Amazon SEO: 7 ways to improve your product’s search rankings

Amazon.com product search results with the #1 product highlighted

Here’s a guide to Amazon SEO, with tips for researching keywords and optimizing product offers to connect with more customers.

When done right, Amazon search engine optimization (SEO) can be a win-win for sellers and customers alike. Effective optimization can boost sales while helping shoppers find the products they want. This guide will cover:

  • What Amazon SEO is
  • How SEO works in the Amazon store
  • Ways to improve your rankings

What is Amazon SEO and why does it matter?

Amazon search engine optimization (SEO) refers to a number of strategies you can use to improve product and brand visibility in Amazon search results. For example, you can conduct keyword research and add search terms to product titles and descriptions. You can also tweak photos and adjust price points to organically move up in search results and generate more sales.

Let’s dive into the details of how to improve your selling potential and connect with more customers through SEO.

How Amazon SEO works: 5 components

Here’s a quick overview of how customers find products in the Amazon store.

1. Amazon search box

Customers find products by typing a term or phrase into the Amazon search box and browsing through results. There’s also a drop-down menu of departments like Pet Supplies and Sports & Outdoors.

Did you know?
Anyone can use Amazon SEO to grow sales
You don’t need to be a search optimization specialist to take your sales to the next level. All Amazon sellers, including resellers and brand owners, can use keyword research and other SEO methods to optimize product listings and drive sales.

If you enrolled a brand in Amazon Brand Registry—a free resource to help build and protect your brand—you can also access advanced SEO resources like the Search Query Performance dashboard and Top Search Terms dashboard.

2. Search filters

Customers refine a search by using different filters like delivery day, customer reviews, and price. The Amazon homepage also has links to Best Sellers, New Releases, Movers & Shakers, and other collections.

3. Search results page

The Amazon search engine results page shows product offers to customers so they can compare prices, shipping options, and other factors.

4. Amazon sales rank

The Amazon Best Sellers list shows the most popular products in the Amazon store based on real-time sales. Best Sellers Rank is a metric that indicates how well a product is selling within featured categories.

5. Sponsored Products and advertising

Cost-per-click ads like Sponsored Products and other forms of ecommerce marketing can help offers rise through search results, stand apart from the competition, and capture the attention of customers.

Learn more about Amazon advertising

Did you know?
Listing quality and your account health can contribute to search rankings
After you sign up for an Amazon selling account, dashboards in your Seller Central account will give you performance insights and recommendations for making improvements to your listings, account health, and other areas like inventory management. That can help contribute to your sales.

You can also use Amazon-approved, third-party apps to automate, manage, and grow your business.

7 ways to improve search rankings and boost sales

1. Conduct keyword research

What words and phrases are customers using to find products like the ones you offer? Which keywords should you be targeting in your product titles, descriptions, and ads in order to drive sales? Do some keyword research to find out.

There are many different ways to perform keyword research. Here are a few strategies:

  • Type a variety of keywords into the Amazon search box. Mine the suggestions in the drop-down menu for ideas, then compile a comprehensive list of keywords that could be valuable for your offers.
  • Take a look at your competition. Scan competitor offers for words and phrases that might enhance your content.
  • Use SEO tools to dig into keywords, discover related phrases, explore demand, and find data to guide your strategy. Product Opportunity Explorer is one tool you can use to identify top search terms and trends in Amazon customer search volume.

While performing research, think in terms of “short-tail” and “long-tail” keywords.

  • Short-tail refers to words and phrases that tend to be broad in terms of search intent, such as “furniture” or “shoes.” They might have high search volumes along with high competition.
  • Long-tail refers to a more specific words and phrases like “water resistant lawn furniture” or “vegan leather brown loafers.” These queries might be less popular, but they could enjoy higher sales conversion rates because their search intent is more specific.

Try to use a mix of short- and long-tail keywords in your product content. Remember, short-tail keywords can have high visibility but might be harder to rank for, while long-tail phrases might increase conversions but have lower search volumes.

Pro Tip
Use Amazon keyword research tools
When optimizing for search, data and analytics on customer search behavior can give you a leg up. You can get insights into target keywords by using tools like Product Opportunity Explorer, which provides up-to-date data on trends in customer search patterns, product demand, and profitable niches.

Another great option for keyword research available to enrolled brands is Amazon Brand Analytics, which contains a collection of dashboards for exploring aggregate customer search and purchasing data. For instance, the Search Query Performance dashboard shows the top queries leading customers to your brand, along with metrics for impressions, clicks, cart adds, and more.

2. Craft high-performing product titles

Product titles are a great place to use the primary keywords you identify through your keyword research.

To craft concise and compelling titles, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and think about the most important details they want to know. The product title is an appropriate place to highlight:

  • Product type
  • Brand name
  • Descriptive information like color or size

For example, the title “Good Sleep Collection, Pillow Cases (Blue, Set of 2)” will likely perform better than “Blue Pillow Cases” because it includes the brand name (Good Sleep) and product line (Premium Collection) along with details about the material and other key attributes.

Keep in mind the Amazon product title character limit is 200, and we recommend no more than 60. Include only the most important keywords to capture the attention of your intended customer. Don’t worry—you’ll have a chance to add more keywords in other parts of the product detail page like the product description, which we’ll cover next.

Pro Tip
Test different keywords with Manage Your Experiments to improve sales
Manage Your Experiments allows brands enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry to run A/B tests comparing two versions of a product title, image, description, or other content types in order to find out what resonates more with customers.

For example, you might find that a short product title performs better than a long product title.

3. Create informative product descriptions

The product description is an opportunity to use secondary keywords to expand on features and benefits, helping customers find and evaluate your products. Here are some examples of the types of details you might want to mention in a product description:

  • Materials
  • Colors
  • Quantities
  • Sizes
  • Dimensions
  • Care instructions
  • Warranty information

Have you heard of keyword stuffing? It refers to repeating or overusing keywords in an effort to help a product rank in search results. Keyword stuffing can create a poor customer experience and hurt your rankings. Instead, focus on writing naturally and provide the information your audience is seeking.

Here’s a good rule of thumb for product descriptions: if you use a key phrase once, you probably don’t need to use it again. Refer to your research and try to use keyword variations, weaving in as many valuable phrases as possible while ensuring they make sense in context

Watch: Intro to product detail pages

Pro Tip
Bring products to life with A+ Content
A+ Content is an advanced option for adding rich text, images, videos, and product-comparison charts to your product detail pages. A+ Content can help increase sales and is free for brands enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry.

4. Highlight key details with bullet points

The bullet point section on a product detail page can be another opportunity to use keywords effectively, balance the level of detail you’re providing, and enhance the customer experience.

When crafting bullet points for product page, choose the most important details you want to stand out. Highlight a product’s design, illustrate special features, or explain unique uses. Think about it from the customer’s point of view and highlight related terms or features they might be looking for in the product.

When formatting bullet points, start with a one- or two-word description, then offer an explanation in 100 characters or fewer. Use fragments (no need for full sentences) and capitalize the first letter of each bullet. Using these tips to craft great bullet points can help your product stand out to customers.

5. Add back-end search terms

You can add keywords to a product’s catalog data. These keywords are not visible to customers, but they can still help a product rank for specific searches.

To add search terms for a product:

  • Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
  • Under Inventory in the main menu, go to Manage All Inventory.
  • Find the listing where you want to add backend keywords and click Edit.
  • Click the Product details tab.
  • Enter your keywords in the Generic keyword field.

Use this section as a spillover for keywords you want to include if you run out of room or if they don’t fit naturally in other parts of the product detail page. Include synonyms, abbreviations, and alternative names for products, but avoid redundant or irrelevant terms.

When entering back-end keywords, use all lowercase letters and separate words with spaces only. You can also skip articles and prepositions.

Learn more about using search terms effectively

6. Showcase high-quality product images

Images can convey key information about a product to customers that can be difficult to communicate with words alone. Use the following best practices for product photography:

  • Include a variety of shots showing the product from different angles.
  • Highlight key features.
  • Make sure images are clear, focused, and well-lit.
  • Use plain white backgrounds.
  • Have the product fill 85% or more of the frame.

Research best practices for professional product photography based on the type of product you want to offer, such as clothing or jewelry.

When adding images to your product detail pages, make sure you’re making the most of the “alt-text”, which provides another opportunity to optimize SEO and help your product appear in search results. Alt-text isn’t visible on the product detail page, but it describes the image to visually impaired customers and is ranked by search engines. Alt-text should be a simple sentence describing the image that includes 1-2 keywords.

7. Adjust product prices to drive sales

Adjusting your list price to stay competitive can improve your product ranking and increase sales. To find your pricing sweet spot, try the following:

  • Consider your costs (including shipping costs) and calculate your margins to make sure you can make a profit. The Revenue Calculator can help you estimate profits and margins for a products by fulfillment method.
  • Research your competitors. Take a look at prices for similar products to get a sense for the range of appropriate price points.

You can also use Amazon’s Automate Pricing feature to automatically adjust prices across your inventory.

Learn more about Automate Pricing

Other Amazon tools for growing sales

SEO is just one of the many ways you can attract customers. You might also explore earning positive reviews or offering faster delivery through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), a fulfillment option that allows you to ship products into Amazon’s fulfillment network and outsource packing, shipping, customer service, and returns.

You can also turn to resources like Seller University or Strategic Account Services for additional support.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:
How can you improve Amazon ranking?
A:
Amazon SEO methods and customer engagement best practices can help you rise through search rankings and achieve higher sales volumes. You can also select product categories with care, optimize listings, and set competitive prices to help improve sales conversion and Best Sellers Rank.
Q:
What are some Amazon SEO tools?
A:
Amazon offers many resources that can aid your SEO efforts, including:
Q:
What is Amazon’s Featured Offer and how does it work?
A:
Multiple sellers can sell the same product through a single product detail page. The Amazon Featured Offer is the offer that appears at the top right of a product detail page along with the Buy Now and Add to Cart buttons. You can optimize offers so that they appear in this area, which can help increase your sales.
Q:
Does Amazon have keyword research tools?
A:
Enrolling your brand in Amazon Brand Registry gives you access to Amazon Brand Analytics, which includes the Search Catalog Performance, Search Query Performance, and Top Search Terms dashboards. Together, these dashboards can provide you with insights about the search terms that are driving customers to your products and to similar products across the Amazon store.
Q:
How can sellers find competitor keywords in the Amazon store?
A:
While you can’t find competitor keywords, you can gain valuable insight into popular keywords using Product Opportunity Explorer. This tool helps you identify customer search patterns and trends so you can see what keywords in your niche may help elevate your products in search.
Q:
How can sellers see keyword search frequency in the Amazon store?
A:
The Top Search Terms dashboard, accessible to brands through Amazon Brand Analytics, is a great way to identify frequently used search terms. It will also show you the search frequency rank for top terms and the product titles for the three top-clicked products.

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Daisy Quaker
Daisy Quaker
Daisy Quaker is a Sr. Marketing Manager at Amazon who’s driven by helping entrepreneurs and brands discover opportunities to reach more customers through Amazon stores. She also enjoys the outdoors, art museums, and good food.