Using Amazon Keyword Optimization to Drive Sales

Do you apply Amazon keyword optimization to your product listings? Do your products feature the top searched keywords? Are you using relevant terms that your prospective customers are searching for?

Amazon is a search engine just like Google, but a lot of us often forget about this. Online shoppers often rely on Amazon for product searches.

Over 60% of consumers start their product search on Amazon. And if they have a specific product in mind, more than 70% rely on the marketplaces to search for their product (Source). Therefore, it’s important to optimize your product listings for Amazon SEO.

In this guide, we’ll explain how Amazon Keyword Research can help you succeed as a seller.

What is Keyword Research?

As the phrase entails, keyword research is about finding the most relevant keywords for your products. This means locating the terms that customers use to search for your Amazon listings.

Most of you know that keyword research is an integral part of Amazon SEO. Proper and constant keyword research will help you drive organic traffic on a regular basis.

Here are some of the key metrics to consider when conducting keyword research:

Search volume. The number of times a user searches for a keyword in a month, and within a specific location. A “good” monthly search volume depends on the keyword’s CTR, but also on your own business goals.
Keyword difficulty. The term’s competitive rate against similar listings and the keyword’s competitiveness among websites. This metric can inform how realistic it would be for you to earn a meaningful rank using a particular keyword.

What is Amazon Keyword Optimization?

Most of you know that keyword research is an integral part of Amazon SEO. But brands should also think about keyword optimization, which involves enhancing your content to provide the best customer experience.

Optimizing your listings with the right set of search terms is the key to maximizing your growth potential. But before you start doing keyword research and optimization, you need to place yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask yourself:

How do customers describe my product?
What are the uses of this particular product?
What benefits does it offer to customers?
What problems does the product can solve for users?

Answering such questions is a crucial starting point for a successful Amazon keyword optimization campaign. Once you get answers to these questions, it will help you find relevant keywords for your product.

Related content: SEM vs SEO Marketing

How Do I Optimize My Amazon Keywords?

First of all, you need to understand the different types of keywords available in a product listing:

Primary keywords. Search terms for which you want to ultimately rank for. For example: “teapot,” “water bottle,” etc.
Secondary keywords. Terms distributed across different categories, and used to highlight product features, use, or size. For example: “dinner plates for everyday use,” “cast iron teapot set of 5,” etc.

You need to come up with primary and secondary keywords as part of your keyword research, Then, use a combination of both to write and set up your product listings.

Now, let’s review a few strategies that will improve your Amazon keyword optimization.

1. How Can I Improve My Keyword Visibility?

We can group the search terms into two categories, based on their usage:

Frontend keywords. These are search terms that are visible to customers. Frontend keywords appear in the title, bullet points and description. You should use them to create engaging content and drive traffic.
Backend keywords. These are ‘hidden’ keywords within the listing. Users won’t see these, but you can still include them to increase your visibility.

If you want to learn more about optimizing your product listings for relevant keywords, check out this video here.

2. How to Optimize your Listings to Drive Conversions and CTR

Amazon keywords usually appear in the listing’s title and description. However, they’re also a key component of your product images and the URL slug. Each of these elements plays a key role in your Amazon keyword optimization strategy.

In the case of product photography, high-quality product images tend to rank higher on Amazon. We recommend that you upload pictures at least 1001px long, and 2560px wide.

3. The Significance of the URL Slug

A slug is part of the URL that explains the content on a particular webpage. Amazon generates URL slugs for all its listings, which are comprised of the first five keywords of a product’s title.

The slug details relevant information about a product, and it plays a major role in your product’s rank and indexing. Therefore, it’s crucial to optimize both your product title and URL slug with the most relevant keywords.

According to Amazon’s guidelines, the Brand name should be at the beginning of your product title. The relevant keywords should follow in the order of their importance to the title. We recommend using the following format as a guideline:

Brand name + Product identifier + Specifications / Features / Properties (+ Who can use/ how can it be used)

Make sure that the URL slug emulates this format. Since the title already features the most relevant keywords, including it in the URL will further optimize your listings.

Related content: Quick Guide to Amazon Listing Management

4. Amazon Keyword Clustering for Long-Term Success

Often, keyword research and keyword relevance are underestimated. This is because sellers don’t always see the importance of Amazon SEO for their long-term success. Here’s where keyword clustering comes in.

Keyword clustering is a brainstorming process used to list your keywords logically. It’s used to align search terms with your product’s usage/features, and its target audience.

Keyword clustering is not only profitable for organic sales but also aids PPC strategy in the long run. But it’s not enough to copy related terms from different research tools to create a cluster.

You can form keyword clusters by answering the questions we discussed above. Once you can respond to those inquiries, you can search for the specific keywords that can reflect the answers to customers.

Keyword clusters are influenced by the type of product that you sell, but also by product-related experiences. A solid keyword cluster should have the potential to align with your sales goals, but also with the needs of your target audience.

Therefore, it’s important to have a clear understanding of your customers, the competitive landscape, and the current trends on and off Amazon.

5. Keyword Indexing

Keyword indexing refers to whether or not the Amazon A9 algorithm associates your ASINs with the targeted keywords. When a customer uses certain terms to find a product, Amazon search should display your product ASIN. That means your product is indexed for those terms.

Keyword indexing is not a one-time work, you need to constantly optimize your listings to rank for more potential keywords. This will help customers to find your products on Amazon.

6. The Importance of Long-Term Keywords

Long-tail keywords are a set of keyword phrases that customers use when they’re close to finding a product. These phrases are usually longer than 3 words, and are voice-friendly. This gives long-term keywords a higher conversion rate.

You should have long-tail keywords as part of your keyword strategy as these search terms:

Have high buying intent
Have less competition because they are very specific to your product
Have low CPC in advertising

Final Thoughts

Keyword research is often overlooked. The process depends on your strategies, resources, and long-term and short-term goals. On a basic level, you can consider the relevance of the product to choose the set of keywords.

But a robust Amazon keyword optimization strategy should include the tactics we discussed here. Plus, you can up your game with a few online tools that’ll take your keyword optimization to the next level.

Once you apply these strategies, your Amazon keyword optimization strategy will position your offers for long-term success.

Author

Arishekar N has over five years of web development experience and is the senior digital marketing strategies at SellerApp, Specialist in SEO, SEM, and best conversion rate optimization strategies that deliver industry-leading ROI. Arishekar has helped companies through more effective search engine marketing and SEO strategies. He is most passionate about working with e-commerce companies.

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