It’s no secret that Amazon continues to climb in popularity with shoppers. When it comes to convenience, the wide selection of products, and the benefits of Amazon Prime memberships, Amazon is the natural starting point for many product searches. To quantify that popularity, Statista found that in 2021, 38% of shoppers worldwide began their search for a product on Amazon.
So with that much consumer interest starting directly on Amazon, where do your products fall for relevant searches? It’s becoming increasingly crucial for brands to be visible on Amazon as shoppers want to take advantage of their Prime membership perks and begin their search within the Amazon marketplace. eMarketer estimates that just over 50% of US households have a Prime membership alone.
Amazon’s A9 Algorithm
How do you measure where your products rank in Amazon’s search? First, you need to know about Amazon’s A9 Algorithm. Amazon chooses which products appear higher in organic search results based on a combination of relevant keywords, how well the product’s detail page is optimized, and how the products convert historically. The stronger the product’s sales history and conversion rates are, the higher the product appears in Amazon’s search placement.
You may be wondering what to do if you’re interested in launching new products on Amazon or how to improve your organic search rank on products with minimal sales history. One of the first ways to do this is to ensure your product’s detail page is optimized for Amazon’s A9 algorithm. Much like SEO for web pages on Google, the title, bullet points, and description on the product’s detail page are indexed by Amazon. Ensure that your title is clear and includes valuable information for consumers starting their search journey. To learn more about building customer-pleasing product detail pages, consider our series on getting your product detail pages ready for Prime Day.
For example, say you sell red dry erase markers under your brand. Your title should include your brand name and a term like “Red Dry Erase Marker” or “Dry Erase Marker – Red.” These added details can help differentiate such a listing from permanent markers or keep irrelevant traffic away from customers specifically looking for green permanent markers. Make sure to review Amazon’s title guidelines to ensure there are no violations, such as not using the brand name of a competitor in your product title.
A clear product image will be the most prominent feature on the detail page. Next to that are the bullet points for the item. Since it appears at the top of the detail page, before the consumer scrolls down to the product description or product detail, this is a critical page for real estate on Amazon. Not only is this an excellent place to put crucial information about the product, but it is another area indexed by the A9 Algorithm. If your product has unique features compared to your competitors, this is also a great place to highlight them.
Research Keywords
While the product description appears lower on the detail page, Amazon still indexes it, so make every character count. If you’ve researched keywords for your product, try to incorporate any relevant keywords or queries into your copy. This will help customers find your product in combination with the optimization tips we’ve outlined above.
Backend Keywords
Another helpful way to boost your product’s ranking is to use backend keywords. When a product is built on Amazon, there is an area that is not customer-facing where relevant keywords can be added. This is something in Amazon’s Vendor Central and Seller Central that you can go back and edit, just in case either you’ve noticed changes in consumer search behavior or this was not an area utilized upon initial product set-up.
Amazon Advertising
One of the simplest ways to increase your product’s search rank on Amazon is by using Amazon Advertising. Amazon’s pay-per-click advertising platform has options you can choose from, ranging from automatic campaigns all the way to manually-targeted campaigns where you can include keywords for your product category or even your competitors! Brands can even use these PPC campaigns to bid for specific placements in Amazon’s search results, such as at the top of search results or appearing on the detail pages of other products.
A+ Content on Amazon
A fully optimized product detail page is more likely to convert, especially if you also add A+, or Enhanced Brand Content, to your product page. A+ content gives you more room and creativity to communicate the advantages of your product to the consumer. Product pages with A+ content are 3 to 10% more likely to convert a sale! Remember that a strong sales history improves your ranking in organic search on Amazon. This will, as many online marketers say, get the flywheel going for your product.
The most important takeaway from this is if there is a place on the front or backend of your product on Amazon that can contain information about your product – use it! Not only will this help customers find your product, but it will also help your brand grow in the marketplace overall.
