Amazon has grown to an incredible size and is unlikely to stop any time soon. This means there is going to be more competition than ever before, all with the same goal: to be number one in the rankings.
We have all the tools you are going to need to help your business optimise your product listings and make a killing on Amazon.
These businesses are going to need a complete Amazon product ranking guide to get to the top. This is that guide.
Let’s jump straight in.
Check out our case studies to see how we’ve used our Amazon marketing & SEO strategies to help over 100 sellers earn more through Amazon.
Amazon’s Search Engine, A9, is Constantly Changing
The Amazon seller experience has been designed to make it as easy as possible to get the information you need about your product into the listing.
With this being said, A9 is constantly evolving, meaning that you may need to make frequent changes to your listings more often than you’d like.
We have developed an understanding of how and why Amazon have made changes to their algorithm. We are also prepared for when changes are inevitably made in the future.
All the tips we provide will help you increase organic rankings in Amazon. If you’re reading this at a later date, A9 may have updated in ways that make some of these tips difficult to implement.
Our Methods Show Real Results
If you have a look at our Case Study page, you will find a small sample of clients that we have boosted their Amazon product rankings.
The client we are about to show you went from their product ranking on page 3 to page 1 in a matter of weeks.
Here is a graph from Keyworx showing their rise in the rankings:
There is no reason why you cannot replicate this success.
But before getting into the nitty gritty, it’s worth looking a little deeper into what A9 is looking for.
Amazon’s Ranking Algorithm
A9 is controlled by a specific team, away from Amazon.com.
But, for all the technology that they have, (and can afford), A9 uses simple keywords as the major part of their ranking criteria.
It’s best to just let Amazon speak for us at this point and let them tell you what they are looking for.
Here is what they have to say:
Customers must be able to find your products before they can buy them, and searching is the primary way they can do that.
Customers search by entering keywords, which are matched against the information (title, description, and so on) that you provide for a product.
Factors such as degree of text match, price, availability, selection, and sales history help determine where your product appears in a customer’s search results.
By providing relevant and complete information for your product, you can increase your product’s visibility and sales.
Each part of an Amazon listing must be aiming to hit at least one of these points.
Now that we’ve covered A9, we will now go into getting your products ready for action.
See our order page now to learn more about how we can boost your Amazon product’s ranking and profits beyond what you thought possible!
Optimising Amazon Products
95% of product listings are not set-up correctly. Here is how you should be doing it.
Optimise the product title
This is the most valuable part of your whole product listing. Without an optimised title, it’s highly likely you losing out on sales and therefore ranking potential.
Product titles have a finite amount of characters available to use so you must use each one carefully.
The product title must include:
- Product keywords
- Your brand
- What the product is
- The product size
- The product colour
Amazon suggest that you should be looking to lead every product title with the brand name to boost rankings.
However, the most important part of an optimised product listing title is the first bullet point; keywords.
A9 bases its rankings fundamentally on keywords. Not having them in your product title is criminal.
Next comes the order of your keywords.
The best product listings have their most relevant keywords at the beginning of the title. The reasons why are twofold:
- Your customers can quickly tell that your product is what they’re after
- A9 likes relevant keywords in the title as early as possible
Tip: do lots of keyword research; it is extremely important. Think about the keywords that best describe your product.
Here is a great example of a best selling product title, TP-Link’s Smart Plug:
Plenty of keywords in here with the strongest at the beginning, good length and includes the brand name.
Aim to replicate this for your product.
If you need some inspiration, take a look at what your competitors are doing. You don’t have to copy their exact titles but just take notes of word placements and the types of phrases they’re using.
However, do not go overboard as it will harm your product rankings.
You should leave less important keywords to other parts of the listing, which we will talk about momentarily.
That pretty much wraps up product titles. Next up are the product features.
Optimise the product features
These do not have a big of an effect on how your products rank in the Amazon search results. However, they have a huge impact on relevancy and conversions.
The point of this section is to tell a customer what the product does. The product features are where you bring in the secondary keywords left out of the title.
A common mistake made is that products use these bullets to describe the benefits of using them. Do not do this.
Limit the information and just say what the product does.
Another thing to bear in mind when writing product features: make them easy to read.
If you scan them and pick out all the necessary information, you’re on the right track. Bullet points work best as they display what the product can do in a neat and tidy fashion.
For a really good example, check out the feature’s on Sony’s PS4:
We’ll zoom in to get a better look
Slick, easy to read bullets and full of keywords. This product ranks well.
The more keywords you can get into this section the better. Play around with the order of the bullets to find what works best. There’s a good infographic about optimising Amazon listings by pro-fba below.
Optimise the product descriptions
This section is where you tell customers the benefits of buying your product. This section is important in terms of product visibility and conversions.
If you have any keywords left over, it makes sense to put them in this section but as descriptions aren’t really used for rankings, they won’t add too much extra value. Still, if you have them, use them.
Finally, where possible, include some pictures of the product in use.
Tip: At the end of the product descriptions, make sure to get a strong and direct call to action.
An excellent example can be seen from this VonShef blender:
This is only a small snippet of their entire features section.
Use backend search terms
Now, we wouldn’t usually recommend any spelling errors in a product listing; they look sloppy and unprofessional.
But, when it comes to people searching for your product, mistakes do happen.
This becomes a perfect opportunity to use the backend search terms. If you include common mistakes, it will actually boost your product’s visibility in search results.
If you still have managed to not use all your keywords in your title, description and features, include them here too.
That’s everything you need to know about how to optimise a listing inside of Amazon.
This next section is about optimising Amazon product performance.
Optimising Amazon Product Performance
Sales, sales and more sales
Nothing will boost rankings in Amazon like sales.
A9 recognises product sales as being relevant for the keyword that was searched to find it. It will then boost rankings for that keyword once that sale has been completed.
It’s one thing saying how brilliant sales are for rankings; it’s another actually getting them.
We’ve got you covered.
One of the options available to you is by investing in some gold old fashioned PPC. This will help your product get seen by customers that don’t like scrolling down the results page.
Spend some money on appearing as sponsored listings for specific keywords and you will see your sales numbers increase (if you’ve selected the right keywords).
Amazon PPC will drive the traffic to your product by placing it in prime viewing locations.
They only get paid when someone clicks on the ad, so it makes sense they place your product where people are most likely to pick it.
If you’re looking to boost traffic outside Amazon, Facebook ads or Google Adwords are the main sources. They are pretty much the most used websites in the world so they will generate the most traffic.
Generating organic traffic to your product in Amazon, which turn into sales, help boost rankings at an incredible rate.
We have created a complete Amazon PPC guide to get your campaigns up and running as quickly and effectively as possible.
Product reviews
Amazon is very much aware that people will buy products that are favoured by past purchasers. Having great product reviews are key to getting up the rankings ladder.
Reviews are essentially proof that you have a good product. The higher it’s rated, the better it is.
Amazon is also looking for products that have a high number of reviews.
Products that have both a high number of reviews and high ratings boost conversions. The more a product converts to a sale, the better it will rank.
If you’re just hoping people will leave feedback on your product, you need to be more proactive.
This keyboard is ranked as Amazon’s choice and we can see why:
If you are a store that is just starting out, take a look at Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program. This is a service provided by Amazon that is aimed at getting new products reviewed.
Amazon reaches out to a random number of customers who have bought the product and asks them if they would be interested in writing a review. They will offer a small incentive to that customer in return.
Amazon will only contact customers that have an honest record when it comes to previous reviews. You can be sure that their opinion will be genuine.
If you’re going to use other methods to encourage reviews, be sure to check Amazon’s Terms of Service beforehand. The last thing you need is your account banned from selling activities, with little to no chance of successful appeals.
Answered questions
This follows on from the product reviews and follows the same logic.
The more that you communicate with customers and answer their queries, the better you will rank on Amazon. Customers will be able to see that you keep in regular contact with customers.
High numbers of answered questions boost conversions.
Follow These Steps to Increase Your Product’s Amazon Rankings
After coming to the end of this post, you will now have an understanding of what A9 is looking in terms of product ranking potential.
We have set out all boxes you need to tick when listing a product on Amazon. Keywords are vital when it comes to great product titles and features.
Drive traffic to your product with PPC and you will see a large surge in sales numbers. Above all else, sales drive rankings in Amazon.
It’s now over to you to take action.
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Of course, if you would rather the experts handle this for you so you can spend your time elsewhere while your products climb up the rankings, our order page has more details on how we can handle this for you!
