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How to Optimize Content on Amazon
By Ashley Hess
In today’s fast-moving and fully-connected world of multiple screens, apps and social networks, it is
becoming more difficult for consumer packaged goods marketers and brands to capture their consumers’ attention, especially when it comes to digital retail. Millions of products are being sold online by thousands of retailers on hundreds of retail websites. The most popular for consumers, and perhaps the most daunting for brands, is Amazon. Why? Because although it provides consumers with the ability to search for and discover essentially any product they want, brands are easily lost in the crowded field of Amazon product offerings
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To win on Amazon, brands must approach the platform and the digital shelf strategically, using Amazon’s algorithm and inherent searchability to their advantage. How? By optimizing content to ensure that consumers can find, understand, and explore the products they seek, and allow them to discover ones they never knew they wanted.
So how do you properly optimize your Amazon content? Start by knowing how Amazon works and what options marketers have. The following are some basic best practices to keep in mind when creating compelling e-commerce content.
Product Titles
The product title plays a key role in your product’s searchability. It is used as the HTML page, the headline and URL within search engines, and the headline inside the user’s shopping cart. Optimize it first and foremost by keeping your terms short and highly relevant to customers. Use the product name, brand and category, primary keywords, and size/color options.
Featured Bullets and Product Descriptions
Content within the featured bullets and description provides customers with the details and benefits of a product. Adding high-volume, product-focused keywords to these sections not only increases search relevancy, but also makes the product relevant to a customer’s shopping mindset once they enter a product detail page.
Images and Videos
Consumers want to know exactly what they are buying before they buy it. People are visual, especially when it comes to shopping online. Without an in-store experience, they lose the ability to hold the product, touch the packaging, read the ingredients, etc. Include high-quality product photos and videos (if applicable) that allow them to recreate this experience on the virtual shelf and sets expectations for what the customer will receive. While this might not optimize for search, it surely optimizes the customer experience.
A+ Enhanced Marketing Content
Vendors on Amazon are offered the ability to add A+ Enhanced Marketing Content (EMC) in addition to the standard product detail page information. This content allows you to add images, comparison tables, and feature lists for your products in order to break down customer purchase barriers and increase their buying confidence. You can add a targeted module with a rich Q&A section to address questions your customers are already asking. Including the right information up front could mean the difference between a casual searcher and a committed purchaser.
Ratings and Reviews
Ratings and reviews are key to e-retail success. Potential consumers trust the opinions of real-life customers more than brand sales copy because reviews are based on actual experience. Plus, customer reviews can influence the product’s actual rankings on Amazon because review content is indexed for search. Make sure to monitor your reviews for any negative feedback and respond promptly to clarify or offer recompense, and include relevant keywords in your responses as well.
Hidden Search Terms
Both sellers and vendors have the option of adding hidden search terms to product listings. The hidden search term field provides you with a great opportunity for including high-volume search terms that are still relevant, but do not otherwise have a place on your product page.
Amazon offers consumers an astounding array of shopping choices for just about anything on the planet. This gives brands a limitless digital shelf to display their products; but as we see, the ones who fully optimize their listings using the platform’s features will be the winners in search … and sales.
Ashley Hess is Senior Account Manager at MMI Agency in Houston, Texas. For more information: www.mmiagency.com.
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