Amazon SEO: How to Rank Highly

Amazon SEO, or search engine optimization, is creating a product listing that effectively appeals to Amazon’s search engine. An optimized product listing ranks high on Amazon’s search rankings, effectively creating free traffic for the seller.

But knowing the proper steps to take to get that free traffic effectively is essential. Check out our guide to find out these steps and more about the algorithm behind the search engine.

How Does Amazon’s A10 Ranking Algorithm Work?

The Amazon A10 algorithm works by analyzing your product listing for quality. The A10 algorithm also looks at your seller authority, often determined by customer feedback.

Amazon’s former official name for the search engine was A9. It was based on the search engine provider of the same name. So the company has never officially announced an update.

But after 2019, Amazon took down the A9 site, changing its search algorithm to favor profitable products. So sellers came to refer to this update as A10, which changes the weight of different ranking factors.

Different Ranking Factors of the A10 Algorithm

• Seller authority – This includes having a long sales history with good customer feedback and a proven track record of success.
• Positive product reviews – The more customers like your products, the more exposure Amazon will give you.
• Keyword relevancy – Whether the keywords you choose are an accurate description of the product you sell
• Click-through rate (CTR) – this is the number of clicks you get when you appear on a search engine results page (SERP)
• A lower bounce rate – The bounce rate refers to how fast your listing visitor leaves your product to view another one.
• Off-site authority – If you bring customers from off of Amazon onto Amazon, you have a proven track record of sales generated elsewhere
• Conversion rate – the number of sales you get (especially if they are organic sales)

The A10 algorithm has also reduced the weight of other factors. For example, sales generated from PPC campaigns have less weight because being the highest bidder doesn’t make you the highest quality seller.

How to Rank Higher Using Amazon SEO

Understanding how the algorithm works helps you start targeting the right areas. Next, you can follow these actionable tips to rank higher.

Research Relevant Keywords

An optimized product listing is strategic about the keywords they choose. Most importantly, these keywords are relevant, meaning they describe the product effectively.

Customers type keywords into the search box when finding trending products on Amazon. Start by asking yourself what the customer would search for to find your product.

Customers like to get very specific, using phrases of three (or more) words. These are known as long-tail keywords, as they are more specific and less competitive because fewer people are searching in smaller areas.

To come up with long-tail keywords, sellers like to use Amazon’s search box and autocomplete feature. But this feature has no data on search volume.

To overcome this limitation, you can use AMZScout’s keyword research tool. The tool lets you sort through results by the number of keywords and search volume.

With this data, you can create more effective product titles and descriptions.

Create an Engaging Product Title and Description

Once you have a handful of keywords you want to target, you can use them for your product title and description. But, it isn’t enough to stuff your keywords unnaturally; you’ll need to be specific in how you use them.

For inspiration, it’s good to look at fellow sellers on the Amazon platform. Look for sellers performing well, but avoid major brands with an unfair advantage.

For example, let’s look at this product listing for SMIRLY Charcuterie Boards:

SMIRLY isn’t a recognized brand, making it an ideal example choice. Regardless, it has found a top spot on the Movers & Shakers list on Amazon.

Starting with the title, the listing creator fully uses their character limit. They also mention three different forms of how a person might search for this item and various reasons why a person might buy it (anniversary gift, wedding gift).

Now, you won’t always use all of your character limits. However, you’ll want to put the work in to make a clear and natural title.

SMIRLY also follows the same procedure with its features.

The bulleted list and description below take full advantage of its description length. It also informs you of the product accessories and provides a quality assurance statement. You’ll also find further affirming statements on how great of a gift it can be.

Experienced Amazon sellers work to understand what drives their customers to buy. The description and titles allow you to address those reasons to buy, eliminating doubts and encouraging sales.

Use High-Quality Product Images

The people you sell to are very visually motivated, so you need to be concerned about images. If they can’t see themselves with your item, they won’t buy it. Good photos can change that.

First, note that most product images require you to have a picture of the item by itself with a white background. You’ll want it to be professional product photography, which might require hiring someone. If you want to save money, you can purchase a lightbox (but only if you sell smaller items).

Once you take your initial photograph, the remaining images are entirely up to you. However, these image types are where you get the most success:

• Lifestyle photographs – photos of the product in use by people enjoying themselves
• Accessory breakdowns – Images that remind people what they get alongside the main product
• Benefits – Images that focus on how a single, vital feature can help customers
• Infographics – An informative breakdown of benefits or other data behind your item
• Instructions – An informative step-by-step breakdown of how your item works

Looking at your competition will give you a good idea of where to start.

Get More Product Reviews

Amazon, like your customers, wants to look for social proof of your items doing well. To get social proof, you need to encourage more positive customer reviews.

Amazon has many rules against how you get these reviews. Ignoring these rules can be considered a terms of service violation, which might cause your product to be removed.

But there’s no need to panic because these review rules boil down to one thing: don’t influence reviews. This means you shouldn’t offer free stuff in exchange for reviews, push customers for positive-only reviews, or discourage customers from leaving negative reviews. The only thing you can do is ask for honest feedback.

An easy way to do this is to ask for reviews with a product insert. An insert is a little card you put inside the packaging, thanking the customers for their purchase and asking for a review. But don’t include it with a discount code for a future order, as that can be seen as incentivizing the review.

You can also bring them off of Amazon and onto social media platforms and email marketing systems. Once they follow you outside of Amazon, many of the same rules don’t apply. This also helps boost your off-site traffic, a major deciding factor of the A10 algorithm.

Conclusion

An engaging product description, high-quality images, relevant keywords, and a system for generating customer reviews will help you gain exposure. All of these activities can help boost your sales.