SEO for Amazon: Leveraging the A9 Algorithm

SEO for Amazon

With SEO such a crucial factor in the success of online businesses, the importance of understanding SEO for Amazon cannot be underestimated. As I’m sure you’re aware, the growth of Amazon has been remarkable in the past few years. From relatively humble beginnings in the mid 90’s, this online ‘bookstore’ has transformed into a conclusive online platform servicing the buying habits of 300 million consumers worldwide. With market value of over $700 Billion, Amazon is currently the world’s 4^th most valuable company and there’s no reason they cannot extend their dominance in years to come.

With only 30% of users reaching the second page of results and 64% clicking on one of the first three results, effective SEO for Amazon is key. Like all search engines, there is a way to maximise your chances of ranking in the top 1-3 search results and this is no different for Amazon’s A9 Algorithm.

What is the A9 Algorithm?

A9.com is the search engine subsidiary of Amazon.com. The Algorithm works by firstly collecting results from their ‘catalogue’ of product listings. Then the Algorithm works to sort these results in order of a set of criteria which will be discussed throughout this article.

Amazon places a huge importance on buyer satisfaction in order to build its user count and continue to grow. This core idea shapes the design of the A9 Algorithm by ranking search results based on a range of factors.

• Text Relevance
• Price
• Availability
• Performance  

How can we optimise the A9 Algorithm?

TEXT RELEVANCE

Whilst Amazon places great weight on the sales of the product, the title in the listing is something we can completely control and something that is crucial to SEO for Amazon. Relevance relates to the accuracy of the searched term in relation to the search result. Amazon determines this relevance based on the Product title, Seller Central backend search terms and Product description bullet points.

Product title

The A9 Algorithm works by placing more weight on keywords at the start of the title than at the end. It is therefore crucial that keywords are ordered correctly to reach our intended audience. We then need to choose which keywords to use in the product title. This can be a little difficult but it is crucial to achieving optimal relevance.

Follow these steps to determine the optimal keywords and how to structure them in a product title.

1. Use Amazon’s own recommendations on how to structure the order of potential keywords for a range of product types. Please note that these recommendations are only a guide. If your product type is not listed, it is best to start with the default title of Brand + Model + Product type and continue from there to find your product niche
2. Visit Helium 10 – Magnet to determine which keywords to include in your title. There are many options to narrow down your options using filters and suggested keyword additions. I recommend using the Magnet and Cerebro technique to find the right keyword. This video below will outline how to utilise this technique and find the right keyword combination for your product.

Seller Central backend search terms

Whilst not visible in a search result, these keywords are also very important to achieving SEO for Amazon. Keywords used in this space are those that may not be suitable for a title tag but nonetheless are relevant to your product. This may include slang terms for a product, alternate names, plurals, etc. It is also important to note that characters are capped at 250 bytes and that grammar is not hugely important in this section. Commas, capitals or duplications will also not aid the search.

Steps to implement search terms are as follows

1. Login to the Amazon seller account
2. Click on ‘Inventory’
3. Select the product you would like to edit by clicking on ‘Edit Product Info’
4. Select ‘Keywords’ and you will see the ‘Search terms’ section
5. Return to Helium 10- Magnet to uncover some of the related keywords for the search term ‘sunscreen’.
6. Consider other possible search terms as mentioned above, plurals, misspellings, alternate names
7. Enter these into the search term box ensuring that no commas, capitals or duplications are used

Product description bullet points

Once a product has been clicked on by a user, the product page will be visible. This offers an opportunity for further information about the product to be made available through a set of bullet points. These points need to be written carefully and must deliver as much information as possible to attract the buyer. This is particularly important as research suggests that over half of webpages are only viewed for 15 seconds or less.

Taken from the search ‘wall charger’ we can see the importance of technical features in this case. Whilst these do not appear on the search results page, they are still used to assist relevance and aid the conversion rate. It is also very important to note that Amazon ranks bullet points very highly. Products that do not feature bullet points will find it difficult to utilise SEO for Amazon. In general it is good to focus on the features and benefits of the product in the bullet point section.

To select the topics to include in your bullet points it is best to follow these steps.

1. Conduct keyword research to find what your product ranks for
2. Include Latent Semantic Keywords (LSI). These are related keywords or synonyms to your primary keyword
3. Allow customers to be able to skim your bullet points by being concise with your language and capitalizing leading phrases
4. Include a point on how the product can solve the customers needs
5. Keep your target audience in mind when choosing which language to use or which needs to focus on

PRICE

Pricing is a very important factor as it is something you have the greatest control over. The A9 Algorithm is set up to show the most relevant prices, so determining the ideal price point is very important. To do this we can use a tool called RepricerExpress to find the ideal price for our product in relation to our competitors.  

AVAILABILITY

It goes without saying but if your product is unavailable, your sales will drop and this will impact your ranking. In the event that your product may be going out of stock you have two options.

1. Raise the price on your remaining stock
2. Don’t raise the price

Although tempting, research shows that increasing price in the short term to minimise the damage caused by out of stock products will have a negative overall impact. This is because increasing the price drastically may keep your product in stock but may cause the product to take a hit in the long run.

PERFORMANCE

Sales

The volume of products sold is a huge factor in achieving successful SEO for Amazon. Sales show Amazon that a product is popular amongst users and that the listing should be ranked higher in a search result to help customers find what they are looking for sooner. That being said, unlike a title tag which can be optimised quite easily, sales of a product can be quite difficult when you’re currently sitting deep down in a search results ranking. This is why it is imperative that an attempt to optimise on Amazon is combated with an effectively aligning strategy to drive customers to your listing using both online and offline methods.  

Indirect strategies to focus on can include but are not exclusive to,

• Offering discount codes through social media

• Linking customers to the listing through online content, blogs

• Offline techniques such as direct selling techniques and other traditional forms of marketing (brochures and signage).

What other factors assist your ranking?

Image use

SEO for Amazon can also be aided by your Click Through Rate (CTR) which can be aided by an effective image. Amazon wants customers to be able to find what they are looking for quickly. With a high CTR following an impression, your listing is showing its effectiveness in this area. A number of factors should be taken into account when developing images for your product listing.

Questions to ask yourself include,

• Zoom, is the image high enough quality to allow for detailed zoom by the user?
• Angle and Perspective, are there photos showing the product from different angles?
• Item use case and benefits, Is there a photo showing the item in use/its natural environment?
• Background, How does the product look in its proposed environment?
• Context, does the product have a human element? If so consider putting users into your photos
• Size ratios, help buyers to understand the size of the product in relation to other products
• Unique product characteristics, does the product have a special feature? If so, this should be highlighted
• Packaging, How will the product look when being delivered? Does it have fancy packaging?

Product Reviews

As you may have noticed in the images so far, the top ranking products all contain a high volume of positive reviews. This is no coincidence. Product reviews help to aid the buying process and in turn improve the buyer experience on Amazon by ensuring customers purchase a product in line with their expectations. The more genuine and organic reviews the product has, the higher the product will rank. That being said, negative reviews will obviously hinder the success of the product ranking. However, through quick responses to customer queries from the company, Amazon’s A9 Algorithm allows further damage limitation.  

Final Thoughts

Hearing the words ‘A9 Algorithm’ may sound a little scary but it’s simplicity makes SEO for Amazon all the more accessible. With even the smallest piece of the Amazon pie up for grabs, it is worth utilising these techniques to ensure the success of your product on such a major online platform. Incorporating these techniques into your next Amazon listing will go a long way to improving your chances of cracking the A9 Algorithm. For more information on how take the next steps to dominate SEO for Amazon please be sure to contact SEO Sydney.