Amazon SEO Trends To Pay Attention To In 2019
Amazon, the eCommerce giant, has been on a roll since it started. It has now become more of a go-to platform for online shoppers. In fact, according to a poll conducted by NPR and Marist, Amazon was found to be the most common starting point for about 44% of American online shoppers. That’s 11% higher than Google. As far as the seller count is concerned, it is close to 5 million. That’s huge, right?
Clearly, customers have a number of options to choose from since there’s no dearth of Amazon sellers. But they choose the one who actually stands out from the rest, and that’s exactly what you need to do. Standing out can be difficult, but not if you’ve got your SEO game right. The whole intent of being outstanding is to get the customers to notice you. And that’s only possible with high rankings.
Products on Amazon are ranked by a ranking algorithm (A9) that takes a number of factors into account. These factors, however, aren’t constant. With time, the algorithm develops and changes its ranking criteria. 2019, too, will see a lot of changes in the A9 and in the overall selling strategies. To avoid falling out, you’ll need to keep up with such changes and update your listings accordingly.
On that note, here are some Amazon SEO trends for 2019 to help you keep up:
1. Understanding your audience is (still) important
The very first thing that’ll get your listing noticed, is giving your customers what they want. Different products can have different types of audiences. You’ll need to analyze what yours is looking for. For example, if you’re selling a backpack, then your audience will need a detailed description, one that includes the bag’s material, size, dimensions, etc. Also, they’ll need a lot of pictures, preferably shot from different angles, to comprehend the look of the bag. In this case, you must pay special attention to visuals and product copy.
On the other hand, if you’re selling a smartphone, you might need a different perspective. Your customers will need a detailed copy, comprising specifications and maybe a comparison chart, one that compares similar models, to help them decide.
No matter what you are selling, achieving higher rankings and conversions will become rather easy once you optimize your Amazon listing according to your customers’ need.
2. Readability will be more important than ever
Sellers tend to focus on stuffing their product descriptions with as many keywords as possible, assuming it will get their listings ranked higher in the search results. But with recent updates, things have changed. It’s all about readability and content structuring now. Meaning, your product copy must be intriguing and written in a way that it compels the customers to buy your products.
As far as the keywords are concerned, well, your product copy must include more long-tail keywords, placed in a rather subtle way, without looking forced. Your copy won’t only become interesting, but also incorporate all the possible keywords, whether long form or short form. In fact, the short ones can be saved for the title part. Just make sure that the placement of your long tail keywords is seamless, and you’ll be good to go.
3. A+ content will take the center stage
Using the enhanced brand content or the A+ content instead of regular product description will help a lot in getting higher conversions. In fact, Amazon itself claims that A+ content can help you increase your conversion rate by about 3–10%. Though when it comes to keyword indexing, the ones included in A+ content aren’t really indexed. But that won’t be a problem since keywords can be covered by the product title, backend search terms, and the bullet points.
4. Backend keywords will come to your rescue
Customers might not always use your targeted keywords to search for a product. For example, say you’re selling black boots and your targeted keywords are something like “Black boots for Women” or “women’s black boots”. Now, some customers might enter a different keyword like “Black suede boots”, “black ankle length boots for women”, or “Women’s black knee-length boots”. You may not be able to include all such keywords in your copy, but that’s exactly what backend search terms are for. You can include the “indirect” keywords as backend keywords. Make sure they add up to 249 characters in total. Exceeding this limit will result in your search terms not getting indexed.
5. You can no longer ignore character limits
Sellers often ignore the character limits suggested for different parts of a product copy. This practice can affect your conversion rate. For example, the character limit for one bullet point, as allowed by Amazon, is 500. But the recommended character length for the complete bullet point section is 1000. So, instead of making each bullet point 500 characters long, it is better to keep it short, preferably to 200 characters. This will make up for the recommended bullet points section character length (5 x 200 = 1000). Plus, shorter bullet points are easier to follow.
Similarly, character limits for other parts of the product copy must be taken seriously to ensure that your conversion rate and rankings remain unaffected. Here are the recommended ones:
- Product Title: 250 Characters (50 words, can vary according to the category)
- Product description: 2000 Characters (300 words)
Amazon is getting smarter by the day, updating the A9 algorithm at regular intervals and bringing about a change in the criteria for rankings.
Conclusion
To keep up, you’ll need to keep tabs on the latest Amazon SEO trends and plan your optimization accordingly. The aforementioned trends will help you in creating a buyer-centric copy which will not only rank high but will convert well too.
If you’re an Amazon seller then make sure to check out this detailed blog: https://www.data4amazon.com/blog/5-practical-ways-to-make-amazon-seo-work-in-your-favor/
Hope that helped :)
