Amazon SEO: how to get on the first page of Amazon and rank

Selling on Amazon is essential for those who want to expand their market share. The marketplace boasts nearly 300 million active customers every month, with constantly growing turnover. However, competition is also getting stronger, and 70% of users never go beyond the first page of search results. Therefore, how do you get on the first page of Amazon and improve your ranking? The first step is to work on Amazon SEO. In this article, we will explain what it means and how to do it.

What is Amazon SEO

By performing the same search on Amazon a few days apart – but often even just a few hours apart – you will notice that the order in which the site shows products is always different. If the search queries were not identical, but only similar, the results ranking could even be completely altered.

Search results for "face moisturizing cream" VS "moisturizing face cream" just seconds apart.

The reason why this happens lies in the fact that product positioning is determined by an algorithm, called A10, which we discussed in this article. SEO, an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, is nothing more than the set of actions aimed at making product pages as visible and readable as possible specifically for this algorithm. Working on SEO is of fundamental importance for anyone who wants to increase their turnover on Amazon, as well as the first action to take to make their items more visible. Therefore, any action taken on a non-optimized catalog will be much less effective, if not entirely useless. But how do you do SEO on Amazon? Below we will report some best practices and tricks to follow to improve the ranking of your products.

How to research keywords for Amazon

Having optimized text is fundamental. But how can descriptions be made optimal for the Amazon algorithm?

First of all, you need to conduct careful keyword research. It is often a long and tedious task, but once performed, it will rarely require further changes. Keywords must have the best combination of product relevance and search volume. An error many beginners make is being tempted by keywords with a very high search volume and inserting only those. We recommend against this practice. In addition to often being too generic, these keywords are the hardest to compete for, as they are usually the ones most used by other sellers. By focusing on niche keywords specific to your product, however, the chances of carving out your own market share are higher.

But how do you measure keyword volume and understand which ones to use? In this regard, we suggest 4 main tools:

• Jungle Scout and Helium10. These two software programs have various features and are indispensable for every Seller or Amazon agency. Although these are estimated values, the two software programs can indicate the search volume of the last 30 days on the marketplace for every single keyword. The data is usually quite accurate and offers several suggestions to extend the keyword list. Cons: The price of the two applications is around €100 per month;

• Brand Analytics. This is a free software provided by Amazon specifically for all sellers with a registered brand. The application is free and ranks the most searched terms on the site. The list includes about 200,000 results, with the great advantage being that it consists of official data. Cons: the ranking doesn't offer many ideas for synonyms and doesn't show the actual search volume;

• Amazon autofill. By browsing the main Amazon page on the frontend (customer) side and starting to type a word into the search bar, Amazon will show – just like any other search engine – a list of related keywords. This can prove to be an essential tool. In fact, users are often led to accept those suggestions, also to speed up the search process. Being indexed for those keywords can be decisive. Cons: we don't know the actual search volume, nor which queries are searched more than others.

Once keywords are gathered, it’s time to start writing the text for our product detail page. Let's find out how.

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How to write the text for an Amazon product detail page

Amazon product pages are composed of 4 main text elements:

• Title;

• Bullet points;

• Description;

• Search Terms.

While the first 3 are visible to anyone visiting our page, the search terms are only visible to the seller.

Each of these elements has its own specific function and different space limits. Therefore, it is vital to fill them out correctly.

• The title, in particular, is visible to customers even before they click on the listing. It has a maximum limit of 200 bytes and should contain the 2-3 most relevant keywords and the main benefits of the product. Our advice is not to over-force keyword insertion, keeping the title always readable. For the same reason, it generally should not exceed 120-150 characters;

• Bullet points have a less defined space limit, but we recommend not exceeding 200 bytes per bullet. Sellers can insert up to 5 bullet points, whose function is to briefly describe the product's main strengths;

• The description is where writing enthusiasts can unleash their creativity. Here, the space limit is a generous 2000 characters, and it is possible to include information in a more narrative way, as well as some punchy phrases or a brief brand presentation.

• Search terms, as mentioned, are not visible to users, but only to us and the algorithm. In this section, which is a maximum of 250 characters long, you can insert words related to the product that cannot be shown to the public, such as terms with typos, names of complementary products, or names of items with similar functions.

Attention: Even if search terms are not visible to the public, you cannot insert other brands' names. The algorithm can identify them and will deactivate the product until they are removed.

Other tips to reach the first page on Amazon

Working on the text is certainly indispensable for improving product SEO on Amazon, but it's certainly not everything. To increase the chances of appearing on the first page of the marketplace, there are other best practices to follow.

• Use all image slots. Amazon allows you to insert up to 7 photos. Our advice is to make the most of this possibility, inserting images in a format of at least 1000 x 1000 pixels. This will allow users to zoom in on the photos and is favored by the algorithm;

• Provide as much information as possible. Product pages can be completed by entering a myriad of attributes. The more detailed the product page, the better the product will be indexed;

• Utilize Amazon FBA. We also dedicated a separate article to this. Besides being convenient in terms of cost and efficiency, Amazon FBA will make the Prime logo appear and give an extra boost to your products.

• Optimize shipping performance. Amazon aims to be the most customer-centric company in the world. To do this, it wants to ensure that Sellers selling through its platform offer their customers the best possible conditions. Therefore, sellers who meet all of Amazon's performance indicators will enjoy ranking benefits.

Differences between Google SEO and Amazon SEO

Even though many believe that Google SEO rules can be applied to Amazon, we assure you that is not the case at all. There are two main reasons:

• Search Intent. Google is a pure search engine; Amazon is a marketplace. This clearly suggests that the search intents of those using these platforms are very different. Google users use the search engine to find information, while Amazon users are looking for a product to buy. Therefore, the former will prioritize the most authoritative sites and/or those considered most relevant, while the latter will show among the top results the products that have sold the most and with the best conditions for a specific keyword. It follows that Amazon also heavily considers factors like reviews, CTR, return rate, sales history, and more. Google, instead, emphasizes the textual content of sites and inbound links;

• The Amazon algorithm is newer, and therefore more rudimentary. Unlike Google, which constantly releases new updates capable of detecting if a sentence was written naturally, the Amazon algorithm is much less sophisticated from this point of view. While it can identify and penalize so-called Keyword Stuffing – the excessive repetition of a specific word to give it more relevance – A10 is not yet able to recognize if a text is written unnaturally. Therefore, keywords must also be used differently; for Google, they must be inserted in a narrative way, for Amazon, a copy/paste of our research results is sufficient.

Our advice to obtain good results, therefore, is to turn to those who exclusively deal with Amazon sales, rather than marketing generalists or Google SEO experts. Our experience shows that those with a more generalist profile tend to apply the same rules to Amazon as to Google. Google SEO implies, for the reasons mentioned above, a greater effort and the proposed price lists are usually much higher.

In case you are still skeptical, let us conclude with a brief reflection: if you were hungry and wanted to eat a good pizza, finding yourself in front of a pizzeria and a restaurant that also serves pizza, which of the two would you enter?

The choice is yours!

Have more questions about Amazon SEO or how to improve ranking and increase sales?

How to do SEO on Amazon?

To increase sales on Amazon, you need to start with good SEO. It is necessary to conduct keyword research to optimize titles, descriptions, and search terms. All attributes are important, and even reviews or customer questions can contribute to improving ranking.

How to rise in Amazon ranking?

SEO, as mentioned, is a fundamental first step. To improve ranking and positioning, you need to perform better than competitors for that keyword. Sales and reviews are therefore decisive for climbing the Amazon rankings and increasing visibility.

How to be on the first page of Amazon?

The fastest way to increase visibility and traffic to your product pages is by creating advertising campaigns. By also performing good SEO, the more you manage to sell, the better your positioning on Amazon will be.

Is it necessary to contact an Amazon agency or consultant to work on SEO?

It is possible to work on SEO independently. However, Amazon agencies often stay more informed on marketplace news and perform the work more professionally, allowing companies to focus on the product.