4 Ways to Create Optimized Product Listings on Amazon

When people think of optimizing content for a search engine, they normally think of Google. However, Amazon is also a kind of search engine with its own system of rules. When you consider that 55% of online shoppers start their product search on Amazon (not Google), it gives you an indication of how important it is to create optimized content on listings.

The good news is that Amazon has provided plenty of tools and programs, such as Enhanced Brand Content and A+ Content, to make this effort as painless as possible. With a little bit of knowledge and effort, you can turn your product listings into conversion hives.

Read on for our best practices to create compelling and beautiful listings to drive leads.

Get into the Heads of Your Customers

Customers searching Amazon for a product have tons of variations and brands to choose from. You need to make sure your ASIN is the most natural choice for shoppers. There are a couple of easy ways to make this happen. And it all starts by putting yourself in the minds of your customers.

Start by actually testing this for yourself. Do a quick Amazon search for a product you want to purchase. Open tabs of a couple of different listings, and write down your reactions. What catches your attention? What makes you want to read more? Try to describe to yourself the content and visual elements that attract you to one ASIN, and repel you from a very similar one.

Pay Attention to the Basics

Again, imagine yourself as an online shopper (you probably are one when you’re not working!). Would you click on a product listing with a confusing, overly short, or overly long title? How about a fuzzy main photo? These elements would probably throw up red flags. Here are a couple of fundamental content and style elements to watch out for:

Titles

Make your customers’ lives easier by writing titles that feature your brand name (if known to the public), a couple of key details, and the name of the product itself. Use commas and parentheses where needed to break it up visually. Don’t overload your titles with tons of keywords — it looks scammy and unprofessional. If you do use all 500 characters Amazon allots to you for titles, it will help your rank. Just be thoughtful about the order in which you present details, and don’t just throw keywords in there.

Bullet Lists

Amazon allows sellers to create a bullet point list of a product’s key features, which is displayed right next to the images. This grabs the customers’ attention and lets them know exactly what they’re getting, including specs and other basic details. Make use of keywords in this section, as they will bump up your products’ ranking.

Descriptions

Some sellers are so comfortable with this content form that they forget all about the actual product description slightly further down the page. While the product description doesn’t require adding in keywords, it’s still worthwhile to write a brief summary of your product for shoppers who expect to see something there. If your product has a unique backstory, here is the place to showcase it!

Consider Using Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC)

But take it with a grain of salt. Undoubtedly, using Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) makes for a better user experience. Images look amazing, product feature descriptions are detailed and organized, and the overall appeal is high. If you place a premium on establishing your branding and reputation, the added polish of EBC can bring you closer to that goal.

However, if your main focus is simply growing your conversions, you might want to skip this move. There’s no proof that EBC actually increases your conversion rate. But the most disappointing part of EBC for conversion-hungry sellers is that it isn’t indexed. That means all the hard work you put into creating the enhanced content won’t do anything to help your ranking.

In case you’re wondering whether A+ Content is any better in terms of getting your content indexed, it isn’t. A+ Content has similar advantages to EBC, but this drawback remains the same — though there is some evidence to suggest that using A+ Content can increase your conversion ranks.

If you do decide to give enhanced content a shot, start by testing it on just a couple of products and see if it has the desired effect.

Optimize Your Search Terms

You can optimize your product keywords directly through Seller Central. Have keywords that didn’t make it into your headlines or bullet point list? Then head over to Amazon’s backend search field to add in the relevant keywords. Since it’s the backend and won’t be visible to shoppers, feel free to use non-technical synonyms and commonly misspelled versions of words.

Make sure your keywords are distinct and don’t repeat keywords. Don’t bother creating a plural and a singular version (e.g., instead of “bug spray” and “bug sprays,” just go with one of the variants). You should also avoid filler words, since they don’t get taken into account.

It’s also smart to look into keyword recommendation tools like Sonar, which is free.

Conclusion

Great conversions start with great content, and that’s as true on Amazon as anywhere on the web. Make sure you understand the underlying Amazon search engine, and how you can tailor your product listings to maximize your click-throughs and conversions.