Have you ever pondered on why some products always seem to show up in Amazon searches, while others barely get any attention? Or how do some Amazon product listings keep getting clicks and have a high rate of sales while others don’t?
The mysterious workings of Amazon’s complex ranking system can sometimes leave sellers scratching their heads about what will result in increased exposure on its site – but there are some definite tendencies from which one might extrapolate trends as to why certain items do better than others.
It seems that many factors contribute to a successful product listing on Amazon, but one of the most important is product listing optimization. In this article, we will explore crucial aspects of Amazon SEO and what guidelines to follow to optimize your Amazon product listings for driving sales and improving conversion rates.
An Amazon product listing or product page tells customers all they need to know about a given product. It features images, and videos of the products, product descriptions, and offers customer reviews from those who have already purchased them.
Amazon product listing optimization is the process of optimizing your listings to increase traffic and conversion. It is one of the most crucial tactics to keep your product on top. For you to be successful, you must succeed in this area and make sure all areas are accounted for from product title, description, reviews (which should have a significant number), advertising strategy, and visibility through keywords and other means.
Amazon product listing optimization is key to creating a personalized and memorable experience for online shoppers. Not to mention, more than 353 million items are sold on Amazon, which can create near-endless competition in the Amazon Marketplace. Therefore, even if you have a top-notch item to sell, you won’t be able to generate sales if customers can’t find your product among a sea of competitors. Optimizing these listings ensures that shoppers will be able to easily locate or search for those products!
Optimizing your Amazon product listing also ensures consistency across branding, messaging, reviews, and ratings – while simultaneously increasing visibility on Amazon’s search engine results page.
Related Post: To know more about Amazon Listing Hijacking & How to Prevent it? Click here
A9 is the name of a search engine algorithm that Amazon developed to power its product searches. It’s been around for about two years and has grown with age, becoming more complex over time.
A9.com, a subsidiary of Amazon, develops the company’s search engine advertising technology. However, it is not a functioning brand anymore.
The Amazon A9 algorithm is a powerful aspect for sellers to consider finding their way up the rankings. It is a search methodology that quickly reads and analyzes all the data on the marketplace to provide you with some of the best possible product choices. This AI-based framework ranks products with relevant matches for a customer’s query at the top of its results page. One principle it follows is relevancy: to rank higher, one must optimize their listings for SEO and make sure they have strong relevance when customers are searching.
The Amazon ranking algorithm adapts to the search patterns of its customers, displaying what they are looking for most. The structured data in their catalog allows them to combine different relevant features and displays search results tailored specifically for individual shoppers. The algorithm also learns from its former search patterns and adapts to display important results to its customers.
Although it’s hard to find information on how exactly their A9 algorithm works, we have identified various factors that play into the success of your conversions and sales of product listings. These aspects are:
Amazon’s built-in parent/child product functionality is a great way to display variations of the same products as opposed to displaying them with different listings. This means that you can expect your customer to find the products on a single page. Variation themes include color/name, size/count, and scent, among others! For example, identical t-shirts which vary only by their color; lipstick available in various shades; etc. With Amazon’s ranking system, products with multiple options in their listing tend to rank higher than those without.
Another benefit of doing this includes higher ranking chances on product searches due to multiple options being shown. With customers staying in the same place and viewing all other products together, there’s an increased chance they will make a purchase!
Relevancy is what shapes the content of a product listing. It’s like an intrinsic ranking system that factors in keywords, descriptions, and even bullet points to calculate how “relevant” your items are for any given search term or keyword.
The relevancy of the content is a vital factor in rankings. The better it matches, the higher up on the list you’ll see them! Creative titles and keyword-rich descriptions are important for getting your listing to rank high – but make sure they’re engaging too.
This is another significant factor that the A9 algorithm considers while determining the product rankings. To keep the marketplace competitive, it compares the seller’s transactions and dollar amounts with their competitors and ranks them accordingly. The seller with the highest sales velocity wins out.
Amazon calculates both dollar volume (the amount) and quantity of items per transaction (number). Both are important factors taken into consideration to determine who earns top rankings on their site.
Ever wondered why your Amazon product listings disappear from the top rankings? Well, the algorithm that ranks your listing takes into account whether an item is in stock. If there’s no availability for a product, then chances are your ranking will be downgraded and customers won’t find your products. On the other hand, running out of stock negatively impacts your Amazon account health too.
Running low on inventory also negatively impacts your seller performance rating which eventually leads to lower sale volume–so don’t wait any longer to restock those shelves!
A9 is a tricky algorithm. Besides displaying the top-selling and relevant products, it also checks if a product has been priced appropriately. It looks at the best price and looks at how well your amazon product listing has been represented. So, try to balance these aspects.
The FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is one of the most valuable resources for sellers. The fulfillment-by-Amazon program allows merchants who use their services to stock their products at all or some of Amazon’s warehouses within its geographical proximity. This produces two benefits:
This, in turn, increases your sales velocity and improves conversion rates as FBA has plenty of benefits. Some of them are easy to return policy, shorter delivery dates, accountability, etc.
Sales velocity is yet another most vital factor that Amazon’s A9 search algorithm looks for. But the question is how to increase your sales velocity? Well, the answer is through “advertising.” Even a few dollars allotted for advertising can do a big deed in driving visitors to your product listings. And if the product is impressive enough, you get to generate more sales.
Undeniably, reviews play a key role in enhancing overall sales. Positive ratings and reviews from customers help the A9 algorithm to determine whether buyers are engaging positively or not. To outshine your competitors with this part of the marketing strategy, create an incredible customer experience for visitors browsing through your listings. Engage them by providing answers to them in the Q&A section of your product listings. Attempt for favorable and good reviews while mitigating and minimizing the negative feedback.
Images are everything in an online marketplace where buyers cannot interact with the product physically. Bright, clear, high-quality pictures of a product enhance conversion rates and appeal to Amazon’s A9 algorithm so your listing ranks higher on search results pages. Upload as many as acceptable images, taken from all angles, as this appeases the A9 algorithm to boost rankings, as well as shoppers to provide them with a wide selection of views before they buy. AI photo editor tools can greatly improve the visual appeal of your Amazon product listing.
Amazon’s recommendation is to have at least 1280 pixels on the longest side. Ideally, you should go for ultra-HD images that have 2560 pixels (or more) on the longest side. You can also try images with 3D rendering or an AI image generator which instantly create unique images that fit your brand aesthetic. These images give authentic appeal to your visitors.
There are many ways to boost sales velocity and increase conversions, but promotions can provide a quick bump in sales. However, it’s not a long-term strategy. Discounting your product may provide you with an immediate boost in sales and conversions, but you should be very careful while offering them as discounts often have negative effects on rankings. There are many others more important, more sustainable “A9” factors to focus on – such as your text match relevancy and product availability.
Amazon says that A+ content helps increase the overall sales of a product by 3 – 10% on average. The increase is because buyers have higher customer satisfaction with products when they know more about them.
A study performed by MediaMind, where they analyzed 24,000 websites, which experienced about 12 billion impressions during July & December and discovered that multimedia content helped boost impressions by 3x.
When it comes to Amazon product listing, there are six elements associated with it. Be it a private label or retail arbitrage, these aspects are important to understand as a third-party seller:
The benefits of including the brand name when listing on Amazon are many. Besides coming up in filter results, customers will also search for your product by specific brands and manufacturers to find what they’re looking for much more quickly than if you didn’t include it.
Amazon does not show products that do not mention a manufacturer or brand. Therefore, for the ultimate success of your product, make sure to include a mention of your brand or manufacturer. This will help you get on Amazon’s radar and ensure that customers searching for products like yours can find them effortlessly!
Make sure to follow the guidelines for every element related to your product listings, followed by optimizing and improving them to make them convert. This helps you outrank your competitors, add value, and increase your customer base.
A customer that wants to purchase a product in the same category may not find you if your listing is too broad. When adding information about products, make sure you list them under their most specific category possible for them to locate your product listings effortlessly.
Related Post: How To Use Amazon Product Category Tree To Optimize Listings. Click Here
What does it take to have a top-performing listing? At SellerApp, we found that out by comparing two listings, one of which had well-optimized features and the other did not. With our set of amazon tools, we not only figured them out but also will explain the key tricks to optimize to improve your rankings.
So what did we do? We took one product listing from Amazon and analyzed how it performed so well. Here’s what we discovered:
There are nine sets of parameters that can break or boost the process of Amazon Product listing optimization. They are:
Let’s dive deeper into each parameter and see what made it so successful.
By ranking higher in Amazon search results, you can increase your sales and add to the bottom line. But how do we rank high? There are many factors that go into a successful product listing such as optimizing for keywords, having quality photos with good lighting, writing an optimized title & description, and more! Let’s dive deeper into some of these important aspects, so you can have all the tools necessary to succeed on this platform.
When we talk about “optimization,” we stress two things here:
Now, what most sellers tend to forget is the concept behind Amazon’s A9 algorithm. Even though you have an incredible listing that is well optimized for Amazon, if a buyer feels that “it isn’t good,” then he or she is not going to buy it. This is obvious.
It isn’t just about an optimized product listing. It is also about your product’s quality, its features, and what customers think about it. Everything has to come together to make your listing successful.
When you say “optimization,” it is not only about accomplishing higher rankings on Amazon’s search results. It is also about building a better and rewarding product overall.
Now, before you could actually get into the actual “optimization,” there is an important step that you need to do, which is keyword research.
Though you have Google Keyword Planner handy, it is best to have a keyword tool that only gives the stats of what buyers are searching on Amazon’s search box. Though this is completely your freedom of what you want to go with, our “keyword research” feature can discover some top-searched keywords on Amazon in no time.
You can search for potential keywords based on the product that you are selling. Type the product category or product that you are selling on Amazon.
Perform Keyword Research. You will get a detailed list of keywords associated with what you have typed and its stats.
You can even track a few related products if you want to. The tool is that simple. It also allows you to search for long-tail keywords, and it’s difficult to rank on Amazon. Once you decided what keywords you want to target, the next step is to optimize your listing.
Here is a list of parameters you must focus on to optimize your product listing. Make sure to follow them diligently and watch your ranking skyrocket in no time.
Make sure that your product images are clear and high quality to help you convert. But how many should you include? You need a strategy for your product images and 62% of the top listings tend to have at least 5 or 8. According to SellerApp’s findings, the sweet spot is 6 images.
This was the product listing we took from Amazon and did a complete analysis on its images first.
Why is this considered the best Amazon product listing example?
This product generates an estimated sale of 43 to 61 on a daily basis, with a decent revenue. Though multiple factors call for it, the product image is one of them. You can evaluate your Amazon product image quality using the following criteria:
Besides providing quality images, include as many pictures as possible. Also, note that many product categories let you include swatch & alternate images. Though Amazon allows you to upload 9 images, we recommend you to stay around 5 – 6.
Ensure that the main pictures are on a clear, white background. However, the background for others can be clean and simple. You can also use lifestyle images to provide a better understanding of the product and its features. Follow these dos and don’ts for an optimum product image for your product listing –
Do:
Don’t:
There is a correlation between the length of your product’s title and how well it sells. We analyzed our sales data to see what words are most effective in generating interest for products over others. Surprisingly, there was an established relationship between these two factors! What does this mean? Amazon will take into account those first five words when creating URLs which means they can be more relevant if you have them at the beginning- especially since that part makes up about 80% of titles on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The “canonical URL” is generated by taking each word from its corresponding listing’s title with a few exceptions: stop words such as “a,” “and,” etc.
How to ensure your product title is up to the mark?
Follow these simple tips to optimize your product listing title-
Do’s
Don’ts
Look at the example below to have a more vivid understanding of how you must frame your product title.
Hence, it is vital to take some time to work on the titles because it is one of the crucial factors that decide its CTR (Click-through Rate) on the results page.
Amazon product description is one of the most crucial parts of Amazon product listing optimization. A great product description is a key to success. It can help you sell more and rank higher in search engines for your products or services – but only if it’s done well!
If a buyer gets to your product description, he/she is more likely to purchase your product, however, they are still not sure yet.
Different experts have different opinions in making a great description. But what it actually takes to create one? Well, it all comes down to creativity and optimization. A blend of both can improve rankings and convert better.
The description has a direct impact on the customers. Tell them why you are selling the product for so much? Try convincing the buyers how your product can make a difference in their day-to-day lives and why is it important to buy it from you rather than your competitors.
Look at the example below to understand better:
The product description above has all the relevant points mentioned, they have not only kept it short and crisp but also made it precise and easy to understand. Here are some guidelines you must follow while curating the perfect Amazon product description:
Do:
Don’t:
A product description should be concise, clear, and should be clear in explaining what your product does. We recommend keeping it a minimum of 250 words. But don’t make it too long either.
Product features are one of the significant elements in a product listing, and they’re usually listed using amazon bullet points rather than chunks of texts or large paragraphs. This is because it simplifies things, making it way easier to read than a paragraph full of texts.
Look at the example below to understand better how it’s done –
Upon analyzing, we also found that most top sellers on Amazon not only use bullet points to write their product’s features but also don’t overdo it. They do not exceed 5 bullet points.
The bullet points must include every important feature that distinguishes you from your competitors. Keep it interesting and convincing enough for a buyer to make a purchase.
Follow the below-mentioned guidelines for an optimized product features list –
Do:
Don’t:
The reviews of a product have an immense impact on the ratings. They go hand in hand with each other, thus if you want to make sure that your rating is high then you should focus not only on producing quality products but also on having good customer service and responding quickly to any complaints or problems they might be facing as well! The below listing has 4.3 out of 5 stars which is certainly a fabulous score, but there’s still plenty more room for improvement so don’t give up yet.
Now, if you happen to be in the realm of 4-5 stars, it means that your products are performing really well. However, if your product struggles and has very fewer ratings, here is what you can do to improve:
It is clear that online shoppers rely on product reviews. Hence, it’s important to encourage your customers – and leave their honest opinions about the products you offer. Here are some interesting facts from experts: Products with 4.3 stars and 400 reviews are certain to perform better (in terms of sales) than products with even 4.8 ratings and 14 reviews. In general, a successful product listing tends to have between 500 and 1000 reviews. Generating a good amount of sales on a daily basis.
More info: Amazon’s Generative AI: How It Can Help in Amazon Product Listing
You can use Amazon’s Reviewer program to gather a few initial reviews. Furthermore, you can opt for Amazon’s Request a Review and request your buyer to review your product within 4-20 days from the time they bought the product.
Step 1: Ask for product reviews: According to Amazon, it is not permitted for sellers and manufacturers to offer rewards in return for reviews. However, you can ask buyers or anyone who has ordered your product in the past few months if they would be willing to post their thoughts about a purchase without incentives. Email them after their delivery arrives at their destination to provide feedback.
Step 2: Request Removal of Fake reviews/non-seller-related issues: Reviews are a crucial part of the online shopping experience, but not all reviews have to do with products. Reviews sometimes reflect issues that relate to services such as shipping and customer support inquiries; therefore, such reviews can be requested to be removed.
Step 3: Respond to messages promptly: Amazon’s Buy Box algorithm takes into account customer response time when determining the seller who gets the top ranking. Aim to respond to all messages from customers within 24 hours and ideally as soon as possible for best results!
The section – search terms – is shown only in the listing’s back-end. There is still a lot of discussion around this part, but it isn’t that complicated. All you have to do is to put your main keywords, one per line.
Do:
Don’t:
Amazon’s customer experience is all about keeping customers engaged. Even if they just viewed your product and left the store, their exit rate will already be higher than it should. The key to combat this issue? Keep them interested in relevant products – you never know when that might change a mind! Not to mention, if your exit rate is too high, your product ranking will decline, causing your sales volume to drop drastically.
Amazon product listing involves two things, which you must always keep in mind:
Step 1: Log in to your seller central account and go to the dashboard.
Step 2: On the main menu, click on “Inventory.”
Step 3: A sub-menu pops up. Click “Add a Product” from the list.
Step 4: You will be redirected to a detailed page where you can add the product.
Step 5: Here, you will have the choice to either select an existing item or create your own. You can search from Amazon’s catalog or choose to add a new product that is not sold on Amazon.
Step 6: Select the product category and subcategorize to classify the item that you sell. If you feel that your product can be listed under two categories, then look at the other sellers and see in which category they are listing their products.
Step 7: Once you select the appropriate product category, you will be enabled to fill in the product listing’s information.
Step 8: You will be asked to fill in the product title, product description, product images, and so on. Now, this is the part that can make or break your listing. The details that you give should be engaging and yet informative. Most importantly, it should be convincing enough for the buyers to purchase your product.
Step 9: You will have to fill details in every tab named Variations, Offer, Images, Description, Keywords, etc. If you see a red warning symbol on any of these tabs, it signifies that you have missed entering the essential details required to make the listing available on Amazon Marketplace. Until you don’t do this, your listing will not be published.
If you still face issues in publishing the product listing, you can always contact the Amazon Seller Support team by clicking on the link – “Help” on the top, right side of the page. Follow the necessary steps to get assistance for the issue.
Amazon shoppers love it when there’s a video included for the product. A recent survey found that 90% of them say videos featuring the products help them in making their decision, and those listings with videos have higher conversion rates because they allow buyers to see how well your product works.
Adding videos to your product listing is an intelligent move and one of the best ways to convince shoppers to purchase something from your store or website, depending on how much time they put into finding it online before pulling their trigger.
Now, as a seller, if you are trying to add a product video to your listing along with the images, then it is simple. But first, learn what type of videos are there and what each type contributes to.
Generally, there are 3 types of video concepts that you can create to help your product reach the right audience and keep them engaged.
Note: You can add a video to Amazon listing in the following ways:
Before you upload a video, make sure to keep a few things in mind:
Bear in mind that Amazon keeps updating its product video guidelines. So, make sure to look at the EBC’s help page or directly go to the link that says Video Guidelines within the EBC UI.
Adding a product video is simple, given that you have been enabled to use this option. Follow these step-by-step guidelines:
It takes a maximum of 6 hours for the video to be available on the product’s page. Once it is published, it shows up on the image block on the upper left pane, and again, in the related videos under the product’s information section.
If you want to remove the product video from the page, do this:
You’ve probably heard of the term, “consumer decision journey.” Well, this is what we are going to discuss today! The consumer decision journey is a process where consumers decide which product they want to purchase for themselves or others based on their needs and wants. Sellers have four important elements that need improvement in order for them to be successful: availability, findability, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and post-purchase experience.
The importance of Amazon Listing Optimization cannot be discussed without also discussing the Consumer Decision Journey, as they both rely on each other for success (or lack thereof). Let’s decipher how product listing optimization comes into play at every step of the customer decision journey –
Availability is the first key factor when it comes to optimizing your Amazon listings. When deciding on what factors are important, there are two that you need to consider: inventory availability and Buy Box ownership. You might have a collection of the most optimum keywords or the best product images, but if your product listing gets suppressed due to low or no inventory stocks, nothing can help you rank high.
One of the best ways to minimize returns and dissatisfaction from customers is owning the ‘Buy Box’. When you own it, your store creates a product listing that customers are more likely to see while shopping on Amazon than listings created by other sellers.
Amazon is a fickle beast, but there are ways that you can make your products more findable. The first step to optimizing your Amazon listing is making sure everything’s in stock, and you’ve won the Buy Box. Once you have taken care of these, focusing on “findability” is the next crucial thing to do.
One of the most important factors in Amazon’s ranking algorithm is your findability. Findability encompasses both organic and advertising presence, meaning that not only should you be making sure to rank for keywords within your product category but also ensuring that people can easily navigate your products.
This means that you have to evaluate the most searched terms that are relevant to your product listing and add them to your product title, description, and features. It is also important to include them in backend keywords and alternate text in images.
As a study by Nielsen Norman Group shows, “Users do scroll but only if what’s above the fold is promising enough”, this means that your above-the-fold content is one of the crucial aspects that has the ability to create a conversion funnel and this includes your title and image list. Make sure to use the best keywords for your product listing title and insert high-resolution images.
Below the fold, you’re given more creative control and can dive deeper into your product. If consumers are 90% sold on a purchase based on what they see above, then with below-the-fold content shoppers will find additional videos of their products in action, A+ content, as well as reviews from other customers who have purchased them before.
Optimizing your Amazon listings doesn’t end with conversion. Customer Satisfaction is an important aspect of product listing optimization. You want them to have a good experience both on the product side and the seller storefront, which can be seen in reviews of their products.
A positive indication of a developed post-purchase process is repeat customers, i.e. customer retention. Not only does this show customer satisfaction from the product side, but also on your seller storefront through quick and professional responses to all questions or complaints.
There’s a reason why Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world. People around the globe use it to search for products 3 times as often as they do Google! It’s important that this site has perfect algorithms, so their best items are shown after every search. Therefore, optimizing your product listing to match the A9 algorithms is very important to stand out amongst millions of competitors there.
The way you present your product on Amazon – both through listing content and the user experience after purchase, can make or break a sale. Creating engaging listing pages that provide all the information customers need to feel confident in their purchases is imperative for a product listing to rank top on Amazon searches.
Additional Read:
Avoid Amazon Listing Hijacking Using SellerApp’s Alerts
Boost Amazon Sales with SellerApp Insights!
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Appreciate your effort sellerapp
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Well-written and informative blog.
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Thanks for posting this! It is almost exactly what I was looking for. Keep the great content coming!
Glad you liked the article.
Excellent post! Your explanation of Amazon's search algorithms and the importance of back-end keywords was particularly enlightening. I'm excited to implement these strategies and see the impact on my product listings' visibility and traffic.
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As an Amazon seller, I know how challenging it can be to drive traffic to our product listings. Your post on optimizing listings and increasing traffic is very informative.
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