How optimizing your Amazon SEO helps your E-commerce online business
In one of our earlier blogs, we mentioned how important it was to get SEO right if you were operating an online business via an E-commerce website. Today we intend to tell you all about the one E-commerce store that absolutely every small, medium, and large-sized business needs to be on; we are referring to Amazon of course and this is your step-by-step guide on how to get your SEO for Amazon optimized. Amazon in its current avatar is more than just a marketplace for online consumers to sell and buy their wares. Ever since its launch in the year 2000, Amazon has proven itself with evolutions that have set the benchmark for online marketplaces, and now even with strong competition from different marketplaces, Amazon continues to be the easiest as well as the most aspirational platform to shop on as well as to sell on.
E-commerce entrepreneurs have in different forms shifted to selling their products on Amazon especially during the lockdowns because of Covid 19. Stay-at-home parents, mom and pop stores, smaller businesses, and of course household enterprises have all awoken to the importance of selling online and Amazon has truly provided them with an ideal platform to do just that. To the extent that the Amazon Marketplace now boasts of a whopping 2.5 million sellers and this is in no small measure thanks to the growth of Amazon SEO as an effective marketing engine. We mentioned earlier that while Amazon continues to be one of the best, it is most certainly not the only marketplace for E-commerce entrepreneurs to function in. Due to this influx of steady competition, entrepreneurs have had to go the extra mile not just to stay relevant but also to continue to be competitive in their approaches. This involves finding and employing an effective Amazon product SEO strategy amongst other measures.
Now while we’ve told you why Amazon SEO is as important as it is, through the medium of this article, let us also try and tell you how the Amazon search engine functions and how it can be used to formulate a reasonable and sound Amazon SEO strategy for your business.
The Amazon SEO Universe
New online and E-commerce entrepreneurs always wonder why Amazon SEO is and what makes it as effective. They also are quick to assume that the search engine is not as effective and as true as the Google search engine. Another common misadventure is that they think that the Google algorithm and the Amazon SEO process are similar and can both be accomplished via the same steps. This is of course inaccurate and has no valid or legitimate claim. Amazon’s A10 search engine allows businesses to rank higher on its search list encouraging bigger and better sales when used strategically.
It is a fairly obvious observation that online entrepreneurs who understand Amazon’s SEO process help their businesses yield comprehensive results. So let us have a closer look at how Amazon SEO’s foundational tool functions.
A10 search engine
The Amazon SEO process simply cannot function without its revolutionary A10 search engine. Amazon A10 is a part subsidiary of the original Amazon based out of Palo Alto in California. This is a developed search engine technology that enhances customer search queries and also helps them to pair the most appropriate products when searched for on the platform. A10 has a cognitive function that is an incredibly and single-mindedly focused revenue per-click model. Whenever a customer searches for a particular product A10 will also match the best possible products other than what is ordered. This greatly enhances the chances of producing sales and revenue. How will the A10 search engine engage marry with your product rankings to boost sales on your platform? We’ll show you how.
Product ranking factors on the A10
To say that there is a 100% fool proof way to pinpoint how the A10 from Amazon targets potential customers would be misleading. However, when studied regularly and consistently, the search engine does throw up some hints from time to time that help to make your products more noticeable. These hints lead us to examine two primary factors:
Sales Velocity
Sales velocity is not just a measure of how well a particular seller is doing on the Amazon Marketplace. It is also an actual quantifiable metric used by Amazon to determine how rapidly and successfully a particular product is selling on the online store. This makes the connection between sale speed and the SEO symbiotic. The more and quicker the sale, the happier Amazon is to give your hero product some special treatment in terms of visibility to unique customer-driven searches.
Sales velocity does not only have to depend on the organic reach and quality of the particular product in question. Like across all digital and social media-driven platforms, launching pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, helps determine product conversion rates, and also increases positive customer reviews. It is also possible to set up a well-connected network of Amazon sellers who would then internally collaborate and send each other’s products what is known as referral traffic to up their visibility.
Keyword Mastery
Amazon keywords are SEO tools that will assist your online business to connect with a prospective target audience based on what they are searching for. Without the use of the correct keywords, even an advanced search engine like A10 will struggle to understand what it is that you are looking to buy or browse through. We’ll give you three simple tips that will help you optimize the best possible use of your Amazon keyword usage:
Finding and being able to pinpoint your prospective target audience is the first step. Your keyword search is simply reliant on what you are trying to sell. If you are selling beauty products, then the keywords have to match typical search descriptions by consumers like beauty or makeup or eyeliner and lipstick to suggest a few examples.
Once you have the keywords, make sure you add them to the text of your product description. Keep in mind that only one use of a keyword is enough to rank higher in your product description. Using the already high-ranking keyword repeatedly only leads to a waste of space and in most cases incoherent descriptions for your products.
Finding and using backend keywords is also a handy tip. Backend keywords are keywords that don’t need to be put in your product description but should not be wasted either. This helps if you are selling multiple products which means they will rank higher for other searches helping to enhance both visibility and leads.
SEO Strategy for beginners
In an ideal world, we tend to divide any creative collateral into two clear functions. These functions of course are design and text. To formulate your perfect Amazon SEO strategy that sees your E-commerce online business thrive and prosper, both these functions need to be closely looked at as well. Your product or service needs to be introduced in words as the one thing “you cannot believe that you still do not own” and in pictures as “the most important purchase, you will make” for quite some time. This combination is of course not easy to achieve all the time and needs patience, practice, and a professional touch to master over a period of time.
Ideal Amazon Sales Copy
Well-written sales copy is a fine balance between being instructive, informative as well as persuasive. Because this is a marketplace where users tend to make purchase decisions in real-time, having the correct sales copy could swing their preference towards your product as compared to the competition. Optimized sales copy especially for Amazon should include elements like:
A good product title is the first block of text customers will consume on your product listing page. Ideally, these need to be straightforward and contain enough information about the product.
Amazon does not allow for any kind of human interaction which means that the way you describe your product will make all the difference. Product descriptions need to be well crafted, not plagiarized, readable, and with the ability to weave a story. It is also imperative for the description to utilize the SEO tools that Amazon provides.
Bullet points are another coherent way to bring your product to life because most people prefer reading bulleted information as compared to large chunky paragraphs. The bullets should differ from what is already written in the description, and each bullet should ideally focus on one benefit.
High-Quality Product Pictures
Most people tend to look at pictures more often than read lengthy or even smart copy. So, making sure your product is visually represented well, makes all the difference. Good high-quality product photos are extremely valuable. Clicking a good picture should ideally be left to the professionals but if you fancy yourself with a camera then we have some cool tips for you.
It’s important to take high-resolution images and find the right lighting. Each product needs to be displayed with its best visual condition. Blurry low-resolution pictures are an absolute turn-off.
Ideal and adequate lighting also makes all the difference. High-quality pictures usually have a light backdrop with natural soft tones. This can be achieved with reflectors and lightboxes.
Using a white background for your products helps to fit best with the user experience of the marketplace and is what users are most used to seeing. White also eliminates any distractions leaving the focus squarely on your product.
Pictures should tell their own story which is why there should be multiples photos taken from different flattering angles to give the product the best possible visual representation this could hope to have.
Stay Away from these common SEO Mistakes
No SEO guide is complete without also informing you of possible mistakes and pitfalls that you could end up in, even though you are trying to understand the algorithm. These are small steps that may seem insignificant at first but could cause a definitive drop in visibility and sales if not eradicated.
Do not mismanage your product inventory. SEO will help you increase brand exposure and lead to sales, but it falls flat if your product inventory isn’t streamlined. Overstocking or understocking leads to poor customer experiences or losses which SEO will not be able to solve.
Creating an ideal SEO strategy and maintaining it are two very different things and both usually need an expert to help you achieve it.
Amazon’s A10 search engine is very good however, like all other search engines it continues to evolve over time. This is why it is important to understand these evolutions from time to time rather than being stuck at just one point.
Researching your competition is the only way to stay ahead of the game. Not doing this shows a sense of lackadaisical arrogance and will be hurtful to your SEO and overall marketing strategy in the long-run.
Not being honest or being inaccurate and error-strewn is a sure-fire way to attract negative customer feedback. Too many bad reviews lead to a negative impression of your product.
Catch hold of an Amazon SEO expert. First-time and smaller entrepreneurs tend to bite off more than they can chew instead of outsourcing this function to people who do it day in and day out.
The SEO process is not a magic tool that will suddenly see leads that link to sales. However, not doing it or doing it incorrectly will certainly leave your business either stagnant or in the process of downfall. These tips are basic and something that every E-commerce entrepreneur needs to know and learn.
As you have now seen and understood for yourself doing SEO for Amazon carries with it its own set of criteria along with some very specific Dos and Don’ts. This is precisely why we would always recommend getting expert professional advice and help, rather than trying to do it by yourself. AmareSol Global is a digital business consultancy creating innovative change through a team of talented designers, developers, and strategists creating digital experiences for brands and companies around the world. We are continuously fueling growth across constantly changing and advancing digital landscapes, by seeking and formulating newer and better ways to service clientele on a global scale across industries. Look up more about us at www.amaresolglobal.com.
References:
https://www.amaresolglobal.com/blog/how-to-do-effective-seo-for-an-e-commerce-online-business
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-statistics/
https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/
https://www.sellerapp.com/blog/amazon-a10-algorithm-updates/
https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace