Hands up if you love learning about Amazon SEO secrets the rest of the public doesn’t know about. Now keep those hands up if you’re an Amazon seller, and are dying to know what you can do to get a serious jump on the competition. Curious? Awesome — RepricerExpress has put together this exclusive post just for you!
Brand Recognition is Everything
If you’ve been slacking on your SEO-ness, it’s time to stop. For reals. Especially if you think that you don’t need it with Amazon’s template. Ecommerce is ecommerce, and SEO has principals that can be used across the board.
And if you need only one reason why SEO should be on your daily to-do list, it’s because brand recognition is everything.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that just because Amazon has a team of amazing designers and engineers, you don’t have to do anything and can just rest on their laurels. While you can to a certain extent, there’s still a certain amount of legwork for you involved.
Understanding How the Search Process Works
You may have missed it, but at the bottom of every Amazon search result page is ‘A9’ and it represents the first letter of ‘algorithm’ and the number of letters the word has. Every search engine, no matter what its name, relies on algorithms — yes-or-no options that lead to differing results — and Amazon is no exception. But one thing that differentiates every search engine is how they’ve designed their algorithms.
Amazon’s algorithm, in particular, focuses on quality, originality and non-repetition. Ignore much of what you’ve learned from Google and prepare to do things the Amazon way, which means the following:
- Doing random searches on Amazon to see how patterns develop (as opposed to how they turn up on Google)
- Creating a keyword planner using Google Adwords. Yes, we know we’ve just said that the two operate in different ways, but keyword planners are a basic starting point with any SEO enterprise.
- Perform a survey with family, friends, coworkers and anyone else to see what immediately clicks for them. Sometimes, it may be what you least expect and you have to be prepared to go against what you like in favour of what works.
- Use images as much as possible because that’s what consumers want, especially hi-res photos. A good photo tells a story of 1,000 words, so shoot your products on a neutral background at 1,001+ pixels, and make sure it takes up at least 85% of the frame (which is what Amazon wants). Oh, and if you had any doubts about images, remember that Amazon may just block your listings if you don’t have images. No listings, no hits; no hits, no sales.
- Copy that clearly describes the specs of the product you’re selling. Let’s say you’re listing Mac chargers. Buyers will find it incredibly useful if you detail exactly which Mac laptops your charger will work for and which ones it won’t, as these adapters can cost a pretty penny.
- Less is more, except when it isn’t. There’s no magical rule for how many words you should have, as it can vary wildly on what you’re selling and how much technical information is required. If you’re listing jumpers or novels, then feel free to let the product speak for itself. But if you’re selling, say, electronics, then use most important-to-least important bullet points to highlight the information — buyers love bullet points.
- Regularly review your metrics to see how you’re performing, and do so in increments of a day, a week, a month and a year.
- Use A/B testing to isolate which aspects work and which ones don’t.
- And lastly, don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re omniscient. You may have superlative spelling, writing and grammar skills, but everyone makes mistakes. Get into the habit of having a trustworthy scribe double-check your copy.
- Although it’s not directly tied into SEO, positive feedback reviews will go a huge way towards higher listings and increased sales. In an indirect way, this is a result of everything we’ve just talked about.
- Making awesome customer support, like investing in FBA or asking buyers to leave a review (i.e. with FeedbackExpress), will go a long way in boosting your brand recognition.
Amazon’s Secret Weapon
Want to know what Amazon does better than every other search engine? It uses sales data to rank the most relevant products, according to shoppers’ input. It’s sort of like the ecommerce version of Britain’s Got Talent, except with buyers voting with their wallets for products instead of talent acts. And instead of getting a yea or nay, you just get higher visibility with your products, which tends to lead to higher sales.
