Search ranking is one of the most critical factors in making a success of your Amazon business. It dictates how far up the search results your products will show when customers are looking for similar products.
If you’re at the top of the first page, great; if not, you should know that people rarely scroll past the third page. In fact if they see what they want on the first page, they don’t usually bother going any further.
So how can you improve your products’ ranking, and quickly? To do this, you need to know a bit about Amazon’s A10 search engine. (It used to be A9, but it’s now been updated to avoid people gaming the system by stuffing their product pages with keywords.)
A10 tries to match the customer’s search request with the keywords on your product listing. So if they search for ‘luxury African style throne’ and that’s your product description, you’ll probably come in towards the top, while ‘budget French garden chair’ won’t.
But the algorithm also looks at other factors. After all, you might get a perfect keyword match but be a seller with a horrible record of one-star reviews and no product in stock right now, and that wouldn’t exactly delight the customer. Performance factors affect where you come as well. Seller authority includes the age and status of your account, your inventory position, and your feedback score.
A10 will also look at your sales history and velocity (how fast your sales are growing), at your ads and search results (impressions, click-through rates, conversion rate), at sales coming from Amazon’s recommendations, at organic (ie ad-free) sales, and at your reviews.
So how can you improve your results? All of the following actions will help to push your products up the ranking.
1. Look up what keywords your competitors are using, a process known as reverse ASIN lookup.
2. Categorize your keywords into those with the highest search volume, with the most relevance, and with low competition. The best keywords are those that hit all three sweet spots, or at least two.
3. Split test different combinations of keywords to see which work best for your product.
4. Remember to revisit your pricing to ensure Amazon isn’t pushing you down the rankings for being too expensive. (Long term, it can be a good idea to use an automatic repricing service.)
5. Bundle items from different categories together to boost your rankings.
6. Drive sales to Amazon from external platforms such as Instagram or Facebook. This will boost your sales rank (and you can use Amazon Attribution to understand how well it’s working).
7. Always add alt-text for the images you show on your product page.
8. Maintain a diverse ad budget, using Google, Facebook and Instagram ads, for instance, as well as Amazon.
9. Read your reviews and find out what keywords people are using when they talk about your product. If you’ve missed some, add them!
10. Fill all your photo slots.
11. Use lifestyle images for your products as well as the required product photos. When consumers see your product actually in use, they’re more likely to purchase it.
12. Get reviews, by inviting customers to review your products (using product inserts or email), and through the Vine program for new products.
13. Promote your Amazon product page on authoritative websites and blogs.
14. Get rid of slow moving inventory, for instance by holding a discount sale.
15. Conversely, make sure you never run out of inventory. If you source from overseas, make sure you reorder in good time.
16. Outsource your product listings to experts; find a good marketing agency or copywriter.
17. Fill the gaps in your product offering, then create more bundled products.
18. Get product and business publicity on other platforms, for instance using influencers.
19. Use a keyword tool to make sure you’ve got the right keywords.
20. Make sure the product title itself includes at least one of the top keywords.