are also out there for your consumption, and one of them is built right into the platform itself: Amazon autocomplete.

Not many people think of Amazon autocomplete as an Amazon SEO strategy. From the consumer’s perspective, the autocomplete feature is just a helpful tool to save them some keystrokes. And that’s what it’s designed to be.

But from the perspective of a seller, Amazon autocomplete can be something else entirely. Specifically, it can be a treasure-trove of keyword ideas related to your e-commerce niche.

How can something so simplistic be a legitimate way to conduct keyword research, though? That’s the magic of the Amazon autocomplete feature. Although it’s counterintuitive that anything this easy could produce real results, the autocomplete function is the real deal.

To use Amazon autocomplete, just start typing in words related to your product. Then, begin taking notes on all of the dynamic keywords that appear right before your very eyes. (We told you it was magic!).

To make the autocomplete feature even better in terms of keyword research, try installing Keywords Everywhere. When you do, you’ll get even more data on search volume, CPC, and more. Plus, it’s free!

Use Amazon Quick View

Another free Amazon keyword tool, Amazon Quick View works as a Chrome extension. Once installed, it allows you to see backend keywords for popular Amazon products simply by hovering over the product title.

It’s not cheating, but it gives you the same thrill plus a whole lot of keyword ideas for your own product listing!

One of the main purposes of keyword research and integration is to increase your page views. This will, in turn, enhance your ranking on Amazon. You can learn more about page views from Amazon’s Seller University.

Amazon Product Page Optimization

For real SEO success on Amazon, keyword research is only the beginning. Next, you’ll need to put your findings to good use by optimizing your product page. Your optimization efforts should begin with the product title.

Product Title

If you’re at all familiar with Amazon, then you know that most product titles on the site are extremely long—much longer than is necessary for the consumer. That’s because they’re keyword optimized of course! Therefore, titles aren’t written with only the consumer in mind. They’re written to find favor with the Amazon ranking algorithm.

Below are some of the specs you should consider including in your product title. Keep in mind that these will vary based on your product niche and category:

• Brand
• Material
• Key Ingredient
• Flavor
• Size
• Model #
• Package Count
• Color

You can learn more about creating effective product titles in the following Amazon tutorial.

Backend Keywords

Backend keywords are a thing of the past for search engines, but on Amazon, they are still alive and well. That means you need to know what they are and how to use them effectively in order to successfully play the SEO game on Amazon. Here’s the lowdown.

Backend keywords are keywords that are only visible to Amazon’s algorithm (thus the “backend” descriptor). By adding relevant backend keywords, you’re letting Amazon know which search phrases are relevant to your product without showing these keywords to the consumer.

Thus, these keywords provide additional opportunities for you to get your product ranked without keyword stuffing on the front end or overwhelming the consumer.

You will have a limit to how many backend keywords you can include on Amazon, though. The limit is 250 characters, so choose carefully, but use them all.

Need ideas for backend keywords? Think common misspellings, synonyms, plurals, and other prominent brands in your product category.

Amazon Product Listing Optimization

Perhaps the most important part of your product page in terms of Amazon content optimization is the actual product listing. This is where you’ll want to pull out the big guns. And by guns, I mean keywords plus some awesome copywriting skills.

Use A Bulleted List

Bulleted lists are just good form for web content, mostly because they’re super readable. On Amazon, though, bulleted lists take on even more prominence. That’s because word on the SEO street is that Amazon indexes bulleted lists in product descriptions much the same way Google and other search engines index h tags.

Translation? Adding a keyword-optimized bulleted list to your product page is a super effective SEO strategy for ranking on Amazon. Our suggestion? Use one (maybe two) keywords per bullet point, and weave the keywords in naturally. No keyword stuffing!

Write an Awesome Product Description

If you think no one reads the product descriptions on Amazon, you’re wrong. For many consumers, this is a make-or-break point in the sales funnel. After all, ordering items online is a risk. Consumers on Amazon can’t touch your product or see it up close and personal, so it’s important that you give them as much information as you can in the product description. Make your copy as compelling and descriptive as possible so customers have the confidence to buy.

And remember, nothing on your product page (product description included) is written just for the consumer. It should also be written to improve your ranking on Amazon, which means you’ll want to optimize your content with keywords. As with your bulleted list, you don’t want to stuff your keywords in, or you’ll come off as spammy. Instead, use your keywords as naturally as possible so that only the Amazon algorithm recognizes them as SEO.

Build From A Strong Amazon SEO Foundation

While having a great Amazon SEO strategy is a great leg-up, it’s obviously not everything you need to enjoy overall success of this e-commerce platform. Not even the very best Amazon SEO campaign can replace a kick-a** product, quality images, and five-star reviews. But it can get the momentum going for your brand and point you in the right direction for growth as an Amazon seller.

Along your path to Amazon success, be sure to circle back around to us for all of the latest updates on algorithm changes, Amazon content optimization tips, ranking guides, and more!