If you do business via selling on Amazon, you know that rankings are vital. You want rankings, reviews, and to get found in Amazon search results when people search for the product(s) you sell. Amazon isn’t the same as other search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. Amazon is a unique buying platform that’s designed to help the cream rise to the top.  In your efforts to learn how to rank higher on Amazon, it’s helpful to learn more about Amazon SEO best practices. 

How do you rank on Amazon? 

Amazon needs to see your product as relevant to people searching for keywords related to that product. It can take time. And sales. And reviews. 

Perception of relevance and keyword optimization can help you get your product listed when people search. And how you then optimize the product page is what can help you get your product to a wish-list, or better yet, 1-clicked. Success could even get you the coveted ‘Amazon’s Choice’ banner, which is as good as a top result for the top-ranking keyword phrases for your industry on Google.

Whether you are new to Amazon or have been selling on the platform for a while and want to rank better, following best practices for Amazon SEO can make a big difference. 

Here are some things to keep in mind:

A Picture is Worth $$$.

your Amazon listings can help you sell. They can also turn buyers off.  If target customers are searching for what you’re selling, they will be presented with several listings as results with images, short descriptions, prices, number of reviews, and average star rating. What you have here is what could result in a click, or not. 

Once they’re on your listing page, the description, image(s), content, and reviews are what will help you sell. 

Tips:

• Great images are important. People can view these on their phone screen, their laptop, or other devices.  
• It’s also important to use high-resolution images. You can choose images as a primary thumbnail as well as include additional angles, even videos to be shown on your page.
• Do some competitive analysis to help you choose image(s) and to write your descriptions. 

Optimizing Your Amazon Description

Sales writing skills matter in Amazon sales. You want enticing, accurate, helpful descriptions that make people interested in buying from you. Descriptions can instill confidence.  They can also do the opposite.

People see your description in the listings, and they get an opportunity to learn more if they click. For this reason, it’s important to put the most important information first. 

Your Amazon product description should do two things — appeal to potential customers as well as help you rank with Amazon SEO. Keyword research and good sales copywriting skills are both important. 

Relevant keywords that are commonly used can help you get ranked. However, resist the urge to “keyword stuff”.  Remember that the description isn’t just being read by Amazon’s bots. It’s going to either help or hurt you in terms of converting searchers into 1-clickers. Even your seller name can help or hurt your rankings. You have a limited amount of characters available in these fields, so use them well to entice clicks as well as help you get ranked.

Tips: 

• Bullet points work well and are eye-catching.
• White space is important. Don’t cram all the information in one paragraph. 
• Consider using some basic HTML to make your description eye-catching. Examples of this include: bullet points, bold and italics, larger fonts, and images. 
• Triple-check for typing errors. You could do everything else right and then turn off a potential buyer with typing or punctuation errors.
• Try to anticipate questions that might be asked and answer them

Categories Matter

Research categories to ensure you get an opportunity to rank for the right categories. If you run a search on Amazon for a popular product, you can see that suggestions come up. Do some keyword and category research to help you categorize your products.

Other Considerations in Your Amazon Sales Strategy

Reviews – Reviews help sell. Consider reminding customers through a follow-up email to review. Be sure to be available to answer questions or deal with any order problems so that (hopefully) you’ll get an opportunity to get more 5-star reviews. 

Questions – People often ask questions through the ‘ask a question’ feature on Amazon. Checking questions and answers can help you further optimize your product descriptions as well as ensure that you’re providing great customer service. 

Sponsored Ads – Sponsored ads can help you boost your Amazon product sales. Like Google PPC ads, they can be expensive if you dabble without much expertise. Be sure to do research and / or get professional help with Amazon advertising campaigns to get the most out of it. 

Analytics – Check your analytics regularly to see what information you can glean to help you with your overall Amazon marketing strategy. 

What is Amazon SEO: Conclusion

Optimizing each product description based on Amazon SEO best practices can help you get found by people searching for your product(s). Remember, people make buying decisions based on a variety of factors, including images, reviews, description, pricing, and availability. Paying attention to Amazon SEO best practices, striving to provide great customer experience, keyword research, competitive analysis, and operating with continuous improvement principles can help you achieve great success with ranking on Amazon, selling on Amazon, and getting great reviews as well as repeat customers.