Keywords are the alpha and omega of Amazon. When you begin a business, it is among the details included on your priority list. In your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly monitoring and reports, you should always mention keyword performance. The importance of Amazon keywords research is also why many Amazon SEO companies are sprouting and making themselves experts in the field.
Your ability to be on top of the keywords you use in your content and ads will define your success. Negligence to incorporate the right keywords can mean low sales and low rankings.
To ensure that only success occurs, here are 12 expert Amazon keywords tips you can apply to your business.
1. Amazon A10 is your new best friend
A10 is Amazon’s algorithm responsible for crawling all listings on the platform and defining who gets the top spot. It determines which get the first pages of the ranking, and puts irrelevant listings in the lowest rank. If you want to rank on the first page, A10 will be your best friend. Here are the different areas the algorithm looks at:
- Relevance of your keywords to customer searches: In any business, customers always come first. With that, Amazon stores all searches created by customers and shows them the most relevant products in the hopes of making a sale.
- Sales and conversion rate: A store can be optimized using the right keywords. Having no sales reflects on the store’s credibility and product quality. In short, A10 also checks your sales and conversion rate.
- Product availability: A store that ranks and gets clicks but has run out of stock can be a major turn-off to buyers. A10 also considers the availability of your product. Ensure that your inventory is always replenished.
- Price: Customers always consider price in purchasing and so does A10. Market intelligence will help you come up with a reasonable product price. Compare your price to stores selling the same product as yours.
- Fulfillment type: There are different ways to ship and deliver your products to your customers, but experienced sellers suggest the use of Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Sellers have observed higher conversion rates with FBA, especially for Amazon Prime users. Customers have higher trust in shipping if Amazon handles it.
- Advertising, marketing, and promotions: This is where keywords for your ads and promotions come in. A10 also checks your ad content for your material to appear to the right audience.
- Customer reviews: What your customers say about your products brings value to another buyer’s purchase journey and is considered by A10. The more positive reviews you have, the more you’ll get A10 recommendations.
- Images: Your photos’ file names and tags are also crawled by the algorithm, so make sure to optimize them as well.
Amazon does not share exactly how they rank listings, but these are seasoned Amazon sellers’ and experts’ observations. It won’t bring any harm in optimizing all these areas for A10.
2. Thorough keyword research is the key
There are many paid and free keyword research tools online, giving you hundreds and even thousands of keywords ranked according to the number of customer searches. Keywords can be one to three words long, or they can be long-tail keywords too.
In deciding which to incorporate in your content, you can use these guide questions:
- What are keywords ranking in your niche?
- Are there competitor best practices you can learn from?
- Are there specific keywords you want to rank for?
- Which keywords do not have the ranking yet but can be used correctly?
- Which keywords are worth the competition?
Amazon SEO services also come in handy if you want to seek an expert opinion regarding keyword strategies.
Do not worry about experimenting because that is how some people begin checking the organic ranking of their keywords. They try a couple of keywords and see which perform nicely and which don’t. Once they have data, they then use the performing keywords in their paid campaigns.
3. Write for your customers, not the algorithm
We have discussed the importance of A10 earlier and what the algorithm looks at to get a higher ranking on the listing. However, ensure that your content is still informative and readable. Make the keyword inclusion as natural as possible. Always remember that aside from the algorithm, actual people are reading your product description and store content, so write for them.
4. Have a strong product title
How will you know if a product has a strong title? When you are able to create a product title that features your product name and is appealing to buyers, while being informative and including keywords you want to rank for. All these are put together without exceeding the 200-character limit set by Amazon.
5. Backend keywords are as important as the keywords that are visible to buyers
There are limitations on the characters you can include in the product title and the product description. There will undoubtedly be keywords you want to rank for that you cannot fit there. Backend keywords are the perfect place to input all those keywords. Also, keywords like misspelled words, words in other languages, and abbreviations are better placed in the backend to avoid impacting user experience.
6. Include Spanish in the backend keywords
Including the Spanish language in your backend keywords earns a particular spot because of the volume of searches in Spanish.
Since this practice is already widely used, you can also proactively use other languages in your backend depending on your target audience. Translate the keywords to the local language used by your target audience and include them in the backend of your account.
7. Realize the power of long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are unsung sales and ranking heroes on Amazon. Many sellers think that long-tail keywords are not as effective as they have lesser searches than shorter terms. However, experts argue that buyers searching using long-tail keywords have higher intent on buying.
For instance, there could be thousands of searches for the keywords “women’s shampoo,” so you choose to use this keyword instead of a long-tail one. However, if you think about it, more sellers will be using the same keywords on their stores, increasing the competition and lowering the chance of you getting a sale.
Meanwhile, if you use the long-tail keyword “women’s shampoo lavender scent with aloe vera oil,” there may be fewer searches. Still, the buyers who land on your listing are more likely to buy as they know what’s on their minds. Because of fewer competition, there is an increased chance that the customer will buy from you.
8. Optimize your images with keywords
Even your images are opportunities for further optimization. You can do this by changing your images file name to keywords you want to rank for.
9. Always check if your product appears for the search terms you are targeting
There are several ways to check if your product listing is appearing for keywords you want to rank for, but here are the two tried and tested methods used by experts, broken down step-by-step.
Manually check using ASIN + keyword combination
- Download related keywords about your product
- Enter your product ASIN and a keyword related to your product
- Check if your listing is appearing when searched by customers
- Do the same thing for other keywords
- Note the keywords your listing did not appear for, so you can include them in the backend keywords
Use an online tool
- Paste your ASIN and all the keywords you want to rank for in the online tool
- Extract data that are showing whether you are showing up for the search or not
- For the keywords you are not showing up for, get a list of the keywords and include them in the backend keywords
After following the steps, check again if your listing shows up for all related keywords.
10. Amazon PPC Campaigns are opportunities for SEO
Giving away free samples of your products is a classic strategy for brand awareness. With this, you need the knowledge on selecting the right promotional product supplier.
Aside from that, there are several other ways to advertise on Amazon and each is meant to help your specific advertising goals. However, one thing in common is ensuring that keywords are included in all of your campaign types.
Excellent layout and advertising material will only fulfill their purpose if they appear to the correct audience, so choose the right keywords.
On Amazon, you can choose from a manual campaign or auto campaigns. According to experts, combining the two is the best strategy when starting an Amazon store. Your manual campaign allows you to specify keywords you want to rank for. On the other hand, the auto campaign gives you an idea of which keywords your listing is appearing for.
The data you will get from these launched campaigns can help you decide on the next steps.
11. Know and list your negative keywords
While there are searches you want to appear for, there are also searches you do not want to rank for because they will only add cost to your PPC without creating sales. The keywords you don’t want to appear for are called negative keywords. Once you are sure you do not want to appear in searches using those keywords, add the keywords in the “Negative Keywords” found on Seller Central.
12. Seek help from experts
It is better to rely on experts for Amazon management and the proper execution of keyword strategies. Look for agencies you can partner with in creating, optimizing, monitoring, and making your Amazon business succeed. While it gives you additional experience if you do it on your own, getting professional assistance saves time and energy.
Takeaway
If you aim to be on the first page of Amazon search results, focusing on getting the right keywords and optimizing your account is the first step. Check this ultimate guide to Amazon SEO and use these 12 expert tips to help you achieve your goal. You have the freedom to do it on your own or seek professional help for tried and tested strategies and continuous monitoring.
