Amazon SEO in 2021

Regan McPhee

January 6, 2021

Amazon SEO, Product Listing Optimization, Selling on Amazon

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The days of ignoring Amazon SEO, throwing up any old product on Amazon, and then waiting for the paychecks to start rolling in are long gone. Instead, in an increasingly competitive marketplace, Amazon continues to develop algorithms to match sellers’ products with their shoppers. Your product has to be relevant.

Today, if you’re not maximizing the impact of your Amazon SEO, you’re in great danger of losing out on sales.

So, if you’re ready to claim your rightful share of sales and exposure, we’ll go over the following ins and outs of Amazon SEO and how to start optimizing your listing so you can begin ranking higher today.

What is Amazon SEO and why is it important?
What makes a product rank on Amazon?
Key elements of a product listing for Amazon SEO
How to optimize an Amazon FBA product listing for Amazon SEO
How to keep track of your Amazon ranking
Learn more about Amazon SEO

What is Amazon SEO and why is it important?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing visibility of a website or a web page to users of an online search engine.

While this might seem like an odd concept considering Amazon is an e-commerce website (and SEO is often considered a Google-related need), it’s actually highly relevant.

Shoppers tend to browse both sites when shopping online: 62% of U.S. consumers start their product searches on Amazon, a close second behind Google (71%). While Google and Amazon’s search algorithms are similar in some ways, Amazon’s A9 algorithm has shopping in mind—it returns the most relevant products as search results, as opposed to the informational articles Google surfaces. In this way, Amazon streamlines a shopper’s journey from search to purchase.

Therefore, if you understand Amazon SEO, then your products’ visibility and ranking improves, which drives more sales!

A9: The foundation of Amazon SEO

Amazon’s search algorithm comes from a former subsidiary company called A9, and is the brains behind matching a customer search query with the most relevant products in the Amazon catalog.

This algorithm is crucial to Amazon’s business model because it powers the one primary metric that matters the most: revenue per click. And by honing in on the products most relevant to a customer’s search query, Amazon increases its chances of generating a sale — and revenue.

We get a sense of what the A9 algorithm targets in Amazon’s article on Optimizing Listings for Search and Browse:

“Factors such as degree of text match, price, availability, selection, and sales history help determine where your product appears in a customer’s search results. By providing relevant and complete information for your product, you can increase your product’s visibility and sales.”

We’ll show you how to provide the information Amazon’s A9 algorithm is looking for.

What makes a product rank on Amazon?

While Amazon keeps a tight lid on the details of its A9 Search Algorithm, there are a few key factors that we know help to determine a product’s rank.

For example, when you create an Amazon product listing, you are telling Amazon: “Hey, this is what my product is.”

Then, when customers click on your product listing and make a purchase, they, too, are telling Amazon: “Yes, this product is exactly as described and precisely what I was looking for.”

Think of Amazon’s A9 search engine as the smartest person you’ve ever met. However, this person lacks confidence in their answers. It’s not until a few thousand people tell the person they’re right that they start to believe it themselves.

And that’s Amazon SEO and the A9 algorithm in a nutshell.

Keyword relevancy

If Amazon’s A9 search algorithm doesn’t know what your product is, how can it make sales? And how does Amazon even know what your product is in the first place?

The answer is surprisingly simple: keywords.

When you create your Amazon FBA product listing, Amazon requires a lot of information including:

The product’s title
The product’s images
Bullet points offering a quick description of the product
A longer description of the product
Back-end keywords and categories

All of these elements are used by Amazon’s algorithm to understand what your product is (more on creating an optimized listing below).

Sales velocity

Since Amazon is a business (and businesses want to make money), the more money your product brings into Amazon, the more likely your product will rank.

A product’s sales velocity represents how much money it’s bringing in over time. It’s a measure of the number of opportunities (in this case, page impressions) multiplied by the average sale, multiplied by the conversion rate, all divided by the sales length cycle.

Here’s an example to help clarify how sales velocity is calculated:

In one month, your product page has 3,000 opportunities to make a sale, also known as page impressions (ie. the number of people visiting your product listing).
The product price is $20.
Your conversion rate is 10% (conversion rate = total order items / sessions).
The sales cycle is 30 days.

(3000 x 20) 0.10 / 30 = 200

That means your sales velocity is $200 per day.

Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visits to your product page that result in a sale. It is calculated as follows:

Conversion rate = Total order items / Sessions

In Seller Central, you can see the conversion rate of your product by going to Reports –> Business Reports –> Sales and Traffic, and then looking at the Order Item Session Percentages. This is what it looks like for Jungle Stix:

The three most important factors to improving your conversion rate are:

High quality product images
Competitive price
Social proof (number, and quality, of reviews)

As you make adjustments to different parts of your listings, you can see the changes reflected in these metrics.

For example, if you start testing a different main product image, you may see an uptick in your click through rate and sessions. Or, if you change the main keyword you’re targeting, you may eventually see a dip in sessions. But, as you are targeting more relevant traffic, you could also see a lift in sales.

Your conversion rate is going to be dynamic, changing based on changes in traffic, customer behavior, and market conditions in general. It is tremendously helpful to stay attuned to these changes, and proactively make necessary adjustments. This means consistently running split tests to optimize the keywords you target, the images you use, your price, and much more.

Key elements of a product listing for Amazon SEO

As we’ve discussed, the primary ingredient for success with Amazon SEO is relevancy, and every element on an Amazon product listing helps with relevancy.

Understanding the structure of an Amazon product listing

But, before we go into the individual components of your Amazon product listing, it’s vital that you understand the actual structure of the listing itself.

Amazon’s user experience designers placed each element of a product listing in a specific position, based on common internet-user reading habits (most internet users — you and I included — read in an F-shaped-pattern).

First, the user starts at the top-left corner of the screen, scanning the content. On Amazon search results pages and product listings, the first things the user sees are the product photos.

Next, it’s the product’s title (with the price very close to the top). And at the far right of the listing, still in line with the other content, is the Buy Box.

If the user does not make an immediate purchase based on the image, title, and price, they scroll further down the page and make a second horizontal movement. That means the user sees the items’ delivery options, product variants, and bullet points.

The final movement involves the pattern’s vertical movement.

As a user scrolls past ‘the fold’ on an Amazon page (the portion of the page a user sees when they first log on), they are treated to more content to convince them to make a sale. This includes competitor products, offers and promotions, a detailed product description, questions and answers, and reviews.

The most important elements of an Amazon product listing

With this knowledge of a user’s reading pattern, we can order the product listing’s elements from most important to least important.

Above the fold:

When it comes to the components of a product listing, those that are ‘above the fold’ can be seen by a potential buyer when they first click through to your page, without scrolling down.

They include:

Product images: Amazon is very much a visual website. Therefore, product photos are the first thing a customer sees when their search results come up, helping to confirm that their search terms were correct.
Product name (title): Next, the product title makes its debut in the reader’s field of vision. The title supplies a lot of important information, for further confirmation that the product was relevant to the customer’s search.
Amazon badges: There are a number of badges that can be associated with a product listing. First, if a product leads in its parent category, Amazon awards it a ‘Best Seller’ or ‘Amazon’s Choice’ badge. Next, below the product’s rating is a badge that lets shoppers know the product qualifies for Prime. Finally, the ‘In Stock’ badge (which is not visible on all listings) lets the buyer know the product is available for purchase.
Product rating: Just below the product’s title is the product’s overall rating, represented by one to five stars.
The Buy Box: The Buy Box is the page’s call-to-action above the fold. It allows the buyer to immediately purchase the product from the product’s top seller.
Variants: If the product has variants, these will appear below the product’s title and pricing information.
Bullet points: Any details that the listing creator could not convey through the product’s images or title are placed in the bullet points. These details are less for establishing relevance, and more for helping customers make informed buying decisions.

Below the fold:

As for components ‘below the fold’, those are the listing’s elements that a shopper can only view if they scroll down the product page.

These include:

“Customers who bought this item also bought…”: This section is Amazon’s first line of defense against losing a potential conversion. Once a customer scrolls past the fold without clicking the Buy Box, Amazon ensures that other options are put in front of the potential buyer.
“Sponsored products related to this item…”: Like the section above, sponsored products work towards ensuring a sale is made.
Special offers and product promotions: Next, the product listing might offer promotions to convert shoppers who couldn’t be persuaded to buy above the fold, or to click on one of the other product listings. Amazon advertises their credit line and $125 gift card award by default.
Long-form description: The description is the closer of an Amazon product listing. If the image, title, price, and other above-the-fold features failed to get the job done, it’s up to the description to convince the shopper to buy.
Reviews: Finally, the product’s ratings are accompanied by its reviews. The reviews either change the buyer’s mind and turn them into a shopper, or they act as confirmation bias for shoppers on the fence about buying.

The do’s and don’ts when optimizing an Amazon FBA product listing for Amazon SEO

Now that you’re armed with a basic understanding of Amazon SEO and user experience, you should be able to optimize your Amazon product listing for relevancy and conversions (sales velocity).

**What you can do to improve your listing:**

1. Pick relevant images

Your product’s image is everything. It is the first impression the customer receives of your product, so make it a good one. The main image should be clear, needing nothing more than a quick glance from the customer in order for them to know exactly what the product is.

2. Construct relevant product titles

Until Amazon has sales data to back up your product’s claims, the title is crucial for proper Amazon SEO. So, the next thing you need to do is construct your product title so it conveys the most important information first, from left to right.

If you need some help creating your title, Amazon constructs its own product titles using the following formula:
[Brand] [Product Type] [A Defining Characteristic] [Specific Use] [Size and/or Quantity]

For example, Brita Filters are listed as Brita Standard Water Filter, Standard Replacement Filters for Pitchers and Dispensers, BPA Free – 6 Count.

3. Amass good ratings and reviews

Good product ratings can make or break a product. After all, your product can be the most relevant product in the world, but if it has three stars or less it may not sell. To avoid that from happening, make sure that: a) your product is exactly what you advertise on your product listing, and b) you follow-up with your Amazon customers to address potential issues.

4. Offer reasonable prices

Obviously, pricing is an important factor when someone considers making a purchase on Amazon. And while you don’t want to give your product away for next to nothing, you also don’t want to scare off buyers with over-inflated prices. Look at what your competitors’ are doing, and price test often to secure the best possible pricing for both you and your shopper.

5. If possible, sell Prime

Most of us want what we want when we want it. In other words, we want fast shipping! That’s why 65% of all Amazon.com shoppers are Amazon Prime members: two to three-day shipping (one-day for some). Naturally, because of this desire to receive their purchases as quickly as possible, products with the Prime badge sell better than those without.

If you are an Amazon FBA seller and use Amazon’s fulfillment network, your product automatically qualifies as Prime. If you’re not selling FBA, you can always apply to be a part of Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime program.

6. Keep ownership of the Buy Box

Even if you’re the only seller on a product listing, you can still lose the Buy Box. And without the Buy Box, some shoppers may decide to move onto one of your competitor’s listing to buy from them instead. To make sure you’re eligible for your own Buy Box, always follow Amazon’s rules carefully.

If you happen to lose the Buy Box (either because of ‘hijackers‘ or Amazon deems you no longer eligible), it is possible to win it back. Check out our blog, How to win the Buy Box, to find out how.

7. Offer variants whenever possible

The last thing you want is to lose a sale because your product comes in red and the buyer wanted black. Variants help with conversions, so failure to offer variations (if your product is variation-friendly) could mean losing a customer to one of your competitors. So if you can offer variants, do so, and do so on the original product listing; creating a separate listing for variants isn’t always beneficial.

8. Stay in stock

While the jury is still out on whether or not products suffer when they run out of stock, the bottom line is that you can’t make sales if you don’t have any units to sell. In the meantime, as you wait for your next shipment of inventory, your competitors are signaling to Amazon that their products are more relevant than yours.

Regardless of the debate, our recommendation is to remain in stock!

9. Use the bullet points to explain the product’s non-explicit benefits

It’s a mistake to use your bullet points for keyword stuffing. Instead, use bullet points to help your product convert. Offer information that the images and title could not convey. A great tip is to answer the question: how does my product solve the problem that led this customer to my product in the first place.

10. Study your competitors’ listings

Learn from your successful competitors’ product listings. Click on their listing and do a little research. What makes their product more relevant than your own? What makes their listing more effective than yours? And check their sales, too. Is their product actually doing better than yours?

11. Offer promotions

Consider this: a shopper moves past the fold of your listing because they weren’t convinced to buy right away. But they also weren’t interested in the sponsored products, or the ‘Customers who bought this item, also bought…’ section. Therefore, it’s possible you can change their mind with something as simple as a 10% discount. Plus, you can offer a promotion without advertising it.

12. Use the long-form description section to sell your product

This is your chance to showcase the benefits and talk up the product’s advantages, so make sure the product’s description drives home why the customer should buy your product over everyone else’s. And, if you’re a brand-registered seller, here is where you can create A+ content (formerly registered brand content).

If you have a registered brand on Amazon, you will have access to A+ content. Not only does A+ content give your page a sharp, professional look, but it may also improve your commissions. We ran an A/B test with A+ content on Jungle Stix and discovered that it improved our conversion rate by 150%.

13. Stay on top of your product’s reviews

This is probably one of the most difficult parts of being an Amazon seller. One bad review can tank your entire listing.

But I believe that you can still get good product reviews. You just have to do it the old fashioned way: by making a great product that people want, offering amazing customer service, and running a great follow-up email campaign.

More ways to optimize your Amazon SEO and ranking

Once you have a well-optimized listing, it’s time to spike your sales, as nothing will boost your ranking like cold hard sales can.

Two of the best ways to increase sales are:

1. Running Amazon PPC (pay-per-click) ads

Paid advertisements are a great source of traffic and additional sales to help rank your products. Facebook or Google Adwords can be used, but Amazon PPC is the easiest way to boost your keyword driven sales.

Start by setting up manual PPC campaigns using your target keywords, then crank up the bids (but staying within your budget) to increase exposure and sessions.

2. Using launch services and deal websites to attract buyers

To generate sales quickly, consider offering coupons to discount-hungry shoppers.

Sales produced through launch services can increase your product’s sales velocity, helping to boost its ranking. Just make sure you have a reliable system for delivering coupons (like Jungle Scout) and promoting them to deal hunters.

Helpful optimization don’ts:

Don’t include your competitor’s brand name or misleading information: Including keywords that are misleading are against Amazon’s Terms of Service, and can lead to product removal and account suspension.
Don’t keyword stuff: Amazon calls this “providing redundant information captured in other fields”. With Amazon SEO, more is not always better. Don’t repeat your keywords.
Don’t use punctuation in keywords: Only use a single space to separate keywords, no commas, semicolons, dashes, etc. Anecdotally, including punctuation can reduce the number of keywords that your product ranks for.
Don’t add common misspellings, variants, or synonyms: Amazon captures common related words, so no need to include those in your keywords section. For example, “marshmallow stick”, “marshmellow stix”, and “marshmellos stick” will all be captured with just one keyword.

How to keep track of your Amazon ranking

What good is optimizing your listing, working on Amazon SEO, and boosting ranking if you can’t track the results? There are two ways to check if your product has been indexed and where it is ranking for keywords: manually and automatically.

Manually

First, check your product is indexed for keywords by typing the following formula directly into the Amazon search bar:

(ASIN) + “(keyword)”

Populate the brackets with your product ASIN and a keyword you wish to check. If your product shows up, it’s indexed for that term.

Then when it comes to tracking ranking, you’ll need to manually scroll through pages to find it. Checking this every day certainly gets old quickly!

Automatically

Because checking your rankings manually can be extremely time consuming, your best bet is to find a tool that enables you to monitor your Amazon product listings automatically.

By using a tool like Jungle Scout’s Rank Tracker, you can track your product’s ranking, as well as those of your competitors. It also helps you find new opportunities while eliminating inefficient keywords.

Learn more about Amazon SEO

And that’s it! Hopefully this article has given you a solid start on mastering Amazon SEO, however, if you’d like to learn more, be sure to check out these companion articles:

If you have any tricks you use for Amazon SEO you’d like to share, feel free to drop them in the comments below.