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If your product doesn’t show up in the Amazon search box, you’re not going to make many sales. Too often, the solution to search engines not displaying your listings involves a long, complicated strategy that’s difficult to understand, and even more challenging to implement.

This guide is different.

Most, if not all Amazon sellers know that Amazon listing optimization is a critical component of their online selling success. That’s largely because shoppers have ever-increasing options on Amazon’s crowded marketplace.

Amazon SEO strategy is the other side of that coin.

What is Amazon SEO?

Amazon search engine optimization (or SEO) refers to optimization efforts focused on improving a product’s or brand’s visibility and search rankings on Amazon’s marketplace. Although there’s a little bit of debate whether Amazon’s A9 algorithm has evolved into something that some sellers are calling the A10, or it’s just in another iterative stage, the prinicipal aspects of Amazon SEO remain the same:

• Amazon Keyword Research – Identifying high-search volume, related keywords that shoppers use to find products in your niche and optimizing product listings for those terms.
• Product Title & Description Optimization – Crafting compelling titles and product descriptions that accurately convey what the product is while using relevant keywords shoppers are searching for.
• Product Detail Page Optimization – Enhancing the rest of the detail page including bullet points, images, A+ content, etc. to entice clicks, product rankings, and conversions.
• Backend keywords – Backend search terms allow sellers to add many more terms, long tail keywords, and other variants to cover more potential customer search queries, and complement front-end SEO strategy
• Reviews & Ratings – Generating more positive product reviews and higher star ratings to build trust and social proof.
• Listing Quality Score – Improving relevancy, conversion rates and other metrics Amazon uses to determine which listings appear higher in search results.
• Off-Amazon Efforts – Building links and leveraging other marketing channels to increase brand authority and the likelihood that customers find and click on your listings.

The end goal of Amazon SEO is to make your product listings more visible and discoverable to increase organic product page visits, conversions, and sales on the Amazon platform.

It requires understanding search behavior and Amazon’s algorithm to score well for relevant queries.

The purpose of this post is to create a bullet-pointed, easy-to-understand guide that connects the dots between optimizing your Amazon listings for human beings and making sure Amazon’s algorithm likes it enough to place it first in the search results.

Step 1: Prioritize Amazon SEO

In 2024, Amazon search results might look different due to changes in their ecosystem, pay per click advertising prices going up, and the increase in shoppers using their phones to do, well, everything.

To rank well, sellers need to prioritize SEO.

Amazon says 70% of searchers never look past page one.

Unlike the continued financial requirements of Amazon PPC, good SEO rankings are relatively inexpensive to achieve. However, if you lose rankings, competitors can take that business when people search your brand terms.  

To rank well on Amazon, sellers need to focus on three – relatively simple – elements of Amazon SEO strategy:

Use the words that shoppers actually search for

– Research the exact words and phrases that shoppers type into Amazon’s search bar to find products

– Update product titles, descriptions, and keywords to match the actual language shoppers use

– As shopper search terms change over time, listings need to be updated to reflect how shoppers search

Build trust and expertise for your products and brand 

– Getting articles, videos, or other content published on other sites helps build authority 

– When shoppers see your brand name mentioned positively online as an expert, you gain trust

– This trust makes shoppers more likely to click your products over unknown brands in searches 

Make product listings interesting and easy to understand

– Most shoppers now use mobile phones to shop, and attention spans are getting shorter every day

– Videos, 3D product images, charts, and other visual content keeps shoppers engaged on listings longer

– More time on page signals to Amazon that shoppers find the listing relevant to what they want

– Then Amazon will rank those listings higher in future similar searches

The key is being great in all areas – matching shopper searches, building authority everywhere, and keeping eyes on your listings – to compound visibility and sales on Amazon search.

This requires staying on top of constant changes in language and expectations. Canopy Management’s SEO roadmaps achieve this sustainable top performance.

Step 2: Conduct Comprehensive Keyword Research  

Here’s another pretty simple idea: make sure and use the “keywords” that people actually search with.

This includes different names for your products, misspellings, and related searches where you solve a problem. This helps you meet new demand first before competitors do.   

Ways to research Amazon keywords:

Track main keywords in free tools 

– Use free keyword tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, or freeware versions of Helium 10, or Jungle Scout’s industry leading software tools

– Add your main product names, brands, descriptions

– These tools show the search volume – how often those terms are searched

– This helps focus on terms people search most to start

Compare searches on Google vs Amazon

– Some terms have more searches on Amazon than Google shopping 

– Targeting those high Amazon interest but lower competition terms can help rankings 

Segment keywords by search types 

– Set aside one group for comparison terms – “x vs y” 

– One group for technical specs – sizes, colors

– One group to target different buying-phases – “best budget x” 

– Optimize listings for each groups’ terms to better matche each search type

Doing all the layers of research ensures you find all the relevant search terms shoppers use around your products. This allows you to precisely match what shoppers are looking for in order to rank well. It’s important to keep researching.

As the language that’s focused on your product evolves, keep researching the terms buyers use to rank first.

Step 3: Improve Product Listings for Search  

After finding the right keywords, optimize your listings so they match those search terms as well as you possibly can.  

As buyer searches get more precise, listings should get tighter with exact niched-down keywords for your selling segment. This means speaking the exact product language buyers use.  

Some ideas to improve product listings:

Localize listings for other countries

– Translate keywords and descriptions into other languages

– Use imagery and sizes/weights tailored to each market

– This helps conversions when international shoppers search Amazon sites in their country

Use charts, stats, and video to showcase benefits

– Charts quickly communicate technical specs, materials, dimensions 

– Performance stats quantifiably demonstrate quality, speed, capacity

– Videos can highlight usage, setup, durability compared to photos  

– Visuals help shoppers understand and trust a product claims better

Publish comparison articles  

– Make articles on Amazon directly comparing your product to alternatives

– Explain specifically how and why your product best fits certain needs

– Guide shoppers to best match for their situation

Optimizing listings to be more localized, quantifiable, and helpful for understanding differences converts more searchers into customers. Matching their search goals improves rankings.

Extremely relevant listings will rank highly because they deeply match search intent. 

Step 4: Maintain SEO Progress   

Great search visibility and traffic help sales and reputation. But, what it takes to end up on top of Amazon’s search results is constantly changing.

As an Amazon seller, you need to keep growing your authority by continually updating content and data to match changing interests. Competitors will copy what works so use specific strategies to differentiate your product.  

Canopy Management constantly develops unique Amazon SEO tips and strategies that ensure that placements remain high throughout the latest Amazon changes.  

You need to continually work to maintain rankings as consumer expectations change. Here are a few more ideas to keep moving your SEO forward.

Monitor search performance data  

– Use Amazon’s reports to see which keywords, listings and pages are losing impressions or clicks

– Change underperforming content that is going stale or becoming irrelevant  

Expand to optimize new keyword opportunities

– New products, features, comparisons open doors for new keyword targets 

– Claim relevant search terms before competitors do  

Continually test listing content  

– Try different combinations of enhanced listing content – videos, 3D rotate, bonus bundles

– Let AI, and machine learning tools determine which variations perform best 

– Keep improving conversion rates on listings to signal greater relevance

Securing the first page and staying there requires relentlessly making little changes to keep attractiveness and relevance high in the eyes of the changing Amazon algorithm. Quitting optimization means giving ground to aggessive or agile competitors.

The key is balancing human creativity to generate new ideas and content with the computer’s ability to scientifically test improvements. Together this sustains a trajectory of sustainable visibility.

Search visibility needs consistency or else rankings can fall through the floor. Few brands can recover from that. Sustainable growth requires constant testing and improving based on changes.  

Amazon organic SEO is like a treadmill gradually accelerating speed each year.

Keeping your Amazon business growing means updating your product data, content, and online reputation to match what shoppers are searching for.

How Canopy Management’s SEO Experts Can Help

What would adding 67% more organic sales mean for your brand?

Turns out that when you combine the massive experience of Canopy’s Amazon SEO experts with smart tools and tech, you get industry-leading results like this:

• 75%+ Recommended Sales From Organic Traffic
• 4x More Likely To Buy From An Organic Listing
• 67% Avg Organic Growth For Canopy Partners

Canopy Management is a full-service marketing agency for Amazon and Walmart sellers. Our team consists of former Amazonians, multi-million dollar sellers, and award-winning experts.

When you consider the many ways that Canopy Management can help you grow your business, you’ll see why selling on Amazon is much easier “under the Canopy.”

• Strategic Growth Planning
• Listing Copywriting Optimization
• Listing Photography
• Product Videography
• Advertising Management
• Customer Service
• Demand Side Platform (Amazon DSP)
• Amazon Posts
• Full Service Management
• Amazon Review Aggregation