When shopping on Amazon, how does Amazon actually decide which product we should buy? Amazon faces an enormous challenge with every search query: From the millions upon millions of products offered, an algorithm has to identify the right products for any given search. The results must be put in a meaningful order in order to present buyers with a relevant product selection. In order to accomplish this task, Amazon has defined rules by which relevant products are identified and displayed in a certain order, similar to the Google search engine system, except that Amazon is about products instead of websites. Amazon is extremely cautious about these rules, but understandably they are also one of the central elements that secure Amazon’s supremacy in e-commerce. But no one knows the exact rules. Tests and analysis tools have been used to define certain criteria that can be assumed to be generally valid for searchability on Amazon. In the following, we will deal with these criteria in more detail.
Amazon’s question during the search
With the challenge of finding relevant products, Amazon is faced with the question of which products contain the right search term. These factors are also called relevance factors.
| Amazon’s challenge | Amazon’s question |
| Find relevant products | Which products contain the search term? (relevance factors) |
In order to sort the search results, Amazon asks for the highest probability of purchase for a product. These factors are called performance factors.
| Amazon’s challenge | Amazon’s question |
| Sort search results | Which products are most likely to be purchased? (performance factors) |
In order to show Amazon that your products are worth considering for a search result, relevance and performance factors must be correct.
Amazon’s approach during the search
If we apply the above question to an approach, Amazon analyses the texts of the product page to find relevant products. Sorting in the correct category in the product catalogue is also an important identifier for the search algorithm.
| Amazon’s challenge | Amazon’s question |
| Find relevant products | Text and category analysis (relevance factors) |
To sort the results, Amazon has to estimate a conversion rate, i.e. the probability of buying a product.
| Amazon’s challenge | Amazon’s question |
| Sort search results | Estimate conversion rate (performance factors) |
The seller’s tasks during the search
For the seller (or Vendor) on Amazon, this leads to in the task of placing as many relevant keywords as possible in the listing, which is the actual Amazon SEO. At the same time, the product must be placed in the right product category in the Amazon catalogue (browse node) as soon as the article is created.
| Amazon’s challenge | The seller’s task |
| Find relevant products | Placing relevant keywords in the listing (relevance factors) |
In order to achieve a good conversion rate, i.e. a good relationship between visitors to the product deal page (clicks) and actual buyers, sellers should take all possible measures that have a positive effect on the probability of purchase.
| Amazon’s challenge | The seller’s task |
| Sort search results | Take measures to increase purchase probability (performance factors product) |
In the following, we would like to focus on the relevance factors and the question of how you can optimize your product texts for the Amazon search. The performance factors will be discussed later in this article.
Structure of the Amazon product listing
Which factors are relevant for our findability and can be influenced? First of all, we need to understand how a product page on Amazon is structured.
Amazon product page
A product listing consists of many different areas. Beginning with the product title in the upper area, photos, information on ratings, price and delivery follow. Below that, different product variants can be selected in the so-called twister. Below this are the bullet points (also called bullets). To the right is the so-called buybox. Here you can find price, availability, shipping costs and the “Add to cart” button, as well as information about the seller (Amazon or a 3rd-party).
Editable text areas in the Amazon listing
The titles and bullet points in the product listing can be edited (usually five bullets can be used). A little further down the page, there is the product description. If A+ content is used for sellers, this description is usually hidden. This can also be edited.
Description
Another factor that is essential for the relevance of the listing is the so-called hidden keywords. These are not visible on the detail page but can be entered via Vendor- or Seller-Central.
Amazon Hidden Keywords
Relevance factors
Amazon determines the relevance of a product from the following text areas:
| Text areas |
| Title |
| Bulletpoints |
| Description |
| Hidden Keywords |
Find the right keywords
In order to show Amazon which product you are offering, suitable keywords must be placed in the text areas. However, these keywords should not only match the product, but should above all be those that potential customers are searching for on Amazon.
Keyword sources for product optimization
- Must-Have-Keywords
- Keywords from competitors
- Amazon search keywords
Must-Have-Keywords: To find good keywords for your own product, it is best to start with a brainstorming session. Think of 10-20 keywords that you would use when searching for your product.
Keywords from competitors: Usually there are similar and comparable products on Amazon already. Use this as an advantage and check which useful keywords have been used before and add them to your list.
Amazon search keywords: Unfortunately, Amazon does not reveal how often specific keywords are searched for, but there are ways to identify frequently searched keywords. With the help of Amazon Suggest, you can identify common search terms. It is a feature that suggests many matching searches when typing a word into Amazon`s search slot.
Amazon Suggest
Amazon Brand Analytics
Another way to find regularly searched keywords on Amazon is Amazon Brand Analytics. Anyone who has gone through the Amazon Brand Registry can access these reports in Seller Central free of charge (vendors are to receive free access here in the future, currently only possible via ARAPremium). Here the approx. 400,000 most frequently searched keywords on Amazon can be analyzed in descending order. This is a helpful tool to find suitable searches for your own product.
Amazon Brand Analytics
Placing keywords sensibly in the Amazon Listing
Now that you have identified a list of perhaps 50 to 100 relevant keywords, the question as to how to place them in your Amazon listing arises. Of course, you want to make use of as many keywords as possible, but Amazon and your customers have certain expectations about how a product listing should be structured. Keywords cannot simply be strung together. A good product listing is a balancing act of keyword stuffing and good customer approach before considering Amazon’s guidelines.
Amazon specifications for creating a product listing
Amazon describes the Do’s & Don’ts for content usage in various places such as Seller- & Vendor-Central, help pages, style guides or statements from support. In addition, there is a lot of practical experience, which has proven itself or should better be omitted. The following table gives an overview of what we believe should be important guidelines.
| Element | Min. number of characters | Max. number of characters | forbidden characters |
| Title | 60 | 150 | ~!*$?_~{}#<>|*;^¬¦ |
| Highlight 1-5 | 100 | 200 | |
| Description | 1000 | 2000 | |
| Hidden Keywords | 100 | 250 | .,:; |
In the Amazon Content-Tool AXOLIST you can create your own rules for your content optimizations. Our default is only for orientation. With so few characters available, it is not so easy to place many keywords. Therefore you should only place the keywords that are searched for the most. Amazon Brand Analytics is also suitable for grading keywords according to search volume. The Google Ads Keyword Planner also gives rough figures on search volume for many keywords. Even though Google is not a product search engine, these figures can be used for comparison.
Google Keyword Planer
Selection of the appropriate product category
For the findability of a product, the choice of a suitable product category is also very important. This can be found on the product page under “Additional product information”.
Product category
Amazon Product Categories
Performance factors
Amazon aims to sell customers products, which have already been purchased frequently by customers in the past. Amazon assumes that products that have already been bought by other customers are also relevant for new customers. To do this, the “performance”, i.e. how successful a product was on Amazon in the past, is measured using three key figures:
- Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
- Conversion Rate (CR)
- Sales
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
The click-through-rate measures how many customers have seen a product in the search results (impression) and then actually clicked on it (click).
Calculation of the Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
The CTR is calculated as follows:
Number of clicks / number of impressions x 100 = CTR in %
Example: A product was displayed 100 times in the search results and clicked on 10 times:
10/100 x 100 = 10%
The CTR in the example is then 10%.
Every products is clicked on with a different frequency. If we disregard the position in the search results, which has an enormous factor on the click rate, the following listing elements play a major role for clicking on an item:
- main image
- title
- price
- number of reviews / rating
- delivery time / shipping costs / Prime
- Amazon Bestseller / Amazon-Choice Badge
- discount information
All of these elements are a factor in CTR. Therefore products should already be SEO-optimized for the search results page. Not all of the elements (reviews, ratings, badges) can be directly influenced. The first three elements (picture, title, price) can directly be influenced and optimized for a better CTR. At the same time, it is important to remember that many customers buy on mobile devices or via the Amazon app. For this reason, optimize your products not only for the desktop display, but compare the display on mobile phones and in the app which many customers use when shopping.
Conversion Rate
If a potential customer has accessed your product page, there is another important performance factor: the conversion rate. Conversion describes the transformation of a potential buyer into a customer who has bought an article. Long story short, the conversion rate tells you how many potential customers actually buy your product.
Calculation of the Conversion Rate (CR)
Purchases / visitors = CR
Example: Out of 10 visitors on the product page, one made a purchase. 1/10 = 10 % The conversion rate is 10%.
For the Amazon algorithm, the CR is a very important factor to determine the search ranking. Amazon’s goal is to offer customers the most popular products that customers are most likely to buy. Therefore, products with a high CR are preferred in the ranking.
That is why it is important to place relevant information on the product description page that leads to a purchase. Once again, various page elements play an important role here:
- title
- pictures / video
- price
- delivery time / delivery costs
- reviews / rating
- bullet points
- description / A+ content
- customer questions
- top reviews
Sales
The sale of a product is the number of units sold in a given period. The sales volume is basically a combination of Click-Through-Rate and Conversion Rate. Considering that, from Amazon’s point of view, sales also mean more income in the form of commission. It can be assumed that this goal is highly relevant in search rankings.
It is possible for two very comparable products with the same price to rank differently for one specific same search term because one product is bought by customers more often than the other. Amazon rewards the better selling product with a better ranking in the search results. It is important to understand that Amazon always places the sales of each product in relation to its competition and not across all products.
Relationship between relevance factors and performance factors
Various factors influence the Amazon search ranking. It is not possible to determine exactly which weighting is given to the individual page elements of a product and which factors appear more important than others. Especially due to the fact that the factors also influence each other, the optimization of product content is always a tightrope walk and can never be 100% “right”.
What is good Amazon SEO?
A good Amazon product optimization includes as many factors as possible that positively influence the search ranking. You now know that Amazon products are rewarded with high visibility in the search especially if they are already selling well. This phenomenon is comparable to a mill wheel that is already turning (sales). It is getting more and more water (impressions & visitors) which makes it turn even faster (more sales).
Product optimization only becomes particularly relevant when a large number of sales (measured by keyword and product category) is generated. For this reason, you should identify factors that can positively influence a product in terms of both relevance and performance factors in the competitive analysis during optimization.
Placing as many (and frequently searched) keywords as possible in the title and the bullet points may be good for relevance factors, but will have a harmful effect on the products performance. Your customers will no longer understand which product they are actually dealing with because of random keywords listed in a row.
Therefore, a successful Amazon optimization is always a compromise between a good understanding of the product and its competition, coupled with extensive keyword research. This results in an intelligent placement of the most relevant keywords in the content while taking into account the customer perspective and Amazon guidelines.
Start with product optimization
Now that you know what to focus on when optimizing your product for Amazon, you can get started right away. Depending on how many products you offer, possibly even on international Amazon marketplaces, different people in your company or perhaps other external optimizers will be involved in the process. So you need to think about which medium and system you want to use for optimizing your listings.
Focused Amazon optimization
Our experience has shown that it is difficult to keep track of the status and feedback processes during product optimization, even with as few as 5-10 products in five different languages. For this reason, we decided to develop a system that allows us to easily manage projects, feedback loops and access by different employees. With AXOLIST you can do Amazon optimizations yourself. No matter if you are a seller, vendor or an agency – AXOLIST with its multi-level role and legal system offers the possibility to implement small to complex projects in an efficient way. Test AXOLIST now 14 days for free.
Let others optimize your product listings
We have a qualified team of international Amazon optimizers from numerous projects that you can also call upon. Do you want to save time during optimization or do you need technical support or help for different languages? Then book an Amazon product optimization.
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