5 SEO Tips to Rank Organically on Amazon

For Amazon sellers, where you appear in the search results can be the difference between success and failure. Having a high search ranking can help customers find and purchase your product over your competitors. You can, of course, pay to appear on the search results page. However, it isn’t necessary to run a potentially expensive campaign to see improvement.

Here are five quick and easy tips to organically improve your Amazon SEO.

1. Know Where to Place Your Keywords

In Amazon’s world, not all listing parts are created equal. The Amazon search algorithm evaluates the title, product features, description, and backend search terms differently.

Your title should contain broad, top-of-the-funnel keywords. These are the keywords with large search volumes like t-shirt and phone case. If you were selling water bottles, your top-of-the-funnel keywords would be water bottle, glass water bottle, or stainless steel water bottle. You can find top-of-the-funnel keywords by checking out your competitors. Look at 5-10 of the best sellers and look for repeating keywords for your title. An Amazon keyword research tool can simplify the research process and help determine a keyword’s relevancy, search volumes, and seasonality.

Mid-volume keywords should go in the product feature bullet points first and then your product description. Continuing with our water bottle example, if applicable you’d want to note if it’s dishwasher-safe, insulated, or collapsible. Once again, a great place to find inspiration is by checking out what the top sellers are doing.

Use the 250 bytes in the “backend” search terms section of your product detail page for variations of keywords you’ve already added to your listing (e.g., bpa free vs. bpa-free) and keywords you cannot fit anywhere else. Remember, once you’ve included a keyword, it’s not necessary to repeat it. Also make sure each search term you include accurately represents your product. Amazon will take down listings for keyword stuffing.

Amazon considers sales, ranking, reviews, and inventory when determining which product to show in the search results, but relevant keywords are the most important. Therefore, even though keyword research can be time-consuming, it’s paramount not to skip this step. For extra keyword power, you can use a reverse-ASIN tool to target specific competitor ASINs and identify which keywords they’re using and where they rank for each one.

2. Take Advantage of Long Tail Keywords

Many sellers only look at high volume keywords – which makes sense because they’re the most natural words to think of and find. However, by doing that, you’re missing out on highly converting long tail phrases. Continuing with our water bottle example from above, an excellent long tail keyword is 2L water bottle with straw. While the more specific phrase may have a lower search volume, customers searching with this long tail keyword have already performed research and committed to making a purchase. They know what characteristics they want in a product, including size, material, and features. Rather than competing for millions of eyes, you’re putting your product in front of customers already looking for it.

And, if you’re using Amazon Sponsored Ads, you won’t have to bid as high on these long tail keywords. That means that you’re getting more sales while spending less money – every Amazon seller’s goal.

3. Don’t Skip Out on High-Quality Images

Images are the first thing shoppers see on an Amazon search results page, so make them count.

Amazon has strict guidelines for product photos, but most of them are common sense: the image must be in-focus and taken on a pure white backdrop. We recommend taking shots from several different angles, emphasizing quality or utility, including lifestyle images, and if applicable, adding dimensions to one of the photos of your product.

Not a photographer? Don’t worry, Amazon now offers in-house photography services, as do many outside vendors.

Be sure to include 1-2 lifestyle images to display the various “real-life” uses for your product and reflect the interests of your customer demographic. Relying on our earlier example, a lifestyle photo might show our water bottle being used on a hike, at the gym, at the beach, or a school or office lunch.

Don’t forget to add top-of-the-funnel keywords to your image titles. This SEO tip can help pull in more shoppers from Google searches.

If you’re enrolled in Amazon’s brand registry, there are a couple more options available to you through Enhanced Brand Content (EBC). You can include a video highlighting your product. You also have more flexibility in your product description.

4.  High Ratings and Reviews

While having the right keywords are a large part of appearing on the Amazon search results, they aren’t the whole part. Amazon is focused on getting sales, just like you. That means they’re focused on providing the best product at the best price to customers using their platform.

Since high reviews are critical, many sellers will go to any lengths to get them. Amazon will shut down your listing if it discovers that you’re paying for ratings or reviews. We do not recommend this tactic. However, Amazon’s platform allows you to reach out via email to customers who have purchased your product. There, you can ask for a genuine review or rating.

Another excellent place to ask for reviews is in your product packaging. A simple card or note asking for a review if the customer enjoys the product is an easy win. Plus, this provides you with a way for customers with problems to contact you, you can avoid negative reviews from appearing on your listing.

Speaking of negative reviews, you might be surprised how educational they can be (ideally, on your competitors’ listings, not yours). If customers consistently mention the same negative traits in similar product listings, you should consider going to your manufacturer and rectifying the problem.

On the other hand, it’s essential you also pay attention to the positive reviews on both yours and your competitors’ products. When customers repeatedly comment on a feature they like, make sure you pull that keyword into your listing (if it applies to your product)!

Amazon monitors how quickly you respond to reviews. Check your reviews and the question and answer section daily to boost your ranking and communicate with your customers!

5. Funnel in Outside Traffic

Sales play a significant role in Amazon’s algorithm, no matter where they come from. If you maintain social media accounts or a separate website for your brand, use those platforms to send traffic to your Amazon listing. The people who follow your company on social media are dedicated followers; most of them are probably familiar with your brand because they’ve purchased from you in the past.

Consider including exclusive coupon codes, additional content, or a gift for loyal customers that share pictures of your product in use. This can be a powerful strategy for organic word-of-mouth marketing, and any sales that come from these pages can boost your SEO ranking on search engines, bringing in even more sales.

Implementation

Remember, organic changes don’t happen overnight. While most of these changes can be made in Seller Central immediately, it may take anywhere from two weeks to a month for Amazon’s algorithm to note the changes you’ve made and adjust your ranking accordingly.

Be patient and be awesome.