Listing Optimization

Amazon has become one of the biggest platforms for e-commerce and with the growing competition, sellers are starting to get creative on new strategies to perform better on the marketplace. Therefore, it is essential to create a well-structured listing of your product(s). Like every other website, Amazon has its own rules for its search engine algorithm, the latest update being Amazon A10 Algorithm, which is now more relevant to the buyers.

Learn how to optimize your listing to increase your product ranking and improve your sales.

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Factors that influence the A10 Algorithm

Amazon PPC

The Amazon advertising tool remains relevant to your product ranking, however, it is not the main force that drives traffic towards your listings anymore. Consider dividing your budget for advertisement, focusing on advertising tools outside of Amazon like Google or Facebook Ads. Still, you should count Amazon PPC as a long-term investment in profit growth.

Sales history

Amazon’s search engine algorithm is also influenced by your product’s sales history. Meaning, you rank higher if you have a steady sales history.

Organic sales

An organic sale is when a customer buys your product, after searching it on the Amazon website. For example, if you sell wireless headphones, a customer has typed the keywords “Bluetooth headphones” in the search field and has bought your product, this counts as an organic sale by the keywords “Bluetooth headphones”. The more organic sales you make, the higher your product ranks in the search results.

Internal sales

Internal sales are really good for your ranking, because even though the customer didn’t search for your product, they still bought it. This happens, for example, when they see it in the Frequently bought together section, like it and buy it.

Off-site traffic

This is the latest update in the Amazon Algorithm and the reason why advertising outside of Amazon is important. The off-site sales are way more effective for your ranking than the ones driven by the Amazon PPC. It gains you higher keywords ranking and more reviews.

Seller authority

Your performance on Amazon as a seller has a crucial influence on your product ranking. This includes your feedback rating, how you handle customer support and how long have you been selling on the platform. Having a range of product can help you increase your seller authority, as it brings you more reviews and sales.

Impressions, Click-through rate and conversion rate

Getting more views for your product is another factor, influencing your ranking. A click-through rate is the number of customers, who visit your product page, divided by the number of over-all impressions. The higher the click-through rate is, the higher you rank you the search results. Lastly, the conversion rate is the ratio of customers, visiting your listing, to the ones who buy your items. Again, higher conversion rate leads to higher ranking.

Now, that you are familiar with what influences your rank, it’s time to see how you can make it higher.

How to rank higher

Do your market research

It is important to do a thorough market research, before you take the leap and start selling. Below are listed the two main steps you should take.

  • Know your product inside out
    Knowing your product well gives you a huge lead to your opponents. This way you can provide specific information about your product, which will show customers you know what you are selling, making the buyers trust you more. Go through the reviews of the top selling products in your category and find out what customers wish were better about the item and change it in yours. You can also give it a unique feature to make it stand out from the others.
    Being familiar with your product also means establishing your audience. Try to widen your target group as much as possible. Understand your customer’s needs, know when and how they use your product and include the information in your listing. This strategy persuades the customers they need this product and results in more sales.
  • Know your competition
    Analyze your concurrence by using different keywords. Try both with foundation words and with sub-categorizations. For example, you sell wireless pink headphones with a microphone. First, search for results under the keyword “headphones” and analyze the sellers. Then try being more specific, typing “wireless headphones microphone” and check again the results. Search a few different combinations until you have a clear image of your competition. An easier way to do this research is by using a special program, which shows you all the information you need. We recommend Helium10.

Do your keyword research

As we already mentioned, keywords are important for the organic rank. How to begin with the keyword research? Imagine you were the customer and needed the product you are selling. What words would you type in the search engine? Start by searching the words that come first to mind and then use other combinations.

The keywords can be categorized in four groups: awareness keywords, interest keywords, decision keywords and conversion keywords, which is a combination of the previous three groups.

Awareness keywords are the ones with the highest search volume, but have low sales rate. Interest keywords narrow the search, showing results more relevant to what a customer is looking for. Decision keywords are long-tail keywords with a lower search volume and a higher purchase rate.

Let’s take a look at the headphones example:

1

Awareness keyword:
Yoga Mat

2

Interest keyword::
Thick, Non Slip

3

Decision keyword:
1 inch

4

Conversion keyword :
Thick Yoga Mat Non Slip 1 inch/Non Slip Thick Yoga Mat 1

You can either do the keyword research by typing different combinations in the search engine, which takes time, or again use an analyzing program. It helps you find actual keywords that customers use to find what they need, so that you can include them in your product page and get higher sales.

Write your listing

A well-written and expressive listing should accurately describe your product and point out its advantages. It consists of the following components:

Photos

Your product needs to be shot with good lightning by a professional camera. Consider hiring someone to do this for you or you can even find someone to draw the pictures. For the best optimization your product should be shot on a white background and the number of photos should be 7 or higher.

Title

The title should include the name of your product and important keywords that outline the characteristics of your item the best. Nevertheless, don’t just throw random words, make sure it makes sense and sounds good reading it.

Bullet points

This is the part where you describe the key features of your product without going too much into detail. Think like a buyer – what would you like to read about this item before buying it? Then outline those advantages. It is advisable to use keywords with a high search volume here.

Description

Here you can be more flexible and creative with the description. Highlight the uses of your product and give more details about it. You can talk about your brand or you can write about why your product would be useful on a daily basis. Explain how it would fit into their lifestyle and why they need to buy it. Use as many keywords as possible, but without compromising the fluency of the text.

Back-end terms

You can put the keywords you haven’t used in the previous elements here. The back-end search terms are not visible to the customers, they just give you the opportunity to use more keywords to rank higher.

Some do’s and don’ts of a listing optimization

DO follow the character count instructions on all elements.

  • DO provide A+ content if possible (This is only for Amazon Brand registered sellers).
  • DON’T write only to suit the Amazon Algorithm. Your text should have a psychological effect on its buyers.
  • DON’T include other brand names to increase popularity. Amazon protects trademark brands strictly.
  • DON’T use words you can’t justify like “organic” or “antibacterial”. Also avoid using temporarily true words like “best” or “new”.
    As an Amazon seller you need to fully understand the Amazon Algorithm and think of your own winning strategy. You should measure your progress after optimizing your listing and change one or more components if needed.
  • DON’T misspell.
  • DON’T write only to suit the Amazon Algorithm. Your text should have a psychological effect on its buyers.
  • DON’T use words you can’t justify like “organic” or “antibacterial”. Also avoid using temporarily true words like “best” or “new”.

As an Amazon seller you need to fully understand the Amazon Algorithm and think of your own winning strategy. You should measure your progress after optimizing your listing and change one or more components if needed.

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