Source: Unsplash
With Amazon the biggest marketplace around the world for online shoppers, you want to be able to get in front of those eyeballs so you can move up in the Amazon ranking metrics and make those sales.
But, how do you do it? Well, this blog post will give you a few different tips that have helped me rank my products.
First up, I suggest getting started with understanding Amazon keyword placement and targeting high search volume keywords through effective keyword research.
Every eCommerce business should be familiar with how customers do product searches to gain a better understanding of how relevant their product actually is.
It is also important to invest in images, so make sure they are optimized for SEO, as well as appealing to customers. We will also look at how registering your brand name and signing up for Amazon FBA can affect your goal to reach page one.
These tips can really make a difference for your Amazon product when it comes time for customer reviews, which will also help boost your rankings.
How to Get Your Product on the First Page of Amazon
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
A report from Feedvisor into the behavior of Amazon customers found that almost half (around 45%) don’t actually scroll past page one. This is why it’s important to dominate the Amazon search.
- Understand Amazon’s Search Engine Optimization
Amazon’s A9 algorithm is the tool they use to influence product rankings on their search results. If you have an idea of how it works, you’ll be able to make small changes necessary for lifting your products up in ranking.
Because the algorithm is constantly changing, learning and making adjustments are necessities if you want to stay relevant with Amazon consumers who rely heavily on this platform as a source for shopping decisions.
Not All SEO Is Created Equal
The intent of search is different between Google and Amazon. On Google, people are looking for information, whereas on Amazon it’s all products, usually with the intent to buy.
The similarities between the two search engines are that they both rank the article or product that the algorithm believes will be the best performer.
The Amazon A9 algorithm uses two factors to determine search results, performance and relevance. Performance considers how well a product has sold in the past, whether or not it was popular with customers.
This includes conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who buy), as well as sales numbers.
Relevance looks at the keywords involved. These words, in particular, are being used for searches.
Optimize Your Content for Amazon SEO
You’ll want to optimize your content by making sure you have prime keywords in the title and throughout your description.
However, don’t overdo it!
If you put too many keywords into a copy that is clear and legible, people won’t be interested.
Be professional while still selling your product. Make them feel like they can trust what you are saying so they buy from you instead of competitors who may not provide consistent quality or service delivery after purchase.
- Have a Killer Product Title
Amazon is all for the customer. So, you need to keep this in mind when creating your product title. It’s not enough to just have a bunch of keywords stuffed into the title and think that people will be hooked to your product listing.
Here are a few tips from Amazon themselves on what would cause you to be absent from the search engine entirely. Try not to break these rules:
- Keep to the recommended title length for your product category. This includes spaces.
- No promotional material. This includes “Free Shipping” and “100% Satisfaction Guarantee.”
- No special characters that are used purely for decorating purposes only.
- Need to contain information on the product itself. For example, “Yoga Mat.”
With that, let’s look at a couple of examples:
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
Does this make sense to you? It is definitely stuffed with keywords to try to rank.
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
In contrast to the first listing, this one does everything right. The title is easy to read and tells me exactly what the product is, with a couple of measurements and benefits/features to make it stand out.
You want to try to lead with the brand name. In fact, Amazon recommends it. I usually try to put the brand name first to try to establish brand recognition among the niche.
Next, I’ll put the most relevant keyword as close I can to the front of the title. This is because, depending on the device the customer is using, it will determine the number of characters that Amazon will show.
Again, the trick is to be relevant to what the customer is actually looking for.
- Proper Use of Product Images.
Having a hero image that pops off the page is similar to flicking through Tinder. People scan with their eyes and having an image that can capture the attention of someone to click on it and have a closer look is key to getting more sales.
But, you need to be careful. Amazon has clearly spelled out that the hero image must be on a white background with no other props that don’t come with the product to be used.
Just a quick look through the Amazon catalog shows plenty of sellers violating this requirement.
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
You want potential customers to get to really know your product before they purchase. Having a high-quality image that doesn’t lose its resolution when they zoom in will definitely help with their decision to buy from you.
- Use All of Your Bullet Points
Standard amazon sellers get up to five bullet points to use on the product listing page, whereas Vendors get up to 10. Use all of them! This is wasted space if not utilized correctly.
A lot of brands I see use this area for describing the product and selling the features. Instead, use this space for the benefits of the product.
Here are some tips from Amazon about bullet points:
- Capitalize the first letter of each bullet point
- Don’t use punctuation at the end
- Don’t try and add any promotional material or links
- Write them as a sentence
So, here’s an example of a bullet point description:
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
In this example, they’re not really selling the points of the yoga mat. Very basic information is given. While they got a few points correct, they haven’t used all 10 points that are allowed for this vendor.
It should provide solutions to solve the pain points for the customer.
Because the bullet points are towards the top of the listing, this makes them somewhat important. Don’t keyword stuff here, but entice the customer to keep scrolling through to the product description.
- Product Description Matters
Although the product description does not directly impact rank, it is indexed and will affect one of the many ranking factors to reach page one.
Like with everything we’ve spoken above, the key here is relevant keywords. This is the biggest opportunity you have to hard-sell the customer before they click on the buy now button. Go deeper into the features of the product using this space.
Amazon allows up to 2,000 relevant search terms to be entered here. Of course, just having a giant wall of text isn’t ideal for the ranking algorithm or customers, so try to get a little creative using basic HTML.
Don’t worry, it’s not as technical as it sounds. It’s as simple as adding parentheses around a particular word to highlight it.
For example, let’s say I want to bold the word Amazon Listing type in <b>Amazon Listing</b>. Then all you need to do is enter this right into the product description box within the backend of Seller Central.
What the customer will end up seeing is Amazon Listing without the parentheses. A great tool for this is Word 2 Clean HTML.
- Use the Search Terms Area
If you’ve still got plenty of keywords leftover from the description of bullet points that you want to target, then it’s a good idea to stuff keywords into the backend search terms field.
Here, they won’t be visible on your product page. But instead, the term “backend” means that it isn’t seen by customers yet is still indexed like other parts of your listing. including bullets and descriptions which used to use HTML tags.
This is useful for long-tail searches, as well as any relevant words you might want in front of an important phrase.
Subject Matter
This also lives in the back end of Amazon Seller Central. Here, you’ll find subject matter boxes where you can put in up to five different fields of 50 characters each.
It’s not much, but seeing as plenty of other sellers don’t really use this part, it’s a great way to sneak in some extra backend keywords to improve your ranking.
7. Sell with FBA
Using Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) will give you an advantage over those who don’t. This is because if you ship using FBA, the buyers will ultimately get their product within 1-2 days.
This helps with customer service, which is what Amazon is looking to maximize.
Given that this comes with free shipping for the buyers as well, it is one of the reasons there are around 112 million prime subscribers (Statista, 2019).
8. Get Brand Registered
Okay, so this tip doesn’t directly help you rank within Amazon’s search engine, however, what it will do, is give you an advantage over much of your competition. You get the appearance that you are a legitimate business within the product listings.
People who skim the search results immediately gain that extra trust. On top of that, as a brand registered seller, you have access to additional features in the backend of seller central. This is known as A+ content.
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
As you can see from the picture above, this was taken from a product listing with A+ content. It allows you to add pictures, and deliver more features or benefits within the product description of the listing.
So, by having A+ content added to your listing, you are more likely to increase conversions, which is how you increase your rank and get to page one.
9. Focus on Getting Product Reviews.
Amazon wants to promote only the best sellers and products, which is why they place a lot of weight on product reviews.
Next to the price, this is where many shoppers get influenced by their purchase choice. When you take a good look at the search queries within the Amazon ecosystem, the reviews are right there underneath the title of the product.
This shows that they are important. So, pay attention to your reviews. The struggle, however, is that buyers do not necessarily like to leave product reviews.
This means negative feedback can harm your search ranking and deter potential customers in the future, which then takes you longer to reach the first page.
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
When you have products that look the same and have similar pricing, which one would you choose?
10. Sales Are What Really Matters
Optimizing your product detail page and spending all your time in seller central will only get you so far. What Amazon cares about is sales velocity and your conversion rate.
This is how fast you can be selling your products. The more sales you make, the better you can rank higher in the search algorithm.
It means your keywords, images and reviews are all relevant, and people are essentially “voting” for your product by purchasing the item with their credit card.
11. Use Paid Advertising.
If you’re a new business, it’s going to be hard to try and compete with listings that have been there for a while and have proven themselves to Amazon. But, how else can you get to the first page of the search results?
Using Amazon PPC is one such way to not only get onto page one, but also placed at the top of the search page right in front of shoppers.
Source: Screenshot Amazon.com
Using pay per click (PPC) is how this product can jump right to the top position with a minimal amount of reviews.
You need to look at advertising as an investment. To get reviews, you need sales, and they are almost mutually exclusive to each other.
Bottom Line
The Amazon marketplace is a fiercely competitive space, and it can be difficult for new sellers to break through the noise.
Despite several strategies to help sellers reach the top of Amazon’s search results, many still fail to achieve success. The most important thing is a quality product with excellent customer service and a competitive price.
Everyone wants their products on page one but it’s not easy because every seller trying to do the exact same thing like getting reviews through giveaways or offering free shipping, etc.
This makes the process more rigorous for Amazon as they have an obligation towards customers so that everyone can trust them by buying from all kinds of retailers without feeling cheated in some way or another.
Fortunately, there are many different ranking factors from Amazon’s algorithm that affect your ability to rank on page one of the search results. Some you have control over, while others are out of your hands.
But ultimately, what this all comes down to is Amazon sales. By using these tips above, you’ll be well ahead of the competition and ranking high in the listings.
