If you sell on Amazon you will know it’s a very competitive platform with so many other sellers, cheap pricing and quick delivery. So how can you get your products found and stand out? One way to do this is keyword research.
As a user goes onto Amazon they will type into the search bar what they are looking for. These are the keywords the Amazon algorithm will take and find all the products in its inventory that match. The products will be ranked by various factors such as product reviews, pricing, fulfilment method and conversion rate.
Amazon vs Google algorithm
When we think of algorithms and ranking in search results we automatically think of search engines like Google. Although Amazon and Google may have similarities in the way we search and find results the method behind ranking in them is different.
Amazon is purely for buying products whereas Google is for researching the product, after care, discussions on the products, brand website and so on. Because of this Amazon keywords are going to be short tail keywords and Google will be long tail keywords. What’s the difference? Long tail keywords are asking more questions and finding more information whereas short tail keywords are more specific and direct.
The two search engines also look at success in a very different way. Google wants to ensure a high-quality experience, looking at performance of the website, accessibility, time spent on the site. Amazon on the other hand only looks at whether the search and click through resulted in conversion.
Researching keywords
To start your keyword research you need an understanding of who your customers are, what they will be searching for and what they want. If you have existing sales data take a look at this and build on what these customers look like, you can also add your social media and website data. I’ll delve more into personas on another blog post.
From your user personas you have just put together start to think of what customers may be searching for, what their needs are. Also look through your existing product descriptions to see what keywords you have so far. I would keep track of the keywords in an excel spreadsheet.
To expand on this list go to Amazon and use the auto fill functionality on its search to get extra ideas. For example, if I type perfume into Amazon I get perfume women, perfume for sale, perfume gift set, perfume stand. This gives you extra ideas to add to your spreadsheet and also helps you identify higher converting search terms.
There are other free tools out there such as https://www.keyword.io/ which allows you to switch between different platforms such as Amazon. You can use Googles keyword planner just remember to keep it product related.
Once you’ve got a list together review your spreadsheet, remove any duplicates and start to prioritise these. Go onto Amazon and use the keywords you’ve identified to see what results you get. Does this look like the right search results page for your product? If so, great you can keep the keyword but this task may also help find keywords that aren’t actually as relevant as you first thought.
Optimising your product listings for keywords
Now that we have our keywords we can start to optimise the product listings with these. It may be no surprise to learn the product title carries the most weight so this is the best place to start.
Next go through the key product features. This is the bullet point list that appears at the top of a product page near the images. You then want to move onto the product description. The product description gives you a bigger opportunity as you have a higher character limit than the product features. Utilise this space as much as you can but keep it relevant.
In the Amazon backend functionality if you edit a product there is a keyword tab. In here you can list the keywords that are relevant for your products. This is similar to meta tags you would add on a website.
Do take note that although the keyword field doesn’t stop you after a certain character limit Amazon wont index anything past 250 characters which is roughly 35 words. If you go over this Amazon wont index ANY of the keywords you’ve entered! I would suggest copying the keyword list into a word document and using the word count to check before you add to Amazon.
Although its not keyword related don’t forget images to help you rank as well. Photos of your product can speak a 1000 words and help increase conversion. You can add up to 8 images per product but also ensure they are high quality.
Conclusion
Now you’ve optimised your products for keywords keep track of how this goes. Where did you appear in the search before and now? What do sales look like? Give it time though this is not an overnight process or a quick job if you have a large product database.
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