A non-optimized product listing can lead to a loss of sales of $1,000 per month compared to an optimized product listing.
Amazon essentially acts as a search engine to help shoppers find the products they want. But with millions of products for sale on the Amazon marketplace, competition for the top spots is fierce.
You can improve your placement in search results by optimizing your product listing. A few tweaks can send the right signals to Amazon’s search algorithm and move you up the rankings.
In this post, we’ll go over the key components of a product listing and provide helpful optimization tips to help you improve your ranking.
If you are a new seller on Amazon you must read our post about The 5 Biggest Amazon FBA Mistakes Sellers Can Make
What factors does the product listing include?
There are four main elements that count toward the product listing.
- product title
- product images
- bullet point
- Product Description
Why is it worth investing time in optimizing product listings?
When you list a product on Amazon, you usually want to do it fairly quickly so you can start monetizing the product.
This is generally not a problem – but could become a problem. For this reason, you should ideally have already optimized the elements of the product listing before listing the product on Amazon. If this is not the case, you should definitely do this again.
Why?
70% of users only stay on the first search results page
The conclusion is obvious: If your product is not displayed on at least the first page for your main keywords, you will not have to place a repeat order with your manufacturer in the foreseeable future.
In order to get on the first page of search results, you must first understand how Amazon works.
Read More Amazon Choice vs Best Seller – What is the difference? How to Earn Badges & More
Amazon A9 Algorithm
As an Amazon seller, you should stop thinking of the platform as an eCommerce marketplace and start thinking of it as a search engine.
While Google’s goal is to provide information, Amazon’s goal is purely commercial. Amazon is all about the sales generated on the platform. That’s why products are only displayed if Amazon thinks a sale is likely.
Amazon uses an algorithm to rank over 350 million products. This is called A9 and includes various factors that are carefully weighted in order to find suitable products for a user’s search term.
Amazon keeps the exact weighting of the individual criteria secret. However, we know that the following factors play an important role:
- The number of sales of an item
- Number and quality of customer ratings
- The relevance of the keywords in the product listing
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps to get a better ranking and, as a result, to generate more sales.
Note: Amazon updated the A9 algorithm in 2020. Although there was no official announcement, some have since called the algorithm A10.
7 ways to optimize your product listing
1. Include all main keywords in the title
You have 250 characters available for the title. However, you do not have to put all the keywords in the title, because you have several options for this in your Amazon listing.
However, you should put your main keywords in the title, because the title is the first thing that potential customers see of your product, along with the product images. If your title contains the keyword the customer searched for, then they will know at first glance that the product matches their search intent.
You should also put the most important keywords at the beginning of the title.
On mobile devices, Amazon does not display as many characters as on the desktop version. So if you put your most important keywords first, they will definitely be seen by all buyers.
Even if you try to integrate all important keywords in the title, you should still make sure that the title remains readable. You should also avoid phrases such as “best quality” or “top seller” – these are very rarely used as search terms and could also be interpreted as misleading to Amazon.
These two examples illustrate the difference that the chosen title can make. Only 4 words are used in the first title, which makes the title very readable. Nevertheless, you do not use the full potential that the product title offers.
In the second example, a lot more keywords are included, such as special features of the headphones, which some users may enter in their search. Although the headline is more difficult to read than the first example, the algorithm will probably classify it as more relevant. Especially when a user uses search terms like “Bluetooth headphones” or “deep bass headphones” that are directly mentioned in the title.
A mixture of these two variants could convince the algorithm and the buyers. Think carefully about which keywords are most relevant to you and how you want to be perceived by potential buyers.
2. Optimize your product photos
In most cases, the product images are the first thing that catches the eye of potential customers and draws their attention. The product images ensure that users click on the product – or not. More clicks and more visitors ultimately ensure more sales and thus create relevance for your product.
Amazon has extensive requirements for the images uploaded to its platform. Your main image should be an actual photograph of the product being sold – no illustrations or lifestyle images are allowed.
The background of the main photo should be white and the product should fill at least 85% of the image.
An infographic like this can help the customer decide on your product.
In any case, make sure your images meet Amazon’s requirements. Otherwise, the zoom function might not work, for example – this is very important for many customers in order to view the product in all its details.
Since the product images are extremely important for the Amazon listing, you should consider having them taken by a professional photographer. If you can’t afford that and decide to take the pictures yourself, then by all means make sure they look professional and of good quality.
You can also use videos to better showcase your product. This is especially useful if you sell clothes and want to show how they look and fit when worn.
3. Use the bullet points to market your benefits
You can use the bullet points in the product listing in particular to show the functions and advantages of your product. Amazon recommends that you use no more than 1000 words for all five bullet points.
The bullet points are displayed just below the general product information in the desktop version and are therefore very visible to potential customers. However, many retailers do not take advantage of this prominent placement and only add general information about the product that is not particularly interesting to the users.
However, a more streamlined bullet point section should sell buyers the benefits of the product.
In the example below, you can see how the seller has provided their bullet points with many attractive advantages, such as a long loading time or a convincing sound quality.
4. All of the product information should be included in your product description.
When someone buys a product, it’s because they’re looking for a solution to a problem.
This problem could be that he’s cold and wants to buy a sweater, or that he’s annoyed with a dirty carpet and needs something to clean it.
In order for your product to have the best chance of being recognized as the solution to the buyer’s problem, you need to describe your product in as much detail as possible.
Use the product description for this and add the dimensions, specifications, materials, and other relevant information. It could be a small detail that makes users buy your product.
Your product description also provides an opportunity to add other long-tail keywords that didn’t fit in your title.
You may not include time-limited offers in your product details, nor may you make any subjective claims about your product.
According to Amazon, the product details should help the customer to understand the product even better.
4.1 A+ Content
Product descriptions on Amazon usually consist of long text passages that are relatively confusing. However, if you register as a brand with Amazon, you can also use the so-called A+ content for your product description.
With the help of the A+ content, you can describe your products in more detail and explain certain functions in more detail
If you use A+ Content, you can use additional images and different modules in the product description area. Using A+Content helps you to explain certain features of your product in more detail and looks much more attractive than a normal product description – here is an example.
As can be seen in this example, the product description has been completely replaced by images with short explanatory texts.
5. Use backend keywords to improve their visibility
No need to keep repeating your keywords and packing them into the title, bullet points, and product description. If the keyword appears in one place, then Amazon will also include this as a rating factor.
It can happen that you classify keywords as relevant, but you cannot accommodate them in the product listing. All keywords to which this applies can be accommodated in the so-called backend keywords.
To add backend keywords, select one of your products in the “Manage Inventory” section of Seller Central and select “Edit”.
Also, you don’t have to use punctuation marks. Periods, commas, and semicolons are not required to separate your keywords. Instead, spaces should be used between the keywords. These are not added to the available total of bytes.
6. Reviews build trust in your product
Ratings are particularly important for the long-term success of your product.
Amazon’s goal is to make customers happy so that they shop regularly on the platform. To make this easier, Amazon displays a selection of products in the search results that they know are of high quality and well received – this is what Amazon concludes from the reviews given.
Ratings also play a decisive role in the purchase decision. Products with many positive reviews receive significantly more sales than products with no or many negative reviews.
A product launch has 0 ratings. If you are selling in a category where competition is very fierce, there will be many products that already have numerous positive reviews and will rank much higher than your product.
While it may be difficult to get reviews at first, you should not violate Amazon’s policies. Amazon protects its rating system very well because customers have to rely on the ratings to make purchasing decisions.
If you buy positive customer reviews and are caught doing so, Amazon can ban you from the platform and even take legal action against you.
However, there are also some legitimate ways to get reviews. If you want to know what they are, you should read our blog article.
Checkout the best inventory management for e-commerce
7. Product Listing Optimization for PPC Ads
Optimizing the product listing is also important when running PPC ads. While using sponsored ads will help your product appear higher, it won’t ensure that the product is actually purchased. If a lot of people see or click on your product but it only gets a few sales, then this will negatively impact your ranking. An optimized Amazon listing helps you to improve the click-through rate and conversion rate. This is how Amazon knows that your product matched the search query of the user and that the product convinced him.
In order to achieve the best possible result for your product on Amazon, you should both optimize your listing and use sponsored ads. If you implement both measures correctly, then your product will be displayed often and will also receive many clicks and sales.
Of course, the implementation, in this case, is very time-consuming. This is why BidX exists. The BidX tool works with self-learning algorithms to continuously analyze the performance of ads on Amazon and make them more profitable through bid and keyword adjustments.
Conclusion
Optimizing your product listing should be an ongoing process. You should optimize the listing before launching your product on Amazon, but don’t just let the product run afterward. Check the performance regularly and make small adjustments. Once you make a change, leave your offer alone for a few days and then track the difference in your ranking.
It’s best to start with the changes that could have the greatest impact. So focus on the keywords in your title and make sure you have enough quality images that show your product in the best light.
Work regularly to get more reviews and think about how you can differentiate yourself from the competition. Good luck!
