Search Engine Optimization on Amazon: How does it Work?

Search Engine Optimization on Amazon

Amazon is hands down one of the most productive companies online. Its annual net sales in 2017 grew to $177.9 billion and has 26 million users worldwide. For these and many other reasons, Amazon’s the platform of choice for most brands selling products on the internet; even if they have their own website. Such big numbers lead to the generation of a whole search engine optimization on Amazon exclusively. And just like your regular SEO, learning how to optimize your listings on Amazon can make a huge difference for your business.

Failure to do Amazon SEO properly can lead to less traffic and fewer sales. The company developed its own search algorithm to make sure the most relevant and useful listings could get the highest rankings. If all this sounds familiar to you, you’re right: there are many similarities with your regular SEO. However, it’s essential for you to understand that Amazon’s algorithm works quite differently than Google or Bing’s.

Search Engine Optimization on Amazon

The logic behind Search Engine Optimization on Amazon

When a buyer goes to Amazon, we already have a person with one clear goal in mind: to purchase a specific product. Unlike search engines, where queries can be more vague (and thus, more unpredictable), we already know beforehand that whoever is on Amazon has at least the idea of buying. So the ultimate question is who will that person buy from?If you sell products online you want the answer to be “me”. So even before going to the technical aspects of search engine optimization on Amazon, we want to share this idea with you. Users very rarely hop on Amazon just to do research. As leads, they are already in a closer point of purchase than other people navigating on the internet. Amazon knows this and is continually making changes to test what makes shoppers buy more often. And as a seller, you need to follow those changes to make buyers convert more frequently.

Introducing A9 – Amazon’s Search Algorithm

Amazon’s search engine is called A9. It uses several parameters to determine the relevancy of the millions of products stored in Amazon’s database and how do they match with user’s search queries. Amazon search usually involves the Amazon search results page, the different categories on such page, sponsored products, and search filters.During the search result filtering process, Amazon first takes a listing’s URL in consideration following these parameters:

  • The keyword entered by the user. 
  • Node: Every Amazon category has a specific number (ID) that is addressed through the “Node” parameter. 
  • The “Brandtextebin” parameter, very useful to compare how different products perform within their own range. 

Amazon utilizes an inverse ranking system. Which means that a product that sells the least ranks last while a best selling product ranks on the top. Understanding what determines sales rankings is no easy task. However, there are three important aspects to keep in mind:

  • Just like you do with your website’s content, optimizing your listings necessarily lead to better rankings.
  • Prospects are already looking for products just like yours. So improving it’s essential for you to improve their visibility. Visibility is the main factor of search engine optimization on Amazon
  • When you properly do Amazon SEO you kill two birds with one stone: you sell more and increase your rankings; which leads to even more sales!
  • But beware: your competitors want to do the same. So start optimizing your listings now!

Optimizing your Amazon Listing

The first aspect of a good optimization on Amazon is the product title. You need to make sure to incorporate all the most important information in it. According to Amazon’s directives, your product title should include:

  • Brand
  • Product
  • Material
  • Quantity
  • Color

Just like in your regular SEO, keyword optimization plays a fundamental role. And also like in regular SEO, keyword stuffing is always a bad idea. The title needs to describe the product in a clear way and at the same time feature the keyword in a natural way.The product description needs to highlight the positive characteristics of the product.It also needs to provide as much useful information as possible. You should also place your keywords in it, but you should do it in a subtle and coherent way. You might as well focus on emotional and positive sales arguments.You should also have a special care for pictures. Everything enters through the eyes and Amazon (and ecommerce in general) definitely falls into this logic. Product pictures are key sales drivers. Amazon recommends them to be at least 1000 pixels of width or height.

Hire SEO Service Inc to Help with your eCommerce efforts

Amazon is the number 1 ecommerce platform in the world. Which doesn’t mean that your own eCommerce website is hopeless. Quite the opposite, you can use this situation for your own advantage. Call us at (888) 477-9540 and let’s strategize on how to make the best of both your site and your Amazon listings.