Date: 19th March, 2018
When people think of search engines, they think of Google. Maybe Bing or Yahoo. Duck Duck Go if they’re security conscious. That’s about it.
What most people don’t realise is that Amazon is also a search engine of sorts. It’s a website you can go to and search for stuff. And because it’s a search engine, that means you can use SEO to improve how high up in the search results you appear.
Amazon vs Google
SEO works a bit differently on the two platforms as they have different audiences and motivations.
Google want to show people the most relevant results. That means they judge websites according to the quality of the content and how popular the website is in terms of other people linking to it.
Amazon takes a different approach…
Unlike Google, people visiting Amazon are usually ready to make a purchase. That’s sometimes the case on Google, but people often search for information too, such as “how do I get home?”. Roughly 49,500 people search Google for that every month.
Amazon’s main focus is getting people to buy stuff, so rather than show people the best quality results, they show people the stuff that sells well. Sometimes it amounts to the same thing, but not always.
SEO for Amazon
What does this mean if you’re an Amazon seller? It means you should focus on improving conversion rates i.e. the proportion of people who view one of your products and go on to buy it.
Here are some tips:
- Fill in all the fields you possibly can when setting up a product. When people search and filter, you’ll be more likely to come up.
- Put the keywords you want to be found for in the title of the product
- Make sure your prices are competitive
- Make sure your items are in stock
- Follow Amazon’s image guidelines
- Use the text to really sell your product to the reader and encourage them to buy. Tell them the benefits of the product.
- Use as much of the search terms field as possible. Include lots of relevant keywords and variations.
Getting good reviews is important too, as reviews affect how much people trust you and therefore how likely they are to buy. Make sure your customer service is top notch.
Something else to consider is that being a Fulfilled by Amazon seller – where you send your stock to Amazon and they send it to the customer when it sells – can also give you a boost in the search results. Users tend to trust these sellers a little more too.
