Amazon is constantly changing the game in the world of shopping. While today they make up 43% of all online sales, they are much more than just a retailer to shoppers—though many might not realize it. Need a specific widget? Amazon has it. Looking for that obscure gift idea your friend mentioned? Head to Amazon. Need an inflatable pool for the summer block party? Search Amazon. With 44% of shoppers starting their journey on Amazon, many are using the platform for what it truly is without actually knowing it. Amazon is a search engine.
In fact, over 1/3 of Amazon shoppers click on the first product they see after receiving their search results. Therefore, seeing Amazon as an eCommerce search engine as well as a retailer can better help get potential shoppers closer to purchase.
While most marketers are familiar with how to optimize for Google’s search algorithm, there are few who understand the nuances of optimizing for Amazon A9—the clever name for Amazon’s search engine, as there are nine letters after the “a” in algorithm. Let’s dive in to what you need to know to make the most out of A9.
Which Ranking Factors Matter Most to Amazon?
Amazon A9 is designed to get someone to make a purchase as quickly as possible. All the ranking factors in Amazon A9 cater to accomplishing this goal, meaning the ultimate goal for Amazon SEO is to increase sales (because the more you sell, the more Amazon makes and therefore the higher your product page ranks).
- Based on system learnings, some of the top-ranking factors on Amazon likely include:
- Sales Rank
- Customer Reviews
- Answered Questions
- Image Size & Quality
- Price
- Time on Page & Bounce Rate
- Title
- Features/Bullet Points
- Product Description
- Product Listing Completeness
Hierarchy of an Amazon Product Page
There are certain areas on an Amazon product page that are more important than others, which will help determine where to place certain keywords.
Our suggested order of importance is as follows:
- Title
- Bullets
- Hidden Keywords
- Enhanced Brand Content
- Basic Content
The title and the bullets are where your primary keywords will go and have more weight when it comes to ranking on Amazon.
Like Google, Amazon also takes into account user experience signals such as time on page, conversion rate, and bounce rate.
Because of that, it’s important to always consider which items your users are searching for most often and incorporate those items on your product page.
Amazon Optimization Tips
While Amazon is what we’re optimizing for, it’s important to understand the entire shopper journey, which starts on Google.
To get an idea of where it all begins, research top-of-the-funnel keywords using tools such as SEMrush, Ubersuggest, and Moz. Once you have a list of these top of funnel keywords, start doing Google searches by hand to see what content is in the top 3 spots.
This content influences buying decisions once people begin shopping on Amazon and gives you an idea of what they place the most value on before buying a product.
You can leverage content—or keywords—from your Google search results for your Amazon product page to reinforce what users have already learned throughout their research phase to help speed up the conversion process.
From there, utilize Amazon-specific tools such as merchant words and compare the difference in search volume from Google to Amazon. For example, on Google “essential oils” may only be searched 450,000 times per month, but on Amazon it’s around 8,000,000.
These results will dictate where specific keywords should go on your product page and where you should write about key benefits.
The best eCommerce experiences start with SEO; insights found during the research phase can fuel the user experience, copy and creative process. While it’s next to impossible to dive into the full ins-and-outs of Amazon’s search engine, you can get a basic understanding of how it works to ensure an efficient shopper journey.
Contributed By: Arash Ghaemi, Senior SEO Manager, Integer Denver
Image Source: Reshot
