Tag: Amazon Marketplace

Amazon FBA

 Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a great way for many people to find their niche in online sales and marketing on the Amazon Marketplace and other channels.

Everyone knows that Amazon works with third-party sellers, but did you know that in 2020, nearly half of all Amazon sales came from third-party sellers and not Amazon directly? Not only that, but about 2/3 of those sellers are using the FBA platform. What some people don’t realize is that just about anyone can sell something on Amazon, provided they know where and how to do so. 

What is Amazon FBA?

Fulfillment by Amazon is a service offered by — you guessed it — Amazon, as a means for third-party sellers to automate their order fulfillment and shipping services. It’s a pretty simple concept: Sellers sell, Amazon ships. 

Anyone enrolled in Amazon FBA can let Amazon handle all shipping, including returns and refunds, as well as product warehousing in Amazon’s warehouses, picking and packing, and more. 

Sellers send their products to Amazon, who warehouses everything and then processes all of the orders as they come in. As long as you handle the sales and make sure Amazon stays stocked with your products, the rest is done for you. 

And yes, you have to pay Amazon fees for it. Of course you do. So, what do you get for the money?

  • 24/7 Amazon customer service
  • All fulfillment and shipping costs included (pick, pack and ship)
  • Access to one of the world’s most dynamic fulfillment networks

Bear in mind that FBA might not be ideal for low-value items, large dimension products or other circumstances. While it offers a lot, it’s not a guaranteed solution for every seller. How can you decide? That’s why we’re here. 

Let’s take a quick look at the history and evolution of this platform, and then we’ll dig into the features, pros and cons, and more.

The Evolution of FBA 

Amazon started its FBA program in 2006, but the company has been paving the way for online retail for years. The brand had been dominating the world of online sales and fulfillment, despite its modest beginnings in the 1990s, and saw an opportunity to help others do the same. Of course, it’s not entirely a valiant effort on the part of Amazon, since they’re making money from their FBA service, too. 

Amazon decided that it would like to help small businesses benefit from its own fulfillment capabilities and leading customer service infrastructure. Essentially, the brand wanted to share its business model with others and help third-party sellers learn how to profit big by doing things the “Amazon Way”. 

The FBA program, like Amazon itself, is constantly evolving and changing to meet the needs of the evolving consumer landscape and online retail environment. This is both a blessing and a curse for those enrolled. It will be easy to stay updated with the current trends and market demands, but it can also be difficult to keep up with the constant changes and updates to the process, the guidelines, and other aspects of the program. 

Fortunately, in this guide, we’ll cover all the details about the Amazon FBA program, including the future potential it has, to help you decide on your next move. 

The Newest Changes and Features of Amazon FBA

Fulfillment by Amazon is constantly changing and adapting to meet the needs of both its customers and the sellers that are using the platform. Keeping up-to-date with the latest changes and additions can help brands meet consumer demand and stay at the top of their own game with the FBA service. 

For example, one big change in 2020 is the added comingling of inventory, which is permitted if Amazon barcodes are used. What is commingling? It’s when Amazon stores every unit of a single product together, regardless of the seller, and ships any one of these to a buyer. It’s also called sticker less inventory. 

This has its own pros and cons, but it can possibly end up in counterfeits being shipped to your customer instead of the high-quality unit you placed in Amazon’s warehouses (since the products are picked from any available stock — including stock provided by someone other than you) or create other issues. So you’ll want to keep an eye on things if you take advantage of this feature. Some instances have occurred where legitimate sellers using FBA have been banned from selling on Amazon due to negative reviews caused by damaged or fake products. 

Another new change as of August 2020 is the Inventory Performance Index, which measures a variety of elements to determine how your inventory is performing and help you improve that by getting rid of excess inventory, improving your sell-through rate, and more. You’ll want a score above 500, which is calculated based on factors like:

  • In-stock inventory
  • Excess inventory
  • Stranded inventory
  • Sell-through rates

Amazon has ASIN level quantity limits to help ensure that sellers have a variety of products and the new inventory performance dashboard makes it easy to monitor everything. You can track your inventory activity, keep an eye on your IPI score, and even get advice and tips on how to make better use of your inventory from Amazon itself.

Amazon is always changing and updating the FBA program. Fortunately, they’ve got a fairly communicative system that notifies sellers of new changes and features as they are offered. The biggest issue here is staying up to date and making necessary changes as they come down the channels. 

The Costs of FBA 

Here’s the part everyone always wants to jump to — the cost. It’s going to cost money, but it doesn’t have to be a small fortune. For starters, think about things like how Amazon charges fees — in storage, items are charged based on size and weight, not cost. For you, that means selling low-dollar items through FBA could cost more than it’s worth. Be deliberate in choosing what you do and don’t list through the FBA platform. 

You pay storage fees and fulfillment fees with the Amazon FBA program. The more inventory you have stored, the more it’s going to cost you. Amazon also has this nifty thing where your costs go up for items that are stored for longer than 180 days, encouraging people to get and keep products moving. 

In addition, Amazon tracks items that are in storage at an Amazon warehouse but are not listed for sale, or stranded inventory. Stranded inventory costs you money, but Amazon helps by providing a stranded inventory report.

You can find settlement fee reports in your reporting section of the FBA dashboard, which will allow you to see what kind of fees you’re actually paying to Amazon as a part of this program. Remember, too, that because of peak holiday demand, you’ll pay higher storage fees to warehouse your inventory during the holiday season than the rest of the year. This is the time to double-check your FBA listings and remove anything that won’t sell, so it’s not just sitting and costing you money. 

Yes, there are a few different costs involved with FBA, and there are some other factors related to pricing to consider. However, Amazon generally does well to provide useful information and assistance to ensure transparency as much as possible.

The Pros and Cons of FBA

In deciding whether Amazon FBA is the right solution for you, you’re going to want a pros and cons list. It’s how all the best decisions are made, after all, and it’s a great way for you to see what’s going to work best for your situation. After doing a thorough review of the platform and its offerings, here are our best pros and cons to offer for your consideration. 

1. Pros of FBA.

While this isn’t a comprehensive list (that would take a lot more time and space), here are some of the biggest things that stand out about Amazon FBA to us. 

  • Effortless Shipping and Logistics: Amazon does all the work for you. You just keep track of your listings, make sure they’re stocked on product, and let the fulfillment be taken care of from start to finish. For a small fee, you get a big weight off your shoulders. 
  • Discounted Shipping Rates: Because you’re working with Amazon, a global fulfillment giant, you’re also going to spend less on your shipping costs through the FBA platform. Therefore, even though you’re paying fees, they may be lower than you think when you factor in the shipping savings, and still cheaper than managing your own shipping and fulfillment in-house. 
  • Return Management: In addition to sales, FBA also handles returns and refunds because they are considered part of the fulfillment process. This takes one more thing off your plate. 
  • Customer Service Management: Amazon offers their own customer service for FBA sellers. You can also use their FBA platform to take care of your own customer service needs, routing all of your service through one platform for easy management. 
  • Quick Delivery: Products in FBA automatically get the Prime badge and are eligible from Prime free shipping (to the customer) and shipping times. Plus, you aren’t going to have to pay or charge premium shipping rates to do that, because it’s included with the service. 
  • More Storage Space: Without FBA, how much inventory could you realistically store? Do you have a warehouse or means to rent one? Are you capable of moving and managing inventory on that scale? This is where the Fulfillment by Amazon program really wins. You essentially have access to unlimited storage space – for a cost – because Amazon has warehouses all over the country that can hold a lot of goods. 
  • Omnichannel Fulfillment: Not only does FBA allow you to sell to targeted customers through the Amazon platform, but you will also have access to new multi-channel fulfillment solutions. The MCF service (or Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment) allows you to sell your products on various platforms and channels (such as BigCommerce and eBay) while still having Amazon fulfill them. 

2. Cons of FBA.

Because no two people are the same, it’s important to look at the potential reasons that FBA might not be the right solution for your needs. Here are some of the factors to consider. 

  • Cost: For those who are trying to get started, money is everything. FBA is indeed a really handy service, but it costs money. That’s money that some people might not have to spend just yet. Plus, this service isn’t good for low-cost items because of the way fees are calculated, so you’ll want to be selective about products you enroll. Fortunately, Amazon has a handy FBA calculator that can help you see whether it’s a profitable move. 
  • More Returns: In many cases, there have been sellers who see an increase in the number of returns or their frequency. This is due, in part, to Amazon’s open return policy. While this could affect the bottom line, Amazon handles the processing, so it’s not the end of the world. While Amazon used to have returns shipped back to them and you would have to arrange to have them then forwarded to you, Amazon is making changes that will allow returns to go directly back to your facility.
  • Long-Term Storage Fees: Amazon doesn’t like sitting on inventory. Therefore, you’re going to pay more for stuff that sits longer. Long-term storage fees aren’t the end of the world, but you’ll have to factor them into your ongoing budget to ensure that FBA still makes financial sense for your business goals. They also don’t like to store products that aren’t actively for sale and will charge for this and also negatively adjust your metrics. However, all of this can be viewed in your seller console and you can arrange for products to be shipped back to your own facility.
  • Product Prep Requirements: Amazon has its own list of requirements for products that are coming into the warehouse to be fulfilled through FBA. You will have to ensure that all of your products are prepared accordingly before sending them off to Amazon, including how they are packaged, ensuring proper labeling, and shipped following the FBA inventory warehousing guidelines. Some of the details can be tricky. 
  • Sales Tax: Sales tax is managed at the state level. If your business operates in one state and has its items warehoused in a different state, you might not be sure which tax rate to use. Fortunately, there are tools to help automate various tax situations and rules, to help you figure out what to charge and Amazon can manage most of this for you.
  • Amazon FBA Fee Payment: There’s no putting off what you owe Amazon. You can’t use the next sale to pay for the prior one. Amazon will deduct all fees owed to them before making any payment to you. And if you don’t have enough of a balance to cover fees? You’ll need to provide a credit card to pay off the remaining balance.

Amazon FBA vs. Seller-Fulfilled Prime

For those who want to capitalize on the valuable Prime customer base but don’t want to pay the fees of the FBA program, there is the option to create a Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP) account where you can sell and fulfill your own products and orders. Basically, you get to use the Amazon Prime name and shipping guidelines, but you do all of the picking, packing and shipping. 

You also have to handle all of the returns, and pay all of the shipping costs. While FBA charges fees for storage and fulfillment that may be fractional in comparison, Seller-Fulfilled Prime makes you pay all shipping costs and that can eat your profits. However, these costs are generally fixed and won’t fluctuate a lot. FBA members are at the mercy of Amazon, who has it worked into the program that their fulfillment fees can change at any time. 

It’s only fair to point out that Amazon is doing all the work for FBA sellers. Of course they’re going to want something in return, and over time that’s going to come in the form of fee increases. However, that means you’ve got to stay on top of those FBA fees if you aren’t going to get swallowed by them. 

Inventory storage and control is also all in your hands — with FBA, you send your stuff to Amazon and they handle the rest. When you use SFP, you have to manage your inventory, find a place to store it, pay for storage and more. The logistics of fulfillment are all at your behest, and that’s a lot to handle for anyone. 

With both programs, you’ll be required to work within the guidelines of Amazon’s standard rules in the marketplace, including with things like returns, exchanges and other guidelines that have been set forth. Customers are expecting the Amazon treatment, no matter who is actually selling the item, and Amazon makes sure that they get it. 

Ultimately, SFP is a lot more work, so small brands and sellers tend to fare better with the FBA program. 

However, if you have low cost items, large items that would incur high storage fees with Amazon, or a mature fulfillment process, SFP is a great way to get the “Prime” badge while keeping your costs down.

Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Maximizing FBA Sales

This platform isn’t new. For you, that means there is plenty of valuable insight to be gleaned to help you maximize your FBA sales from the start. There’s no need to be a brand name or have a brand new product. If you’re looking to increase your profits and streamline your growth using this service, here are a few tips and tactics to keep in mind. 

1. Use online analytics tools. 

Use online analytics tools to do product research on the most profitable products and popular items that are available on Amazon — and to determine which are the best product categories to sell in. The bestsellers are at the top for a reason — take notes. 

2. Be smart about your product selection. 

Think about sales rank, but also about what you get in exchange. High-ranking products are competitive, but they’ll sell quickly and keep inventory moving. Low-ranking products could cause stagnant inventory and long-term fees. However, they may also give you the chance to become a leading seller since there’s less competition. You have to weigh the options for yourself. 

3. Bundle items when you can. 

One of the hardest parts of Amazon is competing with dozens of near-identical listings that may be a handful of reviews or a few dollars in price different, but otherwise indiscernible. Stand out by creating bundled listings that draw people’s attention and offer more for their money. 

4. Build your brand. 

You can’t just sell a bunch of items and hope for the best. You have to take the time to create a brand and put it in a position that creates success and reaches your target audience. It’s not just about being in the buy box. It’s about making sure that you are selling high quality products and that you are sourcing them from a reputable manufacturer or distributor. You need to make sure you get good reviews for the product to ensure your metrics qualify you for the buy box and maximizing your sales opportunities.

5. Answer questions from users.

By and large, one of the biggest factors in choosing a seller on Amazon is how well they respond and engage when provoked. If a user has a question, answer it promptly and politely to let everyone know that you’re there when they need you. 

Using FBA the Right Way

As with all things, Fulfillment by Amazon only works if you integrate it correctly and use it properly. We already covered some great tips for improving your chances of success with FBA, but there are some bigger best practices and overall themes that you need to follow in your own use of this platform. 

1. Start small.

You don’t have to sell everything, and you shouldn’t. Remember, Amazon FBA costs money for storage and warehousing, so until you know what’s going to sell, consider trying a few items and working your way into different products as time goes on. Choose a well-cultivated selection of items and list them through FBA so that you have a slightly easier time learning the best practices when you’re just starting out. 

2. Choose products wisely. 

As we mentioned above, you have to be very careful in product selection. Just because you think something would sell doesn’t mean that it will. The market is competitive on Amazon and you need to choose the most profitable products, avoid stagnant inventory, and that might allow you to stand out even if they’re not the top-selling items. 

Amazon SEO practices are largely unknown, but they are not difficult to extrapolate. The infographic above should assist you in gaining a better understanding of how SEO works on Amazon. 

This is one great way that brands and sellers can stand out in the Amazon FBA platform and get more attention than others. Search engine optimization is all about optimizing your content based on the way that people search for things online. It’s about giving people a website or listing that they can interact with and that delivers the information and answers that they need. 

If you aren’t using SEO in your Amazon FBA listings, you’re missing out on an easy way to get those sales away from your competition. 

Secrets of FBA Everyone Needs to Know

The FBA process is fairly simple, but there are a few more secrets that can help you find success through this marketplace. First, make sure that your product photos and titles are on-point. 

So many of the listings on Amazon have gibberish titles that can look unprofessional, and optimizing titles takes all of a few seconds. Make sure that you take good product photos, too, and include as many views as possible. If your pictures are better, people will choose your listing over another similar one. 

Also, never underestimate the power of user reviews. On Amazon, people need some way to find a reason to choose a listing. Therefore, in going through all the channels, they will eventually end up finding themselves at the reviews, looking to see what others have experienced firsthand. 

Marketing is Everything. In a highly-competitive market like Amazon, you’re competing with a lot of the same or similar types of people and products. Your marketing is what’s going to make you stand out and help people choose your brand over the others. Marketing is critical to the success of all sellers who are using FBA, which is why you need to make sure that you have a solid marketing strategy in place. That’s probably the single biggest secret to success with selling on Amazon — effective marketing. 

How Can I Get Started?

If you’re ready to try out the FBA platform, you can head on over to the Amazon FBA website and start reading about the sign-up process. Amazon does a pretty good job of explaining their offering, including videos and other content, along with an entire learning section to help sellers get to know the service and how to create their own online sales success. 

Be sure to take advantage of Amazon’s resources and tools, including Amazon Marketing Services, which we discussed briefly above. You can also start leveraging the benefits and minimizing the potential disadvantages by using the tips and insight provided here. The FBA program integrates with several online ecommerce platforms, making it easy for all sellers to get involved. 

Amazon FBA Resources 

Amazon have a lot of tools and resources to help you decide where to go from here. Whether you’re sold on FBA and just want to learn how to get started, or you want to see what other options there are, the information is out there. Here are a few important links to file away: 

  • Amazon FBA
  • Seller-Fulfilled Prime
  • Amazon Marketing Services

Summary

Leveraging the power of Amazon FBA allows you to get so much more out of your online sales, but only if you do it correctly and if you have products that are profitable for it. 

There are several different ways to sell on Amazon and no two people will arrive at the same decision for the same reason. With the information presented here, it should be easier for you to decide on the correct path for selling on Amazon, whether that’s through FBA, SFP or any other means. 

Ultimately, the Fulfillment by Amazon program offers sellers the best of everything in a neat little package that’s priced fairly well, all things considered. However, it may not work for all brands or products because of the fee structure and the way fulfillment is handled. 

Before you decide on your next move, take a tour of the FBA platform and try out the calculator to see if you could improve profits by going this route.

Amazon SEO

 When a buyer arrives at Amazon, he/she has only one goal: buy a particular product. But the ultimate question is: who will he/she get it from?

Now, if you want the answer to be “you,” it is important to comprehend how Amazon SEO (Search Engine Optimization) works in the current scenario and how to crack Amazon’s A9 algorithm.

With millions of active sellers in the Amazon Marketplace, you HAVE to keep your product listings optimized, clear, and appealing to potential buyers.

Considering this, here is comprehensive guide that not only unveils how the Amazon product ranking algorithm works but also highlights the key strategies and tools to outrank your competitors.

So, let’s get started.

Understand How Amazon Search Works

Like Google, Amazon evaluates the search results through its algorithm, which again involves a plethora of factors.

The underlying search engine is called A9. The algorithm employs multiple parameters to compute the relevancy of millions of products stored in its database with the search queries entered by the users.

Before we get into the various tactics to optimize your Amazon product listings, you need to have a basic understanding of how Amazon search works.

This usually includes the Amazon search results page, the different categories on the search result page, sponsored products, and search filters.

1.Amazon’s Search Result Page

The Amazon Seller Central has a comprehensive system for categorizing its products. Check out this comprehensive guide to know more about Amazon Seller Central.

When a user or buyer or shopper (however, you call it) searches for something on Amazon, there are two ways the products are displayed on the result page:

List View: This layout type features about 15 – 16 products on every result page.

Gallery View: This layout type has about 24 – 25 products on every result page.

This understanding is necessary to categorize the product correctly using these views and filtering.

2.Amazon’s Sponsored Products 

Another imperative category in Amazon’s search results is the Sponsored Products. They can be seen in different pages scattered at different places. Typically, the sponsored product results are seen on the top part of a product page or sometimes be combined with the organic results.

Along with the right keyword bidding strategies, you will have to optimize the sponsored product listings for Amazon SEO too. By following the right Amazon SEO strategies and PPC campaigns, your product will be listed on the First Page of the sponsored products.

3.Amazon’s Search Filters

Then, on the left-hand side, you will have filter fields. There are various filters like the product category, seller rating, shipment method, brand, color, product condition, etc. Amazon’s algorithms are smart.

They are designed in a way to understand if a product is black or brown, provided that it is mentioned in the product listing copy. Only when this piece of information is included in the listing copy, it qualifies the product to be displayed in the subset of the filter query. No wonder, an “optimized listing” plays a key role.

Say, for instance, you are selling a red straightener from XYZ brand, and you want your listing to come up in the category “hair straightener” as well as in the “XYZ Brand” filter view, then you should specify these characteristics as precisely as possible while categorizing in the Seller Central.

If you fail to do these settings, your product is never going to be listed in those filters. So, think from every angle, especially from a shopper’s perspective.

The Connection Between A Search Query And A URL

During search result filtering, Amazon considers a listing’s URL. Consider the following parameters into account.

Keyword: This signified the keyword entered by the user. This addresses the generic requirement of Amazon. In our example, this would be “red flat straightener.”

Node: Every Amazon category has a specific number (ID). This ID is addressed via the “Node” parameter. To figure out the correct ID, look at the URLs of the categories on Amazon. For the category “hair straighteners,” this would be the number “1464599427”.

Brandtextebin: The “Brandtextebin” parameter is helpful when comparing the performance of different products from its own range. For example: “Grey hair straightener from XYZ brand” vs. “Red straightener from ABC brand.”

Learn About Amazon Search Engine Ranking

The Amazon Sales Rank is an inverse ranking system. This means that a product generating the worst sales ranks last whereas a product making the best sales ranks on the top.

While many Amazon users and experts are still trying to conclude what determines the sales rankings, there are three important things every seller on Amazon should remember:

Like Google, even Amazon features a search engine. This means that there is SEO too.

Potential buyers will certainly look for your product before finding it amongst other similar products. This is when improving your product’s visibility becomes crucial. This is exactly where Amazon SEO comes in. With right Amazon SEO strategies, not only does it improve your rankings but also calls for greater sales.

Just as you are searching for a definitive Amazon SEO guide, your competitors are doing the same. So, it is high time that you start implementing the SEO strategies immediately.

Every Amazon seller knows the prominence of its search engine and how appearing higher on the results page is crucial for a successful business. Products that do not come on the first page of the search results will never be seen by potential buyers. Adding to this, some shoppers never see after the top three listings.

This literally means that a majority of trade is done via the first page, most of which is focused on the top three product listings.

This just proves how vital optimizing a product listing is for the latest Amazon’s A9 algorithm.

Now, you might wonder what A9 is. Here is a quick introduction if you are not aware.

What Is Amazon’s A9 Algorithm

A9 is Amazon’s product ranking algorithm which displays the results based on the queries or keywords or key terms entered in its search box. The results shown are fueled by customers’ past purchases, shopping preferences, and a few other factors.

How It Works? 

The algorithm chooses what products to show in front of potential buyers and how higher those products can rank based on some criteria like:

Relevance to keywords or search queries

Previous customer preferences and behavior

The number of earlier purchases for a particular product

Apart from the above, there are a plethora of factors. Since A9 is Amazon’s corporate top-secret, its functionality cannot be precisely known. The algorithm’s intricacies could possibly be worth millions and millions of dollars. So, the confidentiality as to how it works is well maintained. But with a few experimentations, you can get an idea of how it works and that’s exactly what we are going to unveil here.

What Factors Influence The A9’s Search Rankings? 

Talking about Amazon A9’s factors, they are classified into two important groups:

Explicit:

Price – A bigger price difference than your competitors can turn out to be a disadvantage for you.

Stock Supply – Any product of yours that runs “out of stock” can become a drawback too. Your listing might either be pushed far down or disappear.

Text Relevance – This denotes the way have you optimized your product listing with the right title and description.

2. Inexplicit:

Sales Velocity – When you start selling more products, the higher are the chances of rankings and becoming successful on Amazon.

Now, let’s look at Amazon product optimization in detail.

What You Need To Know About Amazon SEO?

To optimize a product listing on Amazon, a seller should comprehend the key ranking factors for the A9 algorithm. Since you now have a good understanding of the categorization of the products and the definition of the URL, we will now see how exactly the “optimization” part is done.

Besides learning about Amazon’s ON-Page SEO, you will also learn different factors that Amazon takes into account for displaying a product on the top results.

Keep in mind that Amazon wants to provide a good and satisfying buying experience for its customers. Only a happy user will keep coming back to Amazon to buy more and more products.

Hence, Amazon SEO includes optimizing for both the search engine and the users. These two aspects, in particular, take a good weight in its ranking algorithm.

Lets Separates these key factors into two distinct categories:

Desirability

Discover ability

What Factors Come Under “Desirability?”

The factors influencing “desirability” are primarily aimed at the user and the user experience. Therefore, this aims at how well a user converts once he/she is on the product page.

These mostly include on-page factors like:

Appealing product images

Optimized product title

Competitive product price

Good product reviews and ratings

Describing the product in clear, bullet points

Attractive product title that favors users’ click-through rates

Conveying the message as to how your product is different from the others

What Factors Come Under “Discoverability?”

When compared to the “desirability” factors, the factors featuring “discoverability” don’t aim at a user. Instead, they are primarily addressing the indicators that assess the way a product is displayed and the probability of its purchase.

It is apparent that Amazon places the most profitable product with a good conversion rate on the top, given that they include multiple factors like:

Fulfillment method (FBA)

Price

Stock availability

Shipping cost

Amazon keyword research and optimization.

Amazon SEO: How To Improve Product Rankings On Amazon?

Here are a few tips and tricks that tell how to tackle Amazon’s A9 ranking factors and improve the results systematically:

Step 1: Amazon Product Title

The foremost factor to focus on to boost the product’s visibility and rankings are your product title. Ensure that you incorporate all the relevant information in your title, keeping the product name first.

According to Amazon, a product title should include the following:

Brand

Product

Material

Quantity

Color

Note: A product title in the Amazon search is limited to 100 characters. This doesn’t have that mean that you can overstuff it with multiple keywords. Keep it appealing, clear, and yet optimized.

An optimized product title is one of the most crucial ranking factors for Amazon. Amazon is a search engine like any other, so keyword optimization is important here too. If you have never really cared about keyword research or keyword optimization for your product, you will never be able to go far.

Never overstuff your titles with keywords, as that’s never going to be appealing to potential buyers. Keep the title in a way that not only describes the product clearly but also has the keyword naturally inserted.

On the other hand, extremely short titles add to less area and therefore often have lower CTRs (Click-Through-Rate). The name of the brand appears on the product page, and should always be specified as many users search for specific brands on Amazon. 

Make sure to use 2-3 keywords that not only have a high search volume but also explain the product. Besides increasing the search rankings, the right product title also influences a product’s conversion rates and click-through rates.

Hence, make sure that the initial 5-6 words of the title are clear, concise, and reader-friendly. These little things make the title enticing for the user to click as well as optimize it for the Amazon search.

Step 2: Amazon Keyword Research For Product Keywords

Select the best keywords for the product(s) that you are selling. An ideal way to do this is by looking at the top-selling products in your category. Analyze them and extract their keywords.

Pick the top 4 or 5 products that are highly ranked and the ones that have the maximum reviews. Go through the list and search for the most related keywords matching your product. Yes, this is time-consuming and takes good understanding. So, to save your energy and time, try using this Free Amazon Keyword Research tool instead.

However, once you compile your list, you can even cross-reference it with the above tool to know its search volume. Now, you have the perfect set of keywords to work on for your product listings.

So, looking at the bigger picture, practice Amazon SEO to step up your game and to drive qualified traffic to your listing. This typically includes optimizing for the keywords they are searching for.

With the keyword list, measure their traffic potential. Analyze the popularity of those keywords to assist you in gauging the overall size of the potential online market.

Write effective content revolving around those keywords. By incorporating keywords, you can connect instantly with potential customers and address their needs.

By evaluating the keywords that your customers use, you get an idea of their needs and how to service those needs.

Step 3: Amazon Product Price

Whenever you set a “price” for your product, make sure to check the competition for all the identical products. Bigger price gaps are never going to win. Always try to beat or match your competition’s price. Try to lower the prices to irrational amounts to chuck out the small fish.

Product price is indeed one of the vital performance factors, which helps in deciding a product purchase. When compared to what your competitors offer at the marketplace, you shouldn’t be highly expensive, as that can reduce your sales drastically.

Step 4: Amazon Product Images

They say that “a picture says a thousand words,” and that’s so true when we talk about attracting potential shoppers at a marketplace like Amazon.

Never underrate the strength of the images. It is one of the most essential sales arguments.  Product pictures are key sales drivers. Although they don’t affect Amazon SEO directly, they do impact greatly in breaking the bounce rates.

Moreover, with Amazon’s zoom feature for images, customers can have a closer and better look at products. This means that sellers should be using HD (High Definition) and better-resolution images.

Amazon recommends using larger images – at least that are 1000 pixels in width or height to enable its “zoom” function.

Better quality images have been connected to higher sales. So, this literally means that the images have a great tendency to pull customers to see through your listing.

Keep in mind that images have a larger bearing on the velocity and hence, do a great deal in influencing the Amazon SERPs.  Furthermore, you can try different image tricks to attract buyers.

Say, for instance, Medalia Art took their selling strategy to a whole new level by using distinct image tactics. They saw about 95% incline in their CTRs when they replaced their painting images with the corresponding artists’ pictures.

In e-commerce, pictures create a credible depiction of the product. People are generally visual and an appealing image of course powerfully conveys it. A great image has outstanding effects on a buyer.

Even after he or she sees a few other product listings, an incredible product image can get him or her back to your listing page. This magic is something you can easily create on a user.

Let’s look at 2 different layouts of pictures of a very simple product. Which one do you think you will purchase from? The top row or the bottom row? Share with us in the comments section.

Understand that every shopper who arrives at Amazon wants to make a concrete picture of the product before making a purchase.

If only a few pictures are available, which are tend to be in bad resolution, it might scare him or her from buying. Therefore, it is vital to offer pictures in high resolution (something between 1000 × 1000 pixels / 1500 × 1500 pixels).

If you desire to push your product to the top results of Amazon search results, build up a new image strategy.

Step 5: Amazon Product Description

Apart from the other key aspects, the product description serves to persuade the customer for a purchase. Therefore, it is important to highlight the positive characteristics of the product.

Though the product description is not as strong a ranking factor as the product title or bullet points, it still has a good relevance for the purchase decision.

Again, the right keywords should be placed here, as well as focus strongly on emotional and positive sales arguments.

Step 6: Amazon Product Features In Bullet Points

Since Amazon offers a lot of space to write for your product, there is a lot you can play out here.

When it comes to “product description,” buyers or shoppers are never going to like it if it has huge chunks of information in paragraphs rather than in neat, clear bullet points describing every feature of the product.

While writing a product description, presenting them in paragraphs can have two drawbacks, which include:

Potential searchers or buyers dislike them because they are unclear, unapproachable, and confounding – meaning that practicing them will only lower your conversion rates or sales and so does your visibility and velocity in the Amazon search results.

The Amazon’s A9 algorithm hates walls or chunks of text in one go. Instead, rather prefers it to be in bullets with a better, easier, and more organized look to decipher and categorize.

So, the bottom line is – use bullet points to write describe your product precisely.

Again, you should be cautious not to fill the bullet points indiscriminately with keywords but to emphasize specific product features such as size, weight, and color, given that the keywords are naturally inserted. It shouldn’t make it awkward to read.

All in all, the bullet points have more space than the title. The position of the keywords is not relevant. It is more important to meet the seekers, to influence them to make a purchase. Non-responsive bullet points can quickly make the user jump off. This affects the “bounce rate,” which in turn, can have a negative impact on the rankings.

Step 7: Product Stock Availability

It is significant to ensure that your product never runs “out of stock,” as this can lose you a huge amount of rankings.

If you happen to use Fulfillment Method or Amazon FBA, you can set reminders automatically to notify you whenever your product inventory hits a particular level where you have to restock.

On the other hand, if you are selling your product on various websites, utilize multichannel sync platforms to assist you to synchronize your inventory so that they never fall at zero. However, if Amazon is your only marketplace, you can use standalone stock management platforms.

Nevertheless, if you are selling independently – sourcing, stocking, and shipping – everything

by yourself, ensure to be on top of the inventory by staying in contact with the suppliers constantly. This will help you prevent future deficits.

Step 8: Product’s Backend Search Keywords

Now, these search terms are hidden from shoppers but usually are indexed by Amazon’s A9 algorithm. Therefore, they can have an immensely positive impact on a product’s search. The important things to incorporate in your backend include the following:

Keywords or search terms that you were not able to fit in your description or title.

A product’s misspellings (which still customers tend to search highly on Amazon) or related keywords for your product.

Translation words of your product into Spanish or French, as there is a bigger Spanish-speaking populace in the United States.

Other synonyms that shoppers might look for.

You don’t have to repeat your keywords too much in your listing, as a higher frequency of a keyword has no effect on ranking. It only has a negative impact.

Step 9: Product Reviews And Ratings

When it comes to Amazon SEO, a product’s ratings and reviews are yet another pertinent components, which are evaluated and considered for better rankings. Simultaneously, they make sure that there is an indirect improvement in the rankings

This, in turn, influences the click-through rates and conversions. The higher the positive reviews, the better is the product’s value. This is also reflected by the ratings of other users and buyers, who can consider the customer reviews helpful or unhelpful.

Like reviews, those little yellow stars play a key role in enhancing the click-through rates. These lead to some higher click incentives with an appropriate figure and some tremendous average ratings overall.

Step 10: Use FBA For Your Product

A Professional Seller Account charges you $39.99 per month. Though this might seem a little high initially, it is totally worth it. It exempts you from paying that $1 fee per product, which you pay while holding an Individual Seller Account.

If you are a newbie and looking to build a successful Amazon business, you can take a glimpse of the list of the best Amazon FBA courses here.

With FBA, a pro seller will not only have a greater probability of visibility on the Amazon SERPs but also helps you win the “Buy Box.”

Conclusion: Amazon SEO and Its Algorithm A9

Optimizing your product listing correctly will get your product’s desirability and discoverability close to 80%. But the process doesn’t end there. Keeping up with the trends, algorithm updates, and ongoing optimization is equally necessary to remain in the top results.

With this article, you now have a strong knowledge of how the Amazon A9 algorithm works and how to optimize so that your listing gains visibility in the marketplace. Even after a detailed post, if you are still finding it difficult, do not fret, as we have the right tools to keep your listings be on track and thereby, increasing your sales to something you haven’t imagined.