2021 Ultimate Guide to Amazon Keyword Research Strategy
Explore these top tips for optimizing your product search rankings on Amazon.By Matt JuulApril 23, 2021
Stay on top of the latest e-commerce and marketplace trends.
Keywords play a vital role in every successful strategy for improving search rank on Amazon, which is why businesses must be meticulous with their research into what will perform well for their products.
It is also important for brands and sellers to continually optimize and refine their Amazon keyword strategies in order to address any changes in search requirements as well as to capitalize on top-trending keywords.
Learn how to maximize your product listings’ search capabilities with our 2021 guide for how to approach your Amazon keyword research strategy.
Set Goals and Priorities
Before you dive into researching new keywords for your products, it is important to determine what goals you want to achieve, so you can prioritize your time and focus on making changes that will make an impact.
For example, if your goal is to improve a product’s search rankings to drive sales, that will require a different keyword approach than what would be needed for launching a new product, where the goal may be to drive branding and awareness.
No matter what, having specific and actionable goals top of mind will help determine in which areas you need to focus your Amazon keyword research.
Account for Different Keyword Types
There are several functions for keywords in any Amazon strategy, including those for organic and paid initiatives, as well as several different keyword types within those functions.
When it comes to organic search visibility, keywords can be leveraged on the frontend and backend of your product detail pages. Amazon’s frontend keywords are found on product listings within product titles, bullet points, product descriptions, and other key aspects of the page. Indexed by the Amazon A10 algorithm, frontend keywords are more forward facing and visible to potential customers.
In general, make sure you follow Amazon guidelines and best practices for using frontend keywords on product listings, ensuring they are precise, relevant, and have high search volume.
On the other hand, Amazon backend keywords play a behind-the-scenes role, allowing you to further optimize product listings for searchability using hidden terms that are not publicly displayed.
Amazon allows you to use up to 250 bytes for a product listing’s backend keywords, giving you the space to use other top-performing keywords that were not included in the frontend content.
Again, it is important to follow Amazon guidelines while implementing backend keywords, so make sure they are relevant and do not include repeated words or brand names for your business or your competitors’.
Regarding your PPC ad campaigns on Amazon, there are several keyword match types to consider: broad, phrase, or exact. Broad match ads appear when a customer’s search uses all of a keyword’s terms or its close variants, while phrase match ads are limited to searches involving an exact keyword or a sequence of words that includes the exact keyword. Meanwhile, exact match ads only appear when the exact keyword is searched for, and will not appear if other words are included.
Finding the Right Keywords
While it may sound obvious, you want to focus on finding keywords that are generating the most traffic. However, they need to be specific and relevant to your product, allowing it to stand out from the noise.
For example, the word “t-shirt” may be a popular search term, but optimizing for that keyword alone will not be enough to give it a significant search results boost. Thankfully, here is where longtail search terms come into play.
These longer, more specific keywords may not always boast the highest search volume, however, they are often more effective at driving traffic since they are more relevant to a customer’s search intent. So, building off the previous example, you would want to optimize for “rock t-shirts” or “vintage rock t-shirts” instead of just the singular word.
Also, you may want to analyze underperforming keywords where you can optimize advertising cost of sale (ACoS), as well as conversion rates on top keywords for additional opportunities.
As you conduct your Amazon keyword research, make sure you are honing in on the right keywords and high-ranking variations that will drive results.
Tools for Conducting Amazon Keyword Research
In order to get a full, holistic picture of the keyword landscape, you are going to need to use a variety of different resources and tools to conduct your research.
You can start by using the suite of tools offered by Amazon, such as Amazon Search Terms reports and Amazon Brand Analytics, formerly known as Amazon Retail Analytics. Amazon Advertising reports are another great resource for identifying keywords that are converting for your products.
Additionally, analysis of competitor product listings and product reviews for frequently used words can serve as a powerful source for further keyword inspiration.
However, in order to take your Amazon keyword research to the next level, you may need to enlist a third party that utilizes other techniques for analyzing top-performing keywords.
Many third-party partners employ a variety of tools, including reverse ASIN lookup, which allows you to search for high-ranking keywords by ASIN, or a keyword index checker, which examines frontend keywords to see if they are ranking on Amazon.
There are also keyword aggregators that will show you top keywords for a product based off of whatever “seed word” you input into the system. AI-driven keyword harvesting is another powerful tool to aid discoverability and conversions as well.
About the Author
Matt Juul is a content writer at Feedvisor, where he contributes to the company's content marketing initiatives. Prior to joining Feedvisor, he was a content marketing writer and podcast host for a business aviation brokerage.
Final Thoughts
Since there are so many aspects to Amazon keyword research that need to be accounted for, it can often be difficult and time consuming for businesses to fully optimize their product pages on their own.
Get the most out of your strategies by working with a trusted partner like Feedvisor, that knows how to conduct thorough keyword research and maximize results through automated, “AI-first” advertising optimization.
Learn what Feedvisor can do for your business.
When you partner with Feedvisor, you automatically receive access to our true, AI-driven technology and hands-on team of e-commerce experts. Contact one of our team members today to learn more about our end-to-end solution for brands and large sellers on Amazon, Walmart, and e-marketplaces.
This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience.
You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.
