amazon listing optimization feature image

Amazon Listing Optimization Guide to Ranking Higher in 2024

by | Dec 6, 2022 | Amazon Listing Optimization

Table Of Contents

Amazon Listing Optimization
Phase 1 – Keywords Research
Phase 2 – Amazon Listing Optimization
Title
Images
Amazon Search Terms
Bullets
Product Description
Phase 3 – Launching & Getting your first 5 Reviews
Related Resources

Reading Time: 15 minutes
Notes: All resources and links mentioned will also be made available at the end.

In this post we’re going to touch on how to perform keyword research (phase 1), what to focus on when creating a killer listing (phase 2), and getting your first 5 reviews (phase 3).

Amazon Keyword Research  [Phase 1]

Good comprehensive keyword research requires a thorough market & competitor analysis. There is almost an art to the science, and we’ve honed it over our 1700+ listing optimizations for customers. So what does it look like?

To research keywords successfully, you need to determine the most relevant & converting “money” keywords for your product type. There are a lot of different approaches, but one that we follow is to get the most converting keywords from Merchant Words. This is a paid service with a $30 monthly membership fee (OR you can skip the membership and have us do it for you here!).

Let’s see an example. In your Merchant Words account, search for “dog puppy toys”.

Amazon keyword research
Then, let’s pull the list of all the words related to that phrase along with their estimated monthly search volume.
Amazon Keyword Research

Once we have the full list of terms, we can ignore any keywords with search volumes under 1000 and anything that’s not too relevant to your product. This becomes your starting list.

Next, we identify our top 3-4 competitors that are crushing it (they will have a low BSR or best seller rank) and extract their backend search terms using our competitor keyword research. We then consolidate those terms with our list to get a “master list”.

This completes our market & competitor analysis. The next step is to use these highly searched highly converting keywords in your listing’s title, bullets and backend search terms.

 

Amazon Listing Optimization [Phase 2]

Arguably the most important factor of your listing is the listing title. If you were to ask us what the order of priority should be – it would be Title, Images, Backend Search Terms, Bullets & HTML Description.
 
There was a recent study done by an analyst firm of the top 1000 Amazon listings that found the following factors in common:

Title

The best listings had anywhere between 40 and 110 characters in their title. It seems that on mobile, Amazon truncated display for titles after 112 characters, so this made sense. Another important note here is that the most important keywords were placed at the beginning of the title which was a key differentiating factor for listings outperforming others with titles that seemed to go all the way to 200 characters and crammed every keyword possible.


Images
We’re visual creatures! So it goes without saying that you need awesome images that describe your product. Amazon has some guidelines around this – they encourage sellers upload images that are at least 1000 pixels on the long side and 500 pixels on the short side for it to be “zoom-able” which according to research has proven to increase sales. They also recommend having anywhere between 5 to 9 images. A sweet spot would probably be 7 images, but if you can do 9 – go for it!
 

Some other guidelines are that the first 2 images have a clear white background and at least 1000 pixels. The 3rd image should be used to drive home the benefit of the product. The 4th image should entice the customer with the lifestyle aspects of having that product. The remaining images should show more of the specifications of the product. One of the best image re-touching services I have used to get a clear background is Pixelz. The best full service photography service is definitely Product On White –  you can check out their photography full service here. If you’re looking to improve the quality and presentation of your images, understanding how to edit product photos effectively can make a big difference in showcasing your products.

Additionally, for photographers aiming to optimize their product images, selecting the right lens for product photography is crucial. A good lens can capture sharp, detailed, and well-lit photos that make a significant impact on a customer’s buying decision.

Amazon Search Terms
The least sexy part of a seller’s listing is the backend search terms. When sellers think “listing optimization”, it typically means the front end (i.e. the “visual part” ) of your listing on Amazon. However, to ignore the optimization of your backend keywords could mean the difference between a few handful of visitors to your listing to virtually thousands (when chosen right).
 

 

So what are these Amazon search terms? They’re basically keyword tags that Amazon uses to discover (i.e. match for relevance) your listing when customers search for a product. It’s broken over 5 lines in the backend of your seller central account. Although in the past sellers could enter anywhere from 1000 to 5000 keywords in their backend, Amazon published a new rule (read full statement on Seller Central) confirming that the company would be limiting the backend keywords to 250 characters total (or 50 characters max per line) and any line that went over that 50 character limit would not be indexed by Amazon.
Amazon Listing Optimization
Why did they do this you ask? To “improve” the relevancy of listings on their marketplace. Yes, gone are the days you could stuff as many words as you could type into your listing’s search terms. Now Amazon wants you to be very diligent and targeted with your keyword research. Well not to fret, we could use this to our advantage by understanding the basic do’s & don’ts when entering your Amazon backend search terms
Do’s:
– Include most converting money keywords
– Include any common misspellings and terms in different languages
– Include keywords not mentioned in your title and bullets

 

Dont’s:
– Don’t include any keywords already on your title
– No brands
– Don’t put everything on the first search field – break it out into all 5 lines
– Don’t have more than 250 characters (it’s pointless)
– Don’t use special characters (@, $, !, etc) – they take up precious characters and have no intrinsic SEO value
– Don’t repeat words over and over!

 

Remember your list of keywords from the earlier part of this post? Split your keyword list into individual rows in Excel/Google sheets using the text to columns fixed width option, keeping the above rules in mind.
Amazon Listing Optmization
Next choose the first 250 characters, split them into 50 characters approximately each and stick them into each search line in your backend. A bit laborious, but hey its worth the effort to get the perfect fully optimized amazon search terms for your listing. Or you could just have us do it for you as part of our comprehensive Amazon Listing Optimization Service.
 
 
Great! Now your most relevant and highest converting backend keywords are set.
Bullets
These are the key points you want to mention about your product. You really need to sell it here by touching on your product’s unique/popular features as well as any guarantees (example 100% money back, etc). In the above study, it was found that the top listings kept it to 5 bullets and had important keywords at the beginning of each bullet. It is also recommended to keep each individual bullet count to 140 characters or under for maximum readability.
Product Description
If a browser has reached this portion of your listing, this is where you pack your final “punch” so to speak and really drive home the sale. The best listings seemed to use HTML tags in their description to use bolding and bullets to capture the customer’s attention. It was also noticed that the top performing listings had on average atleast 400 characters in their product description.

At FosterFBA, we offer a comprehensive Amazon listing optimization service with complete keyword & competitor market research, including providing the best back-end search terms to use – all for just $99 for a limited time. Let us turbo charge your listing for conversion today!

How to Get Your First 5 Amazon Reviews –  [Phase 3]

Getting your first 5 Amazon reviews can be a challenge, but it’s essential for getting your product seen by more buyers. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

  1. Offer incentives for reviews. You can offer a discount, free product, or other incentive to customers who leave a review.
  2. Reach out to influencers. One effective way to generate early reviews is through influencer marketing. Reach out to influencers in your niche and offer them a free product in exchange for a review. 
  3. Run a contest. Run a contest where customers can enter to win a prize by leaving a review.
  4. Ask your customers for reviews. After a customer makes a purchase, send them an email asking them to leave a review.
  5. Use social media. Share your product on social media and ask your followers to leave reviews.

By following these tips, you can start getting more Amazon reviews and improve your product’s visibility.

In addition to the tips above, here are a few more things to keep in mind:

  • Make sure your product is high-quality and meets the expectations of your customers.
  • Provide excellent customer service.
  • Be responsive to customer feedback.

By following these tips, you can create a positive experience for your customers and encourage them to leave positive reviews.

Related Resources

 

Let me know if you have any questions about getting your listings optimized. Happy to get you a highly optimized listing developed with your top keywords laced in. 

Cheers,
amazon listing optimization
Vijay Jacob
Founder, FosterFBA
Helping 7-8 Figure Amazon Sellers grow profitably with their Amazon Advertising

P.S: If you are making over $10K/month and want to take your PPC sales to the next level. We’re offering  “done-for-you” Amazon PPC management & consulting services that does just that. You can schedule a free strategy session and audit of your ads to see if we’re a good fit: